Editorial: Juggling in Copenhagen

OPINION: As crunch week begins at the Copenhagen climate talks, the world's leaders – and indeed Prime Minister John Key – look like they have a mountain to climb.

As this newspaper has said before, no matter where you stand in the climate change debate – sceptic or believer – most people would agree that it would be great to see an agreement signed at Copenhagen that will result in a meaningful reduction in pollution.

As the talks get down to brass tacks this week the parties are entrenched firmly in three camps. There are the minnows like brave Tuvalu, for whom climate change means rising seas which put their existence at risk. These nations have the most at stake and want to see the biggest cuts to emissions.

Then there are the developed or rich countries, such as the United States and Britain, who are under pressure to cut emissions and are probably in the best position to do so. They are not only being asked to cut back the carbon they emit by up to 40 per cent, they are also being tapped for aid money to help out others.

Finally there are the developing nations such as China. While they are not big polluters on a per capita basis their rate of growth is huge, and potentially catastrophic for the climate, if the pessimists are to be believed. Developing nations believe it is unfair that rich nations have been able to pollute the heck out of the world for centuries to get to the point they are at, while their growth is being strangled just as they are getting into their stride.

In practical terms New Zealand – whether the Government likes it or not – straddles all three groups. As a developed nation we owe a duty of care to countries such as Tuvalu.

New Zealand's delegation at Copenhagen pointedly ignored a chance to support Tuvalu's impassioned calls for drastic emissions cuts last week, which seems short sighted. If the Copenhagen talks fail there is no doubt it will be New Zealand rushing to help when the water is lapping at Tuvalu's high ground in a few years.

While we qualify as a rich nation New Zealand also has a developing nation's high levels of emissions from our huge agricultural base.

As Mr Key leaves for Cophenhagen today New Zealand is firmly entrenched in the climate bad boys club.

Our reputation has taken a pounding from the green lobby in the first week, with our conservative emissions targets earning a fossil award and our Government being accused of fiddling our accounting on the impact of forestry carbon sinks.

The barbs are sharp but are unlikely to hurt in the long term. The reality is that New Zealand – unlike many others – has an emissions trading scheme in place, and has taken the lead in pushing for more research spending on the impact of agricultural emissions. Mr Key is also committed to reducing emissions by between 10 per cent to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

While this is not likely to make everyone happy and we could always do more, Mr Key has a strong case to say that, at the very least, we are taking the problem seriously and are willing to make sacrifices. Hopefully everyone else does.

- © Fairfax NZ News