New Zealand has been afforded the dubious honour of "Fossil of the Day" at a major climate change summit - a result of the new coalition government's plans to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.
The Government says it is "committed to climate change" and plans to double renewable energy in New Zealand by 2050, the first steps of which are outlined in its 100 day plan.
The award was given by the Climate Action Network International, at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins said the new government seemed to "want to reverse progress" on climate change which was "terrible news for the planet".
Asked if it was hypocritical to criticise since the former Labour-led government also won the award, he said the National-led coalition "well and truly deserve the award".
Greenpeace Aotearoa head of campaigns Amanda Larsson said the new government had an "extremist" position on oil exploration and it risked New Zealand becoming a "Pacific pariah".
She said the President of Palau had "slammed" New Zealand over it, and Vanuatu's Climate Change Minister had called on it to rethink the plan.
"Germany's top climate diplomat spoke out to say reopening New Zealand to offshore oil and gas exploration would go against science and economics.
"We can see the climate crisis unfolding in real-time all around us, with communities here in Aotearoa and in the Pacific suffering worsening impacts from storms, slips, rising sea levels and droughts.
"New oil and gas exploration threatens to throw more fuel on the fire. Even the conservative International Energy Agency has clearly said that there can be no new oil and gas expansion if we are to avoid runaway climate change."
Climate Action Network International representative Muhammed Saidykhan said Climate Change Minister Simon Watts - who is attending the conference - might underestimate the "devastating consequences" that would come with the reversal of the ban, but his organisation did not.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) New Zealand chief executieve Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb said the new government was getting international recognition "for all the wrong reasons".
"The science is unequivocal that fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. Reopening the door to offshore oil and gas exploration in the middle of a climate crisis is not only irresponsible, but makes us an embarrassment on the world stage."
She said there were already concerns from Pacific nations about the move and predicted New Zealand's trading partners wouldn't "react kindly" if New Zealand didn't "play its part in the global response to climate change".
"I urge the Government to wake up to the calls of the international community and abandon this ill-thought-out decision."
Japan came second in the award for "greenwashing", and the USA for prioritising finance for "conflict" over the climate.
In 2022, New Zealand, under Climate Change Minister James Shaw, was given the award for not supporting setting up a separate funding pool for loss and damage due to climate change, something Pacific countries had cried out for.
Government responds
This afternoon, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said the previous Labour Government had also been awarded Fossil of the Day.
"[It's] unsurprising given it was more focused on large taxpayer subsidies for wealthy corporates instead of sensible steps to reduce emissions over time."
Watts said the Government was focused on working at COP28 with international partners to deliver on climate change goals and get its policy platform in place.
“The coalition Government is committed to climate change and plans to double renewable energy in New Zealand by 2050 – the first steps to do this is outlined in our 100-day plan.”
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