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(The Guardian) New Zealand has won an award at Cop28. Unfortunately it is not one to be proud of. Each day, the Climate Action Network is branding one country the “fossil of the day” – an award for the most bone-headed and regressive climate action.
Yesterday, it was given to New Zealand because of the newly-formed government’s choice to overturn the existing world-leading ban on new oil and gas exploration. Christopher Luxon, the new prime minister, has vowed to open the country’s vast ocean to more oil and gas exploration, rowing back on his predecessor Jacinda Ardern’s 2018 ban.
Climate Action Network says: “Does climate change minister Simon Watts not hear the climate alarm bells ringing? He may underestimate the devastating climate consequences of this decision but we, and their Pacific island neighbours in Palau, who slammed his intentions as ‘TRAGIC’, certainly do not.
“Minister Watts may be new to his role but we remember the decade-long campaign led by Indigenous Māori communities who succeeded in achieving a ban on oil and gas exploration in New Zealand’s oceans. Not only does Watts and the rest of the New Zealand government want to remove the country’s legacy of climate leadership but they also seek to redefine legislative interpretation of the country’s founding treaty with Māori communities, to reassess Treaty-based policies, and to roll back official use of Māori language – undoing the progress made between Māori and government relationships.”
Yesterday, it was given to New Zealand because of the newly-formed government’s choice to overturn the existing world-leading ban on new oil and gas exploration. Christopher Luxon, the new prime minister, has vowed to open the country’s vast ocean to more oil and gas exploration, rowing back on his predecessor Jacinda Ardern’s 2018 ban.
Climate Action Network says: “Does climate change minister Simon Watts not hear the climate alarm bells ringing? He may underestimate the devastating climate consequences of this decision but we, and their Pacific island neighbours in Palau, who slammed his intentions as ‘TRAGIC’, certainly do not.
“Minister Watts may be new to his role but we remember the decade-long campaign led by Indigenous Māori communities who succeeded in achieving a ban on oil and gas exploration in New Zealand’s oceans. Not only does Watts and the rest of the New Zealand government want to remove the country’s legacy of climate leadership but they also seek to redefine legislative interpretation of the country’s founding treaty with Māori communities, to reassess Treaty-based policies, and to roll back official use of Māori language – undoing the progress made between Māori and government relationships.”
