Shaw says COP26 conference most important since Paris Agreement
Climate Minister James Shaw’s trip to the COP26 conference and his delegation’s use of MIQ spaces upon their return is again being criticised by the opposition.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has strongly backed the move and specifically set aside places for the group in MIQ, but that decision is also under fire.
The annual conference is being held for the 26th time this year, in Glasgow, after it was cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
ACT leader David Seymour has previously taken Shaw to task over the trip, and returned to the topic today.
“He said he doesn’t want to go to COP26, I think he should take his own advice and not go to Glasgow … he’s actually flying into a Covid hotspot boots and all and facing a Scottish pack which is ridden with Covid,” Seymour said.
Seymour said that after 25 such conferences, he did not believe the value of New Zealand attending was worth the risk.
“I don’t think the benefits of New Zealand being at the 26th Conference of Parties is going to outweigh the costs of our very very scarce MIQ space, especially if you’re taking nine – or is it 15 – people over there.
The Right are attacking Shaw for going to the Glasgow Climate Change Jamboree. They jeer it is hypocrisy to travel there and cause more climate change pollution & they sneer at the use of MIQ spaces.
James going to Glasgow is a hollow virtue signalling joke but not for these shallow reasons. Glasgow 2021 is to hammer out carbon neutral by 2050, but being carbon neutral by 2050 is bullshit!
By 2030, over 50% of the oceans will be collapsing as bio-habitats.
By 2030, East Coast cities in the U.S. can expect to see two to three-times as many flooding incidents.
By 2030, 122million will be driven into extreme poverty as  direct result of climate change.
By 2030, 100million will die as a direct consequence of climate change.
By 2030, even if the Paris Agreement is actually implemented, we will see a planet warm to 3.4 degrees by the end of this century meaning there will effectively be no future civilisation capable of surviving on a planet that warm.
By 2030, the global annual cost of global warming will be $3trillion.
2030, the number of extremely hot days — classified as maximum temperatures of more than 35C — are tipped to climb in all capital cities.
Oh.
And by 2050 we might be carbon neutral.
Yay!
See, when you actually compare what the planet will look like by 2030, being carbon neutral by 2050 looks meaningless doesn’t it?
The magnitude of what we need to do to adapt to counter the nightmare unending capitalism has wrought upon the planet is simply beyond the capacity of the current political establishment and that is most apparent with the Greens.
This is less transformative and more glacial, except there won’t be any glaciers by 2050.
If you think being carbon neutral by 2050 is a solution, you are part of the problem.
Like the NZ Green Party, Glasgow 2021 is too little, too late.
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Doom-scrolling through this and I’m finding it the most doom-laden doom scroll I’ve ever, so far, doom-scrolled!
At least he is making it look like he is interested in sorting out the environmental issue unlike Jacinda with the housing crisis. She obviously does not give two fucks about the nightmare being created by the arrogant Robbo and incompetant Orr.
Is this up there in stupidity like his coleader’s “he is us” comment about ozzy Tarrant?
The Greens are a waste of time and resources.
Shaw should be focusing on our effort at home, which doesn’t appear to be going too well
Youre supposed to get your ducks in a row BEFORE going to Glasgow, not after. Jimmy has embraced the baubles but cant be bothered doing the work. A green party with any integrity would resign en masse in protest at the lack of progress on climate change. Talking about doing the work, Jacinda has been marvelous at keeping us safe but in every other measure has failed miserably to come up with anything at all except 5 years of waffle. N Z politics is a hollow shell.
What the hell good would that do? All it would do is signal that it’s a lost cause and to set to making the planet is completely fucked and as soon as possible
I would agree, but Auckland should have stayed in L 4. Just take a look at Melbourne, they are still in lockdown, and have a curfew to boot. It has been like that practically all year. Now they are having real riots too with rear gas and rubber bullets. So we come out of L4 lockdown for takeaways and coffee, after five weeks, when we did have the real opportunity to stamp it out completely. Really. Dumb. Move.
Agree with all the comments so far, and the post itself.
So much wrong with every aspect of this decision and the ongoing train wreck of climate denial and glacial speed of changing pollution around the world.
Worth noting that the NZ proposed carbon transaction is bonkers, because when companies use more carbon credits the price doesn’t go up because the government steps in to lower the price, it’s the quantitive easing of pollution.
If you are that stupid with your own system, why bother advertising it in Glasgow.
That is why many loyal Greens supporters hanging on for a small amount of environmental intelligence or even interest from the Greens, have given up.
Nothing as important as making sure a trans man can access a woman only space using their own self certification! Who can see the potential misuse of this! Not the Greens and woke! There is a difference between accepting gender difference and being stupid about it.
