Addressing the grave issue of climate change, New Zeland has declared a “climate emergency”.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told legislators on Wednesday that the climate emergency declaration was an acknowledgement of the next generation – an acknowledgement of the burden that they will carry if we do not get this right and do not take action now”.
The motion, which passed Parliament by 76 voted to 43, called climate change “one of the greatest challenges of our time”. The legislators noted “devastating impact that volatile and extreme weather will have on New Zealand” as well as the “alarming trend in species decline”.
“In those cases where we do issue declarations, it is often where there is a threat to life, a threat to property, and civil defence emergencies,” Ardern said in Parliament. “If we do not respond to climate change, we will continue to have these emergencies on our shores.”
New Zealand now joins 32 other countries that have declared a climate emergency. They include Japan, Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
The government promised the public sector will achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Government agencies would have to measure and report emissions and offset any they cannot cut by 2025.
The programme will be backed by a 200 million NZ dollar ($141m) fund to finance replacing coal boilers and help purchase electric or hybrid vehicles, it said.
In her first term she passed a Zero Carbon Bill, which sets the framework for net zero emissions by 2050 with an exemption for farming and banned new offshore oil and gas exploration.
Nearly half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mainly methane.
Greenpeace welcomed the declaration but challenged the government to follow through with policy and action.
However critics say that Ardern’s government is not doing enough to enhance New Zealand’s “clean, green”, reputation since she took office in 2017.
Climate Action Tracker – a science-led independent assessment service – rates New Zealand’s climate policies “insufficient” to meet its goals under the 2015 Paris climate accord.
