New Zealand has set itself apart from neighboring Australia by declaring climate change a top priority. But despite some lofty goals, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise in the South Pacific nation and could do so for years to come.
And the country faces some unusual challenges with half of those emissions coming from farm animals.
New Zealand Climate Change Minister James Shaw, who will travel to Poland on Sunday to attend U.N. climate talks, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he expects emissions to peak by 2025 and only then start to decline.
"We have not bent the curve," he said.
Under the terms of the Paris climate agreement, New Zealand is supposed to reduce its emissions by 30 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. Is it possible? "Well, we're a long way off to tell you the honest truth," Shaw said.
He said the biggest challenge is cars and trucks.
"Our transport emissions have gone up 24 percent in the last decade," he said. "For every electric vehicle that we import, we import 24 Ford Rangers."
"It's deeply rooted in people's sense of self and culture," he said. "So when you talk about the need to make that transition, even over quite long timelines, it meets with resistance."
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