Graham Kennedy: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Graham Kennedy: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
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Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) 
: 
 I rise to address the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill which pertains to forestry. I begin by reaffirming that the Green Party will vote for the bill but let our vote not in any way mask our dissatisfaction with the Government’s climate change policy and this country’s recent record on climate change. Last week and again this afternoon my colleague Jeanette Fitzsimons critiqued the proposed bill for what it was. For over a year now the foresters of this country have cried out for predictability to assist them in their business decision-making. For the past 8 months the Government—this party of business—has failed to provide that. Tonight with barely 2 hours of parliamentary time remaining the Government seeks a “get out of jail free” pass. It has pressured itself into passing a hasty amendment to narrowly avoid being in breach of the current emissions trading scheme law that was enacted last year. This simply reflects the disarray the Government has worked up for itself in climate change policy and the resulting shameful mess that passes for New Zealand policy on climate change in 2009. In fact it is a tough call to apportion relative weight of liability between Labour and National Governments in this respect. Each gets the “Fossil of the Year” award. 
The purpose of my intervention tonight is to place our broader climate change policy in the context of the latest scientific findings of the International Alliance of Research Universities. The alliance’s report is not just the work of the University of Copenhagen as the Minister seemed to believe; it represents the combined work of the Australian National University Yale and the universities of Oxford Cambridge California Peking Tokyo and Singapore. It involves the contribution of Dr Pachauri Director-General of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of Lord Nicholas Stern whose economic report of 2007 gained global attention and of the Prime Minister of Denmark which will be hosting the Copenhagen conference in December this year. It is as a result of the work of 2500 researchers from 80 countries many of whom are part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And contrary to the assumption of the Minister it has been properly peer reviewed by the Earth System Science Partnership. The Minister tended to be slightly dismissive of the report in question time this afternoon but he was gracious enough to say that the report would be “taken into account” in the Government’s future deliberations. This is just as well as the report is destined to form the basis on which the Copenhagen meeting will rest its decisions. 
So let me highlight the main points in that report which my colleague Metiria Turei tabled this afternoon for the benefit of the Minister his Government this House and our country. Let me cover excerpts from the executive summary and the conclusion. In the executive summary the report states: “Recent observations show that the greenhouse gas emissions and many aspects of the climate are changing near the upper boundary of the IPCC range of projections. Many key climate indicators are already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability within which contemporary society and economy have developed and thrived. These indicators include global mean surface temperature sea-level rise global ocean temperature Arctic sea ice extent ocean acidification and extreme climatic events. With unabated emissions many trends in climate will likely accelerate leading to an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climatic shifts.” The report states: “Temperature rises above 2oC will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond.” In its conclusions the report states: “Climate change is fundamentally different from the environmental problems humanity has dealt with until now. The risks scales and uncertainties associated with climate change are enormous and there is a significant probability of a devastating outcome at the global level. The nature of the climate change challenge demands visionary and innovative thinking. The planetary boundaries concept which aims to define the ‘safe operating space’ for humanity draws on the earlier experience of societies that regulated their own behaviour when knowledge of undesirable consequences became available. Planetary boundaries are defined with respect to biophysical thresholds of the Earth the crossing of which would lead to catastrophic outcomes for societies … The scientific evidence strongly suggests that there is an upper limit to the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or a ‘climate change boundary’ within which humanity should operate to reduce the risks of catastrophic outcomes. Although the precise position is not yet known current evidence indicates that humanity is fast approaching or may have even succeeded the boundary. Thus the need for rapid and drastic reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases is urgent if serious climatic impacts are to be avoided.” 
It is clear from this report that humanity is facing the greatest challenge of all time. It is not a matter of simply balancing our economic opportunities with our environmental responsibilities as the Government reiterates in a trance-like fashion. This afternoon Craig Foss and Nicky Wagner spoke of New Zealand doing its bit playing our part and being a responsible global citizen. Nikki Kaye identified the concerns of our young people but cautioned that we should not get out of step with other nations. Alas our worst fears are confirmed. We are not leading the field; we are lagging behind. In answer to our questions this afternoon the Minister for Climate Change Issues effectively said that Scotland the United Kingdom and Germany all of which have identified targets from 34 percent to 42 percent simply had it easy. By switching from coal to gas New Zealand in contrast had it tough because of our 48 percent methane component and incredibly because our GDP per capita was relatively low in the OECD. He failed to cite the most relevant statistic of all so let me do it for him. For greenhouse gas emissions per capita Australia had 26 US tons per capita per year the United States had 23 US tons per capita New Zealand had 19 US tons per capita the United Kingdom had 11 US tons per capital and Germany had 9 US tons per capita. The Minister said those countries had it easy and that we had it tough. That is ridiculous. We are the ones that are polluting disproportionately per capita. We are the ones that have the obligation to reduce our emissions. 
Let the Minister’s lament simply be set aside. Let his Government take the lead by getting up to speed with where the rest of the Governments are in setting targets within the next month at at least 40 percent carbon dioxide emissions and 30 percent carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in time for the climate conference at Copenhagen. Thank you.