UPDATE: A few days after publication of the Council’s briefing, one of the independent analytical teams (EcoFys, Climate Analytics and the European
Climate Foundation) re-rated New Zealand’s performance from ‘medium’ to the lowest rank of ‘inadequate’ – as the Council had suggested was appropriate in the briefing. See NZ Herald report: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10616236
The New Zealand Government is relying on wildly inaccurate rankings of its 2020 emissions reduction target in order to answer critics at the Copenhagen negotiations. When corrected, the rankings reveal New Zealand is far from being even a mid-range performer – it is a tail dragger.
A number of independent research groups have evaluated the actions pledged by
countries to reduce their emissions by 2020. As greater scrutiny is now being applied to the efforts proposed by each country, these independent assessments have become increasingly important.
One set of comparisons that the New Zealand delegation in Copenhagen describes as “probably the most comprehensive analysis” and its Minister Tim Groser highlighted has classed New Zealand‟s 2020 target as “medium”, and thus a pass mark, when it
should clearly be classed as “inadequate” under this system.
Read the full analysis here
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