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Commentary
Despite the ongoing challenge from Covid-19, it is climate change that should be at the forefront of New Zealanders’ minds when they go to vote, says Rod Oram.
Our most important election in many past and future generations officially begins this Sunday when Parliament is dissolved.
Rightly, Covid-19 will be the most important thing for many voters. Our economic and social well-being for many years depends on how well we respond to and recover from the pandemic.
Conquering this pandemic in a few years is very difficult. But it will be more difficult to prevent irreversible climate change over the next decade, which is how little time we have left to do so. Failure will be more difficult, forcing us to live with accelerated and irreversible climate change.
Thus, in this election, the climate crisis is an even greater test than the pandemic virus of our political maturity and will, of our ability to understand, confront, and resolve existential, but preventable catastrophes of our own making.
Our short election campaigns, fueled by empty sound bites, mindless optics, degrading character assassinations, and political squabbles, seem absolutely the wrong place to grapple with anything complicated, let alone the climate crisis.
But our Commission on Climate Change last week recommended a simple process to do so: “The need for climate action to achieve our vision of a prosperous, climate-resilient and low-emission future is widely understood. Before the 2020 elections, we expect all political parties to come up with ways to support this. “
Many people know in general terms what we must do to tackle the climate crisis; many of the ways we can do it; what are the benefits of doing so; and what are the cost and harm of not doing so.
We are not asking politicians for decades-long, comprehensive and costly policies. All we need from them are genuine commitments to the goals, pathways and cooperation of all parties. From them will flow all the actions and resources we need to decarbonize our economy and respond to the climate crisis.
This has been the UK’s experience since its House of Commons passed the Climate Change Act in 2008 by 645 votes to five. During the 12 years since then, the UK has drastically cut emissions while enjoying stronger economic growth than many other developed countries.
Furthermore, the united political will has rejected some attempts to undo it. Just this week, for example, a private member’s account backed by six parties (but not the Conservatives) was inserted to close some crucial loopholes in the legislation.
Our general zero carbon law is closely based on UK law. It was approved unanimously last December by all parties present. For the record, David Seymour, ACT’s sole MP, did not appear for the vote, but said he would have voted against it.
Our Climate Change Commission and the Interim Climate Change Committee, its pending precursor to last year’s legislation, have already proven their worth. The quality of its reports and advice to the government has contributed to providing clarity and consensus on crucial issues.
One of the most notable ongoing work is with the primary sector to design a fair and practical system to measure and reduce emissions on the farm and the financial mechanisms to do so. The initiative is called He Waka Eke Noa – Primary Sector Climate Action Association.
The Commission has also provided the outgoing Labor-led government with strong advice on how to ensure that our investment in recovering from the Covid crisis works for, not against, our climate goals.
On your April 7 lyrics For the Minister of Climate Change, James Shaw, he listed six principles that would help to obtain multiple results: “clean energy and energy efficiency; better transportation systems; sustainable land use; resilient infrastructure; an empowered workforce; accelerated innovation; and better well-being. “
The Commission is also responding to a request by Shaw in April to assess whether New Zealand needs to increase the commitment we made at the Paris climate negotiations in 2015 to reduce emissions if we are to play our role in keeping rising temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In reality, the verdict is already in the hands of international experts. For example, Climate Action Tracker report on New Zealand assesses our progress to date as consistent with a 3-4 ° C temperature rise. “New Zealand lacks strong policies, despite its Zero Carbon Law.”
So if any party fails to achieve substantial climate commitments in this election, it is telling us three things: it does not believe we will have a climate crisis; does not care that a large majority of people want action on climate change, as polls report, latest programs once again; and the Commission on Climate Change is not taken seriously.
The three layoffs are deeply damaging to our future. But in many ways, the last is the most important. Any party that does not commit to our Climate Change Commission breaks the political consensus absolutely vital to its effectiveness. Even if the party tries to fix that later, it will take voters a long time to trust him on climate issues. Breaking the consensus now will be a long-term electoral responsibility for the party.
Five parties could have a bigger or smaller role to play in shaping the next government, depending on how our votes fall.
ACT and New Zealand First are very clear about their position. They show that they are unable or unwilling to understand the complexity of problems, the importance of addressing them, the benefits of doing so, and the costs of not doing so. Furthermore, NZ First has been a completely negative and unreliable partner on these issues, which has greatly hampered the outgoing government’s policy progress.
National has cast Judith Collins as a leader who utterly disdains the climate crisis and disparages efforts to address it.
National voted for the Zero Carbon Act. But he made it very clear at the time, and would since repeal the legislation on seven issues when he re-forms a government.
That was deeply hypocritical. She voted in favor of legislation that is absolutely crucial to building a durable long-term legislative framework essential for climate progress. But she’s going to turn around and undo it. For details on National’s position, read this column.
You have a history of such actions. It emasculated the Emissions Trading Scheme after it came to power in 2008, rendering the ETS useless for the next 12 years. This year he voted in favor of ETS reforms, but has made it very clear that this is not the right time to charge a significant price on carbon. Therefore, it is very likely that the ETS will stop working a second time, in case it works again.
To make matters worse, National has cast Judith Collins as a leader who utterly disdains the climate crisis and disparages efforts to address it. She has often made her views clear, including her denial of climate science. Her extensive Facebook post last October is a good example of her views, as this column examined.
If Labor led the next government, it could achieve more on the climate. But only if NZ First was out of government; and the Greens were on it.
Labor is committed to responding to the climate crisis. Launching her party’s campaign in the 2017 elections, Jacinda Ardern said it was “the nuclear-free moment of my generation.” Leading the Government in the three years since then, she has complied with the Zero Carbon Law and has finally made the ETS fit for purpose. But their conservatism and NZ First’s filibuster denied us further progress.
If Labor led the next government, it could achieve more on the climate. But only if NZ First was out of government; and the Greens were on it.
Shaw, the co-leader of the Greens, is by far our most informed, constructive, committed and persuasive politician on climate issues. It was he who led all the legislative and political negotiations that made the Zero Carbon Law possible.
An example of Shaw’s knowledge and where he sees an inclusive government of the Greens leading in the next parliament is this webinar this week organized by Conscious money, offering New Zealanders invaluable research on responsible investing.
If you want a future, vote for the weather.
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