New Zealand Just Declared a Climate Emergency. What’s Next?
Pledging carbon neutrality is a start, but we need more.
This week, Aotearoa New Zealand joined 32 other countries and more than 1800 municipalities in declaring a climate emergency. The notion passed in Parliament 76–43 with only the National and ACT parties holding out. While it may seem like a good step moving forward, will it be accompanied by actions, or is it virtue signaling at its finest?
New Zealand has been touted many times as a climate leader, but the reality is that it has consistently failed to meet its goals. When looking at the goals set out by the Paris Climate Agreement, Climate Action Tracker rated New Zealand “insufficient,” failing to take the actions needed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. That insufficient rating was from July 2020, eight months after New Zealand passed the Zero Carbon Act, which promised zero carbon by 2050. Unfortunately, that act has failed to make any meaningful progress on climate change at all. Will this Climate Emergency Declaration be the same?
One reason for the failure of the Zero Carbon Act is that it merely laid the framework for carbon reduction goals instead of setting forth specific plans to get there. This time, around, New Zealand didn’t make the same mistakes.
