The Government’s communications on fossil fuels amount to climate misinformation and closely mirror obstruction narratives used by the fossil fuel industry to delay climate action, a major new report released by WWF-New Zealand finds.
The report analysed Government communications on the reversal of the offshore oil and gas exploration ban and the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility, and found no major Government claim was fully supported by the available public evidence.
Instead, communications from the Government repeatedly overstated the benefits of fossil fuel expansion while omitting material information about lower-emissions alternatives, climate impacts, and New Zealand’s international climate commitments, the analysis shows.