NZ may have to step up to cut emissions
Some academics say the new Biden administration could mean more pressure on New Zealand’s government and industries to clean up their carbon emissions faster.
The new president has signed an executive order which means in 30 days, the US will rejoin the Paris Agreement. He has also cancelled the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, which environmentalists and Native American groups have fought against for more than a decade.
It’s an early indicator of an administration which is now looking to galvanise international efforts to combat the climate crisis.
Joe Biden’s climate action plan showed he wanted to make the US the global climate change police.
Part of it included a promise to ‘‘name and shame global climate outlaws’’, which would be determined through a new Global Climate Change Report, which would ‘‘hold countries to account for meeting, or failing to meet their Paris commitments’’. But he also wanted countries to adopt a new, ‘‘sustained effort to dramatically increase global climate ambition’’.
Professor of political science and international relations at the University of Canterbury, Bronwyn Hayward, said it would be important New Zealand did not fall behind.
‘‘Now, when we really see the rubber hitting the road, and actual, real action taken from a really big superpower, New Zealand will have to step up.
‘‘We are really quite at risk at the moment of not realising how far we have to go in order to actually become a modern, low-carbon trading economy.’’
Over the past 30 years, out of all 45 ‘‘annex 1’’ countries, New Zealand had the second worst record of emissions increases. Since 1990, carbon emissions have increased by nearly 60 per cent. Turkey had the worst record.
A recent report by the Ministry for the Environment found New Zealand exceeded its national share of consumption-based emissions by more than a factor of 6.5.
The action Biden took on just his first afternoon in office, demonstrated a radical shift in priority: from the previous president who took the country out of the Paris Agreement, to a new president who immediately took it back in.
He promised to invest $1.7 trillion (NZ$2.3t) over the next 10 years, which would set the US on the path to being carbon neutral by 2050.
Meanwhile, Hayward – who served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – said the status of John Kerry, who has been brought in as the special envoy for climate, would be consequential.
His role will be to oversee America’s domestic policies, as well as to encourage other world leaders to do more in their own countries.
Slightly less optimistic about the impact of Biden’s administration was adjunct professor at Victoria University of Wellington’s Climate Change Research Institute, Adrian Macey.
‘‘I don’t see any massive change,’’ he said.
He was not as concerned about the short-term targets, where the US was now more ambitious than New Zealand.
‘‘The question you need to ask each country is what is your transition plan for actually getting down to what we might call net zero, and getting your effect on warming of the climate down to zero.
‘‘You’re looking at a 2050 target for that. Getting everything in place to achieve that I think is much more important than just naming a few targets.’’ –