Appearing on Breakfast on TV One, the National Party leader
refused to criticise Australian the Prime Minister and US
President's position on Kyoto, saying the two leaders were "going
in the right direction".
"This is disgraceful," said Greenpeace Executive Director Bunny
McDiarmid. "These are the two leaders who are doing their best to
derail the Kyoto process at APEC, in order to avoid taking real
action on climate change.
"Bush and Howard first denied climate change was even an issue,
and have since fought tooth and nail to avoid taking any
responsibility for it.
To say they are heading in the right directionis just wrong.
"If Bush and Howard got their way, countries would adopt
'aspirational' rather than binding targets to fix the problem.
'Aspirational' is code for voluntary, and would put progress on
combating climate change back by 12 years, at a time when climate
scientists say we've really only got eight years left to act.
"For John Key to support this stance makes a complete mockery of
his previous claim that his party takes climate change very
seriously.
Ms McDiarmid said Kyoto may not be perfect, but it's the best
international tool to fight climate change, "and it's imperative
that it remains in place and is strengthened for the post 2012
commitment period".
She also pointed out that both John Howard and George Bush were
pushing nuclear power at APEC as a solution to greenhouse gas
emissions.
"I'm assuming this is what John Key was referring to when he
said on Breakfast that what Bush and Howard are really saying is
'let's find a technological solution to these problems'.
"If that's a direction John Key supports, then he's completely
out of step with his electorate. New Zealanders do not support
nuclear power, and for good reason."
Ms McDiarmid said it was extremely worrying that both New
Zealand's main political parties were happy to talk a whole lot of
rhetoric over climate change but not match that talk with
action."What with the New Zealand Government's recent performance
at a United Nations climate change meeting in Vienna*, and John
Key's endorsement of Bush and Howard, I am extremely concerned
about
New Zealand overall position."
Notes
* Officials from 158 countries met in Vienna last week to agree
the next steps for negotiating phase two of Kyoto.
The final agreement concludes that a target of emission cuts in
the range of 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels, by 2020, is a useful
initial parameter to set future emission reductions by
industrialised countries. Experts say these are the sort of
reductions required to avoid dangerous levels of climate
change.
But the agreement was no thanks to the New Zealand government,
which, despite all its at-home posturing over climate change,
behaved obstructively and shamefully during the negotiations. It
objected to the goal of 25-40 per cent cuts, saying it would be too
demanding.
Exp. contact date: 2007-10-06 00:00:00