Government sets new NDC in bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030
The Government has announced a new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
The announcement comes on the eve of the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow – COP26 – where world leadings will meet to discuss issues surrounding climate change.
The current rules under the Paris Agreement state each country that has agreed to the climate accords has to adopt an international target known as an NDC.
The Paris Agreement was put in place to tackle climate change and limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
This is meaningless garbage and as much a virtue signal as their empty climate emergency announcement.
Firstly it’s net so this amounts to 25% not 50%.
Secondly, it’s just not even close to what we need to do.
This is the truth…
…and this is the truth…
…the truth is that fighting global warming means fighting rapacious free market capitalism.
The truth is the woke middle class Greens can fight for trans mommy blogger 4th wave feminism intersectionist free the nipple vegan cycling indigenous protests and anti fat shaming crusades, not so good at challenging the economic hegemonic structures of free market capitalism to stop the planet melting. Less ‘Marx’ and more ‘Meh’.
The truth is the poorest will suffer first.
The truth is that we need to look at a post growth economy and society. We need 4 day weeks, we need 40 hour weeks period. We need more artists. We need a State with capacity. We need to be sustainable for the basics. We need to be 100% renewable power.
The truth is we need to be far kinder to individuals while being far crueller to Corporations.
The truth is we can’t stop global warming and catastrophic climate change and that our only hope is radical adaptation.
The truth is the current political spectrum can not adapt fast enough to make legislation to deal with radical adaptation.
The truth is a Revolution at the ballot box is required.
The truth is that the climate crisis is now and if you thought voters were frightened by Covid, they ain’t seen nothin yet.
The truth will quickly be that being a smug hermit kingdom has its advantages.
In a climate crisis world, New Zealand will be one of those rare places that will be relatively unharmed.
Radical adaptation here means we can survive.
The truth is survival may well be the only goal.
The Government’s Climate Emergency was an empty virtue signal. COP26 is an empty virtue signal.
The rapidly changing climate will dictate the reality now. If you think swapping carbon credits is a solution, you are part of the problem.
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To paraphrase Martyn’s post, this announcement by James & Jacinda is more blah blah blah. (Thank you Greta)
It follows their recently released consultation paper on how government might meet the CCC’s recommended carbon budget. Spoiler alert, they can’t and they are looking for ideas. Because all they have got is blah blah blah.
The billions in tax payers money that they are so willing to burn to affect 0.01% of global carbon emissions will make no improvement to any people or animals lives however if they put this money to completely eradicate child poverty so much good could actually be done. The difference is that climate change is observed by the world, child poverty can be largely hidden globally and to our dear leader, local is so…. meh!!!
jonesy – “ Eradicate child poverty so much good could be done. “ Yes. Furthermore, it is an investment in our future, for our children are the future, and it is a terrible waste of unknown talents, and gifts, and thinkers, to
have our most precious taonga start their lives blighted, and possibly remaining that way.
Furthermore, every child counts, and we owe it to the children to let them know that they matter. Instead we are world leaders in battering, abusing, and killing babies and children, and then, as usual, try to make it into an ethnicity issue.
A cynic could surmise that it may take a pandemic or two, or perhaps a catastrophic war or two ,to decimate(or even more) the colossal overpopulation problem the world has.
Then it would also take a universal recognition that greed and capitalism have to be eliminated. Two chances of this…. a fat chance and no chance.
And by the way ,those who are relying on technology to save us are dreamers.
We are doomed, and this will be another blah blah blah talkfest.
Turns out Homo sapiens is not sapiens at all.
Yes, I agree garibaldi. The elephants in the room that no one wants to talk about ‘over population’, ‘greed’, and ‘capitalism’. Our planet has finite resources – capitalism requires ever incresing consumption. The planet will win and be relieved to go on without us.
Don’t give up just yet @ garibaldi.
It may come to pass that woke middle class Greens [and indeed anyone from whatever political party – why pick on the Greens!] can fight for trans mommy blogger 4th wave feminism intersectionist free the nipple vegan cycling indigenous protests and anti fat shaming crusades, end up irrelevant and even scorned. Their only claim to fame, and satisfying their gorgeous egos as rent-a-voices on ‘The Panel’ (I anxiously await Mary-???? Slack and Ben Thomas soon – the former, no doubt having thrown on a bit of lycra and biked up from the ferry to RNZ studios while Benny boy will be zooming in from wherever.
It could be that the natives really really get restless and the politicians, senior managerialist corporatised public servants and their POLS and MDIA equipped handlers (all equipped with the latest books in management theory, and aspiring to greater things) have to get out of their virtual worlds, and get down with some reality. It’s not as though it hasn’t happened before.
Oh ,so there is hope! Thanks for your positivity OWT.
