Greenpeace is slating today’s announcement that He Waka Eke Noa has been delayed yet again as adding insult to injury for New Zealanders, who have seen the dairy industry get off scot-free for its climate pollution while we all pay the price of climate collapse.
Greenpeace spokesperson, Christine Rose, says, “This should be the final straw for New Zealanders who have watched agribusiness get away with executing a cynical strategy of denial and delay for twenty years to avoid being held responsible for its contribution to the climate crisis.”
“Successive Governments have failed to stand up to the dairy industry, and we’ve been left with nothing but hot air and empty promises in lieu of strong climate action.
“Even now, neither of the two major political parties have a climate policy that goes anywhere near touching the dairy industry, even though it’s New Zealand’s biggest polluter. It’s time for that to change.
“The climate disasters we’ve seen this year – from Cyclone Gabrielle here in Aotearoa to the devastating fires in Maui, Hawai’i – have made it clear that we need more urgent climate action, and there is no time for delay,” says Rose.
“We need this to be a climate election because politicians must take bold climate action. We cannot continue to let the dairy industry pollute our climate unchecked while around the world, people and nature suffer the impacts of an escalating climate crisis.”
Greenpeace, alongside more than forty other organisations, is calling on all political parties to adopt ten key actions for a safe and stable climate and healthy environment – including action on intensive dairy’s climate pollution. These are outlined in a plan known as Climate Shift. More than 13,000 New Zealanders have signed on in support of the plan since it launched in June.
