A steady (and fast) reduction in emissions is required to be consistent with 1.5 degrees. That's what the emission budgets do. The 2050 target is insufficient by itself
The changes are setting us up to miss our current international commitments and to slow emissions reductions after that
This would be a removal of a significant part of the climate change policy framework and, potentially, sets NZ up to default on its international commitments
There's also this (para 14(b) of the Cabinet paper)
Emission budgets are meant to steadily decrease emissions on the way to net zero in 2050. The 2050 target itself is not consistent with 1.5 degrees if up until 2049 you don't reduce emissions and do everything in 2050...
The Government is laying the groundwork for not meeting our international carbon reduction commitments through offshore credits and then also not meeting these commitments through domestic carbon reductions
environment.govt.nz/assets/publi...
NZ Governments stuffed around too long not cutting domestic reductions fast enough and not securing international credits soon enough and is now proposing to change the law to let itself off the hook
The para here by Henry Cooke isn't the point. NZ has always been able to meet commitments by using offshore reductions
The point is that if NZ just doesn't buy these offshore credits/reductions, we don't have to make up the difference with domestic reductions
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
I don't think anyone thinks 1.5 degrees is feasible (we've probably already gone past it), but the options should be around changing that measure (to 1.7 or 2.0 or whatever), not gutting large parts of our legislation.
It's effectively an abandonment of our Paris commitment