Editorial: Britain shows how climate can become a political football

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Photo / AP

EDITORIAL

The question of how New Zealand meets its climate emission goals and how quickly the country makes progress is a contentious election issue.

At last week’s main leaders’ debate, both Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon said they were committed to the country’s targets, but National aimed to reach them in a different way to Labour.

Hipkins pointed out that National had signed the 2050 net zero agreement “yet they want to cut all of the things the Government’s currently doing to reduce our emissions”.

Luxon said a National government would double renewable electricity capacity but also argued that targeting agriculture wasn’t a good idea. Claims have also been traded between the two parties over the complex carbon pricing system.

Hipkins said: “We need to act with evermore urgency when it comes to climate change, now’s not the time to take the foot off the accelerator”.

But a political trend to take a more meandering approach to climate change may be growing - mining the gap between people’s aspirations and the practical impact on them of doing something about it.

Last week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, battling in the polls and facing elections next year, decided to delay or kick away measures to cut emissions.

He still claimed to be committed to net zero targets but the Government’s climate change committee said it was wishful thinking to say the UK was still on target for net zero by 2050.

What makes this more impactful is the UK’s status for years as a leader on combating climate change. There has been heavy investment in green industries.

A couple of years ago, Britain said it would reduce its 1990s-level emissions of 68 per cent by 2030. Scientists say that by 2030 global greenhouse gas emissions need to be halved to achieve the best outcomes for the planet.

A ban on the sale of new petrol cars has been moved back by five years. A drive for greater take-up of heat pumps has been weakened, while plans to force landlords to insulate their properties have been scrapped. New oil and gas development in the North Sea won’t be banned.

Sunak said: “When our share of global emissions is less than 1 per cent, how can it be right that British citizens are now being told to sacrifice even more than others?”

He’s gambling on voters not wanting to make many sacrifices, saying pushing too fast risks “losing the consent of the British people”.

Politicians in countries other than the UK have also felt the pressure of climate change becoming a central issue, having a wide impact in people’s lives, and being both a major ongoing cost and economic opportunity.

Some politicians see it as a populist culture war issue to turn to their advantage. In the UK, Sunak’s moves have been analysed as a bid to create a separation with Labour on climate and to put the rival party under pressure.

Parties here and overseas need to work on ensuring that climate stays a bipartisan challenge rather than a political football. Consistency is needed. We need to be wary about losing momentum on climate change.