Hang your head in shame Kiwi – NZ awarded ‘Fossil of the Day’ at COP30

This…

New Zealand awarded dubious ‘Fossil of the Day’ at COP30 climate talks

New Zealand has been given the ignominious ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at the COP30 global climate summit, for its decision to weaken methane emissions policies.

– Advertisement –

It’s the fourth time in five years that New Zealand has received the dud award, handed out by climate NGO Climate Action Network International and designed to shame countries that block progress at the annual talks.

New Zealand was last named Fossil of the Day in 2023, for the National-led government’s decision to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.

It has previously been given the award in 2022 for pushing to delay setting up a loss and damage fund to compensate poorer countries bearing the brunt of climate change-fuelled extreme weather, and in 2021 for the then-Labour government’s decision not to update New Zealand’s emissions target.

Unlike carbon dioxide, which warms the atmosphere for centuries, methane is a short-lived gas but has huge warming potential.

Reducing methane has attracted growing attention as an ’emergency brake’ on warming while the world works on technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and remove them from the air.

But in October, the government said it would lower New Zealand’s methane emissions target, after a review found that was sufficient to meet a controversial ‘no additional warming’ goal.

It also scrapped an earlier promise to introduce a price on agricultural methane by 2030.

…as this also happens…

New Zealand slumps again in climate-change league table

New Zealand has tumbled in an international climate-change league table, with authors now ranking it as “low-performing”.

The country fell three places to 44th in the Climate Change Performance Index, after already falling seven places last year.

The report’s authors said New Zealand’s continued slump was mainly due to a series of policy changes that amounted to “backsliding” on climate action.

…the total capitulation to the mining industry, Big Dairy and the polluters is in stark contrast to the catastrophic climate warming events we are witnessing in real time.

The climate deniers are winning and we need to acknowledge that only militant and violent action against those polluter interests are the only viable way forward to force the climate deniers to change now.

We are in an age of consequences and allowing these rich prick corporations to continue to advance their agenda at the cost of the common good can no longer be tolerated.

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.