Scaling up and accelerating climate action in Aotearoa is essential - and it is critical that we do this in ways that reduce gross emissions and support the recovery of our declining native species and ecosystems.
WWF-New Zealand believes the draft second Emissions Reductions Plan (ERP) considerably lowers the ambition signalled in previous plans and creates more uncertainty about how we’re going to meet our climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. Not having a credible picture of how New Zealand will deliver its climate commitments and goals presents significant risks to investors and export trade markets, and risks New Zealand falling wildly out of step with the rest of the world.
The Government’s approach to ‘reduce net greenhouse gases at least cost’ fails to acknowledge the huge and unavoidable longer-terms costs with inaction and transfers the burden to future generations.
While we are encouraged to see recognition of the role that nature can play in our climate response through the inclusion of Nature-based Solutions in this Emissions Reduction Plan, the plan does not provide an adequate level of detail about the actions in the near-term to meet this aspiration. The ERP needs to explicitly prioritise indigenous afforestation and restoration over exotic planting.
WWF-New Zealand believes that a net emissions approach that relies on a flawed Emissions Trading Scheme as the primary tool, delays agriculture pricing by five more years, over relies on forest carbon removals, and puts too much faith in untested and unproven technologies does not put Aotearoa on a stable and equitable pathway towards net zero by 2050.