The Green Party has today launched a petition to halt the Government’s coal mining agenda.

“The Coalition Government plans to superpower the climate crisis by reviving coal mining. They’ll only get away with it if we let them,” says Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.

“Time and again, the three men in charge have shown their priorities, bypassing democratic process and undermining hard-fought climate and environmental gains. Enough is enough.

“If this Government meant what it said about making decisions with data and evidence, the Draft Minerals Strategy for New Zealand to 2040 would rule out new coal mining. Instead, it’s drenched in destruction of ecosystems and the wiping out of endangered species in order to make a quick buck for fossil fuel and mining executives. The plan is to throw protections for some of our country’s most precious public conservation land into an incinerator.

“That’s no way to protect the scientific fundamentals for life on earth as we know it, let alone a path towards the clean, green, fair country we aspire to be. Any politician who pretends that we can have a thriving economy on a burning planet is lying to you.

“The International Energy Agency has told governments across the world that any attempts to mine and burn more coal, oil, and gas will send planet Earth over a dangerous threshold of warming into climate catastrophe.

“We can’t mine our way to a liveable planet. We’re asking New Zealanders to show this Government our values. We won’t stand by and let our future burn,” says Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.

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