"The Government has just committed to reducing less than 1 percent of the country's emissions by 2025." Thunberg described the article as an explainer on New Zealand's "so-called climate emergency declaration" and called the climate emergency declaration in Parliament "nothing unique to any nation". More than 30 other countries had already declared a climate emergency. "Greta Thunberg is essentially pointing out what we already know: that we have a long way to go to narrow the gap between what our emissions are right now, and what they need to be in the future," Shaw told Newshub. "We are working on this as quickly as we can and the declaration of a climate emergency is actually helping - because now every part of Government is clear that action to cut emissions is a priority."