#73: Can NZ even make a difference?

On being a small role model for big change

Mōrena, happy Tuesday!

Today I thought I’d do a refresher on a frequently asked question - can New Zealand even make a difference to climate change?

This is one of the most common rebuttals I hear from folks who are deprioritising strong climate policy. “We’re too small”, “why put in the money/effort/political risk when it’s not going to make a difference anyway?”, “Look at how much China and India are polluting.”

In response to these, I point to these three key counter-arguments:

Tweet source

The combined emissions of small countries make up over a third of global emissions. We produce less than 2% of the world’s emissions, but when we club together with all the other less-than-2%ers, we contribute almost as much as China & India combined. If we did nothing, a third of the world’s emissions would continue growing at their current reckless rate, far from the goal of decreasing to net zero. So clearly, we can make a difference - in fact, we already have, by emitting many times our fair share of the world’s emissions despite being 0.06% of the world’s population.

Tweet source - highly recommend watching this 2 min speech!

Our per capita (per person) emissions are among the highest in the world. Even if we didn’t count all of our agricultural emissions (50% of our country’s emissions), and counted all of China's manufacturing emissions, our per capita emissions would still be twice China’s. We are one of the richest countries in the world, with some of the most lavish lifestyles on the planet. Poor urban planning, underinvestment in public transport & denser housing infrastructure, and caving in to neoliberal policies has got us stuck with a dependency on flights, long car commutes, sprawling cities, and an addiction to consuming anything we want at the literal click of a finger. 

We have a proud history of being a small country that punches above its weight in many other areas, and sets the standard for other countries, both big and small, to follow. Women’s suffrage, peaceful protest, women in politics, coming first in a disproportionate number of sporty things - we’ve never shied away from making a difference on the world stage; in fact, we’ve relished and excelled at it.

Next time someone says we’re too small to make a difference, let’s gently remind them of all the things we’ve already achieved, and all that we could achieve at this crucial juncture of our lifetime.

What can we do today?

The most-clicked link from last week’s issue → was the one to get DCC to support a plant-based treaty like Edinburgh.

🐝 If you have 5 minutes: Shift the narrative

• Climate Club has joined a coalition of organisations working to make sure that this year’s election is a climate election, and we just launched the campaign - Climate Shift! The coalition is calling on political parties to commit to a real shift in direction on climate change, guided by the 10-point plan.
  Action: Sign on for updates by adding your name to the petition

• This is quite a different action: prominent Vietnamese environmental activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong has been arrested on dubious charges. We cannot let this set a precedent for climate activists who speak up against government inaction.
  Action: Take a look at the actions on this page, or if you know people with government or multinational connections to Vietnam, encourage them to apply pressure for her release.

🐇 If you have 15 minutes: Short notice for our long-term emissions reduction plan! 

• Due today: It’s the last day to submit on NZ’s second Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP)! This will set our emissions budgets for 2026-2030 across everything from agriculture, to energy, to transport, to wellbeing. While there’s a lot that you could talk about here, we’ve collected up some submission points put forward by various climate groups.
  Action: Use the submission guide to contribute to how we reduce emissions during this critical period

💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: Sink our teeth into the systemic problems

• Climate Club is part of a coalition including ActionStation, Amnesty International, Council of Trade Unions, Oxfam, and Renters United that wants to see a fairer tax system to help us afford the deep systemic challenges we face, like inequality and the climate crisis. We are launching the Fair Tax Campaign this Wednesday - support us by coming to an event or sharing online!
  10am Wednesday: Come along to the launch event in Wellington CBD or watch the livestream from the new campaign Facebook page.

• Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) is applying, again, to mine the seabeds around Taranaki for heavy metals. Our oceans are major carbon sinks and a planet heat regulator. Their health is more important than ever, when warming temperature and ocean acidification is already threatening its ability to absorb carbon.
  Action: Write a submission to The Environment Committee on why the environmental impacts of seabed mining will never be worth the cost.
  Action, 5 mins: Sign the petition to ban seabed mining

In case you missed it!

• Last month, ActionStation ran an over-subscribed webinar called Economics for the People. If you missed out on a spot (over 1000 people signed up!), you can watch the recording here!
  Action: Sign their new campaign petition to increase tax on corporate profits

• We know that we can’t afford to have more gas and oil drilling - and yet the government is offering exactly that. The government currently has a tender open for permission to explore for petroleum in Taranaki.
  Action: Join Climate Justice Taranaki’s bid for a fossil-fuel free future with a quick signature! 

• There are some new roles on our ongoing climate-related roles spreadsheet. Check them out if you might be interested in chipping in a couple of hours a week for a climate cause.

Wins!

• Not quite a win yet, but all eyes are on a historic case (Held vs. Montana) going through the US courts right now. 16 young activists are taking the government to court on the basis that decades of delay & free passes for the fossil fuel industry is a breach of their rights. Listen to this 30 min podcast for a fascinating overview, or follow their stories. Closer to home, check out Lawyers for Climate Action NZ for climate litigation as an avenue for climate action in NZ.

• After fierce pushback from the community of Feilding, waste-to-energy incineration company Bioplant NZ has withdrawn its application to build a facility. We don’t support burning rubbish to fuel power generation, because it generates vast amounts of CO2 & distracts us from the real solution of reducing the waste we generate and improving systems to avoid methane-producing organic materials in landfill.  Check out Zero Waste Network’s write-up to learn more, and sign the petition to support Waipā who are the next small council being targeted by waste-to-energy corporations.

• Further overseas, Japanese mega-bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) have withdrawn their intention to invest in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) which would have been terrible for many reasons (emitting an entire new pipeline worth of fossil fuels being only one of them). Tautoko to 350.org and the #StopEACOP collective for their sustained pressure on the oil giants and the banks backing them - learn more here.

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy these videos by Yellow Dot Studios, a new non-profit studio launched by the creators of the climate-satire film Don’t Look Up (2021). We love how it uses humour and satire to shift focus onto the fossil fuel corporations behind the climate crisis.

See you next week, 

Jenny & the Climate Club team