Tuesday, February 11, 2020



Climate Change: Not leading

In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until the task was done.

Well, the first five years have passed. And guess how many countries have offered new, improved NDCs by the deadline? Only three. And shamefully, New Zealand wasn't one of them. We said we would at the climate summit last year, but we haven't actually done it. So much for "high ambition". So much for "leadership". And so much for "my generation's nuclear free moment". In reality, this government is just like all its predecessors: all foot-dragging and hot air.