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1. Introduction

A team of consultants1 contracted by the Emissions Trading Group held a workshop on 25 January 2008 to gather information for a scoping report on the environmental effects of the Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS).

The scoping report will identify potential environmental effects of the ETS and closely related measures at a high level, to identify possible response measures to address these effects, and to develop terms of reference for possible further investigations of particular areas of concern or uncertainty. The Government anticipates releasing the scoping report publicly during the course of select committee consideration of the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill.

The workshop served as an information-gathering exercise for the consultants, to help them identify potential environmental effects across various sectors of the economy.

Those attending the workshop included 32 stakeholders (including Maori, business, and environmental NGOs, as well as local government officials) and 16 officials from central government departments, in addition to the four project consultants and two observers from the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Participants were invited to attend as individuals rather than representatives of their sectors or organisations – input was accepted as personal knowledge, views and information, rather than as an industry or organisation position.

1  The team consists of Jim Sinner (Sustainable Business Group Manager, Cawthron Institute), Judy Lawrence (PS Consulting), Roland Sapsford (Sustainability Solutions) and Paul Blaschke (Blaschke and Rutherford).

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