Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

In a surprise speech to a Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles US President-Elect Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet to global leaders over climate change.

“Now’s the time to confront this challenge once and for all,” he says. “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. Too often, Washington has failed to show leadership……that will change when I take office. My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change.”

He says all nations willing to fight climate change have an ally in the US.

Which begs the question: what is New Zealand to America, now we have a government that’s not even sure it believes in manmade climate change and has pledged to dismantle every single piece of New Zealand climate policy in its first two weeks in power?

National’s John Key is looking to be more sizzle than sausage on climate change…

It feels like the 80s, when coal fired power stations were still considered cool and global warming was something to worry about in the 22nd century. At least that’s how the new Government is behaving. Its confidence and supply arrangement with ACT includes the following: ditching the 10 year moratorium on new fossil fuel generation, “reviewing” the ETS (read: either scrapping it or watering it down to the point of redundancy) and maybe even…wait for it….reviewing the science on climate change.

In other words, Key is proposing to drag New Zealand backwards into the mud of global disgrace and irrelevancy. Can you imagine what it’s going to do for our country to be branded the latest climate deniers? I can see it now….as the US steps down from this unenviable dais, Rodney steps up, arms aloft in a yellow splash of victory. Read more »

I’m considering building a panic room. No, not for if the US elections go horribly wrong, but because the 2008 Vote for the Environment poll has confirmed that neither of New Zealand’s two main political parties cuts it when it comes to climate change.

As the NZ general election looms, Vote for the Environment looks at the fact that New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly increasing, our oceans are being depleted of fish, our rivers, lakes and streams are polluted and our treasured native plants and animals face extinction. The survey asked all eight political parties whether they’d implement 25 environmental policies identified as critical to turn around this decline in New Zealand’s environment. They were invited to say “yes” or “no” and given space to qualify or otherwise comment on their answers. Read more »

Update: The debate can be viewed here.

In Wellington today (2 April 2008) at 7:00 PM, chaired by Sean Plunket from Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report and hosted by Greenpeace, NZ politicians are to debate which party’s climate policy is most on target to tackle climate change.

A live video webcast will be available at: http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/webcast from 7PM - 830PM
Read more »

Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior blocks the State Owned Enterprise Solid Energy’s coal ship the Hellenic Sea from leaving the Port of Lyttelton. (C) Greenpeace / Dimitri Sharomov

Our action in Lyttelton was intended to highlight the double standards of a Government that happily boasts about its climate change policies while at the same time allowing the expansion of coal mining and coal exports from New Zealand.

Not only are they playing both sides of the game here, but the policies they do have in place are nothing to crow about either.

The National Party also talk a lot about climate change but don’t actually have any real policies in place to deliver emission reductions.

So, with the election approaching, we thought we’d try and find out a bit more about what the different political parties are really committing themselves to do.

In January, we sent a survey to all NZ political parties with 20 questions covering a range of issues about climate change including emission reduction targets, domestic emission reductions, agriculture, transport, energy, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, our international obligations, and social equity.

Read more »