Climate Change Minister James Shaw welcomes Declaration for Ambition

Minister for Climate Change James Shaw has welcomed the ‘Declaration for Ambition’ on climate change, signed by the High Ambition Coalition group of countries.

The Coalition is a group of countries, including New Zealand, who are committed to ambitious action to combat climate change.

“As the world works towards the next United Nations climate change conference in Poland later this year, it’s important to join with other countries to push for effective climate action and implementation of the Paris Agreement.

“Taking action to reduce emissions at home is important, which is why the Government is developing a Zero Carbon Bill, but ultimately climate change is a global problem that we need to solve together.

“While our Government wants New Zealand to lead on climate change issues, we aren’t alone and there is a growing group of countries who are agreeing to ambitious climate action,” says James Shaw.

23 countries, including Germany, France, United Kingdom and Canada, have signed up to this declaration which commits signatories to exploring the possibilities for stepping up their own ambition, and underscores the importance of securing strong implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement.

“This is about protecting a stable climate for future generations of people in New Zealand and around the world, and helping our Pacific neighbours avoid the potential impacts of climate change and rising seas,” Mr Shaw says.

Other signatories are New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, the Marshall Islands, Maldives, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Norway, Denmark, Monaco, the Netherlands, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Spain, and Sweden.

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