KEY POINTS:
National and the Greens say the Government's approach to tackling climate change is not enough in light of a new United Nations report's warning that global warming may have far-reaching and irreversible consequences.
National environment spokesman Nick Smith said the report showed New Zealand's emissions were increasing - "our emissions are going up four times the rate of the average for the developed world."
Dr Smith said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed the Government's failure to meet its campaign pledge of a 20 per cent reduction in emissions by 2005.
New Zealand's emissions had grown from 69 million tonnes in 1999 to 77 million tonnes in 2005 - a 12 per cent increase compared with Australia's 8 per cent.
The report's projections for emissions to 2010 meant that New Zealand was the "climate change bad boy" under current policy.
Dr Smith said the report showed the real difficulty of reducing green house gas emissions.
"National's approach of a more realistic goal of a 50 per cent reduction by 2050, but more action to achieve it, is the best way forward."
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said the report warned that industrialised countries' greenhouse emissions were now at a record high. He called for renewed efforts to reduce emissions.
Emissions from the transport sector were increasing and New Zealand was no exception with its massive road building adding to the traffic and emissions.
Dairy emissions were also rising, said Dr Norman, putting pressure on the Government to include the dairy sector in the emission trading scheme before 2012 when current pledges under the UN's Kyoto protocol expire.
Climate Change Issues Minister David Parker said the report confirmed the increasing pace of climate change and the serious impacts New Zealand and the world faced if gas emissions were not controlled.
In September, the Government released policy changes, including measures to put a price on carbon, improve energy efficiency, develop more renewable energy and use biofuels more.
"We all have a very real opportunity to take effective action on climate change and leave ourselves better off today and in the long run," said Mr Parker.
The report said all countries would be affected by natural disasters caused by climate changes, but those bearing the brunt would be the poor countries which bore the least responsibility for creating the problem.
