UN New Zealand Passes 'Zero Carbon' Target Law - Ardern says New Zealand on 'right side of history' as MPs pass zero-carbon bill

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-side-of-history-as-mps-pass-zero-carbon-bill

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Ardern says New Zealand on 'right side of history' as MPs pass zero-carbon bill
Centre-right opposition National party throws support behind the legislation that has been applauded around the globe

Eleanor Ainge Roy in Auckland
7 Nov 2019
Jacinda Ardern’s landmark climate legislation has passed in New Zealand parliament, with historic cross-party support, committing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050 and meet its commitments under the Paris climate accords. The climate change response (zero carbon) amendment bill passed on Thursday afternoon with the centre-right opposition National party throwing their support behind it late in the day, despite none of their proposed amendments being accepted. The bill passed 119 votes to one. Climate change minister James Shaw said the bill, which commits New Zealand to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees, provided a framework for the island country of nearly 5 million to adapt too, and prepare for the climate emergency.

“We’ve led the world before in nuclear disarmament and in votes for women, now we are leading again.” Shaw said.

“Climate change is the defining long-term issue of our generation that successive governments have failed to address. Today we take a significant step forward in our plan to reduce New Zealand’s emissions.”

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern told MPs New Zealand was on the “right side of history”. She said: “I absolutely believe and continue to stand by the statement that climate change is the biggest challenge of our time. “Undeniably, our sea levels are rising, and undeniably, we are experiencing extreme weather events – increasingly so. “Undeniably, the science tells us the impact there will be on flora and fauna, and yes also the spread of diseases in areas where we haven’t previously seen them.”

The bill will enshrine a new 2050 greenhouse gas reduction target into law and require that future governments have plans to meet the target. It will also establish a climate change commission and ensure future government’s plan and budget for adaption and mitigation. The reduction target will have two seperate plans. One for biogenic methane, or that which is produced by living organisms, and another for all other greenhouse gases. The legislation has been applauded by environment groups around the globe, who said New Zealand was leading the world in its pragmatic and levelled approach to climate change.

Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said the bill was only a first step. “Now we need to see a path to carbon neutrality that has protecting and restoring nature at its heart.”

“The bill is only a first step on climate change. We need concrete, urgent, climate action to save our most vulnerable native species and restore native ecosystems.”

- End of Article
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SideBar: https://phys.org/news/2019-11-zealand-carbon-law.html
Key Points:

• New Zealand is home to just under 5 million people, but more than 10 million cows and some 28 million sheep
• Almost half of total emissions come from agriculture (methane)
• The bill would require all greenhouse gases except methane from animals to be reduced to net zero by 2050
• Methane emissions would be reduced by 10% by 2030 and by between about one-quarter and one-half by 2050.
• The government has also promised to plant 1 billion trees over 10 years and ensure that the electricity grid runs entirely from renewable energy by 2035.

Will they succeed in stopping the climate from changing?​

 

[Secret Asshole]

You're New Fucking Zealand. Your contribution to the green house is probably less than one tenth of a percent and you're sacrificing the economy for another less than a tenth percent? Jesus christ. That's so fucking incompetent.

Know your role, motherfuckers. You are not even a blip on the world stage. You're like a pixel. New Zealand is self important because its a tiny nothing and it wants to pretend it has a big dick to throw around. Fuck off.

 

[Koby_Fish]

This will affect as much as the California law banning gas powered cars by 2012 did. They changed it a couple of times, by making it that you had to sell 15% of your inventory as zero emission cars, and then quietly dropped it when nobody paid attention.

that makes me wonder what'll happen in 2040 since the BC NDP government signed into law that all vehicles must be electric (or zero emission) by then.

 

[TowinKarz]

THey'll quietly walk back 99% of it becuase it will prove impossible to reach those goals, there's only so much regulation that can be done before you get to the point where actual private citizens are expected to take up the slack, and they won't, just like how as @Koby_Fish points out, California has tried to set such "no gas cars" deadlines time and time again.

Without actual penalties on individual civiliians, there's no way to force them to buy whatever alternative you're proposing/mandating, and thus, there's no market for industry to serve by creating an alternative, so, nothing happens. Car makers just abandon that market and, nobody has had the sheer chutzpah to start fining their citizens for failing to buy zero-emissions cars that aren't even available or affordable to them, yet. Unless you plan on inserting some kind of lifestyle enforcement agent into everyone's life with the power to directly enforce penalty every time they're noted to have picked up a plastic straw or drive a distance they could have walked, nobody is going to behave green 100% of the time no matter what their government says.

Technologically possible doesn't mean personally viable.

And as long as India and China exist as "escape hatches" , this zero-carbon nonsense is slow painful economic death.

 

[Tour of Italy]

THey'll quietly walk back 99% of it becuase it will prove impossible to reach those goals, there's only so much regulation that can be done before you get to the point where actual private citizens are expected to take up the slack, and they won't, just like how as @Koby_Fish points out, California has tried to set such "no gas cars" deadlines time and time again.

Without actual penalties on individual civiliians, there's no way to force them to buy whatever alternative you're proposing/mandating, and thus, there's no market for industry to serve by creating an alternative, so, nothing happens. Car makers just abandon that market and, nobody has had the sheer chutzpah to start fining their citizens for failing to buy zero-emissions cars that aren't even available or affordable to them, yet. Unless you plan on inserting some kind of lifestyle enforcement agent into everyone's life with the power to directly enforce penalty every time they're noted to have picked up a plastic straw or drive a distance they could have walked, nobody is going to behave green 100% of the time no matter what their government says.

Technologically possible doesn't mean personally viable.

And as long as India and China exist as "escape hatches" , this zero-carbon nonsense is slow painful economic death.

The truth is that if we’re really as close to the tipping point as they say, there’s no way we’d survive after letting China and India industrialized to the point where they can make a transition to renewables.

I get the argument that the US created more per-capita carbon, but that trend is leveling off while meanwhile China and India are growing their emissions exponentially. It doesn’t matter if the US “sets the example” for what an industrialized nation should do. By the time the other developing economies reach us, it’ll be far too late. It’s a matter of scale.

Long story short, if the climate tipping point concept is true, activists should be lining up to invade the East. The fact no one’s talking about it has me convinced they’re just selling something.

I’m glad we don’t have to worry about it anymore though since New Zealand fixed everything.

 

[Remove Goat]

“Undeniably, our sea levels are rising, and undeniably, we are experiencing extreme weather events – increasingly so. “Undeniably, the science tells us the impact there will be on flora and fauna, and yes also the spread of diseases in areas where we haven’t previously seen them.”

Methinks other things are bigger sources of disease spread. You know, like loosely regulated migration.

 

[Glad I couldn't help]

New Zealand has declared a "climate emergency", pledges to be carbon neutral by 2025 to be on the "right side of history". Labour, Greens and Maori vote in favor, National and ACT vote against the declaration.