A climate change work update

Kia ora tatou, ko Lisa Daniell ahau.

Our climate is changing - average temperatures are increasing, sea level is rising, glaciers are melting, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.

Māori are particularly vulnerable to the changing climate – from the loss of physical structures and resources, to impacts on spiritual, intellectual and social values.

At the Ministry we're mindful the impacts can sever ties between iwi, hapū, whenua, and taonga. This can affect the ability of tangata whenua to act as kaitiaki.Some Māori communities are also likely to be particularly exposed to flooding and erosion.

The Government is working on lowering our carbon emissions as part of the global effort to limit warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

And the Zero Carbon Act was passed last year, setting up a 2050 target and a framework for managing New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions and climate-resilient economy.

This includes setting emissions budgets that progressively decrease towards our 2050 target, emissions reduction plans and adaptation measures. And we’d like to give you an update on some of the work underway.

First, the Emission Reduction Plan. The first emissions reduction plan will be for the period from 2022 to 2025, and will include policies to reduce emissions across transport, building and construction, agriculture and forestry, waste and energy, as well as policies to address system changes.

We are working with Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and other agencies to develop a strategy which considers the impacts of policies on particular groups, including iwi.

We will be engaging with iwi as we develop the plan, which will be released in late 2021.

Secondly, The National Adaptation Plan is an all-of-government response to the risks highlighted in the National Climate Change Risk Assessment that we completed in August.

The Risk Assessment identified 43 priority risks for New Zealand, including some we touched on earlier.

Of the 43 risks identified, just under half of the risks are of particular significance to Māori. This includes risks to Māori social, cultural, spiritual and economic well-being as well as risks to Māori and European cultural heritage sites.

The first National Adaptation Plan will set the objectives for adaptation in Aotearoa New Zealand. It will also define what and when actions will be taken over the next six years to support our community, our environment and our economy to adapt.

Thirdly, though the He Waka Eke Noa Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership we are partnering with the agricultural sector and Iwi Māori to implement a framework  to empower farmers and growers to measure, manage and reduce their on-farm emissions; to recognise, maintain or increase integrated sequestration on farms; and adapt to a changing climate. The framework will include incentivising farmers and growers to take action through an appropriate pricing mechanism by 2025.

And finally, our Emissions Trading Scheme. As you’re probably aware, the scheme was reformed earlier this year. Significant changes include: a cap on overall emissions in sectors covered by the ETS, new price controls, and the introduction of auctioning.

In 2021, we’ll be making technical updates and progressing forestry work. These reforms make the ETS more efficient and help us achieve New Zealand’s climate change targets. We will also develop a new legislative framework for market governance, conduct an independent review of industrial allocation, and set up an independent auction monitor.

We seek your views on all these areas, to help shape Aotearoa’s climate response going forward.

Climate change is the greatest threat to us, and our future generations.

We know some of the risks we face as a nation from climate change will have a disproportionate impact on Māori.

So involving Māori as Treaty partners in the development of solutions for the future is vital to ensuring a successful response.

Your views are really essential to shape these plans.