By Elishya Perera
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CWBN)_Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s criticism over the New Zealand Government’s declaration on climate change.
Taking to twitter, Thunberg said the “so-called climate emergency declaration” of New Zealand is “nothing unique to any nation”.
The 17-year-old quoted an article from New Zealand’s Newsroom which claimed that the government’s pledge to phase out coal boilers in the country following the declaration of the climate emergency, would only reduce New Zealand’s emissions by 483,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, out of its total emissions of 78.9 million tonnes a year, which Thunberg pointed out was a reduction of less than 1 percent of the country’s emissions by 2025.
However, Ardern said this is not the totality of New Zealand’s plans on climate change. “If that was the sum ambition of any government, then that would be worthy of criticism,” the Prime Minister noted.
Ardern also added that she thinks it is a “good thing that there are people out there continuing to urge ambition and action”.
However, New Zealand’s climate change minister, James Shaw, was not all praises of Thunberg’s criticism. “Greta Thunberg is essentially pointing out what we already know,” he hit back.
The minister said the climate change declaration is not an end in itself. “[…]rather it signals our intent to do everything we can to tackle the climate crisis and build a better, safer future for our kids and grandkids.”
Despite the government’s declaration of the climate emergency on December 2, Ardern was not invited to speak at the UN Climate Summit held on Saturday (Dec 12), which suggested New Zealand’s poor record on climate action has put the country out of favour with better-performing nations.
“We will not be commenting on the participation of individual leaders […] But the three co-hosts – the UN, UK and France – provided all member states with very clear guidance from the outset that speaking slots would go to countries and other actors who show the most ambition right now,” Slewin Hart, the climate advisor to the UN secretary-general, said.
Participating in the Summit which was hosted by the United Kingdom, Alok Sharma, the British minister tasked with leading UN climate talks, said world leaders are failing to show the necessary level of ambition towards climate action.
He said that despite “real progress” made during the Summit, however, the climate plans for 2030 put forward by various countries were insufficient to prevent dangerous warming this century.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres, who also participated in the Summit, criticised rich countries for spending 50% more of their pandemic recovery cash on fossil fuels compared to low-carbon energy.
Pointing out that 38 countries have already declared a climate emergency, the Secretary General called on leaders worldwide to now do the same.
