In 2008 Rio Tinto Zinc, owner of the Bluff aluminium smelter, and New Zealand Steel, owner of the Glenbrook steel mill, told the government that their New Zealand businesses would become uneconomic if they had to pay for emissions when competitors overseas did not. The companies talked of ceasing to invest in and closing their New Zealand operations. Here Ray Deacon of Rio Tinto Alcan NZ talks to the parliamentary select committee considering climate-change legislation. Behind him is Xiaoling Liu, president of Rio Tinto Alcan’s Primary Metal Asia Pacific region. A reworked emissions trading scheme introduced in 2009 substantially reduced industry responsibility and costs. It included a capped price for carbon units.
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