New Zealand has been lagging behind in its funding goals aimed at enabling the climate action for its neighbours in the Pacific and has shunned its responsibilities per the international climate law, a new OXFAM report Standing With The Frontlines revealed.
According to OXFAM, New Zealand failed to meet its financial target of $100 billion for the developing and the climate-vulnerable countries, subsequently, unable to fulfil terms of the Paris Agreement. “New Zealand should double its climate finance to get closer to doing its fair share towards the $100 billion goals,” experts said, adding that the country must mobilise its climate funds per year from developed to the developing world by the year 2025.
New Zealand must increase the public funding to $67 billion to meet its ‘climate-specific’ finance levels that only averaged to NZ $51 million per year in 2017-2018, although was targeted for NZ $75 million by 2022, the report suggests. The finance is allocated by the country via New Zealand Aid Programme that sends half of the total aid to towards climatic goals of the Pacific Small Island Developing States to enable climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
“Quantity of New Zealand’s climate finance has stagnated in recent years, putting it far behind comparative countries in per capita terms, at just $7 per capita,” OXFAM noted. The country only ranked 21st out of 23 highly developed countries in total finance provided between 2017 and 2018.