Davidson Marama: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavidson Marama: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 08 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8604. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.MARAMA DAVIDSON (Green) to the Minister for Climate Change Issues: Will New Zealand join Canada Australia Tuvalu and the 43 other low-lying islands and support the inclusion of a goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees in the Paris climate agreement; if not why not?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister of Local Government)on behalf of theMinister for Climate Change Issues: New Zealand’s position has been consistent. We support the international consensus around the goal of limiting global temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees but we recognise that an increase of even 1.5 degrees could severely exacerbate the particular challenges facing the most vulnerable smaller Island States of the Pacific. We are working actively with others to find a solution to the issue. Obviously there is a week of intense negotiation ahead of Ministers so it would be premature to judge an outcome at this point.Marama Davidson: To clarify is the Minister saying the Government will not support an explicit and binding goal in the Paris climate agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees?Hon PAULA BENNETT: We have been very clear and very consistent that we believe that we can manage 2 degrees and that that is what the 196 countries will sign up to. However we have sympathy and recognise 1.5 degrees and the difference that does make to Pacific countries and will support them in their endeavours to push that agenda.Marama Davidson: Does the Minister stand by his statement that a 1.5-degree limit is “just an aspirational” goal and does he also consider keeping Pacific Islands habitable and their people alive to be an aspirational goal?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Yes and no.David Seymour: What is the relationship between the intensity of carbon emissions and poverty?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Certainly as far as I am aware the Minister has not seen one. What I will say though is that even in the negotiations that are going on in Paris at the moment you can see some of the positive things that are coming out for developing countries. For example in Africa I see that they are signing up to an agreement where they will commit to a delivery of 300 gigawatts of electricity-generating capacity to Africa from clean energy sources. That has got to be good for poor people. So actually in some respects you can see some of the outcomes of discussions on climate change meaning we will see more renewable and clean energy going to those who need it most.Marama Davidson: Is the Minister really saying that New Zealand is willing to ignore the voices of its Pacific Island neighbours and some of its closest allies by refusing to explicitly support a 1.5-degree limit to global warming?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Not at all and that is why we have committed $200 million more to actually support our Pacific cousins in helping them get clean renewable energy and doing what we can to support them. We recognise the effects of climate change on those small nations and that it is felt more acutely by them than even by us here in New Zealand. So we stand next to them. We recognise their request for a 1.5-degree limit. However we have made a commitment. We believe it is more likely that the other countries will sign up to it and we are committed to the negotiations that are currently going on.Hon David Parker: Has the Prime Minister explained to her why New Zealand was awarded a “Fossil of the Year” award immediately after he spoke to the climate change conference?Hon PAULA BENNETT: On behalf of the Minister—so that would make me a “him” just to be clear—as far as I am concerned the current Minister has not had those discussions.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why has the Government in Paris posed as having a new $200 million initiative for the Pacific Islands when successive Governments have been promoting renewable energy in the Islands for over a decade now?Hon PAULA BENNETT: That is quite simple. Some people talk about it and others do it and that is what this Government has been doing.