Commenting on advice he received, Shaw says the current target is too weak to match the Government's commitment to helping save the world and keep the world's heating within 1.5 degrees celsius.

Shaw says conclusive advice from the independent Climate Change Commission will not hit his desk until February, however he is expecting to be told we need to do better.

Shaw says the independent Commission's advice is not binding on the Government but that he is "absolutely committed" to following their advice.

"If there's anything Covid taught us, it's to follow the advice of the scientists. That's why we pay them in the first place."

Shaw said that with the election of Joe Biden, China, the EU and now the USA would soon have net zero emissions targets for greenhouse gases and their net-zero goals for all gasses are more ambitious than New Zealand's' 2050 target which allows emission of methane primarily from agricultural emissions.

Shaw described Chinese President Xi Jinping's commitment to getting China's carbon dioxide emission to net-zero by 2060 as "massive".

As part of New Zealand doing better Shaw says the independent Climate Change Commission will suggest a firmer 2050 target for methane.

The Zero Carbon Act allows for a wide range of methane cuts by 2050 - anywhere between 24 and 47 percent.

New Zealand makes three major greenhouse gases: methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.

The Government's Paris pledge bundles them as a single target, however, the independent Commission may also recommend unbundling methane from other gasses.

Unbundling the gasses could take the pressure of methane emissions, placing more New Zealand emphasis carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide; however, Stuff reports the split target might be a tough sell to our international trading partners who have all-gas targets.

Greenpeace's Russell Norman remains critical of New Zealand's efforts.

Norman says New Zealand was on trance to cut gross emissions by just 7% by 2030, which is much less than required to keep the world inside its safety zone.

He is calling on the Government to give the independent Climate Change Commission Reserve Bank-like powers to set binding carbon budgets similar to the power has over the official cash rate.

"Surely climate change is at least as important as inflation," said Norman.

Source

• Stuff

Citing economic downsides to the plan, on June 1, 2017, President Donald Trump said he would pull out of the deal at the earliest possible date.

It makes the US the only nation in the world to be outside the Agreement.

Calling the move "realistic and pragmatic", US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced the beginning of the US withdrawal.

"Today we begin the formal process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement".

"The U.S. is proud of our record as a world leader in reducing all emissions, fostering resilience, growing our economy and ensuring energy for our citizens", Pompeo tweeted.

However two US Church groups, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), are left feeling less proud.

LCWR says it is "profoundly troubled" by the White House's move.

"The failure of the United States to fulfil its 2015 commitment will dishonour our nation and threaten our common home," it added.

"Catholic teaching is clear: climate change is a grave moral issue that threatens our commitment to protect human life and dignity; to exercise a preferential option for the most vulnerable; to promote the common good, and to care for God's creation," said Carol Zinn, LCWR executive director.

CRS, the official charitable arm of the US Catholic bishops, similarly opposes the move saying the US is turning its back on a "concrete pledge affirming the shared responsibility for the planet."

"The U.S. must not turn its back on the rest of the world at a time when urgent action is needed," said CRS' executive vice president Bill O'Keefe.

"With the planet warming at an alarming rate and the poorest of the poor left to withstand the consequences, there will undoubtedly be more global instability, forced migration and conflict," said O'Keefe.

CRS is urging the country to rejoin the agreement as soon as possible.

"It is not too late to take meaningful steps to care for creation and mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change, which is why we hope our government reconsiders this misguided decision," O'Keefe says.

The Paris Agreement was reached in 2015 at the COP21 United Nations climate summit.

195 countries agreed to reduce their national greenhouse gas emissions toward limiting average global temperature rise "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and as low as 1.5 C (2.7 F).

NCR reports that climate scientists have identified 1.5 C as the threshold where the most severe impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels, longer droughts and more powerful storms.

Climate change is an issue which is challenging Catholics around the world.

It has also raised the concern of the past three popes.

The Church's interest is due in large part because threats to life posed by a warming world are often experienced first and most severely by the poor and vulnerable, despite these people contributing little to the problem.

Sources

• NCR
• CNA