Nanaia Mahuta
Acting Climate Change spokesperson

3 November 2014

Alternative energy becomes crucial for the world

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reinforced the need for all electricity to be generated from low carbon sources, says Labour’s acting Climate Change spokesperson Nanaia Mahuta.

“This stark analysis of where the world is at on climate change says unless we almost entirely phase out fossil fuels by 2100 there will be ‘severe, pervasive and irreversible’ damage.

“The report makes it clear that if global warming is to be limited to 2 degrees, worldwide renewable energy will have to grow from the 30 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050.

“This is a deeply disturbing study that makes it clear that science has now spoken and time is no longer on our side.

“New Zealand needs to transition away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels to a high-tech low-carbon economy that creates jobs by taking full advantage of our wealth of renewable resources.

“Labour believes we should have a target of 90 per cent renewables by 2025.

“This will a build the expertise and potential in existing and emerging industries and technologies. This is not a ‘nice-to-have’ as the National Government would have us believe. This is about future-proofing our economy.

“While it is great that the Climate Change Minister, Tim Groser has welcomed the IPCC report – the big question is whether he will now act decisively to support the IPCC targets,” says Nanaia Mahuta.

ENDS

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