So you’ve seen the Greenpeace billboard in Wellington, calling Christopher Luxon, David Seymour, and Winston Peters ‘climate extremists’. Or maybe you’ve wondered how the new Government’s policy is going to impact nature and the climate. Maybe you’re simply curious about what Greenpeace Aotearoa will be doing to stand up for the planet we all call home under the new National-led coalition.
Well, you’re in the right place!
The three climate extremists – Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters, and David Seymour – are attacking climate action across the board, so we’ve pulled together a list of reasons why this Government is bad for our future.
1. Luxon’s Government has committed to overturning the oil and gas ban
Everyone deserves to live free from fear of wildfires and flooding. Our children deserve to grow up in a world that is safe and where the Earth is sustaining life in all its diversity.
But the oil industry’s drive for continued extraction of fossil fuels puts all of that at risk. A small handful of oil executives are threatening the very future of life on Earth for the sake of profit. From 2010-2019, a movement of iwi, hapū, Greenpeace and hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders sustained a strong and successful resistance against offshore oil and gas exploration, and eventually, we won the oil and gas ban.
But now, Luxon’s Government wants to take that ban away and plans to welcome back the oil and gas industry with open arms. Shane Jones, Minister for Resources, was recently in Parliament celebrating the return of fossil fuel industries – including offshore oil and gas exploration. This Government thinks they’ll be able to entice the industry back to Aotearoa – but we’re ready to resist them at every step of the way.
If you want to join us in resisting the oil and gas industry, you can add your name to our open letter here.
Sign the open letter to the oil industry – We will resist oil exploration
2. Luxon, Peters, and Seymour will roll back regulation on the dairy industry – New Zealand’s worst climate polluter
The dairy industry, and in particular Fonterra, is New Zealand’s worst climate polluter. It’s long been clear that Federated Farmers are the National Party in gumboots, but the National and ACT parties have now become Federated Farmers in suits, with the election of former Federated Farmers director Andrew Hoggard, and many other former farming lobbyists, to Government.
This is a Government that will delay pricing of agricultural emissions until 2030, meaning that the dairy industry can continue to pollute the climate with superheating methane and nitrous oxide gases and get away scot free, having to pay nothing for the destruction it is causing to people and to nature.
We won’t give up defending nature against those in Government who put industrial polluters first. You can join us by signing on to our plan to cut climate pollution from intensive dairy here.
Join our call on the Government to go further than the Climate Commission’s inadequate recommendations and cut climate pollution from NZ’s biggest polluter: industrial dairying.
3. Luxon’s band of climate extremists have already scrapped the clean car discount
The clean car discount scheme provided those who purchased an electric vehicle with a substantial discount, while increasing the price on the most emissions-intensive vehicles. The scheme was one of the few climate successes of the previous Labour Government, resulting in a dramatic uptake of electric vehicles, and resulting in significant cuts to climate pollution from private cars only two years after it was introduced.
But from December 31st, 2023, the Clean Car Discount is gone.
One of the key parts of the Government’s climate action plan – what little there is of it – is increasing the number of electric vehicles on the roads. We know this is not the solution to our transport problem – walking, cycling, and public transport are much better options for those who are able to use these. But it’s difficult to see how this new Government plans to increase electric vehicle use at all when they’re scrapping the incentives for buying the very electric vehicles they plan to rely on.
Read: Amanda Larsson’s breakdown of the National Party’s decarbonisation policy.
4. The coalition of climate extremists will expand mining on conservation land
How many times do Luxon, Peters, and Seymour need reminding? We cannot afford to continue with already planned fossil fuel developments, let alone expand those operations, if we want to stop the climate crisis from getting worse. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that we’re in an era of global boiling – and this Government plans to add more coal to the furnace. Not only that, but their Minister for Resources is celebrating this as a major achievement.
Conservation land exists to protect New Zealand’s unique native species. Expanding mining in these areas will lead to biodiversity loss, with already-endangered animals threatened by expanded coal mining.
We’ve mobilised against mining before, alongside a movement of thousands of others. This coalition Government has another think coming if they expect to get away with expanding the mining industry here in Aotearoa.
5. Luxon’s new Government will take away finance for walking, cycling, and public transport
For all their talk about decarbonising at the UN climate talks, this Government certainly doesn’t seem keen to put their money where their mouth is. They have pledged to cut investment in sustainable methods of transport – like walking, cycling, and public transport infrastructure. This is critical to decarbonising the transport system.
At the same time as reversing the clean car discount, they’re making it harder than ever to use other methods of sustainable transport. Simeon Brown, in his recent correspondence with local and regional councils, has revealed that he has directed Waka Kotahi – the NZ transport agency – to stop investment into public transport, walking, and cycling.
This move is counterintuitive – fewer people in cars means less congestion, less time spent in traffic jams, and more people out and engaging in active transport modes. It’s better for everyone – for those who need to drive, and those who can choose not to.
Ultimately, this coalition of climate extremists are attempting to reverse any progress on climate action.
For all of Shane Jones’ faults, one thing he said in Parliament at the end of 2023 was true. This is not a Government who will meet climate action targets.
That’s why we’re committed to calling them out on their delay, denial, and walking back of climate action. We will resist climate-polluting industries, and we will not allow this Government to compromise the safety of this planet for generations to come.
So, what can you do to stop the climate extremists?
1. You can join our fight to stop offshore oil and gas exploration from returning to Aotearoa. Add your name to our open letter to the oil industry here.
2. You can donate to Greenpeace here to help us stand up to polluting industries all across Aotearoa.
3. If you have a campaign you want to run against the new Government, you can set up a petition on our community platform! Get in touch here.
4. Sign our petition to end intensive dairy’s climate pollution here.