The Government’s draft Emissions Reduction Plan offers no credible pathway to tackling the climate emergency and meeting Aotearoa’s climate targets, says the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) New Zealand.

The plan, out for consultation today, is supposed to set out a roadmap for reducing Aotearoa’s emissions between 2026-2030.

WWF-New Zealand’s CEO, Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, says the plan exposes this Government’s utter lack of ambition and unwillingness to actually ‘walk the talk’ on climate change.

“Our political leaders have been talking a big game and claiming both to New Zealanders and our major trading partners that they’re committed to meeting our climate change targets – but this plan is simply more hot air.

“So far this Government has defunded the Climate Emergency Response Fund and ended critical support to help industry decarbonise, scrapped successful policies like the clean car discount, and is now pushing to expand extractive industries like coal mining and offshore oil and gas drilling.

“It doesn’t take a climate expert to see that their maths don’t add up. You can’t bin your most effective emissions reduction policies, replace them with nothing of substance, and then expect to see a balanced emissions budget. It’s simply disingenuous.

“What’s more, this plan exposes an embarrassing and glaring hole in how we’re going to meet our climate commitments under the Paris Agreement – something we’re going to be held accountable for in a number of our Free Trade Agreements,” Kingdon-Bebb warns.

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WWF says the Government’s commitment to prioritising nature-based solutions in New Zealand’s climate response is a welcome step, but says more detail is needed to ensure this isn’t merely aspirational – and that, consistent with commitments in New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan, any adverse impacts of climate action on indigenous biodiversity are mitigated.

“It’s good to see the Government recognises the role nature can play in our climate response – but this plan simply offers vague commitments to plant more trees in the future and nothing in the short-term that will turn this ambition into action,” says Kingdon-Bebb.

“Scaling up and accelerating climate action in Aotearoa is essential – but it is critical that we do this in ways that actually reduce gross emissions and support the recovery of our declining native species and ecosystems.

“We need to give priority to nature-positive climate actions (like restoring coastal wetlands, making room for our rivers to run, and planting and restoring native forests) over those that will further degrade our natural environment. Further, given the dire state of New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity, there should be no contemplation of carbon farming exotic tree species on public conservation land.”

WWF says it hopes the Government will take on board feedback received through the consultation to ensure its final Emissions Reduction Plan sets out a more credible pathway to tackling the twin crises of climate change and nature loss, and properly addresses the scale of the challenge we face.

“Last week’s climate ‘strategy’ was a single page of platitudes and indicative examples, sandwiched by a photo of the Minister and a rehash of our existing commitments. We were holding out for more detail in the draft Emissions Reduction Plan – but it falls far short of what’s required,” says Kingdon-Bebb.

“Sadly, it seems like this Government’s ‘strategy’ for tackling the climate emergency is to rely on technology that doesn’t yet exist and see if it can get away with doing the absolute bare minimum. At a time when countries around the world are scaling up action on climate change and nature loss, New Zealand is falling wildly out-of-step.

“There’s still time to create a low emissions future for Aotearoa – but we need to see meaningful, urgent action. Cheap talk and magical thinking won’t get us there.”

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