Climate Change Minister Simon Watts released New Zealand’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution to combatting climate change under the Paris Agreement.
The target, which locked unavoidable agricultural emissions into New Zealand’s international targets, was even more ‘ambitious’ than the 2030 targets made when Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw flew to Glasgow. They will cost future taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in penalties.
“Ardern’s 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030 target was ludicrous. Treasury estimates that in just five years, taxpayers will be on the hook for up to NZD 24 billion - that’s NZD 12,000 per New Zealand household. The Government has now signed us up for another bill for five years later,” said Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams.
“To not only lock this cost in but go even harder for 2035 is economic sabotage. Watts and his Cabinet colleagues are not going to be around in a decade to have to pay the bill but are doubling down on Paris at the very time our trading partners are pulling back.”
Williams added that half of New Zealand’s emissions were agricultural. To achieve the 51 to 55 percent reduction, Watts has put New Zealand on the hook, which meant the country must either shut down parts of its agricultural sector or just about everything else.
“To say this is fantasy does Mickey Mouse a disservice.”
He said New Zealand could only avoid paying tens of billions in international carbon credits if every square inch of Otago and Southland was planted in pine. Still, even the Government’s experts advised that the pathway was not credible.
This decision will see New Zealanders stump up billions more to buy international credits in a decade.
The Taxpayers’ Union has long supported sensible emissions reductions using its world-leading Emissions Trading Scheme. However, such a scheme can only operate with realistic targets and collective international action.
He added that sacrificing economic prosperity at the altar of good intentions when other countries pulled back was nothing short of economic sabotage.
“Minister Todd McClay was on the radio talking about how the Government want to ‘power up’ agricultural exports. He’s sure in for a shock. Meanwhile, Simon Watts has harpooned the Prime Minister’s ‘Going for Growth’ plan. Mr Luxon, Mr Peters, and Mr Seymour need to step in and overrule this decision.”
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