Decision to abandon Kyoto puts NZ into club of worst polluters

Auckland, 9 November 2012 - John Key's Government has decided to turn its back on Kyoto to join an infamous club of the world's dirtiest economies and most belligerent climate wreckers, says Greenpeace.

“Tim Grosser is trying dress up a profound decision to abandon the world’s longest standing collective agreement to tackle climate change as no big deal,” says Greenpeace New Zealand Climate Campaigner Simon Boxer.

“In fact, he has just joined New Zealand up to a club of the biggest and dirtiest polluters including Russia, USA and Canada. You have to ask is that really where New Zealand belongs? Is that how we see ourselves and is that how we want the world to see us?

“Perhaps most embarrassing and telling is that our nearest neighbour Australia, a latecomer to Kyoto and a massively coal dependent economy, is renewing its commitment to Kyoto. It is sending a clear signal that it is serious about climate change and that it wants to encourage a cleaner, smarter way of doing business. It is clear now that John Key does not want to do the same.

“Right when the world is seeing ever more extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy’s inundation of New York City during the US election, it is not the time to be diminishing commitment to global action on climate change.

“New Zealand stands to loose a lot more from being out of Kyoto than being in it. This move backwards could do irreparable damage to our global standing and our economy.”

Since coming to power, John Key has set about writing laws that benefit our biggest polluters at the expense of our reputation and at the risk of the New Zealander lifestyle. In this week alone the Government has killed off our only tool for tackling climate change - the ETS - and announced it will open up our coastlines to dangerous deep water drilling.

Ends

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