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Exhaust, fossil fuel - Source: ONE News
A column in a leading British newspaper which accuses New Zealanders of unjustifiably trading off their "clean, green 100% pure" imagery doesn't make for nice reading, Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says.
"But while it may be harsh, there's a lot of truth in it," Norman says.
"It looks like the rest of the world is catching on to New Zealand's dirty little secret."
Fred Pearce, a columnist for The Guardian newspaper gave "the prize for the most shameless two fingers to the global community to New Zealand, a country that sells itself round the world as 'clean and green', but had increased greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 22% since signing up to reduce them at Kyoto".
Pearce was outraged New Zealand had a reputation for global leadership in tackling climate change, when the country's minister in charge of climate negotiations, Tim Groser, had said the government would not try to be "leaders" in climate change.
Norman - a vocal critic of issues such as "dirty dairying" says on many international issues New Zealand punches above its weight, but not on climate change.
This is a risk, because dairy exports and international tourism both depend on the integrity of "Brand New Zealand", he says.
Pearce said New Zealand had a "generous" initial Kyoto target of keeping its emissions to the same level as 1990, but its emissions were now 60% higher than those of Britain, per head of population.
"Among industrialised nations, they are only exceeded by Canada, the US, Australia and Luxembourg.
"With more cows than people, the country's increasingly intensive agricultural sector is responsible for approaching half the greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
And the country had only promised a measly 50% in emissions by 2050 - something even the US could trump.
Pearce said that the "commercial greenwash" was being used to promote both tourism and dairy exports, and that the national marketing strategy was underpinned by a survey showing that tourism would be reduced by 68% if the country lost its prized "clean, green image", and even international purchases of its dairy products could halve.
