“Three more years” was the cry of National supporters in the lead up to this election, and what a three years they promise to be. This will be a crucial period for action on climate change, with reports coming out almost weekly outlining the growing urgency to act. It is imperative that our government step up to address this, the challenge of our time. For in the words of Naomi Klein, “climate change isn’t an ‘issue’ to add to the list of things to worry about, next to health care and taxes. It’s a civilisational wake-up call… spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts and extinctions.”
As a member of the New Zealand Youth Delegation to this years’ round of UNFCCC negotiations in Lima, my dream is to stand proudly alongside our government’s delegation, knowing that we are doing all we can to transition to a low/zero carbon economy. The success of the Lima conference will depend upon countries bringing strong commitments to the table, and New Zealand is currently lagging behind. Our government has set a target of a five percent reduction by 2020, but lacks a clear plan to get us there. New Zealand will need to make much greater commitments, backed by a clear plan to achieve them, if we are to be a part of tackling this shared problem.
New Zealand’s five percent target is woefully inadequate. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that developed countries need to reduce emissions between 25 and 40 percent by 2020 to keep below the 2° threshold.¹ Data released this week from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Friends of the Earth indicates that developed nations such as New Zealand will need to make even more ambitious cuts in order to have a globally fair pattern of decarbonisation which recognises historical emissions.²
What’s more, we must act now; according to the International Energy Agency’s chief economist Fatih Birol, we must make major changes by 2017. If not, our existing energy infrastructure will use up our entire carbon budget for keeping global average warming to 2°C, the ‘safe’ limit which governments have agreed upon.³ Essentially, if we don’t act now we may end up “locked in” to dangerous levels of climate change.
It is far past time for the Right to step up to confronting the enormity of climate change: this is not a left wing ‘issue’, but a global threat to our ability to thrive on this planet, and our leaders must grant it the importance and urgency that it deserves. There are many here in New Zealand who understand this. In the lead up to this election, 62, 000 kiwis signed on as ‘Climate Voters’, pledging to use their vote to support action on climate change, and over 13, 000 tuned in to the live streaming of the Greenpeace-hosted Climate Voter Debate. Working on this campaign gave me a unique insight into just how many New Zealanders are concerned about climate change, and what a diverse group we are. We understand the complexity of addressing climate change, and we are hungry for climate change policy to transcend party politics. As John Key enters another term in government, we are his mandate for introducing bold targets and strong policies. It is time for Key to act upon our mandate and deliver credible action on climate. The people, and the science, demand it.
1. http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/
2. http://www.climatefairshares.org/
3. http://www.iea.org/publications/worldenergyoutlook/publications/weo-2011/