<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/nz-climate-minister-sued-over-risky-and-cavalier-approach-to-emissions-reduction/>
"New Zealand’s leading environment lawyers are suing their government over a
plan to deal with its greenhouse gas emissions by mass planting non-native pine
trees and a “slash and burn” approach to existing climate policies that may
have actually helped.
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ and the Environmental Law Initiative, which
represents more than 300 lawyers, filed an application for judicial review on
Tuesday alleging that the government’s current plan to address climate change
does not follow the country’s climate laws.
Jessica Palairet, Lawyers for Climate Action NZ executive director, said the
government had been “taking a risky and cavalier approach” to climate policy in
the 18 months since it was elected and that its actions do not “align with the
law”.
“The law is one of the most powerful times to deal with climate change. It’s
all well and good to have laws on the books, but unless they’re enforced they
don’t mean a lot,” Palairet said.
Under legislation passed in 2019, New Zealand’s government must set an
emissions reduction plan every five years. These plans outline the concrete
steps it will take to reach its interim and 2050 net-zero targets.
When the current National Party government was elected, Palairet says it
quickly moved to end 35 policies and actions – policies such as EV clean-car
discounts, renewable investments and emissions requirements for transport
infrastructure – without following proper legal processes.
The legal filing also alleges that the government’s own emissions plan fails to
meaningfully outline how it will address the problem.
Under the plan the New Zealand government will encourage the forestry sector
using carbon credits to mass-plant trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and offset the country’s emissions without the need to actively
drive down fossil fuel consumption.
The trees are mostly pine, a species not native to New Zealand, and will be
grown as plantations, meaning they could potentially be harvested later for
timber.
The plan has been described as “a massive gamble” by the parliamentary
commissioner for the environment and is underpinned by modelling that offers an
“emissions baseline” laying out a glide path for how the country will reach net
zero by 2050. Palairet says this model is a “black box” of assumptions without
clear, tangible “policies and strategies”.
“There was a real slash and burn taken to our climate policies,” Palairet said.
“What they’ve replaced it with is an idea that relies on tree planting. The
idea that we can plant our way out of the climate crisis is not sustainable.
It’s absurd.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
