NZ slacking on climate change – UK peer

Speaking at a climate change conference in Auckland, Gummer said NZ does not need to start its climate change action with agriculture because it has “remarkable” advantages in other areas.

However, we should be a world leader on agricultural issues and the UK would back it, says John Gummer, a former MP who is now in the House of Lords as Lord Deben.

“After all you are the convenor of the international group dealing with agriculture. And yet I have to say NZ has not been as active in that as it should be.”

Gummer says the National Party should be leading the charge because that would provide more certainty for business.

It needs to realise that in the UK the centre-right has pushed the agenda all the way along to give business certainty.

The UK Committee on Climate Change advises the Government and produces recommendations to Parliament, backed by cross-party support, he says. And NZ also needs to make sure everyone realises it is not a party political issue, Gummer told the conference.

An issue for NZ is “whenever you talk about climate change everyone rushes to talk about the problems of agriculture”.

“I want you to start with the things you can do and the advantages you have.

“There is absolutely no point in going for the most difficult things first when you have some remarkable advantages.”

He says NZ has “almost carbon-free [electricity] generation” without trying.

The UK has a terrible problem in getting to a low-carbon economy, has already spent 7.6 billion pounds getting there and won’t reach it until the 2030s.

But while agriculture does not have to come first, he believes NZ should be a leader in this area of climate change.

“We in Britain will be as supportive as is humanly possible to help you in those discussions of agriculture because we’ve got to do it too.

“Agriculture is not as important to us and livestock in particular isn’t as important to us as it is to you, but it is crucial to the economies of Wales and Scotland,” Gummer says.

“So we’ve got to solve these problems as well. We’ve got to find a way of feeding animals [that prevents] the belching that produces so much methane.

“We have to find ways of solving the real problems of land use, and putting new heart into the soil, not only because it can be in a real sense a carbon sink but also because we are going to have to produce more food for a world in which by 2030 there will be 1.5 billion more middle-class people who have the opportunity to choose more food and choose their diets.”

Gummer was recently reappointed chairman of the UK climate change committee for five more years.