The Wire with Manny

The government has recently rejected all of the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations regarding strengthening the country’s methane targets recommendations.

The commission’s recommendations include strengthening the county’s 2050 methane emission targets, continuing lowering emissions after 2050, and that international shipping and aviation, which represents 9% of the county’s total emissions, should be included within targets.

Despite the commission saying that there would be upfront costs, many of the changes would result in cost savings over time, however, the government rejected this claim.

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about the government rejecting these recommendations.

This week on the Monday Wire:

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about the government choosing not to go ahead with the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations on how to reduce methane emissions.

Producer Alex spoke to Lisa Ellis, a Professor in Philosophy at the University of Otago, about the government’s decision to reject the climate change commission’s recommendation to include shipping and aviation emissions from our national emissions targets, and what that means for our Paris Agreement commitments.

Joel spoke to Boyd Swinburn, a Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland and Co-Chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa about San Francisco's lawsuit against companies producing highly-processed food, and what we could see as a result here in New Zealand.

And Alex spoke to Chief Advisor at Forest & Bird, Richard Capie, about the Fast Track Amendment bill, the lack of engagement with feedback in the Environment Select Committee’s report recommending any changes, and what it means for our environment.

Whakarongo mai!

The Trump administration has caused issues of significant food waste due to a range of its policies, including immigration raids, tariffs, cuts to food assistance programmes, and the destruction of food for programmes like USAID. 

This has had huge consequences, including environmental impacts, as well as impacts on the estimated more than 47 million people in the US who don’t have enough food to eat, and those who have relied on US foreign aid that has been cut.

For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, Provost Associate Professor in Environment, Development & Health at American University, about these issues. 

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about the recent Labour Party annual general meeting, scrutiny week, and the government’s proposed 4% rates rise cap. 

For International Desk, they spoke to American University Provost Associate Professor Garrett Graddy-Lovelace about the level of food waste caused by Trump administration policies, and the significant consequences of this. 

And they spoke to Professor Meihana Durie, WIPCE 2025 Co-Chair, about his reflections from the conference. 

Producer Jasmine talked to Councillor Julie Fairey about the government’s proposed rates cap, action on youth homelessness and the upcoming opening of the Skycity Convention Centre

She spoke to Dr. Alex Beattie about his thoughts on the incoming U16 social media ban in Australia, and what it means for us in Aotearoa

And she spoke to Dr. Ying Wang about her research into the increased support needed for Asian Communities in the sexual violence support sector