This morning saw Environment Minister Nick Smith telling the Local Government and Environment select committee that inclusion of the stationary energy and industrial processes sectors in the Emissions Trading Scheme from next January was not at all possible.

He further stated that in order to aid ease the passage of an amended ETS, cross-parliamentary negotiations are under way with the Labour Party, a select committee review of which is running behind schedule, with new legislation required before global climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.

Smith informed that January 1, 2010, start date for stationary energy - power stations - and industrial processes in the ETS, “The timetables in the ETS were always unachievable, even without a select committee review. There is going to have to be some modification.”

However, Smith was not able to officially declare timetable changes ahead of the report-back of the ETS select committee due to the parliamentary rules. It should be noted though that his comments not only confirm that stationary energy and industrial processes face delayed entry to the ETS, but also that  they will be treated differently from forestry, which is also subject to delay.

In January 2008, plantation forestry came into the ETS; however the Government declared last week that there was no need for the forest owners to report for the scheme until 2011, a year later than previously envisaged.

Following the select committee hearing, Smith said that it would be “untenable” to treat the stationary energy and industrial process sectors that way.