Fresh off its humiliating ” Fossil
of the Day” award at COP30 in Brazil, New Zealand has
again been called out on the world stage for backsliding on
climate action.
The latest Climate Change Performance
Index (CCPI) – published annually by Germanwatch, NewClimate
Institute and Climate Action Network – shows New Zealand
dropping three more places, from 41st to 44th. Analysts say
the slide is driven by the Government’s climate rollbacks,
including repealing the oil and gas ban and weakening
methane targets.
Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson
Amanda Larsson says the fall is a stark warning.
“New
Zealand was once seen as a climate leader. Now we’re
scraping the bottom of the barrel thanks to this
Government’s war on nature.
“We’re a country with
a proud history of punching above our weight. It’s
humiliating that our current crop of political leaders are
trashing that legacy to let big polluters profit from
wrecking our environment and our kids’
future.”
Since taking office, Christopher Luxon’s
Government has paved the way for fast-tracking coal mines on
conservation land, promised taxpayer subsidies for offshore
oil and gas drilling, and bowed to livestock industry
lobbyists by weakening rules for the country’s most
polluting sector – intensive dairying.
CCPI analysts
singled out the erosion of New Zealand’s previously
bipartisan climate law, pointing specifically to the
decision to weaken methane targets despite clear opposition
from scientists, the Climate Change Commission and other
political parties.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
“Luxon’s Government has torched
sensible climate policies – from cleaner cars to support for
manufacturers to move off coal – and offered nothing
credible in their place.
“Luxon and Simon Watts keep
regurgitating the same old lines about being ‘committed to
Paris’, even as they push policies that increase climate
pollution. It’s a pretty transparent attempt to gloss over
the fact that they’re letting polluters set the rules in
their own interests – while ordinary people, including our
kids and grandkids, bear the consequences.”
Denmark –
which last year introduced a livestock emissions tax and has
fostered a world-leading offshore wind industry – remains at
the top of the index, followed by the UK and Morocco.
Petrostates including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and the
United States rank at the bottom.
As in previous
years, the top three positions remain empty because no
country is acting fast
enough.
