WELLINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- New research released on Sunday showed it could cost 15 billion NZ dollars (9.8 billion U.S. dollars) per year to meet a target of cutting New Zealand's greenhouse emissions by 40 percent by the year 2020.
A goal of 40 percent is urged by Green peace for adoption by New Zealand before a UN summit in Copenhagen in December on a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
The Institute of Economic Research and Info metrics looked at four scenarios on behalf of the New Zealand government.
They calculated that a cut in emissions of 40 percent will cost around 3,000 NZ dollars per person by 2020.
Based on estimated population growth by then, the study suggests this would amount to a cost of around 15 billion NZ dollars to the economy.
Another scenario, for a cut of 15 percent, would cost around 1,400 NZ dollars per person.
Attempting to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 would cause too much economic hardship, New Zealand Climate Change Minister Nick Smith said on Sunday.
Smith told TVNZ that while decisions were yet to be made, targets of around 40 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990 were neither achievable nor affordable.
Smith said New Zealand did have to do its part in dealing with the "biggest environmental challenge of our generation", but targets and policy had to be realistic and achievable.
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