Today’s pledge from the National Party to deliver net zero carbon by 2050 is a bad-faith, disingenuous, and empty promise.

“The National Party’s faux climate pledge isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, coming just days after they promised to cut billions of dollars of climate action,” says the Green Party co-leader James Shaw.

National have promised to:

• Defund the entire climate change work programme, across government, in order to fund tax cuts
• Restart fossil fuel exploration and extraction
• Delay agricultural emissions pricing by another half a decade
• Cancel the successful Clean Car Discount that is driving massive adoption of EVs around the country
• Cancel support for industries that are switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy

“National say they are committed to climate action on the one hand, but their actual policies make a lie of that commitment. It is disingenuous at best, straight up dishonest at worst.

“Their 2050 pledge is a sleight of hand designed to disguise their real intentions. Make no mistake: National will relegate climate action to the margins.

“National’s coalition partner, the ACT Party, have also promised to restart drilling for fossil fuels. ACT have also said they will repeal the Zero Carbon Act and get rid of the Climate Commission.

“A National-ACT government will be as unscientific as it is dangerous. I cannot think of a greater risk to New Zealand’s climate action than a National-ACT government.

“If National want to be taken seriously on any pledge to achieve net zero emissions, then they need to outline policies that might actually deliver that such as guaranteeing they won’t cave to ACT and repeal the Zero Carbon Act, and pledging to follow the advice of the Climate Commission. Just saying they're committed to net-zero won't deliver it.

“As part of the Government over the past six years, the Green Party has delivered New Zealand’s first year-on-year cuts to climate pollution ever. But we know that we are only just getting started.

“The decisions that will be made in the next term of Parliament will determine the speed and scale of climate action in Aotearoa for the next fifteen years. It is critical that we continue to build momentum.

“To make it happen, we need more Green MPs and Ministers around the decision making table,” says James Shaw.

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