KEY POINTS:
The Government is talking to the operator of the New Zealand stock exchange about the development of a carbon trading market.
Climate Change Minister David Parker announced the move yesterday during the release of a discussion paper on climate change and sustainable land use.
NZX chief executive Mark Weldon said he believed the stock market was the "natural owner" of a carbon market in the Asia-Pacific time zone, The Dominion Post reported today.
But developing such a market needed serious work.
"To that end, we are investigating in detail the feasibility of establishing such a market in New Zealand," Mr Weldon said.
An example of such a market is the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme which caps emissions by heavy industry of the commonest greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, and forces companies that exceed their caps to buy extra permits.
- NZPA
