That will make a big difference
Stuff reports:
New Zealand will lead a five-way trade talks with Norway, Iceland, Costa Rica and Fiji to try to use trade to combat climate change by slashing fossil-fuel subsidies and abolishing tariffs on environmental goods.
Work on the deal was announced in New York on Thursday morning (New Zealand time) by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Costa Rica’s Vice minister for Foreign Trade Duayner Saver Chaverri, Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
I’m all for abolishing all subsidies and tariffs, so the initiative is a good thing.
But let’s look at the five countries taking part. What proportion of total greenhouse gas emissions do they represent?
- Norway 0.10%
- Iceland 0.01%
- Costa Rica 0.03%
- New Zealand 0.17%
- Fiji 0.01%
So the five countries are responsible for 0.32% of global emissions. Not really going to make a dent.