New Zealand Government response to climate change: largely fogged up?
Climate change is a critical challenge to international health, as recently outlined in major medical journals. There is
also an ethical obligation on developed countries, who have generated most of the existing greenhouse gases, to show
clear leadership on this issue. This is especially so when it is clear that time is running out for the international
community to avoid warming of 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the guardrail for dangerous climate change.
New Zealand in particular should also be concerned about its environmental reputation, given its dependence on tourism
and exporting primary products. With these issues in mind and considering the upcoming international negotiations in
Copenhagen, we briefly review the actions of the new Government of New Zealand (Table 1).
The actions are ordered by the extent to which they represent forward progress on emission reduction (‘direction of
change’).
Click below for a policy by policy breakdown of the Government’s direction on climate change.
ENDS