New Zealand declares climate emergency, promises a carbon neutral government by 2025

New Zealand declared a climate emergency on Wednesday and promised that the government would become carbon neutral by 2025.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the motion to declare climate emergency in parliament was based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s findings that to avoid more than 1.5 degree Celsius rise in global warming, emissions would need to fall by around 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2023, and eventually reach zero by around 2050.

The motion was passed in parliament, with New Zealand joining 32 other countries including Canada, France and Britain, all of which have declared a climate emergency.