Media Release
3 December 2009

Federated Farmers to save the planet one flight at a time

Federated Farmers President, Don Nicolson, will not be joining the throng of non governmental organisations attending the Copenhagen Summit in person. By flying, each attendee from New Zealand will generate an estimated 6.6 tonnes of CO2, according to carbonfootprint.com.

“There’s no point pretending the opening stanza of Copenhagen will be anything but a massive photo opportunity,” says Don Nicolson, President of Federated Farmers.

“The real work will fall on those charged with making Copenhagen work and our negotiators must ensure New Zealand’s global role as a food and fibre producer is recognised. That falls on New Zealand’s vital diplomatic staff led by Ministers Nick Smith and Tim Groser.

“Copenhagen must be about global solutions to fix Kyoto’s obsession with individual states and we’re supplying our ideas through the right channels to make Copenhagen work.

“By not attending I’m doing my bit to save the planet one flight at a time.

“The fact is New Zealand acts globally by farming locally. Our farmers do far more good for the world by exporting 94 percent of everything we produce. Since 1990, we’ve dramatically slashed emissions growth per unit of food and fibre because we’re good at what we do.

“The world’s ETS really needs to become Efficiency, Technology and Science

“The 3.3 billion mouths that will join the human race in the next four decades need New Zealand to be at the top of its game. It’s why efficient producers, like New Zealand, need to be globally recognised while inefficient food producers are punished.

“This will only be won through negotiation at a diplomatic level that, like free trade, won’t happen overnight.

“It’s why I fail to see why activists from almost every NGO insist on travelling 36,000 kilometres to and from Copenhagen – it’s like moths to a carbon negative flame. The members of those groups need to ask why their donations are funding flights up to Europe.

“Once there, they’ll be wallpaper made up of more than 20,000 attendees whereas the real action will take place with a mere fraction of that number. Me? I’ll be down on my farm earning coin for New Zealand.

“That’s why we’d much prefer to have our Prime Minister here in New Zealand focused on how to grow the New Zealand economy rather than cut our economic pie ever smaller.

“That said, I hope the Prime Minister will reverse his decision and ask Mr Salinger and Ms Lawless for their cheque. The Global Alliance for agricultural greenhouse gas research would welcome a $5,000 contribution to develop solutions and not spin.

“Yet isn’t it ironic, that everyone has to turn up at Copenhagen while the Global Alliance is a virtual research network. I know we need better broadband, but I can’t help but ask if some of Copenhagen couldn’t be done by video conference instead?” Mr Nicolson concluded.

Whilst in Europe, New Zealand’s media should compare the European Emissions Trading Scheme with that recently amended in New Zealand:

• The EU’s ETS less than 40 percent of Europe’s emissions
• Excluded sectors include road and sea transport, buildings, services, agriculture, waste and smaller industrial installations (the latter being able to emit up to 25,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum so long as alternative measures are in place).

ENDS

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