KEY POINTS:
So far, so good.
Labour has successfully unveiled - with minimal controversy - the framework of an immensely complicated emissions trading system that will form the heart of the Government's grand plan to fight climate change.
It has carefully made sure voters won't feel the impact of rising prices at the petrol pump or in their power bills until after the next election.
It has killed off the loud squealing of a group of foresters by pragmatically backing down and agreeing to give them carbon credits.
It has avoided a backlash from rich dairy farmers by giving them a virtual free ride until 2013.
It has placated worried pensioners by promising compensation to help low and fixed income people cover electricity and petrol price rises.
And it has been able to sit back and watch as almost every other political party - National included - warmly embraces its proposals.
An issue that carried significant risk of backlash has had much of the heat taken out of it.
But whether Labour's fortunes actually get much of a boost as a result is debatable.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has made much of a One News/Colmar Brunton poll which showed that 85 per cent of New Zealanders believed the Government should be introducing measures to reduce the country's impact on climate change.
Clark is not so crude as to suggest that the sentiment will translate into a lift in poll support for Labour.
Climate change is one of those issues that carries a certain amount of guilt for voters.
They want something to be done about it not only for the sake of the planet, but for their own conscience too, and if a government does something - like the Clark Government is - then voters will more than likely greet it positively.
Many voters will never really get their heads around the intricacies of carbon trading, which is enough to leave anyone's brain spinning.
But they will be pleased that something is being done.
Labour does harbour some hope that its hard slog on climate change policies will have spin-offs for its own fortunes.
Central to that hope is Clark and her leadership.
Her foray into the politics of global warming at last year's Labour Party annual conference raised eyebrows and grabbed headlines.
New Zealand, she said, "could aim to be carbon neutral".
There is still no forecast of when we might reach that "aspirational" goal, and until now there has been no policy to back it up.
It may have been a long time coming, but the policy has finally arrived.
Anyone at the slick announcement of the Government's emissions trading scheme in the Beehive banquet hall on Thursday would have been left in no doubt who the face of it was.
Clark, flanked by a team of ministers the size of which is usually reserved for the Budget, spoke of a "Kiwi solution" to climate change.
She spoke of the leadership her Government had shown and how attitudes had changed in the past year, since she raised the idea of New Zealand becoming carbon neutral.
By avoiding multi-party talks on climate change policy, Labour has been able to be seen as the party which has put forward the solution that everyone else has followed.
It is now becoming clear that multi-party talks would have brought a political consensus - something everyone could have claimed a piece of.
But the hard fact remains that climate change policy on its own will not win an election for Labour.
The word 'sustainability' is hardly snappy enough to inspire.
And while many of the hard bits of the emissions trading scheme have been left until after the next election, they haven't gone away completely.
It will be much easier for voters to understand the flow-on effects of higher petrol and power prices than it will be for them to understand how the emissions trading system works.
Sure, petrol prices might not rise until 2009 or 2010, but motorists know the increase is coming.
What happens if the 5c a litre gain coincides with the regional petrol tax increase of around 10c a litre being proposed to fund Auckland's rail electrification?
The hit could be even bigger if oil prices remain strong and the New Zealand dollar falls from the historically high levels at which it has been shielding motorists from vicious petrol price rises.
And voters might also eventually ponder why rich dairy farmers are getting off scot free for years.
That subsidy for the agricultural sector has to come from somewhere - it either means taxes remain higher for longer to fund the farmers' greenhouse gas liability, or it means spending in other areas is held back.
The argument against the subsidy for the rural sector is likely to be hammered by the Greens in coming months.
Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has deliberately kept some distance from the Government throughout the emissions trading policy-making process to avoid being muzzled.
Now the policy framework is out, she is loudly making it clear the Greens want changes to speed up the process of reducing emissions.
Fitzsimons' Greens will always be perceived as the most environmentally-conscious political party.
Whatever Labour does, it will not take that away - and that is why any attacks from the Greens on the trading scheme could gain some traction.
But the truth is that Labour probably won't need the votes of the Greens to get its emissions trading legislation passed through Parliament in its current form.
The broad support seen for the framework this week stems from Labour's decision to make it as non-frightening as possible.
By putting off the nasty allocation scramble amongst companies wanting permits to emit greenhouse gases, and by delaying the inclusion of agriculture, Labour has served up a policy which not only helps it out of an awkward situation - but it also helps National.
National under John Key has been shifting toward the centre and wants to convince voters of its green credentials.
The party has been carrying the baggage of its earlier threat to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol for some time, but now it has been presented with a palatable way out that it will probably support and therefore pass the voters' sniff test when it comes to the environment.
National is fairly confident that any spin-off for Labour from the climate change push will be limited.
It will hinge on how well Labour sells the issue.
