Prime Minister John Key has urged the world’s major economies to listen to the voices of vulnerable nations facing climate change. .. The current system of limited participation under the Kyoto Protocol had to be moved to one of “comprehensive global coverage”, he said.
“For this to be achieved we need international commitments from all major emitters that accommodate diverse national approaches to mitigation and adaptation,” he said.
“At this conference we need leadership from the major economies; they need to listen to the voices of vulnerable nations that are facing the harsh realities of climate change.
“For New Zealand, we are acutely aware of the challenge climate change poses for our Pacific island neighbours.” … “Now is the time for us to set aside our differences and to collectively map a pathway forward.
“Now is the time for every country to give a little so we as a world can gain a lot.
“But now is the time for us all to face the reality that of all the options on the table at Copenhagen, failure is the one we can all least afford.”
A review of New Zealand’s position on an international climate change league table has seen us relegated to a position equal with cellar dwellers China, the United States and Australia.
The multi-agency Climate Action Tracker used the latest United Nations information to review New Zealand’s 10-20 per cent 2020 emissions target, later dropping our ranking from “medium” to “inadequate”.
Prime Minister John Key said this week – before leaving for Copenhagen – that the “knowledgeable” climate watch group had assessed New Zealand as being in the “medium” group of countries, which showed New Zealand was in “pretty good shape”. Climate negotiations minister Tim Groser had also referred to the “medium” ranking in Copenhagen this week saying it showed New Zealand was doing its share.
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The Sustainability Council’s Simon Terry reviewed the rankings last weekend and concluded that New Zealand’s “medium” rating was wrong. Yesterday he said there were other problems with the target that had not been picked up. “What climate tracker has yet to report is that there are essentially no gains for the environment from New Zealand’s pledge on current plans, just the temporary storage of emissions in trees that are to be chopped down in the 2020s,” he said.
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