Mike's Minute: The govt shouldn't have touched the carbon market

If you follow the carbon market, and you should, it is yet another lesson in the abject failure that almost certainly results in gerrymandering markets. 

Four times a year you bid for credits (offsets) to counter your polluting habits. 

You do this because we signed up to Paris and made a bunch of promises we were never going to be able to keep. 

By selling credits the Government has the potential income of about $2 billion a year. Except little, if any, of that happens because by and large people don’t turn up and bid. 

And they fail to show up, broadly speaking, because people don’t believe a word the Government says on climate. 

It's not just this Government. The last one was even worse. 

They have tried to set a price for carbon credits, remembering of course that it's an entirely invented market. So it's a dart-at-a-board stuff at the best of times. 

Of late the price was $52. Then it was $33 before settling back to about $40-something. 

Enter Climate Minister Simon Watts. Now, he doesn’t normally talk about the market because that’s interference, the same way the Prime Minister doesn’t talk about the Reserve Bank. 

But Simon has talked about the market, and he has done that because the Government are panicked. 

He issued a reassurance that despite all the changes they are making around climate, the carbon market and the ETS are still a thing. We are still committed, it's still going to happen. 

His commitments, he said, are firm. 

Except, Simon, that’s the problem – no one believes you. 

This is a Government that says one thing and does another. Don’t get me wrong, what, roughly, they are doing is the right thing. 

The tide has gone out on climate. The promises are a bust. No one is going to make Net Zero, so the answer is stop pretending you are. 

Science might come to the rescue and if it does, fantastic. 

But the governmental promises around carbon and the ETS and car import duties is all BS. There is no better proof of that than the carbon market. 

The market is calling the Government's bluff. 

Carbon credits or snake oil? Same thing. 

No one's buying figuratively and literally. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, if you follow the carbon market, and you should,
it is yet another lesson in the object failure that
almost certainly results in gerrymandering markets. Four times a year
you get to bid for credits offsets to counter your
polluting are you do this because we've signed up to
Paris and made a bunch of promises we were never
going to be able to keep. By selling credits, the
government has the potential income of about two billion dollars

(00:20):
a year, except little of any of that happens because
buying large people don't turn up or bid, and they
fail to show up, broadly speaking, because people don't believe
a word the government says on climate. It's not just
this government. Last one was even worse. They've tried to
set a price for carbon credits, remembering of course that
this is this is entirely invented market, so it's data
to board stuff at the best of times, anyway of

(00:41):
late the price was set at fifty two dollars, then
it collapsed to thirty three before settling back to about
forty something at the moment enter Simon Watts, climate Minister. Now,
he doesn't normally talk about the market because that's interference.
The same way. The Prime Minister doesn't talk about the
Reserve Bank, but Simon has talked about the market and
has done that because well, the government are panics. He
issued a reassurance that despite all the changes they're making

(01:03):
around climate, the carbon market, the ETS, there's still a
thing we are still committed. It is still going to happen.
His commitments, he said, Ah, firm. Except Simon, that's the problem.
No one believes you. This is a government that says
one thing, acts the other. Now, don't get me wrong,
what roughly they're doing is the right thing to do.
Because the tide has gone out on climate. The promises
are a bust. No one's going to make it to

(01:24):
next zero. So the answer is to stop pretending you are.
I mean, science might come to the rescue, and if
it does, fantastic. But the governmental promises around carbon and
the ETS and the car import duties, it's all bs.
And there's no better proof of that than a carbon market,
the market where money like rubber hits the road. The
market is calling the government's bluff carbon credits or snake oil. Ah,

(01:47):
same thing. No one's buying, figuratively or literally. For more
from the mic, asking Breakfast. Listen live to news talks
it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio