Carbon Neutral Rhetoric

Matthew Hooton looks at what other countries are carbon neutral, teh new aspiration of the Prime Minister. They are:

Afghanistan
Mali
Chad
Cambodia
Democratic Republic of the Congo

He concludes that the term “carbon neutrality” has served its purpose of distracting attention away from pledge cards and Taitp Phillip Field at the Labour Party conference, and it will join the list of other phrases not intended to be believed:

* Closing the Gaps
* Economic Transformation
* I was working in the backseat of the car
* Parliamentary Services approved the pledge card

Hooton also points out that every ten days China opens a coal-fired power station that is big enough to serve all of Auckland’s household electricity needs, and even if NZ were to become carbon neutral it would be insignificant, except as a feel good gesture.