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The Australian government is obviously heartily sick of being finger-wagged by the holier-than-thou Ardern government. Especially over climate change.
At last year’s Pacific Island Forum, Jacinda Ardern repeatedly threw pointed sneers at Australia, and PM Scott Morrison in particular. Ardern smugly declared that “Australia has to answer to the Pacific” on climate change. With her unrivalled penchant for self-righteousness, Ardern further asserted that “we will continue to say that New Zealand will do our bit…we have to”.
Yeah, about that…
Coalition MPs have accused New Zealand of hypocrisy over climate change, as the Ardern government looks set to use carry-over credits to hit its 2020 Kyoto target despite its opposition to Australia using the credits to meet its Paris reductions target.
So, who’s really doing their bit?
New Zealand plans to use 27.7 million tonnes worth of credits from outperforming the 2012 target to meet this year’s Kyoto deadline of reducing emissions by 5 per cent on 1990 levels. While New Zealand must use credits to meet its 2020 target, Australia is forecast to beat its 2020 target by 287 million tonnes without the use of the carry-over mechanism.
So, New Zealand is resorting to doing what was derided as dodgy double-counting by the Green lobby, when Australia did it. The only way New Zealand can even pretend to meet its present obligations is by borrowing from the legacy work done long before Ardern came to power. Green-flag-waving Ardern is failing to produce any meaningful action on emissions, while supposed “denier” Morrison is easily beating Australia’s targets.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said Australia had “to answer to the Pacific” for its climate change position, piled pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison at last year’s Pacific Islands Forum to back a UN commitment to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, which her government has agreed to do.
But New Zealand government figures show the country is forecast to fail to meet its Paris target to reduce emissions by 30 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.
New Zealand Climate Change Minister James Shaw said last week there was an “allergic reaction” to using carry-over credits to meet 2030 Paris targets despite NZ’s use of carry-over credits to meet its 2020 target.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Shaw said he was opposed to countries using Kyoto credits to meet their Paris targets.
Yet, that is exactly what his government is going to do.
Australian politicians are lining up to kick back at the sanctimonious Kiwi lefties.
Barnaby Joyce was also among government MPs who took aim at the New Zealand comments.
“They say in the country when your neighbour starts quoting the Bible, start counting your sheep,” Mr Joyce said.
“And when New Zealand starts quoting environmental policy, start counting your carbon credits.
Other government ministers were even less forgiving, after enduring two years of sanctimony from the Ardern government.
LNP senator Gerard Rennick declared Australia could reduce its domestic emissions by deporting the more than 600,000 New Zealanders living in Australia.
theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/new-zealand-blasted-for-climate-hypocrisy/
New Zealand, on the other hand, might more easily meet the obligations it so hypocritically touts, simply by putting an end to the stinking clouds of methane its livestock emit.
I’m not talking farming, by the way: cows and sheep actually serve a useful purpose. I’m referring to the endless gaseous outpourings from the Beehive.
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