New Zealand pulls out of climate protocol
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Nov 12, 2012 -- UPI
New Zealand says it will not be signing up to a second
commitment period on greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto
Protocol.
Instead, the government said, it would opt for a non-binding
pledge under the United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate
Change.
The controversial action would put New Zealand's climate
change efforts with a group of developed and developing
countries responsible for 85 percent of global emissions,
including the United States, Japan, China, India, Canada, Brazil
and Russia, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
"I want to emphasize that New Zealand stands 100-percent
behind its existing Kyoto Protocol commitment," Climate Change
Minister Tim Groser said in a statement.
"We are on track to achieving our target; indeed, we are
forecasting a projected surplus of 23.1 million tons.
Furthermore, we will remain full members of the Kyoto Protocol.
"There is no question of withdrawing. The issue was always
different: where would we take our next commitment -- under the
Kyoto Protocol or under the Convention with the large majority
of economies?
"We have decided that it is New Zealand's best interests to
do the latter," Groser said.
Opposition political parties and environmental groups have
condemned the government's decision.
"In his statement Tim Groser talks about aligning with 'major
economies' omitting that many other countries, and the European
Union, are in the pro-Kyoto camp and want to take real action to
combat climate change," Green Party climate change spokesperson
Kennedy Graham said in a statement.
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