New Zealand increases climate pledge, aims to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2030
Aotearoa aims to tackle climate change by halving its net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw announced the new goal in a statement on Sunday a day before the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) would begin in Glasgow. The pledge is the Governments new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the global push to lower emissions, and is made under the framework first hammered out in the Paris Agreement. It is significantly higher than the target set by the National Government in 2015. The country initially pledged to cut emissions by 39 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. But in January, the Climate Change Commission found that the pledge needed to be higher and Ardern previously said the Government would submit a tougher target . 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A whopping two-thirds of the reduction could come from purchasing offshore climate offsets or other global reductions New Zealand purchases, rather than a domestic cut. As it is a net target it will take into account things like forestry offsets that take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, meaning the overall gross emissions will likely not reduce by as much as 50 per cent. And despite being a net target, its a 50 per cent reduction on gross emissions from 2005. New Zealand and other countries have long used this accounting trick. It also uses a carbon budget approach which spreads the target over the years 2021-2030. In that period the reduction is instead 41 per cent on 2005 levels, compared to 30 per cent in the older NDC. Oxfam, Greenpeace, and Lawyers for Climate Action all criticised these accounting methods and said the target should be higher. Lets be real here, this is not our fair share. The government has changed the way they count our emissions reductions to make them look like they are doing more than they are, Oxfam Aotearoa Executive Director Rachael Le Mesurie said. Under the Paris Agreement a legally binding international treaty on climate change countries such as Aotearoa agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and try to limit temperature increases to no more than 1.5C. Nationals climate change spokesman Stuart Smith said the target was unrealistic and could cripple New Zealands economy. It is true that other countries have announced similar target numbers to this, but we need to consider that New Zealand already has high levels of renewable electricity production and higher levels of agricultural emissions. This makes a 50 per cent target much harder for New Zealand to achieve, Smith said. National supports using global carbon markets to achieve our targets, but there is no sense in setting a target that over-reaches and simply signs New Zealand up to a huge bill as we buy units from overseas. New Zealands enhanced contribution to the global effort to fight climate change now represents our fair share, and is in line with whats needed if we are to avoid the worst impacts of global warming on New Zealand, Ardern said. Climate change is a priority for the Government because its a threat to our economy, our environment and our everyday lives. Lifting our commitment is an investment in a stable climate that will benefit us all in the future. While we are a small contributor to global emissions, as a county surrounded by oceans and an economy reliant on our land we are not immune to the impact of climate change, so its critical we pull our weight. Shaw said the improved target we are announcing today brings New Zealand up to speed with other countries commitments. It is a huge improvement from where we were before. This decade was make or break for the planet, he said. The Paris Agreement recognises that while countries need to take action at home, they can also work with other nations to cut emissions. That is why New Zealands new NDC goes beyond the domestic emissions budgets Cabinet has agreed to in principle, Shaw said. To meet our new NDC the first priority will be to reduce emissions at home and to do so in a fair and equitable way. This will be driven by the Emissions Reduction Plan we will publish next year. We will then add to this by working to reduce emissions in other parts of the world. The priority here will be to support developing countries in the Asia-Pacific to meet their Sustainable Development Goals," Shaw said. What we see from other countries is that once emissions start to come down, it is possible to pick up the pace of change, while also cutting costs and creating new opportunities. We fully expect the same to happen in New Zealand. And so, as we start to work with other countries and cut our own emissions, I hope we can raise the bar for our NDC again in the future.