Climate Change Response Amendment Bill 2005

8 March 2005

Attorney-General

1. We have considered the Climate Change Response Amendment Bill (the "Bill") (PCO version 5767/10) for consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (the "Bill of Rights Act"). We understand that this Bill is to be considered by the Cabinet Legislation Committee at its meeting on Thursday, 17 March 2005.

2. The Bill amends the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to ensure continued compliance with New Zealand’s obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. The Bill deals with two issues. The first relates to New Zealand’s Kyoto Protocol Registry and the second creates a new mechanism as an incentive for landowners to create permanent forest sinks.

3. The Bill introduces two new types of units, Temporary Certified Emission Reductions (tCERS) and Long-term Certified Emission Reductions (ICERS), for forest sink projects. The creation of these new units came out of decisions from the ninth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In order to meet our Kyoto Protocol obligations, New Zealand has to account for these new types of units.

4. The Climate Change Response Act 2002 put in place a framework to allow New Zealand to meet its international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. This included the establishment of a national emissions unit register to account for holdings and transfers of various emission units. The Bill amends the Register to provide for the accounting of these new types of units. It also makes provision for legal entities other than the Crown to hold accounts in the unit register.

5. The Bill also provides for the establishment of a mechanism to allow landowners to access the value, created under the Kyoto Protocol, of sequestering carbon on their land through establishing new forests. Participation in the new mechanism is voluntary. The mechanism acts as an incentive to landowners to create permanent (non-harvest) forest sinks by providing that landowners can receive returns from such forests in proportion to the carbon sequestered by them. The mechanism will be a contract (registered against land titles) between the Crown and a landowner.

6. We have concluded that the Bill appears to achieve overall consistency with the Bill of Rights Act.

7. In accordance with previous practice, we attach a copy of this opinion for referral to the Minister of Justice. We also attach a copy for referral to the Convenor of the Ministerial Group on Climate Change, if you agree.

In addition to the general disclaimer for all documents on this website, please note the following: This advice was prepared to assist the Attorney-General to determine whether a report should be made to Parliament under s 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in relation to the Climate Change Response Amendment Bill 2005. It should not be used or acted upon for any other purpose. The advice does no more than assess whether the Bill complies with the minimum guarantees contained in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The release of this advice should not be taken to indicate that the Attorney-General agrees with all aspects of it, nor does its release constitute a general waiver of legal professional privilege in respect of this or any other matter. Whilst care has been taken to ensure that this document is an accurate reproduction of the advice provided to the Attorney-General, neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Crown Law Office accepts any liability for any errors or omissions.