Since presenting its final report to government and launching the TZ1 name on 1 May, the Working Group has received expressions of interest from Australia, the U.S., Britain and elsewhere in Europe, in both trading carbon credits on the TZ1 platform and investing in TZ1 itself.
“We believe the best way to guarantee success for New Zealand's carbon market is for TZ1 to have an ownership structure that reflects those companies that will be active participants in the market, from brokers to buyers and sellers of carbon credits,” said Carbon Market Working Group member Mark Weldon.
“Right now we have enough interest to set up several companies, but our overriding concern is to ensure that this is a New Zealand company that operates here, pays taxes here, develops a cluster of expertise here, and holds true to New Zealand values and the New Zealand brand while providing a truly world class, global carbon trading facility,” said Weldon.
TZ1 has also received messages of support from around the world.
“New Zealand businesses in particular like the fact that TZ1 represents an opportunity for them not only to align their brand with a positive environmental and economic initiative, it's also helping them focus on the mechanics of how the carbon market will work for them and for the country,” said Carbon Market Working Group member Geoff Ross.
“The message we've been getting from overseas companies is unanimously positive and congratulatory. There has been no suggestion at all that New Zealand won't be able to do this – quite the opposite, in fact.”
Work is now proceeding apace on establishing ownership structure and finalising technology and market rule requirements for TZ1, with a view to commencing operations in early 2008.
To find out more about how a carbon market works, a document entitled Carbon Markets 101 is available on tz1market.com.
A sampling of New Zealand support for TZ1 can be seen via the following links:
http://www.nzbcsd.org.nz/story.asp?id=767
http://www.eds.org.nz/index.cfm?content_id=110616
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=29147
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/press/releases/greenpeace-welcomes-new-nz-car
Notes on the Carbon Market Working Group
The Carbon Market Working Group comprises CEOs and senior executives from Air New Zealand, 42 Below, Fonterra, McKinsey, Infratil, the New Zealand Institute, the New Zealand Rugby Union, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Vector, Meridian, Contact Energy, ABN AMRO and Goldman Sachs JBWere. Government agencies with an interest in carbon emissions reduction and economic impacts also provided advice to the Group.
