Air New Zealand Air Points - NZ govt employees: Emission credits

I was told that each government agency has been assigned a maximum number of emmissions credits (sic, ?) that they can use. So, official travel to the US and Europe is now sharply down...

I may be old-fashioned but I think this is crazy.

Now the big question, is this actually true ???

Plausible. Gov't wants NZ to be carbon neutral and so has set some targets on itself to lead the way.

The recently announced major expansion to MFAT contradicts this but who expects them to be accountable or consistent?

Judging by the passengers in Business Premier to London I would not be so sure.

But yes there are plans to achieve carbon neutrality: not so much that each department is assigned some emissions credits -

In a world-leading move, the 34 core public service departments will begin immediate work to achieve carbon neutrality as part of the Labour-led government's push towards sustainability, State Services Minister Annette King and Climate Change Minister David Parker announced today.

All core public service departments will start reducing emissions immediately and a lead group of six agencies -- the Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economic Development, Inland Revenue, Department of Conservation and the Treasury - will have carbon neutral plans in place by early 2008....The New Zealand Government (http://www.beehive.govt.nz/?q=node/28361)

I wonder what proportion of longhaul travel on NZ is government/official?

low..

I was told that each government agency has been assigned a maximum number of emmissions credits (sic, ?) that they can use. So, official travel to the US and Europe is now sharply down...

I may be old-fashioned but I think this is crazy.

Now the big question, is this actually true ???

As ntddevsys posted the NZ government has committed to being carbon neutral.
What does this mean?
I can only give you the information that I get regarding my position in a particular Ministry, however my role does touch on the government's strategy.
The government has not to my knowledge madated a CO2 credt for each FTE, but the reports do not only show the aggregate but is also referenced to a FTE number.
The Ministries will have carbon credits purchased and managed by the Ministry for the Environment.
Travel, not only air, is reported but as a principle you do not travel if it is not necessary so ipso facto there really should not be a reduction in travel from previous years.:rolleyes:
The government is looking at the entire picture and has a number of new initatives eg. Government office buildings will need to be 5 Greenstar by 2012, so travel is only a small portion of their vision, in fact it is about sustainable government refer to this site. govt3/ (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/sustainable-industry/govt3/)
I have cutdown my travel, sometimes it was a mistake that increased the time to do something, but it is a learning curve.
I wonder what proportion of longhaul travel on NZ is government/official?
My Ministry's policy is quite strict, business if above 8 hours and the travel must arrive the day before and leave no later than the day after. There have been occasions where observers to a conference were told to travel economy while the presenters took business.
Oh there is absolutely no policy on what airline to take, it used to be QF as they were the only ones to give a discount.