Christopher Luxon has changed tack on sustainability issues since becoming PM, Sir Jonathon Porritt says. Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
British environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt says he was a "mug" to proudly chair Air New Zealand's sustainability panel and the airline is a "climate leader no more".
Sir Jonathon Porritt Photo: Supplied
In a LinkedIn post taking aim at the former Air New Zealand chief and now Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, whom he described as a "hypocrite", the high profile climate champion said he felt sorry for the airline's "brilliant sustainability team" and New Zealanders "watching the much-loved national carrier assiduously trashing its own reputation".
The airline made global headlines last week with an announcement that it was pulling the plug on its 2030 emissions reduction target.
The airline had committed in 2022 to reduce its carbon intensity by nearly 29 percent before 2030, compared to a 2019 baseline, but now says that's unachievable.
It said the new aircraft and alternative jet fuels needed were hard to get and too expensive.
Sir Jonathon Porritt isn't impressed Air New Zealand has dropped its sustainability targets. Photo: AFP
Sir Jonathon previously described the airline as the world's "least unsustainable" for its bold plans to tackle its climate impact.
He championed Air New Zealand's emissions-cutting plans after Luxon personally brought Sir Jonathon to the airline to lend credibility to sustainability moves.
The two men had earlier worked together on sustainability at multinational consumer goods company Unilever, where Luxon was a senior executive.
Sir Jonathon's post said when Luxon became prime minister, "All those serious sustainability challenges he'd faced into at Air New Zealand mysteriously disappeared".
The post also took aim at Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran, for what he described as returning the airline to being volume-driven and ditching what the sustainability campaigner said were "realistically crafted" targets.
In 2015, as head of Air NZ, Luxon warned the threat to planetary boundaries was "the biggest threat of all", in comments to the New Zealand Herald.
The airline's sustainability panel was Porritt's idea, according to an interview he did with Carbon News.
The former UK Green MP and son of former New Zealand governor general Arthur Porritt wrote a paper proposing Air New Zealand establish a panel of environmental experts to chart the airline's path to sustainability which then chief executive Luxon took on board.
Porritt resigned his Air New Zealand role last year.
'Sir Jonathan was an important part'
The airline responded to the post.
"Sir Jonathan was a very important part of the airline's Sustainability Panel for many years, and we acknowledge his views," Air NZ said in an email.
"Our work to transition away from fossil fuels continues, as does our advocacy for the global and domestic regulatory and policy settings needed to facilitate Air New Zealand, and the wider aviation system in New Zealand, to do its part to mitigate climate change risks," it said.
"In terms of the 2030 target, unfortunately, many of the levers needed to meet the target, including the availability of new aircraft, the affordability and availability of alternative jet fuels, and global and domestic regulatory and policy support, were outside the airline's direct control."
RNZ has approached Luxon's office for comment.