The Key government’s cover story for doing nothing on climate change is that NZ should not lead, we should be “fast followers”. Well, we’re not even that. James Shaw tweeted this morning:
NZ amongst the many nations to fail the first test of the Paris climate deal.
.. with a link to:
The dog ate it: late climate homework
Today the world was supposed to discover whether or not it can succeed in agreeing to a global climate treaty in Paris in December. That deal is to be based on “national contributions”—aims and policies that countries promise to implement after 2020. Individual states are supposed to announce their contributions by March 31st. Needless to say, most haven’t.
That would be us.
Today’s deadline was informal: participants were merely invited to meet it. But a global treaty failed in Copenhagen in 2009 partly because negotiators felt blindsided. The process adopted for Paris was intended to avoid that. It has flunked its first test.
This piece is not an April Fools joke – though in a rational world it would be.
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