Indeed, OncewasTim. You have inspired me with a new hope. Wait a minute – wasn’t that the name of one of those bloody gormless Star Wars films?
So we are now subcontracting out our carbon reduction targets. FMD.
Great summary.
To anyone proposing to halve our carbon emissions, just say “Oh Yeah! How do you propose to do that?”
That will end the conversation there and then.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cop26-aims-banish-coal-asia-is-building-hundreds-power-plants-burn-it-2021-10-29/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0K3_RTIGdNRqnc_aCrCQw9OB079Ter7tPl-0SXPlWFtn3dSZ719gmpdGI
This is a cop out in so many ways, Labeen for marketing (or maybe understandably embarrassment on our outrageously poor performance) subcontracting out obligations is part of the problem.
NZ has had a despicable relationship with climate change under Labeen. It is hard to reconcile Jacinda’s ‘nuclear free moment’ and the Green Party’s charter, when NZ carbon emissions have INCREASED 2% from 2018 – 2019. NZ is one of the world’s worst performers on emission increases. Its emissions rose by 57% between 1990 and 2018 – the second greatest increase of all industrialised countries. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/21/new-zealand-becomes-first-country-to-force-finance-companies-to-act-on-climate-risks
Too little (and buying off credits instead of makingl change in NZ), what a cop out, and too late, to have any credibility between desired state, marketing spin and gross allegiance to polluting industries like dirty construction, dirty mining, dirty power and dirty transport.
The polluters in NZ, get the subsidies and are allowed to rip off NZ with power and housing, while receiving taxpayer subsidies while telling Kiwis it’s all their fault!
Carbon emission is also not the only problem facing the planet, there is a gross loss of natural spaces and biodiversity.
NZ environment court laws have allowed huge destruction of natural spaces and creatures, while upholding polluter rights to destroy, again and again. The government has not made protecting species a priority, it’s the opposite protecting bad business.
In Auckland, they are proposing and signed off a rubbish dump in a sensitive area, signed off the foreign ownership of the land and the use of it. And have not repealed the resource consent process to remove the easy ability of anybody to fight against the system that allows polluters too flourish.
Goodbye Giant snails for mining, Waiheke blue penguins for another marina, Hectors & Maui dolphin with lack of fishing cameras and protected spaces etc etc
Bear in mind, NZ has a worst performance than Australia in increasing carbon emissions, when watching this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIyKmqEdgR4
Kia Ora
Today I announced an updated and much stronger Paris Agreement target: that the climate pollution after being embarrassed to learn that NZ was one of the worst performers at increasing carbon emissions in the world.
This decade is make or break for the planet and we are helping it be destroyed.
This is the last possible moment before the window of opportunity for change closes, maybe forever. So we have changed from doing something in 2050 to 2030 after realising our emissions have not been cut, but alarmingly rising while we sat on our arses for years in parliament. First it was the Natz fault, then NZ First, now Labour – it’s not us, guys! Please believe us.
To stand a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, the science shows we now have about eight years left to almost halve global greenhouse gas emissions.
A few days ago, the United Nations released their annual stocktake of countries’ emissions reduction targets.
The message was simple: collectively, we are still not aiming high enough. In fact embarrassingly, NZ is one of the worst in the world.
In fact, based on the current intentions of the world’s governments, the world faces a disastrous 2.7C temperature increase, which we helped by importing in coal and our obsession with neoliberalism and concrete and diesel transport run by neoliberal principals of profit is the number one aim of industry.
Tomorrow morning, New Zealand time, the world will gather in Glasgow and create more emissions for this global junket and take up MIQ places, to begin two weeks of talks about what we are going to do to ramp up collective ambition and then do nothing.
In the run-up to these talks countries were asked to submit national plans to cut emissions over the course of the next decade.
These are called Nationally Determined Contributions and are a requirement under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Responding to that challenge, many countries around the world have, in recent months, increased their contribution to the global response to the climate emergency.
Today, New Zealand joins them, but only due to realising that we stand out embarrassingly, in our terrible increase in carbon emissions that will effect our international reputation. We will no longer grace the covers of international magazines as our dirty ways and lack of action is revealed.
Last week our Government announced a four-fold increase in climate-related aid to the Pacific and other nations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
We can’t be assed stopping climate change in NZ, in fact it went up 2% between 2018 – 2019. We have allowed industry to build new housing and buildings in the past decades, without any climate changes in the building act, to make new housing regulations to reduce carbon emissions like solar power and re-using water as mandatory or minimising the use of concrete and high polluting materials.
We actually imported in coal for dirty power, that is poorly run, and are opening new mining on conservation land in NZ.
Today I announced an updated Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement that will require New Zealand to cut net climate pollution by 50 per cent below gross 2005 levels by 2030.
