Climate report highlights opportunity for Zero Carbon Act

Tuesday, 21 March 2017, 1:26 pm
Press Release: Generation Zero

New climate report highlights opportunity for Zero Carbon Act

A new climate change report released today shows New Zealand can get to net zero emissions and highlights the opportunity for cross-party legislation to make it happen, said youth climate advocacy organisation Generation Zero.

The report, Net Zero in New Zealand, was produced by independent consultants Vivid Economics for GLOBE-NZ, a cross-party group of MPs focused on climate change policy.

“We applaud GLOBE-NZ for their leadership and cross-party collaboration in commissioning this important report,” said campaign spokesperson Lisa McLaren.

“The report reinforces that the goal we are proposing in our Zero Carbon Act – net zero emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases before 2050 – is completely within our reach.”

The report details two scenarios, Innovative NZ and Resourceful NZ, whereby New Zealand can transition to a decarbonized future and get its long lived greenhouse gas emissions below net zero by 2050, while continuing its prosperity and growth.

The report makes several recommendations, including the need for cross-party agreement on New Zealand's overall direction on climate change, and new independent institutions to help to inform and steer the transition.

“What we need is a robust and comprehensive legal framework to drive our domestic climate policy towards the technical possibilities detailed in the report,” Miss McLaren said. “All of this must be informed by an independent climate commission.”

“We completely agree with the report’s recommendation that political parties should actively seek to identify and articulate areas of common agreement on climate policy, which is why we are calling for cross-party adoption of the Zero Carbon Act.”

Generation Zero will be releasing its full blueprint for the Zero Carbon Act in April.

ENDS

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