Earth Report: Blue Sky Dreaming (2009)

New Zealand wants to do it by 2020; Costa Rica a year later and Norway by 2030. Even Iceland wants in on the act. They all want to become carbon neutral. To celebrate World Environment Day 2008, this Earth Report special explores how New Zealand plans to be the first to create a zero carbon economy. They have big plans for renewable power generation and a switch to electric cars. But they will also use strange sounding ideas, vital tools such as carbon offsets or carbon credits, to achieve carbon neutrality. The aim is to achieve carbon neutrality across all sectors of the economy – the N.Z. government claims that six government agencies will be carbon neutral by 2012, and that in the private sector some of the major energy companies have already achieved this goal. But half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from the guts of sheep and cows. So how will New Zealand achieve their target?