This is welcome news. Some other countries have rational leaders, unlike the predicament we face in the US. under the infantile Donald Trump.
New Zealand lawmakers approved a bill Thursday that commits the country to being carbon neutral by the year 2050. The measure, which passed 119 votes to 1, demonstrates the cross-party support that climate protection has in the Pacific island nation.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern thanked lawmakers for supporting the bill — and said she was grateful that in the past 10 years, Parliament had progressed from debating whether global warming is real to discussing what to do about it.
"We have to start moving beyond targets. We have to start moving beyond aspiration. We have to start moving beyond statements of hope and deliver signs of action. That is what this government is doing and proudly so," Ardern said Thursday. "We have made a choice that I am proud of, that will leave a legacy, and that I hope means the next generation will see that we in New Zealand were on the right side of history."
Its passage comes in marked contrast to the Trump administration's declaration this week that the U.S. is formally withdrawing from the Paris deal. The U.S. is the only country to pull out of the pact, which was signed by 200 nations in 2015.
New Zealand's bill sets an ambitious target: to reduce all greenhouse gases (except biogenic methane, emitted by plant and animal sources) to net zero by 2050.
The country is well-positioned to hit zero. New Zealand already generates 80 percent of its electricity from renewables, and that portion will be higher by 2035 as offshore oil and gas are phased out.
New Zealand joins 19 other countries in the Carbon Neutrality Coalition. In addition 32 cities worldwide have already pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Thirty years ago I toured the North Island by bicycle (push bike), bus, rail, and rented car. I have many fond memories of that visit.
My hat’s off to the Kiwis and their leader Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.