New Zealand symbolically declares climate emergency
Wellington: Joining more than 30 countries, New Zealand on Wednesday took the symbolic step of declaring a climate emergency.
Lawmakers voted 76-43 in favour of the motion, in a split that followed party lines.
The government also launched a new initiative requiring many public agencies to become carbon neutral by 2025, in part by getting rid of coal boilers and buying electric cars.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government usually declares emergencies only for things like natural disasters, but that if it doesn't address climate change, such disasters will continue to happen.
She said the declaration was an acknowledgment of the burden the next generation faces.
For them, it is instinctual, it is tangible, it is real, Ardern said. It is about the country they will inherit. And it's about the burden of debt they will inherit unless we make sure that we demonstrate leadership on this issue.
The declaration comes without any newly assigned statutory powers or money, making it purely symbolic. But Ardern and other lawmakers promised to back up the declaration with ongoing action.
The declaration states that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and promises a commitment to minimise global warming. It says climate change will have a devastating impact on New Zealand through flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise and water availability.
Ardern said climate change was an important consideration in rebuilding the economy from the downturn caused by the coronavirus, and it was important to "build it back in a sustainable way, with a focus on carbon neutrality."
Opposition climate change spokesperson Stuart Smith said the declaration was hollow and lacked substance.
Today's performance from the government was a triumph of politics over practical solutions, and of slogans over substance," said another opposing lawmaker, David Seymour.
Ardern has previously announced plans for the nation to plant 1 billion trees, phase out offshore oil and gas exploration, and to make the electricity grid run from 100% renewable energy by 2030.
The government last year passed a bill for the country to become carbon neutral by 2050, although it carved out some exemptions for farmers, who bring in much of the country's foreign income.
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Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates
New York, May 13: Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and built into one of the world's largest philanthropic organisations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates posted on the X platform on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She praised the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation's board of trustees, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in her statement. She organises some of her investments and philanthropic gifts through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, which is not a nonprofit.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying, “I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her agreement with Gates, which she said would commit to future work focused on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment about whether those assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said that Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the US and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said he knew many had joined the foundation in part because of their admiration for her advocacy, especially around gender equity.
“I know how beloved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023, and announced in January, it planned to spend $8.6 billion through the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce from Pivotal Ventures.
