Letters to The Climate Change Commission
On 6 November 2020, LCANZI had the opportunity to meet with two members of The Climate Change Commission, Dr Carr and Mathew Smith. We followed up with a letter to The Climate Change Commission. The letter outlined the Climate Change Commission’s legal obligation to ensure that its advice is consistent with the purposes of the Climate Change Response Act (CCRA) of providing a framework for policies that contribute to the global effort under the Paris Agreement to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5° Celsius enabling New Zealand to meet its international obligations under the Paris Agreement.
We then followed up with a further letter raising three issues which the Commission needs to get right in its advice on the NDC, emissions budgets and the emissions reduction plan. First, the rate of emissions in 2030 and the total emissions in the period 2021-30 are both important. Second, the Commission should call out our NDC as misleading and lacking any ambition. Third, the emissions budgets and reduction plan must be consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.