Business Sustainability

No industrialized economies like the U the US, the EU as a whole, or the big large emitters, none of them are currently on track for a two degree uh Celsius pathway based on their actual policies. They're not hitting the targets. And the Paris Agreement is exactly what it says it is. It's an agreement. But remember we retain our sovereignty, our right to do what we see fit and what we're able to do. Just the same way that the United Nations has no real authority over us, despite what you'll hear from right-wing commentators and a plethora of talkback callers who say they're controlling us and they're controlling our sovereignty. No, they're not. They make some suggestions. We can then decide what we're going to do. The Prime Minister has decided we will not pay $5 billion for carbon credits because we're not going to meet the targets we thought about in uh the Paris Climate Accord. And at the same stand-up, Tom McLay said the job of emission reduction is a responsibility of farmers. It's not the government's job to force change. Here's $51 million for you to find some way, you know, to cut your emissions a bit. Give it a good go, mate. Give it a good go. And that is a message that all farmers will welcome. They hate being portrayed as wreckers of the environment when the environment is at the heart of their business. They want to do something. Give us some money to do something, but don't tell us we're not doing enough. And it is important to signal to overseas markets that are becoming leery of buying New Zealand products because of our carbon footprint that we're still committed to making some changes and that we're trying. You know, Labour and the Greens hard hits on the way we farm and create energy, I thought did far more damage to New Zealand Inc. than they did in helping the environment. So I'm happy to give it a good go. Without killing the goose that lays the golden egg, and I think farmers are too, and I think the Prime Minister got it right and got the right balance.