Celebrities lend Greenpeace a hand

Actors Lucy Lawless and Cliff Curtis want John Key to commit to reducing carbon emissions.

Greenpeace has enlisted their help and that of a number high profile New Zealanders for its Sign On climate campaign. The campaign aims to generate support to convince John Key to sign on to a 40% by 2020 emission reduction target at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

"I'm signing on because there's no Planet B," said Lawless. "There's nowhere else for our kids and grandchildren to go. We need to get on with the business of tackling climate change.

"Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall is also supporting the campaign.

"Unless we hold true to the ideals of New Zealand's clean, green image, we could lose our reputation, which could mean hundreds of millions of dollars worth of exports and our whole standard of living could drop." Other notable New Zealanders supporting the campaign are Nobel prize winning climate scientist Jim Salinger, London-based chef Peter Gordon and Flight of the Conchords TV series star Murray (Rhys Darby).