A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Last month the president of COP28 Sultan al-Jaber said there was “no science” saying phasing out fossil fuel was what would keep the world inside 1.5C heating — a blatant attempt to undermine the agenda.
More than 2400 fossil-fuel lobbyists are attending the Dubai COP28 climate summit as negotiations bogdown on a key part of the Paris Agreement process, and a flurry of reports show climate pollution is still rising considerably. We must not give in to this pressure.
Despite National’s rejection of the majority pledge of trebling renewables globally by 2030, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said New Zealand could sign up. He said his key priority at the summit would be working with other countries to push for an ambitious consensus.
The “Blue Pacific Prosperity” initiative was unveiled at the talks.
Three goals are to protect the ocean, have healthy people and ensure finance is accessible. Almost a third of the region’s ocean is to be put under protection under the new proposal, repeated from last year’s Egypt COP27 climate summit: to protect at least 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030, also known as 30x30. This gained wide support from more than 110 nations including the United States. Hopefully, now we will see some action.
US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry said Pacific voices were among the most powerful in the world when it came to climate change. Hopefully, under our new Government, our New Zealand/Aotearoa voice will not be muted. “Your crisis of life itself . . . if we don’t stop burning unabated fossil fuels — shame on us,” Kerry told Pacific leaders at the launch of the initiative.
UN Secretary-General Guterres said that millions of people worldwide faced a cascade of weather catastrophes: “Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning.”
As one of the highest greenhouse gas emitters per person in the OECD, we must take this very seriously. Pretending we are too small to make a difference won’t help us in any way.
