“We’re heading for a climate disaster, and yet every year, governments spend hundreds of billions of public funds on fossil fuel subsidies. Imagine if we had spent hundreds of billions per year subsidising giant meteors? That’s what you’re doing right now.” – Video 1 (above) Velociraptor (on behalf of the the United Nations).

“Unchecked carbon pollution is forcing the globe’s most vulnerable on a frog march to destruction. The facts are undeniable. This abdication of leadership is criminal. The world’s biggest polluters are guilty of arson on our only home. It is essential to meet the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C and science tells us that will require the world to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. But according to current commitments, global emissions are set to increase almost 14% over the current decade. That spells catastrophe. It will destroy any chance of keeping 1.5 alive.” – António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations introduction to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (2022)

• In late 2023 the International Energy Agency reported that the increasing global population and consumption is increasing fossil fuel emissions, outpacing the growth of renewable energy.
• The  IPCC Sixth Assessment Report is the best “road map” for how to most effectively reduce emissions. It is a complicated read, so we recommend Carbon Brief’s (free to access) Q&A explainer.
• In July 2023 global average temperatures passed 1.5°C and are still there in early 2024. This is not likely to be permanent; Climate Analytics is working out much we can overshoot this and what it will cost to bring it back under this critical temperature.
• Per head of population, Aotearoa is the worst country on Earth when it comes to how much we’ve cumulatively emitted since 1850 (Fig. 1). Today, we rank 44 out of 45 of the world’s Industrialised countries (Fig. 2). We’re using more than six times our fair share of the carbon emissions budget that would keep global temperature increases below 1.5°C. Our pledges under the Paris Agreement won’t even help keep global temperatures under 3°C.
• Our agricultural sector produces 50% of our emissions (Fig. 3) but are exempt from the Emissions Trading Scheme until 2025, and even then at a 95% discount, propped up by taxpayer dollars.
• The Emissions Trading Scheme makes it more financially lucrative to plant radiata pine, than restoring native forests (Fig. 4). This ignores the carbon stored in native forest soils vastly exceeds carbon in the soils of monoculture pine forests. And biodiverse native forest store just as much if not more carbon above the ground, while also providing life-supporting ecosystem services.
• We have run out of time to avoid some of the worsening climate impacts over the coming decades but we can avoid catastrophic impacts if ecosystems are restored and the New Zealand Government stops subsidising fossil fuels.

“The time is now, Ināia tonu nei, to lead the change we want to see and to remain steadfast to the values that underpin our nationhood—values like whanaungatanga, kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga.” – Climate Change Commission 2021