Prices for petrol, electricity, and gas for cooking went up today to pay for the greenhouse gas they put into the atmosphere. Petrol went up 3 cents a litre to $1.79 a litre for unleaded petrol. Electricity and gas prices went up 3.3%. This is because of the ETS, the Emissions Trading Scheme. Emissions are the gases that come from burning fossil fuels. Because we use 3.2 billion litres of petrol a year, fuel companies will have to pay about $90m a year to the owners of forests who sell carbon credits.
The cost of freight will increase too. Trucks, trains, planes and ships will have to pay more for their fuel so we will pay more for the goods they carry. Passenger fares will rise too. The government says that the increase in costs could be about $5 a week for families and tax cuts in October will help to pay that money.
This is just the start to the ETS. Big industries which cause pollution do not have to pay for their carbon emissions just yet and neither do farmers. Many farm animals put methane gas into the atmosphere. It is not clear why electricity has to pay for carbon as most of our electricity is generated from hydro schemes on rivers.
The US and Australia have not yet done anything about an Emissions Trading Scheme but Europe already has a scheme.
Listen to November 25th 2009 for more about the ETS.
Questions
Does your country have an ETS?
New Zealand is a very small contributor to greenhouse gases from fossils fuels. Should we wait until other countries do something about their carbon emissions first?
What happens when trees are cut down? Do forest owners have to pay back the money they got?