The National Government must change its economic strategy if it is to have any hope of stopping climate change, the Green Party said today.
The comments come following the release of a Royal Society NZ report showing wide-ranging measures must be adopted to curb climate pollution in New Zealand.
“New Zealand's top scientists have shown in this report that reducing emissions will require a re-think of the current strategy for agriculture, and that climate targets won’t be met by relying solely on tech-fixes like electric vehicles and methane inhibitors,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.
“National must face facts. It’s economic strategy of more intensive dairying, more oil, and more roads is not compatible with a safe climate future.
"National has bet the house on a ‘silver bullet’ solution to climate pollution, but this report shows even with technology like electric vehicles and methane inhibitors, more wide-raging solutions are needed to cut emissions.
“The Government should be investing for the future in the high-value, clean-tech economy rather than in sunset industries like offshore oil and gas.
“The Government can make our cities more liveable, and economy more resilient, by investing now in better public transport, rail freight, and locally produced energy like wind and solar," said Mr Shaw.
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