Forest & Bird supports Greens' plan to make polluters pay

Independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird is welcoming the news the Green Party will campaign on making polluters pay for their greenhouse gas emissions.

The announcement was made today at the party's annual conference in Upper Hutt.

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says the Green Party is right to be campaigning for an end to subsidies for major greenhouse gas polluters.

"The present situation, where those industries that produce the most emissions get huge handouts, does not address the climate crisis. It is common sense; a clear and simple system, under which those who pollute have to pay, is the best way to reduce that pollution," Kevin Hackwell says.

"How we address climate change should be an election issue. To ignore climate change would be a mistake, given its implications for our economy, and for the future of our special plants and animals.

"Many people don't realise that a global average temperature increase beyond two degrees would also have extremely serious conservation impacts here in New Zealand. Those impacts would be likely to include extinctions," Kevin Hackwell says.

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