Labour says National are “at best greenwashing, at worst they are climate change denying”. The accusations come a day after New Zealand was awarded the dubious honour of Fossil of the Day at Cop27, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday morning, sign up here.
Labour accuses National of greenwashing, being climate change “denying”
Labour is out this morning with some figures based on Ministry of Environment modelling which they say shows “the net effect of constantly opposing policies to reduce emissions leaves Christopher Luxon with a hole greater than Auckland’s annual emissions twice over if he keeps New Zealand’s climate targets.” Labour’s climate change spokesperson Megan Woods said: “When Luxon came in as the saviour of the National Party he called climate change the ‘preeminent issue of our generation, without doubt’ and ‘the number one issue around the world we have to deal with’ – what happened? At best the National Party is greenwashing, at worst they are climate change denying.”
“Always a great idea to release statements late on a Saturday night when everyone is partying and maybe too hungover”
These very strong words have been rebuked by National’s acting climate change spokesman Todd Muller who called the attack a “desperate beat-up by the Labour Party”. National backed the Zero Carbon Act last term, although it wants to make some changes. The party is yet to release its final climate policy ahead of the election. Labour’s swing comes a day after New Zealand was awarded “Fossil of the Day” at Cop27, an award designed to shame countries that stymie progress at global climate talks. You can see the certificate for yourself right here. It’s awarded by the Climate Action Network (CAN). The statement from CAN notes that it’s “always a great idea to release low-ambition climate statements late on a Saturday night when everyone is partying and maybe too hungover.”
Government pledges another $15m from last year’s $1.3b funding commitment
As Stuff’s Olivia Wannan reports, the Fossil of the Day award is for our statement supporting a call by other developed countries for negotiations on creating a central loss and damage fund to carry on for two more years. Minister of climate change James Shaw said “We want to make sure we don’t foreclose any options on the precise arrangements for how loss and damage funding is delivered, as small countries like those in the Pacific can find working with the large global funds quite difficult and frustrating.” The government pledged another $15m yesterday towards assisting countries with adapting to the impacts of climate change. That will be drawn from the $1.3b funding commitment made last year.
“We are not drowning, we are fighting”.
This issue of loss and damage is being pushed hard at Cop27 by smaller and developing nations. Ellen Rykers covered it very well in last week’s edition of our environment newsletter, Future Proof and will pick up more Cop27 coverage in today’s edition. Our statement about wanting the loss and damage fund negotiations to carry on for two more years was in support of a call from the UK. The UK has failed to pay out more than $300m that it promised to two key climate funds. Concerns are mounting about Rishi Sunak’s commitment to climate change. In our neck of the woods, Pacific nations are calling out Australia and the US on their lack of progress, taking to the streets to protest, chanting ”We are not drowning, we are fighting”.