All while ignoring the planet burning and it seems to be coming sooner than expected.
Carbon Credits… A money making scam to get around facing the reality of climate change
It would seem so. Not effective enough by far. But possibly it’s too late anyway. If forests get too hot they start emitting carbon not absorbing it, so that’s not gonna work and as we can see ice is melting at rapid rates everywhere and the tundra is thawing and that’s releases vast amounts of trapped methane. An asteroid hit would create a nuclear winter, hey so would a nuclear war…
I’m sure the Greens would enact all of their good policies in a heartbeat, if they had a chance against the entrenched neo liberal machines of Labour/National/Act. It’s these 3 parties that are holding things up.
Tomorrow i will post the letter that was sent to James Shaw on facebook and you can all see why he is attending. Where his loyalties are is yet to be clarified, but time will tell if hes rushing over for damage control, or to ask the hard questions.
I do not agree with your premise Martyn, any progress is good !
Go well James Shaw , i am happy to contribute to the cost of the trip as we elect our members of Parliament
to do their best for all of us and I think that a conference where people can talk face to face is very valuable .
[and I am not a Green Party member]
I do agree that Climate Change needs more urgent action in NZ.
Isn’t it a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy to claim a political party isn’t delivering on climate policies if the majority are consistently undermining that party’s efforts to have enough influence in government to implement those policies? For the record any party making extremely dire predictions wouldn’t survive an election. Ineffectual climate conferences will keep being held. Should NZ give up and not attend? Our little country is fairly inconsequential. But almost no-one is ready to accept the harsh reality of our predicament. Why criticise groups of people who are trying to bail out this sinking ship? Are they being unrealistic? Too optimistic? People have been trying to warn humanity for 40+ years that this was coming. Corporations have effectively blocked all attempts to turn this ship around. Even on the way down they are intent to maintain profits for shareholders. There are your criminals. Please try to focus your anger at them. I get angry about all this too, but these days I see it more like moving through the stages of grief.
Well said Grass Ap. So many people angry at the Greens, which is misplaced and quite ignorant really. This should be directed at the power brokers, not the minor party with no options.
I think people preferred the Green Party when they didn’t label everybody else as ignorant, racist, micro aggressors, it was only about a decade ago, (pre Woke) the Green were gaining popularity not losing it.
As for the woke telling themselves they can’t do anything as a minor party, guess what, ACT on 1% went to 13% because they are now the unlikely new leaders of ‘civil liberties’,
Meanwhile the Greens seem determined to criminalise everyone except the criminals with their ‘hate’ speech proposals. We can already see the legal system rubbing their hands. Nothing will get done because all of society will be accusing each other of hurtful words. Actually hurting people will get lost as like the mall knifer, they will use the new system for criminal rights and suppression of the truth which will be a hate crime.
Hear that gunfire around South Auckland? Now the criminals as well as police are carrying guns, because of stupid laws on gun owners in NZ. How many terrorists in South Auckland, my guess is, less than everywhere else in NZ!
Greens and Labour wanted to blame a group after Tarrant, but forgot to understand that NZ is still very agricultural and full of pests to the environment that many people prefer to control with guns (and eat/use byproducts) rather than 1080.
There are more environmental ways to control pests than poison and owning a licensed gun with correct checks, which was the current law was fine but the process not done correctly by police aka reference checks on Tarrent were not thorough and boggles the mind that it was ok to give out semi automatic weapons licenses to someone new to NZ.
I think Shaw should go. It is important for the thinking, pragmatic humans to meet face to face and share their idealistic ideas as well. A usefui extra would be you Martyn. You would stir up everybody, with one addition to your luggage, a sock to put in your mouth for bringing things to a close at the right time.
Very well put GrassAp. And it’s true stupid money rules it all (one ring …) Espresso and a McDonald’s anyone?
Carbon credits are a joke indeed, you fly and then you give the AirNZ dosh to settle your conscious for some tree planting. Nuts
However I am not opposed to Shaw going as has been said numerous times THE CONFERENCE WILL NOT BE ZOOMED.
Really I do wish people would jump up and down much more regarding our various sporting teams coming and going endlessly from Aotearoa and finding MIQ spots, the Wiggles and other entertainment individuals and groups. There are many exemptions going on that are nothing to do with stuff as important as climate change.
If the Greens really cared about the environment they would never have supported the planting of radiata pine for carbon sequestration credits and they would have promoted the creation more marine reserves down our coastline.
You know, simple things that don’t get their name in the papers and don’t provide an opportunity to burn kerosene in jet engines.
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