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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded to criticism of New Zealand’s climate policies by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, saying New Zealand is doing more than it thinks.
Thunberg retweeted a critical government history in regards to climate change and referred to the “the so-called climate emergency declaration”. He took a line from the article that said, “In other words, the government just committed to reducing less than 1 percent of the country’s emissions by 2025.”
Ardern said he had not seen the tweet, but that it had been described as a “reference to our carbon neutral public service target by 2025.”
“Of course, I would give the context there that if that were the highest ambition of any government, then it would be worthy of criticism.
“It is not our highest ambition. And it is not all of our plans on climate change, ”he said. “But then again, I think it’s really up to us to get on with the business of meeting our obligations and expectations.”
The 1% figure came from a Newsroom story, which Thunberg, 17, shared with his 4.4 million followers. It is unclear if Thunberg thought that a 1% cut was the only emission reduction action New Zealand was taking, however the tweet caused a stir, and climate change minister James Shaw said the government was working the hardest. as quickly as possible and Thunberg was essentially signaling to pull out what was already known.
“That we have a long way to go to reduce the gap between our emissions at the moment and what they should be in the future,” he said.
Last week, Ardern declared a climate emergency and said that the government sector will need to purchase only electric or hybrid vehicles, that the fleet will be reduced over time by 20% and that the 200 coal-fired boilers used in public service buildings will be removed.
An accompanying motion tabled in parliament establishes a Climate Change Commission charged with putting the country on the path to net zero emissions by 2050, making New Zealand one of the few countries to have a zero-emissions target enshrined in the law.
On Monday, Ardern said he was not going to pass judgment on whether Thunberg should have investigated further before his tweet.
“But I still think it’s just a good thing [that] there are people who continue to drive ambition into action. “
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