SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) – Responding to activist Greta Thunberg’s taunt on Twitter, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern defended the climate change policies of her nation and said the Swedish teenager’s suggestion that the country lacked ambition referred only to a part of Wellington’s goals on climate change.
Thunberg tweeted on Dec. 13 that New Zealand’s “so-called climate emergency declaration” earlier in the month, pledging to become carbon neutral by 2025, was “of course nothing unique to any nation”.
On Monday, the prime minister told the media that she welcomed Thunberg’s contribution to the debate on climate change, but said the emergency declaration covered only a portion of the country’s climate change targets.
“If it was the sum total of what we were doing, it would be worthy of criticism, it’s clearly not,” Ardern said, adding it’s “only a good thing that there are people out there continuing to urge ambition and action.”
The country declared a climate emergency on Dec. 2, pledging its public sector would achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Its programme will be supported by a NZ$200 million ($142 million) fund for replacing coal boilers and help purchase electric or hybrid vehicles.
