The spin begins

Helen Clark gained plaudits (including from me) for her bold statement to have NZ become the first sustainable country on Earth with carbon neutrality. I was of course somewhat cynical as her previous visionary statements tend to last a couple of years and then get dropped. Who remembers Closing the Gaps and Top Half of the OECD?

Anyway John Armstrong reveals the spin to redefine carbon neutrality. It is no longer no net greenhouse gas emissions, but only carbon dioxide emissions. In NZ half of all emissions are methane, not CO2. And if I recall correctly methane is 20 times as effective at trapping heat than CO2.

So this is like a Government saying we are going to cut crime in half, and then saying oh we only meant minor crimes like disorderly beahviour, not serious violent and sexual crimes.