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As the country plans its recovery from the coronavirus, health professionals are calling for a focus on climate change.
OraTaiao and Lawyers for Action on Climate Change said the dual threat of climate and coronavirus was an opportunity for the Government to target the 2020 Budget to combat climate change.
Furthermore, the government could face legal challenges if it does not consider climate change when choosing coronavirus recovery projects, the lawyers warned.
“What we have now is really a turning point,” said Dr. Alex Macmillan, co-coordinator of the New Zealand Council on Climate and Health, OraTaiao.
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“The government cannot allow us to go back to business as usual, because that old business was both unhealthy and unfair.”
It was time for the government to be transparent about the environmental costs of its future investments, Macmillan said.
OraTaiao wanted to see investments in housing, renewable energy and plant-based food systems to create jobs, tackle climate change and reduce inequality, he said.
OraTaiao has sent a letter to the Minister and Associate Ministers of Finance signed by more than 70,000 health professionals, from the front line response to the pandemic, requesting funds from the 2020 Budget to prioritize a low emission economy.
Ross Giblin / Things
Grant Robertson says the government takes its climate responsibility very seriously.
In addition, the Lawyers for Climate Action group is asking the government to consider the environmental impact of some “shovel-ready” projects on the table.
President of Lawyers for Action on Climate Change, Jenny Cooper, said that if it were not, the Government could face legal action.
“What we have not seen is an articulated criterion or framework under which they will make these decisions.”
Dominion-Post
A crowd of 40,000 marched from School Strike 4 Climate in September last year.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the government took its responsibility to look after future generations seriously.
“We are already making sure that our infrastructure investments prepare the future of the economy against the challenges we face, including climate change.
“For example, when we announced the $ 12 billion NZ upgrade program in January, we prepared for the future a number of previous highway projects by upgrading them to include public transportation options such as bus lanes, as well as options for walking and riding a bicycle”.
On April 15, in a speech to Business New Zealand, Robertson said that climate change will continue to be a major challenge long after the effects of the pandemic.
“Our economic recovery should be one in which emissions continue to decrease and more sustainable technologies are invested and adopted.”
President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians New Zealand, Dr. Jeff Brown, signed the letter, saying the action on climate change was part of his ongoing campaign to make health equity “the norm” for everyone.
Brown said that healthy homes, healthy jobs, and healthy tamariki and whānau could be part of that new normal.
College Midwifery Executive Director Alison Eddy said there was “an urgent need” for the government to consider the life expectancy of the next generation amid climate change.
“There is a fundamental obligation to support intergenerational justice to ensure that the environment is safe and protected for our children.”
Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the government was currently lending tens of billions of dollars from future generations to help overcome the current crisis.
Dominion-Post Climate Change Minister James Shaw to date says New Zealand’s progress on climate change has not been fast enough.
“If we don’t use that help to solve climate change, then we will be rebuilding our economy by also mortgaging the planet’s ecological future, and that will be detrimental to the well-being of our children.”
The cabinet recently agreed that all major government decisions should be viewed under a lens of climate change, he said.
“Our new assessment of climate implications policies will ensure that cabinet ministers are aware of the implications of the recovery package for New Zealand’s future greenhouse gas emissions.”
Progress to date has been limited and “not fast enough,” Shaw said.
“New Zealand’s latest annual inventory of greenhouse gases shows us that. While we are beginning to turn the curve towards a climate-friendly future in New Zealand, there is still a long way to go.”
