AGW - aintcha sick of it? I am. It's a massive con, like the EU, Biden, China, New Xiland's saintliness - wait, what?
Yes, NZ is a con.





While Saint Jacinda’s halo is slipping somewhat – the Covid elimination strategy has encountered some heavy weather and the lockdown remains in place – New Zealand continues to be praised for its commitment to NZE 2050. The Labour government even went to the trouble of passing legislation, The Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019, an action which is seen by those same elites and activists as a necessary part of quality climate policy.

There is, however, a teeny-weeny problem with New Zealand’s intent to achieve NZE 2050: some 43 per cent of its emissions are not included in the target because it only applies to ‘long-lived gases’. That would be the 43 per cent of emissions emanating mainly from the agriculture sector and those farting sheep and cows, in particular. To be sure, there is a separate target for this sector – a reduction of between 25 and 47 per cent by 2050 from 2017 levels. In other words, good but no cigar. Sensing perhaps her demotion from top of the climate action ladder, Jacinda did declare a climate emergency in 2020, although what that actually achieved is unclear. But of course her supporters love it: she really gets it and that’s important.

She also had the sense (or lack of it) to set up a Climate Commission headed by a chap who favours the hairshirt approach (people must change their ways) to dealing with climate change. Its website states that ‘we drive climate action in Aotearoa (New Zealand is so yesterday). Our independence means we can provide impartial advice, challenge and hold the government to account on climate action’. One of the main messages to the good folk of the land of the long white cloud is walk, cycle or use public transport. If you must use a car, make it electric.

Needless to say, the Climate Commission thinks that the country, whatever its name, really needs to lift its emissions reduction ambitions and to insist that farmers are made to do much more. It is widely accepted that massive reforestation will be required as part of the deal.

Weirdly, the Department of Environment has estimated that the cost for New Zealand of achieving NZE 2050 is the equivalent of 16 per cent of GDP, while the OECD thinks the cost of climate change for the country will be only 1 per cent of GDP between 2015 and 2060.

On this basis, the Labour government would be nuts to do anything more than it’s doing but Jacinda is scared of having a penalty awarded against her for insufficient intent. There is even talk of her staying home rather than mixing with the luvvies in Glasgow, thus sparing her the embarrassment of facing a ‘blah, blah, blah’ criticism from that other saint, Greta.

Of course, New Zealand is not the only one who is keen to demonstrate sufficient intent when it comes to the climate. The country’s host thinks that it can fully decarbonise its electricity grid by 2035 and expects to cut emissions by nearly 80 per cent by that date.

The UK also has an Act of Parliament, but there is no credible plan to achieve the targets, in part because its proposal to impose heat pumps as the only allowable form of domestic heating is in complete tatters. The reality is that the country will be pushed to keep the lights on at affordable prices in the coming years. But, hey, the intent will be there.

. But just as lemmings jump off cliffs, many Western countries are intent on committing economic suicide to demonstrate their climate purity. The leaders of China, India and Russia, in particular, can sit back and enjoy the show.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2021/10/insufficient-intent/

As Churchill once, reportedly, said, “the only statistics you can trust are the ones you have falsified yourself”.  And all the influencers, like thee Dems in the US, the AGW cadres and various other right-on activist are adepts at falsifying stats and crowing about them.