No sliding back, New Zealand!

30 August 2009

Speaking to Point Carbon, New Zealand’s climate change ambassador said that “if our conditions are not met we reserve the right to drop (our target) below 10%.”  So now you know, New Zealand’s 10% to 20% is actually “do nothing” to 20%.

The truly off-key note in the interview was New Zealand’s excuse for not having a unilateral target: “We didn’t think there was any point in setting a low-ambition figure.”  Mind you, could we expect any more from a country whose emissions trading scheme is slated to be so pathetic that New Zealand’s emissions will continue going up well after 2020.

[Article published in Climate Action Network’s Eco Newspaper, Sep. 30, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand UNFCCC negotiations – full PDF version here]