Request for briefings about climate change and ETS

Details of the request

Kia ora,

Please provide the following information:

• BRF-4682 to the Minister of Climate Change, including any appendices and attachments.
• BRF-4753 to the Minister of Climate Change, including any appendices and attachments.
• Records of any feedback from the Minister to officials in relation to BRF-4682 and then BRF-4753, and the actions that officials took to respond to that feedback.
• BRF-4913 notes that updated emissions modelling was prepared after BRF-4753, resulting in a decreased emissions estimate for the second emissions budget period from 309 Mt (range 291-327 Mt) to 305 Mt (range 287-323 Mt). This is a further decrease from the interim projections supplied for the Climate Priorities Ministerial Group meeting on 20 May 2024 – the Climate Change Chief Executives Board summary of the quarterly progress report notes interim projections (based on April 2024 settings and assumptions) of 311Mt (plus or minus 18 Mt) for EB2. Please provide records (including internal correspondence) that document the differences in model inputs (including model assumptions) between the modelling reported to the CPMG’s meeting on 20 May, the modelling reported in BRF-4753, and the updated modelling reported in BRF-4913, the justifications for making those changes to the model inputs, and the process by which the changes came to be made, including any instructions from the Minister or the Minister’s staff to make those changes.
• BRF-4759 to the Minister of Climate Change, including any appendices and attachments.
• In the Regulatory Impact Statement prepared by the Ministry for the Environment in relation to the 2024 update to New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme limits and price control settings for units (dated 7 August 2024), it is noted that the related Cabinet Paper did not include option 3 for ‘Step 1 – Align with emission targets’, which would involve further tightening unit limits by adjusting for unanticipated emissions reduction from when the emissions budgets were set. Please provide the relevant Cabinet Paper, any advice prepared in support of that Cabinet paper, and any records of the process for making the decision not to include option 3, including the justifications for that decision and any instructions to not include that option in the Cabinet Paper.

If you need any clarification of this request, please let me know.

Released documents

1. BRF-4753: Update on sufficiency assessment for ERP2 (PDF, 2MB)
2. Email: New ETS Settings paper (PDF, 118 KB)
3. Email: For action - MoF comments on ETS unit limits and price control settings paper (PDF, 345 KB)

OIA@mfe.govt.nz