Why it is a PR stunt

Some people think I was too harsh labelling the Government’s new found enthusiasm for sustainability as a PR stunt. Firstly let me remind people that they have a track record of announcing bold goals and then dropping them quietly in a year or two. Who recalls getting NZ in the top half of the OECD for earnings? It was Helen’s over-arching goal, and now never mentioned.

Now let’s take one initiative – making the crown limos more emissions friendly. The Transport Ministry found a greener fleet could save 550 tonnes of CO2 emissions every-time the fleet is rotated. If that is every five years, that is 110 tonnes a year.

Now what is the total CO2 emissions for NZ. Wikipedia says 33,964,000 tonnes.

So what will this bold measure do. It will reduce emissions by 0.0003%.

Now in theory we need a 20% or greater reduction by 2012. So do you see how pitiful the announcement is.

Yes there is some merit in leading by example, but will the Government do anything beyond superficial PR stunts?

You see, if you accept that climate change is as bad as the Government says it is. If you accept that the PM’s goal of carbon neutrality is a good one, then you have to say why are they not proposing serious measures which will actually make a difference.

The reason they are not is because quite possibly people would be horrified by the cost. Helen gives us the rhetoric of carbon neutrality without being willing to be honest and say this would cost tens of billions of dollars. Because if she conceded that, then people might question whether carbon neutrality is actually such a desirable goal.

So the trick is to talk big, make some puff announcements and then blame someone else when our CO2 emissions keep on increasing.