Government unveils climate change bill

The Government has introduced the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill to Parliament.Prime Minister Jacinda Arden says “We’ve built a practical consensus across Government that creates a plan for the next 30 years, which provides the certainty industries need to get in front of this challenge.“The critical thing is to do everything we can over the next 30 years to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and the Zero Carbon Bill makes that a legally binding objective.“Carbon dioxide is the most important thing we need to tackle – that’s why we’ve taken a net zero carbon approach."Jacinda Ardern says “Agriculture is incredibly important to New Zealand, but it also needs to be part of the solution. That is why we have listened to the science and also heard the industry and created a specific target for biogenic methane."The split gases approach we’ve agreed on is consistent with that commitment.“The Bill sets a target for 10 per cent reduction in biological methane emissions by 2030, and aims for a provisional reduction ranging from 24 per cent to 47 per cent by 2050."Read the Prime Ministers full statement