17. New Zealand

Abstract

In 2012, New Zealand announced its decision not to sign up to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol but, instead, to set its emission reduction target under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). New Zealand also joined the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, began a joint study with South Korea to investigate linking the two countries’ emissions trading schemes, and decided to fund a solar plant in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20), New Zealand focused upon improving the environmental management of oceans and fossil fuel subsidy reform, signed up to the global partnership on oceans, and supported Australia’s launch of the World Indigenous Network. New Zealand and the United States submitted a joint proposal for a Ross Sea marine protected area at the annual Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources...