Today, Parliament had its first post election ballot. The two bills selected from the ballot were the Sustainable Biofuel Bill by Jeanette Fitzsimons, and the Customs and Excise (Sustainable Forestry) Amendment Bill by Catherine Delahunty.
The Sustainable Biofuel Bill will prohibit the sales of biofuels unlessit has been approved as a sustainable biofuel by the Governor-General by Order in Council. In order to be a sustainable biofuel, the following three conditions need to be met:
1) The biofuel must emit 35% less greenhouse gass emissions than other engine fuels
2) Do not compete with land for food production
3) Do not reduce biodiversity or use land with high conservation value.
The full text of the Bill can be found here
The Customs and Excise (Sustainable Forestry) Amendment Bill will require all timber imports to New Zealand to be verified as having come from sustainable sources, and come from deforestation.
It will be interesting to see if any of these Bills become law.
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