Government's climate change consultation is a farce

This evening the government is in Wellington as part of its super-fast public consultation about New Zealand's post 2020 emissions reduction target. It must submit this mid-year ahead of the Climate talks in Paris.

The meeting will take place at 7pm, Thorndon Hotel, Hawkestone st.

This follows meetings in Gisborne, Nelson, Invercargill, Rotorua, Whangarei, New Plymouth and Auckland, where people have strongly condemned the framework for consultation and urged an ambitious target and plan for action that reflects the science.
“The consultation is a farce,” says Oil Free Wellington Spokesperson James Barber. “Climate change is the most pressing challenge facing the planet, and yet this government holds three weeks of poorly publicized meetings, and says it is too hard for New Zealand to do its fair share. "

“A meaningful consultation would face up to this challenge and acknowledge the huge cost of doing nothing. It would also ensure the principles of climate justice are included to ensure those who are bearing the brunt of climate change, and have contributed the least, are at the heart of any plan.”

James Barber added “Given what we know about the need to move rapidly to a zero carbon future, a genuine consultation would acknowledge that this is the end of the fossil fuel age and we now need a plan that will ensure a just transition for workers and communities.”

In 2009 the Government held similar "consultations" and ignored the ground swell of opinion calling for a strong emissions reduction target. They even reneged on international pledges and revised down their 2020 target of 10-20% to 5%. There is no reason to believe that the Government has changed their approach.

It is generally accepted that already known fossil fuel reserves exceed the “carbon budget” of what can be released into the atmosphere if we are to have a chance of staying below two degrees of warming.

“As if to illustrate the government’s contempt for this consultation process, the Minister of Energy and Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues, Simon Bridges, was in Australia yesterday, promoting New Zealand as an exploration destination for oil companies.”

"There are no jobs on a dead planet Mr Bridges."

ends

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