Perspective with Andrew Dickens: I think Luxon got the climate change balance right

Author: Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2026, 9:31am

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The biggest story of the week hit on Wednesday. And no, the biggest story of the week wasn’t fare caps on public transport. I mean, that was - they say - a $65 million policy that I reckon is three times that, but it wasn’t the big one.

It wasn’t whether or not Labour had a tent at Fieldays either. I mean, hello - come on.

It was when Christopher Luxon released a $51 million policy to accelerate the rollout of technologies onto farms to reduce emissions and remain competitive in the global market.

This is the policy that Winston Peters has come out and questioned: “Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this?” I’ll tell you why in a moment, Winston.

But it wasn’t actually the policy itself that was big. It was the Prime Minister saying we will not be buying $5 billion worth of carbon credits because we are looking like failing to meet the targets we agreed to under the Paris Climate Accord.

Can I repeat? He said we will not be buying $5 billion worth of carbon credits - despite what Winston says today.

But he did say, on the emissions targets, “We haven’t given up”, and that hitting emissions targets is hard. Then he said, “But we’ll give them a good go.”

How Kiwi is that?

Now look, Winston, this is no great shame. No industrialised economies - like the US, the EU as a whole, or the big emitters - are on track for a two-degree Celsius pathway based on their actual policies. They’re not hitting the targets.

And the Paris Agreement is exactly what it says it is: 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 our sovereignty.

No, they’re not. They make suggestions. We 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 signed up to under the Paris Climate Accord.

At the same stand-up, Todd McClay said the job of emissions 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 to cut your emissions a bit. Give it a good go, mate. Give it a good go.

And that is a message that most 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 them some money to do it - but don’t tell them they’re not doing enough.

It’s also important to signal to overseas markets - which are becoming leery of buying New Zealand products because of our carbon footprint - that we’re still committed to making changes and that we are trying.

Labour and the Greens’ hard hits on the way we farm and generate 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 the balance right.

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