This significant update brings New Zealand more in line with other leading countries’ commitments after realising we stand out as being more of a loser than Australia for carbon emissions. Only Turkey bet us for being more of a hypocrite!
Most crucially, based on the advice of the independent Climate Change Commission, it means our own efforts will be more consistent with global efforts needed to stay within 1.5 degrees of warming. We are not doing to for the planet but to align with other governments piss poor efforts.
It won’t surprise you to know that I don’t think we should rest on our laurels, however.
It is no exaggeration to say that what we do between now and 2030 will determine the quality of life for our children and grandchildren. After we blew the last years in power on divisive identity issues, helping Labour greenwash their terrible performance on environment, and increased our emissions instead of reducing them.
There is no part of Aotearoa, no business, no community, no family whose future will not be shaped in some way by a warmer world. Many NZ industries like transport, construction and mining are getting rich off our lack of action.
With the Greens leading the Government’s response to the climate crisis, a low carbon future for Aotearoa New Zealand is in sight until election time or until our pitiful performance is examined internationally.
A future where our economy and everyday tasks are powered by clean, renewable energy; the air is cleaner breathe; cars are charged overnight by renewables; homes are heated by the power of the sun, and kept warm by insulation; lower energy bills, so there is more money in people’s pockets to enjoy what they love.
We have been doing the opposite since we have been in power for years, but now realise that this is internationally measured and we are a complete failure and world embarrassment.
We’ve come a long way in the fight against catastrophic climate change over the last four years by making it much worse in NZ. Today’s announcement was a good step along the way to sanitise our terrible result, which we only noticed when international newspapers revealed our terrible performance.
We should always strive to do more. We can and we will. Spare a minute to donate to the Green Party! We have your back on climate change, industry.
Nothing to see here, we will buy emission credits from other countries a neoliberal measure to pretend we are doing something while not changing.
Ngā mihi nui,
P.S Forgot to mention our love of intensive farming, and the rise of mega farms where animals are overstocked in sensitive areas like Canterbury. Now live in barns around NZ. Treated cow effluent from Oceania Dairy Ltd (owned by Yili a Chinese state-owned company) is approved to go into the sea for overseas profit centers https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/dairy/dairy-firm-wants-ocean-wastewater-outfall, Polluting and deforestation Palm oil kernel is imported for cows so that we can cram more into smaller spaces.
Oh and milk, cheese and meat is now too expensive to eat in NZ for many. We import in lower quality products from even more inhumane and polluting practises from overseas, and allow the supermarkets to dictate the prices so that many no longer can afford quality food we produce in NZ. Oh and we import in people to employ on intensive farms, because NZ is no longer farmer owned and run, and the new owners who don’t live on the farms, want the lowest, cheapest workers who don’t say boo. (or moo).
It aint that hard to stop because 71% of all emissions come from just 100 companies! Instead somehow the companies get to keep polluting, pay no taxes and actually get money from the taxpayers in subsidies!
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
“Shell and BP, which together produce more than 1.7bn tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, have not paid any corporation tax on oil and gas production in the North Sea for the last three years, company filings reveal.
The oil giants, which have an annual global footprint of greenhouse gases more than five times bigger than Britain’s, are benefiting from billions of pounds of tax breaks and reliefs for oil and gas production.
Shell and BP paid no corporation tax or production levies on North Sea oil operations between 2018 and 2020, and claimed tax reliefs of nearly £400m, according to annual “payments to governments” reports analysed by the Observer.
Over the same three-year period, they paid shareholders more than £44bn in dividends.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/30/shell-and-bp-paid-zero-tax-on-north-sea-gas-and-oil-for-three-years
In NZ our government is also pretending to address climate change, while making it worse.
Way to be cleared for big electricity players to prey on low-income households
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/102708888/way-to-be-cleared-for-big-electricity-players-to-prey-on-lowincome-households
NZ Power Companies are not even Compliant under EU and US Laws!
https://ecotricity.co.nz/nz-powercos-noncompliant-under-eu-us-rules/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=Non+Compliant+Blog+Release&utm_medium=paid&hsa_cam=6116002037136&hsa_src=%5BSITE_SOURCE_NAME%5D&hsa_acc=10152756314334928&hsa_ver=3&hsa_net=facebook&hsa_grp=6116002037536&hsa_ad=6116002037936&fbclid=IwAR0PwZmsmg8Q1b-aevcUijRowgavgNNT36_46yPRedul03imfWS6dSHLapc
Rio Tinto waste – just throw your hazardous waste in the local towns – years of meetings, no action.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/mataura-asks-govt-act
Don’t even mention, that hydrogen and Carbon Capture are a go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSZgoFyuHC8&t=12s
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