Government puts trade deals ahead of climate change action
Green Media Release 15th November 2006
The Green Party is calling on the Government to use the APEC meeting in Vietnam to push a position that only OECD
countries that have signed up to binding international greenhouse gas reduction treaties like Kyoto should be allowed to
sign up to international trade agreements.
“Climate change is an urgent international problem requiring international solutions and we can’t afford to reward free
riders like Australia and the US,” says Russel Norman, Green Co-Leader and Trade Spokesperson.
“If they won’t sign up to binding international greenhouse gas reductions then they should not be allowed improved
access to the markets of other countries who have agreed to cut their emissions.
“Why should companies operating in countries that are reducing their emissions be forced to compete against imports from
other countries that externalise the cost of their greenhouse pollution onto the whole world? And how will we convince
non-OECD countries to sign up to a binding climate protection treaty when two of the worst polluters refuse to sign up
and get away with it.
“Michael Cullen in Parliament today made it clear that the Government had no intention of making action on climate
change a precondition for action on trade negotiations, or even advocating this position at APEC.
“So it’s business as usual – trade deals are what really counts and the environment is just window dressing for domestic
consumption.
“They don’t get it – if we don’t take action on climate change then all the trade deals in the world won’t reduce the
economic, social and environmental costs of climate change, that's the message of the Stern report. It’s a bit difficult
to load all those exports when you’re port facilities are underwater.
“Only when climate change is seen as at least as important as the holy grail of trade will we know that the Government
is serious about climate change.”
ENDS