October 10th 2024
Cruise ship passengers on board the Diamond Princess, the first ship of the summer cruise season, received an unconventional welcome to Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland this morning from supporters of Climate Liberation Aotearoa and Extinction Rebellion Tāmaki Makaurau.
Passengers were greeted to the City of Sails by members of Climate Liberation Aotearoa and Extinction Rebellion Tāmaki Makaurau embroiled in seaweed entangled with plastics and other ocean waste, wearing blue to symbolise the rising seas, holding banners saying “End Luxury Emissions” and “You Cruise – We Lose”.
This is the seventh time the well-established climate action group Climate Liberation Aotearoa have “welcomed” cruise ships into the inner city wharves in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2024. “We continue to show up, and be unapologetic, because we know we can not continue business as usual. We need governments and corporations to step up and do the right thing. We can’t afford to keep putting profit before people and planet” said Climate Liberation Aotearoa spokesperson Caril Cowan.
Five Supreme Court judges stated in Smith V Fonterra that “the choices made and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts…now and for thousands of years”. They say that the “evidence is unequivocal that humans have warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land principally through the emission of greenhouse gases”. Caril says “Most of the cruise ships entering New Zealand’s waters burn a blend of marine diesel oil (MDO) and bunker fuel, possibly the most dirty fuel there is. Each kilometre travelled in a cruise ship is 3-4 times more emissions than a plane travelling the same distance. This is simply not justifiable in a climate crisis”.
Princess Cruiselines is taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their environmental impact. The activists acknowledge these steps while claiming they go nowhere near far enough nor are they moving fast enough to decarbonise. ‘It’s time to mobilise a conversation about luxury emissions and whether the supposed economic benefits justify the environmental costs. If Princess Cruise Lines is serious about reducing their negative impact on climate change and the environment it will be willing to sign our open letter to the New Zealand government demanding that the emissions from the cruise ship industry be counted in New Zaland’s emissions reduction targets and included in our national emissions reduction plans” says Caril.
Furthermore, plans to extend Bledisloe Wharf including a new build that will dedicate a floor for a cruise ship terminal is one of the projects included in schedule 2 of the Fast-track Approvals Bill released on Sunday. “The fast-track approvals bill is a fast-track to runaway climate disruption. At a time, when even the Supreme Court judges are saying we must act, and we must act swiftly and drastically to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade, creating new infrastructure to grow a fossil fuel-reliant unnecessary industry proves this government cares nothing for planetary health or future generations” said Caril. “They should expect resistance to fast-tracked projects to be strong”.
Climate Liberation Aotearoa is calling on local and central government to include the emissions from international shipping and aviation in New Zealand’s national emissions reduction targets and emissions reduction planning, stop subsidies to the cruise ship industry, and ban cruise ships from entering sensitive ecosystems such as Rakiura Stewart Island and Te Rua 0-te-Moko Fiordland.