Press release - April 20, 2007
The angst around New Zealand's Kyoto liability is the inevitable consequence of delaying efforts to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, Greenpeace said today.
As Greenpeace activists ocupy the proposed Marsden B coal fired power station, the the sun rises over the beach on the day the Kyoto Protocol comes into force in Ruakaka, New Zealand.
Greenpeace Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid said that since we
signed Kyoto New Zealand could have been steadily reducing
emissions. But no policies were yet in place.
"Since Kyoto, we have sat back smugly, relying totally on
forests to soak up carbon, and not lifting a finger to reduce our
actual greenhouse gas emissions else. This has made us the 7th
worst country in the OECD for emission increases," said Greenpeace
Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid.
"In 1995, we warned the Government (1) that if it relied on
forests to soak up our emissions, it would end up in big trouble.
And that's exactly where we are today," she said.
She pointed out that not a single policy was yet in place to
encourage New Zealand to reduce its C02 emissions.
"Judging by the Government's current proposals, we cannot expect
any policies to deliver emissions reductions until at least 2012.
In this time, we can only expect our liaibility to continue to go
up," she said.
Greenpeace said the Government needs to introduce a bold package
of policy measures to reduce emissions and called for a carbon tax
to be introduced immediately.
"The longer New Zealand as a whole waits to act on Kyoto the
more we pay."
Other contacts: Media: Cindy Baxter 021 772 661
Interviews: Bunny McDiarmid 021 838 183
Notes: (1) Hamilton, K, B Hare and B Weeber (1995) The New Zealand Effect: Why sinks Won't Save the Climate. Greenpeace, ECO and Forest and Bird.