Covid recovery vs climate recovery
Concern is mounting that post Covid-19 economic recovery could come at the cost of climate protection policies.
But as the government is preparing to pour money into “shovel ready” construction projects, Climate Change Minister James Shaw has asked the independent Climate Change Commission to review New Zealand’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
The purpose of the review, says the minister, is to ensure the NDC is consistent with the goal, unanimously agreed by Parliament last year, of limiting global warming to 1.5˚C above pre‑industrial levels.
Image credit - Markus Spiske and Pexels.
“Nearly every government in the world has promised to take part in a global effort to clean up their economies and avoid the worse effects of climate change. New Zealand is once again showing leadership by committing to a review of whether our international target is ambitious enough to help create a better, cleaner, and more prosperous future,” James Shaw says.
While he knows New Zealanders are experiencing a huge amount of uncertainty regarding the economic effects of Covid-19, he believes because climate change problems will still be there when life returns to normal, it is imperative to continue to act on environmental issues.
Speaking with Kathryn Ryan on RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme, the minister said “the government is about to spend, frankly, an astonishing amount of money to resuscitate the economy.”
He says that means because we are borrowing the money off our children and grandchildren to pay for this Covid response, if we fail to avert a climate catastrophe that will add further burdens to the next generations.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw says environmental issues cannot be ignored in a bid to resuscitate the economy post Covid-19. Image credit - Green Party.
The minister says there is a risk in the rush to restart the economy that climate concerns are forgotten but he says we cannot race to restore the status quo because the world was on an environmentally unsustainable pathway before the pandemic.
He says in the next few weeks a list of “shovel ready” projects will be presented to ministers to consider which will include private, government and council plans in all sorts of categories, such as energy, housing, transport, freshwater and forestry conservation. But he warns the decision makers cannot ignore climate concerns as they work to kick start the economy.
You can hear the full interview from Nine to Noon below.