How Government Actions for Enhancing Eco-Verification Should be Organised
Advancing the key actions
30. Further advice on the proposed key actions should be prepared by the end of August. Officials will be expected to work with stakeholders, as appropriate, and to use the usual caveats that the joint work will lead to advice to Ministers and that final decisions to proceed will depend on Cabinet decisions.
31. This development work will provide a clearer appreciation of the steps to be managed under each action and of how to manage any process or substantive risks. The expectation is that clear steps and milestones will be agreed with all stakeholders and that key actions will be underway by the end of 2007.
32. Officials propose that the Ministry of Economic Development be given lead responsibility for the first three actions in paragraph 24 and that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry be given lead responsibility for the fourth action.
Table 1: Summary analysis of proposed key actions against selection criteria.
|
Accelerating uptake of internationally recognised eco-standards by businesses |
Positioning NZ as a global leader in research & development of life-cycle analysis and application of eco-verification support structures |
Positioning NZ as a leader in C-footprint measurement and management in key areas through work with key stakeholders such as Landcare |
Developing a greenhouse-gas (GHG) foot-printing response for the primary sectors. |
| Strategic importance to NZ |
NZ firms make relatively little use of internationally-recognised standards. Changing this is an essential element in strategies to improve exporting and to position NZ as a leader in sustainable business. |
The strategic opportunity is to "get ahead of the game" and shape developments to NZ's advantage |
This action will provide direct support for the government's ambition to make NZ the world's first C-neutral economy |
Agricultural sector contributes 52% of the value of New Zealand exports. NZ is also positioning itself as a global leader in climate-change and agriculture research. |
| Topicality |
Businesses are increasingly aware of the need but often lack incentives and knowledge. |
Life-cycle analysis is emerging as a key focus, particularly in the EU |
There is high international and domestic interest in C-footprints. |
There is high international and domestic interest in C-footprints. Significant market access pressures emerging in UK markets. |
| Scale of impact |
Potentially large given the thousands of businesses that could become involved |
Potentially large both domestically and in terms of new global opportunities & risk management |
Large domestically. High-profile action for overseas markets. |
Large over the longer term, particularly for exports and also if NZ is able to capitalise on business opportunities in developing GHG methodologies. |
| Appropriate for government action |
Only government can assemble the range of component actions to make this action happen on a necessary scale |
The need for co-ordinated action was identified at the April workshop. Only government can provide all the necessary settings and funding arrangements to get this action under way. |
Landcare Research, one key player, is a Crown entity. This action is largely about recognising the public good of the steps it has already taken and identifying the scope to add value through eco-verification tools |
Government support and co-ordination required due to the urgent time pressures. Coordination role needed across agricultural sector. Public R&D research input required. Govt-Govt role in trade negotiations. |
| Immediacy of impact |
Potentially rapid – beginning within this calendar year. |
Longer-term but enduring |
Rapid. Many NZ firms are interested in becoming C neutral. |
Short-term and long-term impact. |
| Symbolic value |
This action would demonstrate government commitment to making sustainability central in the economy |
The intention to create an NZ Inc approach and mobilise skills and resource would be a strong signal of government commitment |
This action would be a clear demonstration of government commitment to C neutrality |
Significant. NZ could position itself as a world leader in agricultural GHG foot-printing research, methodologies and information. |
| Immediately identifiable issues |
Possible risks around picking particular standards and conflicts with commercially supported standards |
Involvement from several research organisations required with the possibility of conflicts with their needs to leverage research into commercial opportunities. |
A key methodology, CarboNZero, is provided by Landcare Research as a commercial service. Government support will advantage this CRI. Careful co-ordination required with UK work on carbon footprints. |
Risks of insufficient resources and capability. Fragmented approach. Lack of knowledge, large information gaps. Coordination will require significant engagement with industry. |
Advancing other actions
33. While officials are seeking Cabinet's broad endorsement of the set of current and potential actions in Annex 1, Cabinet decisions are not required to enable the current actions in the annex to go forward: individual Ministers will sign off on the details of these actions when they approve the 2007-08 Statements of Intent of relevant agencies.
34. The remaining ‘potential' actions in Annex 1 could be advanced through a variety of routes:
- some can be implemented by agencies as extensions to existing or planned work programmes, subject to approval by responsible Ministers;
- some are likely to be advanced as parts of other work streams with the core responsibility for this remaining in those work streams; and
- some will require research and further work with stakeholders to determine if they warrant elevation into one or another of the existing government work streams on sustainability or into the Enhanced Eco-verification initiative itself.
35. It is likely that other potential actions will also arise through work with stakeholders in each of the areas above. It is also likely that a range of resourcing and funding issues will arise as various streams of work develop.
36. The considerable complexities associated with interconnected activities in the eco-verification system were noted in paragraph 13 above. There is also a high degree of interconnectivity between eco-verification and the other five initiatives in the sustainability package and between the package and other sustainability work streams. To add to the complexity, linkages often exist between eco-verification issues and other areas such international trade, free trade agreements and the wider standards and conformance infrastructure. All of these interconnections will have to be managed through coordinated official and ministerial processes.
Responsibility to co-ordinate
37. We propose that the Ministry of Economic Development be given primary responsibility for:
- maintaining an overview of current, developing and potential actions within Enhanced Eco-verification and ensuring that work on these is appropriately co-ordinated; and
- maintaining an overview of interconnections between Enhanced Eco-verification and other work steams and initiatives.
38. Officials can update us on progress in these areas in August.
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