KEY POINTS:
The Green Party marked its seventh birthday in Parliament yesterday by announcing its MPs would personally pay to reforest land to offset the carbon from their air travel.
Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the party had investigated various off-setting options and selected the Landcare CarboNZero programme.
The initiative supported landowners to regenerate land, initially to native trees and shrubs like kanuka and manuka and eventually forests.
Trees were grown on marginal land retired from agriculture and were not harvested, she said.
All land in the scheme met Kyoto Protocol definitions and participants paid $20 to offset a tonne of CO2.
"Carbon dioxide emissions from air travel are responsible for 3.4 per cent of New Zealand's emissions and are growing. Roughly speaking, a kilometre of domestic travel releases 180g of CO2, so a return trip from Invercargill to Auckland emits half a tonne of CO2."
A party spokeswoman said it was estimated to cost MPs a total of about $2000 a year, or an average of $330 for each MP.
The move was "just a small first step towards addressing climate change" and was one everyone could make, Ms Fitzsimons said.
Carbon offsets were not a long-term solution by themselves, but were a start until a more permanent and effective solution could be found.
The MPs were already trying to reduce their air travel by using communications technology such as telephone and video conferencing, and scheduling multiple events on a trip.
The party's staff were also working to "reduce the office's carbon footprint", which included recycling and composting office waste.
