Climate change analysis slams NZ plans – 13-Jul

It also points out, as domestic critics of the target have and as Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has conceded, that it does not put New Zealand on a direct, straight line path to its longer-term goal of a 50 per cent reduction by 2050, unlike other major economies such as the European Union or the United States.

New Zealand’s provisional target is to reduce emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 which is equivalent to 11 per cent below 1990 levels.

CAT, a joint initiative of four European research organisations, is assessing the national plans for fairness and ambition – and placed New Zealand’s firmly in the “inadequate” category.

Other countries deemed inadequate include Australia, Canada and Russian Federation. It may not have to take any action at all to meet either its 2020 or 2030 targets, ” Hare said.

But analysts say under the government’s proposed accounting rules, the country’s emissions could actually increase 11% over the 40-year period.

Ecofys scientist Kornelis Blok said New Zealand’s climate change policy is bucking the worldwide trend, leaning away from becoming a greener society. The likely consequence of this would see oceans acidifying, coral reefs dissolving, larger sea level rise, and massive loss of species.

WA Liberals Dennis Jensen and Chris Back, who last month backed a motion at the party’s Federal council calling for an inquiry into the evidence of climate change before Australia committed to its targets, welcomed the PM’s announcement.

The Abbott government is expected to submit its reduction target by the end of July to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change before the United Nations climate conference in Paris at the end of the year.

All countries are expected to table targets as part of work towards a new climate change agreement, due to be concluded in Paris in December.

As indicated by a report released Monday by the Climate Council – an Australian nonprofit – the country needs to cut its emissions by between 40 percent and 60 percent from 2000 levels by 2030.

“Almost 80 percent of our electricity is renewable already, and around half our emissions come from producing food, for which there aren’t yet cost-effective technologies to reduce emissions. Moreover, while the U.S. policies are projected to lead to real reductions in GHG emissions, excluding LULUCF and declining per capita emissions of these gases, New Zealand’s policies are not”.

“However, I’m optimistic about the future – our investment in agricultural research is beginning to bear fruit, and the cost of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles continues to fall”.

“In setting the new target, the Government needed to ensure it was achievable and to avoid imposing unfair costs on any particular sector or group of people”.