Press Release: Wellington, New Zealand Government. Hon Simon Watts, Minister of Climate Change. July 10, 2024.
At the end of 2023, the Climate Change Commission, a government-funded but independent expert, said New Zealand was not on track to meet its climate goals for the end of this decade and more needed to be done to encourage change, remove barriers and support investment.
The coalition Government is proud to announce the launch of its Climate Strategy, a comprehensive and ambitious plan aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change and preparing for its future effects, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.
“The Strategy is built on five core pillars and underscores the Government’s commitment to delivering on our climate change goals,” Mr Watts says.
The pillars are:
- infrastructure is resilient and communities are well prepared
- credible markets support the climate transition
- clean energy is abundant and affordable
- world-leading climate innovation boosts the economy, and
- nature-based solutions address climate change.
The pillars include ensuring infrastructure is resilient and communities are well-prepared, that there are credible markets to support the climate transition, that clean energy is abundant and affordable, there is world-leading climate innovation and there are nature-based solutions to address climate change.
“Households, businesses, and our economy are already feeling the effects of climate change. We have seen what severe weather can do to infrastructure and property, and how that disrupts our supply chains and communities,” Mr Watts says.
“Our Government has committed to meeting our climate change targets – reducing net emissions is one of the nine Government targets to achieve better results from the public service.”
The Government will also soon be consulting on the Emissions Reduction Plan for the period 2026-2030. This will form the basis of the Government’s response to reduce New Zealand’s emissions in line with our targets.
“The Emissions Reduction Plan will set out policy proposals across the five pillars and focus on the largest drivers of emissions in New Zealand – energy, transport, agriculture, and waste sectors,” Mr. Watts says.
“We need to work together to reduce the impacts of climate change and prepare for its future impacts,” Mr. Watts said in a statement.
