Ministry Statements and Speeches 2009

Statement made by New Zealand Ambassador for Climate Change, Dr Adrian Macey, to the United Nations Climate Change negotiating session.

10 August 2009 in Bonn, Germany

The Government has today announced a 2020 target range to signal New Zealand’s commitment to a successful and ambitious outcome from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

New Zealand is prepared to take on a responsibility target for greenhouse gas emissions reductions of between 10% and 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, if there is a comprehensive global agreement. This means:

• the global agreement sets the world on a pathway to limit temperature rise to not more than 2°C;
• developed countries make comparable efforts to those of New Zealand;
• advanced and major emitting developing countries take action fully commensurate with their respective capabilities;
• there is an effective set of rules for land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF); and
• there is full recourse to a broad and efficient international carbon market.

It is expected New Zealand would meet its target through a mixture of domestic emission reductions, the storage of carbon in forests, and the purchase of emissions reductions in other countries.

“Effective” LULUCF rules refers broadly to the current international rules for forestry and land use, with changes to recognise carbon storage in timber products and to allow land use flexibility for pre-1990 forests.

Should the world achieve this comprehensive global agreement, where New Zealand’s final target will lie within the 10% to 20% range will depend on the overall ambition of the agreement and the effectiveness of the rules.

If the international agreement falls short of meeting these conditions, New Zealand reserves the right to reconsider the stringency of its target.

New Zealand’s target reflects its fair share of ambitious global mitigation efforts. Reductions of 10% and 20% below 1990 levels are equivalent to 26% and 35% below 2007 levels. Independent studies show that the direct costs of New Zealand’s target as a percentage of GDP will be considerably more than the average of other countries’ 2020 targets announced so far, highlighting New Zealand’s support for a comprehensive agreement.
 
New Zealand’s 2020 target was decided following consultation with New Zealand business, farmers, environmental groups, Māori, scientists, academics and other stakeholders. 

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