The Paris Agreement isn’t working. It demands targets that are disconnected from science and blind to New Zealand’s realities. Sending farming and industry overseas where they emit even more hurts the climate and our way of life.
Paris needs to change, or New Zealand needs to leave.
Net zero targets have been set without regard for the real cost to firms, farms, and families. The result is farmers forced off the land, the regions hollowed out, and higher prices for food, electricity, and production.Working people and rural people at the frontline of the economy see it first. The urban middle class is feeling it, though, even if they don’t see it yet.
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Today I joined Andrew Hoggard, Mark Cameron, and Simon Court at a farm in Patumahoe to announce ACT’s call for a better deal.“We might be a nation of five million, but we feed 50 million, and we do it bloody efficiently. Shutting down efficient New Zealand farms so other countries can grow food less efficiently will only increase global emissions while gutting rural New Zealand.”
–Mark Cameron“Emissions Reduction Plans have led to punishing carbon prices that steadily drive up electricity costs. Sawmills, paper mills, and manufacturers are shutting shop, draining livelihoods from regional economies. Households are left to choose between cutting back on groceries or shivering in the dark.”
–Simon Court “It has never made sense to treat cow burps the same way as emissions from coal-burning. ACT would look to countries like Uruguay that have achieved sensible, science-based differentiation of gas types. That’s how you protect food production while addressing climate change honestly.”
—Andrew Hoggard ACT’s better deal on climate means no emissions pricing for agriculture, revisiting Emissions Reduction Plans, and ensuring every dollar delivers. If these reforms cannot be achieved, New Zealand should be prepared to walk away. We should not continue down a path that undermines our economy for no environmental gain.
ACT is the only party that opposed the Labour-NZ First-Green Zero Carbon Act. We were the only party to consistently vote against the Labour-Green emissions mandates. Now, ACT is the only party with the courage to say Paris is broken, and that New Zealand deserves a better deal.
Thank you for your support,
David Seymour
ACT Leader
Sadly I have seen David Seymour say whatever will win him the vote on the day, and that may be in complete contradiction to what he has said previously. The party has lost me.