Green Growth report offers smarter economic direction says Greenpeace
Auckland, 15 November 2012 – Greenpeace has welcomed Pure Advantage’s Green Growth report saying its vision of building
a prosperous economy by protecting the environment offers a smarter alternative to the Government’s current polluting
policies.
Nathan Argent, Greenpeace New Zealand Chief Policy Advisor says the report shows there are huge opportunities for New
Zealand in moving to a cleaner, smarter way of doing business.
“By setting New Zealand on a pathway to clean up our economy and supporting our wealth of clean energy innovators we can
repair the damage done by our most polluting industries and build a healthier and wealthier nation.”
Argent says the report challenges the Government’s current ‘growth at any cost’ agenda.
“That’s not a plan. It’s an economic wrecking ball. The question now is whether economic Tsar Steven Joyce can rise to
the challenge and put in place a much needed plan to kick start a cleaner, smarter economy in New Zealand.
“So far Joyce’s business growth agenda has delivered the highest unemployment figures in over a decade, dismantled our
manufacturing base and tied our growth to the whims of overseas oil companies whilst risking our coastlines with oil
spills.
“It achieves nothing more than a race to the bottom of the economic pile while we continue to see New Zealand’s economic
performance slip and pollution rise.”
The Pure Advantage report shows some of New Zealand's key trading partners, such as China, Korea and Australia, are
already putting in place the building blocks of a clean economy and emerging stronger and healthier from the global
financial crisis.
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