AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CU)_New Zealand has launched several reforms into the country’s transport sector, in order to combat emissions as the country pushes for a carbon neutral target by 2050.
Accordingly, the government will mandate lower emitting bio-fuels across its transport sector, as part of which, a law will be introduced this year to import clean cars, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday (Jan 28).
Moreover, New Zealand will decarbonize its public buses by 2035, and therefore, the government will buy only zero-emissions public transport buses from 2025.
“Tackling climate change is a priority for the government and remains a core part of our COVID recovery plan,” PM Ardern said. “We can create jobs and economic opportunities while reducing our emissions, so it’s win-win for our economy and climate.”
Ardern, who returned to power in October in the biggest election victory for her center-left Labour Party in five decades, has called climate change the “nuclear-free moment of our generation.”
Nearly half New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, while the transport sector makes up the second highest amount.
The Prime Minister said that the government will introduce a law this year to import only low-emission cars, and will consider providing incentives to assist people to switch to clean cars.
Last month, New Zealand declared a climate emergency with a promise its public sector would become carbon neutral by 2025. However, the Pacific island nation has been constantly criticised for its insufficient efforts towards climate action.
Last month, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Twitter that 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 tons of greenhouse gases a year, out of its total emissions of 78.9 million tons a year, which Thunberg pointed out was a reduction of less than 1 percent of the country’s emissions by 2025.
Responding to these allegations, 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.
