Owen Jennings
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Satire
Not many people know that James Shaw actually prepared two press releases before he left for Madrid – a positive if things went well and a negative one if not much happened.
Unfortunately, his staff got them mixed and released the positive one instead of the one ready if Madrid was a non-event. The one released today is further down the article.
Here is the right one that was supposed to have been released...
New Zealand fails to showcase ambitious climate action
Hon James Shaw
Climate Change.
With the global climate change talks closing overnight, the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw, said New Zealand failed to show the world what meaningful, ambitious and lasting climate action looks like.
As the head of the New Zealand delegation at the global climate talks, Minister Shaw tried sharing the progress this Government is making to build a cleaner, safer planet for future generations but no one listened. The hall was empty. We were upstaged by some whining teenager so no media arrived when I rose to speak.
“I talked to people from many countries who are thinking about putting in place their own climate change legislation but when they saw our Zero Carbon Act, thinking it may have been a benchmark for what meaningful, ambitious and lasting climate action looks like, they ran a mile. This Government will find another way to show global leadership on what needs to be done to leave a safer planet for future generations”, James Shaw said.
Talks closed with countries in total disarray unable to agree at all on a provision of the 2015 Paris Agreement known as Article 6. This concerns the role of carbon markets and carbon trading in helping countries to fulfil their emission cutting pledges. Some of the biggest emitters didn’t even show up.
“We should acknowledge that no meaningful progress was made, which is positive because it means more trips to exotic places for more talks. Unfortunately, we will have to wait another year or two, or three, to get it all sorted. I have been frustrated that there are some countries which are slowing overall global progress. This is especially frustrating at a time when everything we see happening around the world points to an urgent need to move further and faster. We got out of Madrid just before a record snowfall and some delegates had to stop over in Nice and Monaco because of frozen runways at home. However I am reassured by the fact that the vast majority of countries like Benin and Cote de Voire are increasing their ambition”, James Shaw said. They each had 300 delegates attending and unfortunately had block booked all the main suites in the local hotels.
“Let’s be clear: We are no longer on track towards a future where we are all playing our part to solve the challenge of climate change, and we are not going to get there unless countries are working more closely together. Carbon markets must have fair rules and ensure genuine emissions reductions, which is why getting an agreement on the rules countries should stick to has been a priority for New Zealand since the world committed to climate action in Paris in 2015”, said James Shaw.
Mr Shaw is hoping the next conference will be in Sun City as he has never been to South Africa.
Ends.
New Zealand will continue to showcase ambitious climate action
With the global climate change talks closing overnight, the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw said New Zealand will continue to show the world what meaningful, ambitious and lasting climate action looks like.
“Lasting action on climate change demands that we keep working every single day. This is the only way we can keep our promise to future generations that we will leave behind a world that is better off for what we did,” James Shaw said.
As the head of the New Zealand delegation at the global climate talks, Minister Shaw shared the progress this Government is making to build a cleaner, safer planet for future generations.
“I talked to people from many countries who are thinking about putting in place their own climate change legislation and they are using our Zero Carbon Act as a benchmark for what meaningful, ambitious and lasting climate action looks like. This Government will continue to show global leadership on what needs to be done to leave a safer planet for future generations,” James Shaw said.
Talks closed with countries not able to agree fully on a provision of the 2015 Paris Agreement known as Article 6. This concerns the role of carbon markets and carbon trading in helping countries to fulfil their emission cutting pledges.
“We should acknowledge that some important progress was made, which is positive. But unfortunately we will have to wait another year to get it all sorted. I have been frustrated that there are some countries who are slowing overall global progress. This is especially frustrating at a time when everything we see happening around the world points to an urgent need to move further and faster. However I am reassured by the fact that the vast majority of countries are increasing their ambition,” James Shaw said.
This year’s talks were not expected to produce a major breakthrough on countries’ emissions targets, but it was hoped Article 6 could be finalised, clearing the decks for countries to focus on more ambitious goals for cuts to emissions next year.
“Let’s be clear: We are still on track towards a future where we are all playing our part to solve the challenge of climate change, but we are not going to get there unless countries are working more closely together. Carbon markets must have fair rules and ensure genuine emissions reductions, which is why getting an agreement on the rules countries should stick to has been a priority for New Zealand since the world committed to climate action in Paris in 2015,” said James Shaw.
The 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) took place in Madrid.
beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-will-continue-showcase-ambitious-climate-action