Tuesday 12 November 2019 11:32am
Following discussion at recent staff meetings and participation in the Climate Strike Movement, the Politics Programme unanimously agreed to support the Climate Strike Movement and to issue a declaration on climate change.
Our climate declaration
We, the people of Aotearoa, commit to urgently transforming society to achieve climate stability for future generations. We will create a climate-safe Aotearoa, based on economic fairness, democracy, respect for human rights and the intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, where we live in harmony with Nature and with each other.
We call on all New Zealanders to:
1. Stop the bad stuff
- Reduce the extraction and burning of fossil fuels to 50% by 2025 and to zero by 2030:
- Prevent all new and expanded coal mines and coal-burning plants;
- End deep sea oil exploration and fracking for oil and gas.
- Stop all non-essential air travel; halve aviation emissions by 2025.
- Halt the expansion of industrialized, intensive farming.
- End the unsustainable drive for endless economic growth and consumerism, which drives inequality and resource depletion.
2. Bring on the good:
- Build clean, renewable alternatives for our electricity, transport, farming and industrial processes;
- Farm sustainably, reducing stocking rates, methane and nitrous oxide emissions, managing soils better and restoring our rivers;
- Restore 1.3 million hectares of marginal land to native forest to increase carbon sinks;
- Increase protection for New Zealand’s biodiversity and wild places;
- Reduce consumption of transport, energy and materials by sharing resources, growing local food, eating less meat and dairy and creating resilient local economies;
- Insulate all homes and upgrade energy efficiency;
- Put in place just transition processes for those whose livelihoods will be affected;
- Work towards a waste-free, circular economy that creates wellbeing for all citizens and respects Nature’s limits.
3. Pressure government to:
- Comply with and facilitate the above transformation;
- Withdraw investment from the fossil fuel industry;
- Establish a Climate Commission to set a binding carbon budget and develop a plan to meet it;
- Abide by and strengthen our obligations under the Paris agreement, according to climate science;
- Prepare for a fair resettlement of climate refugees with guidance from Tangata Whenua.