12. Climate Change Policy—Carbon Credits Sale Credibility and Paris AgreementJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for Climate Change IssuesClimate Change Policy—Carbon Credits Sale Credibility and Paris Agreement12. JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for Climate Change Issues: Will she cancel carbon credits held by the Government to compensate for using what she calls dubious" carbon credits in order to meet New Zealand's climate commitments; if so when?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Climate Change Issues): It is not my intention to cancel any units at this point but there is no doubt lessons can be learnt from the Kyoto Protocol. That is why I was so pleased to announce today that the Government intends to ratify the Paris Agreement this year. Developing high-quality international carbon markets will be an important part of reaching those targets.James Shaw: Does she accept that over a quarter of the reduction in climate emissions that her Government claims took place between 2008 and 2012 did not actually happen?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I accept that 26 percent of the units that were used by the Government were of dubious quality.James Shaw: Does she accept that the only reason that New Zealand has a stockpile of carbon credits now is that her Government previously traded in cheap credits that did not result in any reduction in pollution and were linked to criminal activity in the Ukraine and Russia?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I do not agree with all of that but I do accept that we have an excess of units. What we are waiting to look at is what we need for 2020—what that cost will be—and then further decisions will happen via the Paris negotiations after ratification as to some of those rules on carry-over. The Government will be making those decisions in due course.James Shaw: Why should the other signatories to the Paris Agreement believe that this National Government is going to take the Paris Agreement seriously when it has falsely claimed to reduce pollution in the past and now refuses to set the record straight?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Because that is not true. What we did we did under the rules that were there for the Kyoto agreement. Other countries like Germany Spain and Italy also used those emergency response units to meet their Kyoto targets. We have a new set of rules which are going to be set under this Paris Agreement. We cancelled the use of international units in 2015 and actually cancelled the use of those dodgy units earlier than that—in 2012 from memory. We make an absolute commitment that we will be part of making sure that any international trading is using carbon units that are of a high integrity.James Shaw: Given that the past 10 months in a row have all set temperature records and that July was the hottest month on record ever would not today's announcement of the ratification of the Paris Agreement be the perfect time for her Government to restore New Zealand's integrity and credibility by paying back those fraudulent credits?Hon PAULA BENNETT: As I have said going forward from here we are absolutely committed to ensuring that there is an international market as there could be and that the integrity of those is such. I think that New Zealand does have a strong reputation as far as its commitment to climate change is concerned and that it will continue doing the great work that it is doing."