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New Zealand poor performer in global climate action ranking
New Zealand poor performer in global climate action
ranking
New Zealand has received a poor rating for its
efforts on climate change, ranked 43rd overall in the Climate Change Performance Index
2015 – an annual assessment of the world's largest
CO2 emitters released this morning at the UN climate
conference in Lima, Peru.
New Zealand has fallen two
places from last year's assessment, placing just ahead of
the US and China.
The CCPI uses standardised criteria
to evaluate and compare the climate protection performance
of 58 countries that are, together, responsible for more
than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. It
is published by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network
Europe.
New Zealand performs worst in the 'climate
policy' category, where it receives a 'very poor' grade. It
is ranked 53rd for national policy with a score of 18.35 out
of 100.
Commenting on the report release, Generation
Zero spokesperson Paul Young said: “These results are not
surprising, but they should serve as a wake-up call for
anyone who believes New Zealand is currently pulling its
weight on climate change.”
“The truth is that the
Government is doing next to nothing to reduce our carbon
pollution and is leaving other countries to do the heavy
lifting. That's not fair, and it's pretty dumb for a country
that markets itself as clean and green.”
“It's
important to recognise that the CCPI doesn't consider
agricultural emissions, so the usual excuse that 'New
Zealand is different' doesn't apply here. Our poor ranking
shows we have a lot to do to clean up our act on energy and
transport.”
“The good news is that there are
abundant opportunities here in New Zealand to reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels – such as clean energy, wood
fuels, public transport and electric
vehicles.”
Generation Zero yesterday launched its
#CutTheGap campaign, calling on Climate Change Minister Tim
Groser to commit to new action to cut New Zealand's carbon
pollution by 2020 and announce this to the world in Lima.
See www.generationzero.org/cutthegap.
The
CCPI 2015 is available at www.germanwatch.org/en/ccpi.
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1412/Scorecard_New_Zealand.pdf
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