The Government is under fire for claiming the Emissions Trading Scheme will result in the phase-out of coal-fired power plants.
A United Nations report on New Zealand's climate change response includes a Government prediction that by 2020, 7.2 mega-tonnes of emissions from coal will be avoided because of the ETS.
Bu the Sustainability Council says there are no serious plans for new coal-fired generation for the ETS to deter.
Executive director Simon Terry says New Zealand's only coal-fired station at Huntly is already being crowded out of the market by new generation, rather than by the effect of emissions trading.
