The textbook economists' model of a tradable permit system cannot usually be applied perfectly at either the domestic or international scale because of the difficulty and/or expense of defining allocations to and monitoring emissions of some groups, as well as for political reasons. It may be...

This paper tackles the complex issue of how to include regenerating indigenous forest in a domestic carbon credit system. The paper specifically addresses New Zealand conditions but most of the issues and conclusions are relevant in any developed country with indigenous regrowth. The paper...

Hendy and Kerr (2005b) find that an emissions charge on agricultural methane and nitrous oxide of $25 per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent would be likely to reduce New Zealand's net land-use related emissions for commitment period one in the order of 3%, with full accounting. The costs...

Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) have the potential to provide one-third of the climate mitigation needed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees. But to achieve this goal, investments in NCS need to rapidly scale up, including private sector investments. Private actors seeking to engage...

As New Zealand charts its course toward a low-emissions economy, the quality of energy-sector and multi-sector modelling is becoming increasingly important. This paper outlines why models are useful for answering complex questions, provides a stocktake of energy-sector and multi-sector models...

This paper explores how New Zealand should address agricultural greenhouse gas emissions: methane and nitrous oxide. The starting point is the internationally agreed-upon goal of limiting global warming to below two degrees, and New Zealand's commitment to contribute its ‘fair share' to the...

New Zealand’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are usually calculated by taking total emissions as reported under the Kyoto Protocol or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and simply dividing by population. However this focuses on emissions associated with production...

Using the New Zealand Monitor Farm Data (NZMFD), this paper explores the cost-effectiveness of two mitigation options to reduce biological greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on farms: reducing stocking rate (SR; the number of cows per effective hectare of dairy land); and increasing animal...

Without effective developing country participation in climate mitigation it will be impossible to meet global concentration and climate change targets. However, developing countries are unwilling and, in many cases, unable to bear the mitigation cost alone. They need huge transfers of resources...

Using the simulation model Land Use in Rural New Zealand version 1 - climate (LURNZv1-climate), we simulate the effects of an agricultural land-use emissions charge and a reward for native forest and scrub regeneration. Our results are preliminary and at this stage should be considered...