New Zealand's Clean Green Illusion

New Zealand's prime minister, John Key, has stated that his country's E.T.S (Emissions Trading Scheme) will likely be similar to that of Australia -- a country that is predicted to be the world's biggest per capita emitter by 2020.

As we prepare to go to Copenhagen (actually John Key will not be going) it's a good time to hark back to the1990 signing of the Kyoto Protocol when New Zealand secured a sweet deal, which simply required us to not increase emissions between 1990 and 2010.

However, the latest United Nations statistics are showing that emissions in that period have risen by 22 per cent. The New Zealand government has defended this abysmal record by claiming that almost half the emissions come from the agricultural sector, and there is little they can do about them.

So, let us look at the reality. If you exclude all emissions except those resulting from the burning of fossil fuel, the calculated increase becomes a whopping 39 per cent.

On a per capita basis, New Zealand's emissions are now 60 per cent higher than those of Great Briton. Among industrial countries New Zealand is only exceeded by Canada, USA, Australia and Luxembourg. The average Chinese person's emissions are one-seventh of a New Zealander's!

The land area of Japan is about the same as New Zealand, but if Japan followed similar environmental practices that are permitted -- dare I say encouraged -- here. That country would become a wasteland. With our small population we project an environmentally friendly, clean green image, which is mythical and far from the truth.