Have your say: Guardian blows the whistle on NZ's clean, green 100% pure image

The Guardian's 'Greenwash' columnist Fred Pearce has essentially blown the whistle globally on New Zealand's 'clean green and 100% pure' image in an article titled: "New Zealand was a friend to Middle Earth, but it's no friend of the earth." He focused on the 22% increase in New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions since the Kyoto protocol was signed 12 years ago. The article is scathing about New Zealand's "shameless two fingers to the world" and its 'green mirage' to promote dairy exports and tourism. Pearce calls it 'commercial greenwash'.

A surprising number of countries have succeeded in raising their emissions from 1990 levels despite signing up to reduce them. They include a bundle of countries in the European Union, which collectively agreed to let some nations increase their emissions while others (mainly Britain and Germany) cut theirs. Step forward Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece "” all with emissions up by more than a quarter. Then there are the US and Australia, which both reneged on the protocol after signing it. And Canada, which never reneged but still has emissions up by a quarter (worse than the US) and shows no sign of contrition or of being called to account by the other signatories. But my prize for the most shameless two fingers to the global community goes to New Zealand, a country that sells itself round the world as "clean and green". New Zealand secured a generous Kyoto target, which simply required it not to increase its emissions between 1990 and 2010. But the latest UN statistics show its emissions of greenhouse gases up by 22%, or a whopping 39% if you look at emissions from fuel burning alone. Some countries with big emissions growth started from a low figure in 1990. Arguably, they were playing catchup. There is no such excuse for New Zealand. Its emissions started high and went higher.

Pearce is equally scathing about our dairy industry's emissions. If only he knew about the problems caused to our waterways.

Where do all these emissions come from? New Zealand turns out to be mining ever more filthy brown coal to burn in its power stations. It has the world's third highest rate of car ownership. And, with more cows than people, the country's increasingly intensive agricultural sector is responsible for approaching half the greenhouse gas emissions.

Pearce then highlights the risks to the New Zealand economy of our cover being blown.

Check the UNEP website and you will find an excruciating hagiography about a "climate neutral journey to Middle Earth", in which everything from the local wines to air conditioning and Air New Zealand get the greenwash treatment. After extolling the country's green credentials, it asks: "Have you landed in a dreamland?" Well, UNEP's reporter certainly has. He cheers New Zealand's "global leadership in tackling climate change", when the country's minister in charge of climate negotiations, Tim Groser, has been busy reassuring his compatriots that "we would not try to be 'leaders' in climate change." This is not just political spin. It is also commercial greenwash. New Zealand trades on its greenness to promote its two big industries: tourism and dairy exports. Groser says his country's access to American markets for its produce is based on its positive environmental image. The government's national marketing strategy is underpinned by a survey showing that tourism would be reduced by 68% if the country lost its prized "clean, green image", and even international purchases of its dairy products could halve. The trouble is, on the climate change front at least, that green image increasingly defies reality.

My View Finally someone has blown our cover. Our increasingly intensive use of coal and gas, along with the intensification of large herd dairying, was always going to put our 100% pure reputation in danger. Finally it has happened. Yet dairying in particular, and many large industries generally are still not paying for their pollution. The Emissions Trading Scheme has let them off virtually scot free and is piling the costs on to future generations. Your view? We welcome your comments below.