When I sat down to pen this the recovery at Mount Maunganui was still going, the SH 35 was still damaged, leaving many cut off, The Waioweka Gorge was still largely damaged and all of this while whanau in the North and South were isolated, insurance claims backed up and an insurance company pulling the pin on one of our regional towns. As New Zealand reels from yet another series of devastating weather events – from landslides and flooding across the North Island to repeat infrastructure failures – the consequences of political choices around climate policy are no longer abstract. What was once a distant threat has become very real: people are dying, homes are lost, communities are fractured, and we are paying for past inaction with present harm.
But this crisis didn’t arrive overnight. Since the current government took power in 2023, there has been a marked retreat from the strategic climate leadership Aotearoa once claimed to champion. Budget decisions, legislative changes, and policy priorities have signalled a shift away from robust climate action – both in mitigation and adaptation – toward short-term economic calculations that threaten our future.
Cuts That Weaken Our Climate Backbone
The Government’s 2024 and 2025 budgets quietly dismantled vital climate funding streams. The Climate Emergency Response Fund – designed as a dedicated pool of resources for emissions reduction and adaptation – was closed entirely, with its contents absorbed into general spending.
In Budget 2024, research programmes that would shrink agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, forest planting initiatives, greenhouse gas pricing tools, and even funding for native forest restoration were reduced or scrapped altogether.
The 2025 Budget cut foreign aid and climate finance by more than 11%, halving New Zealand’s commitment to international climate funding and weakening its support for adaptation efforts in vulnerable Pacific nations.
At home, the Climate Change Commission – the independent body tasked with steering us toward our targets – saw its budget slashed, undercutting its ability to provide the clear, evidence-based guidance needed to meet our domestic and international climate obligations.
Leadership Without Ambition
It isn’t just funding cuts that are troubling. Research from the University of Auckland and the University of Waikato shows that New Zealand’s climate leadership is characterised by small, incremental steps rather than bold, transformative action. That type of cautious policymaking is nowhere near commensurate with the scale of the crisis we face.
Meanwhile, proposed changes to the Climate Change Response Act risk decoupling domestic emissions reductions from our pledges under the Paris Agreement – effectively creating a loophole that allows New Zealand to retreat from hard commitments while still claiming compliance.
Environmental legal groups have even taken the unprecedented step of suing the government, calling its emissions reduction plan “dangerously inadequate” and dangerously reliant on high-risk offsets like plantation forests that are themselves vulnerable to wildfire or extreme storms.
Domestically, short-sighted policy moves have included the repeal of the Clean Car Discount scheme, removing incentives for low-emission vehicles in a transportation sector responsible for a significant share of emissions.
From Paper Plans to Reality: The Weather Doesn’t Wait
All of this policy retrenchment is now colliding with reality. The deadly storms and landslides in early 2026 – including tragic loss of life and widespread community disruption – underline a stark truth: climate change is not theoretical. The extreme intensity of these events reflects what scientists have warned about for decades – a warming atmosphere drives heavier rainfall, more volatile weather systems, and greater landslide risk.
But the Government’s actions have not matched this risk. While adaptation planning has been discussed in parliamentary inquiries and frameworks are in development, meaningful implementation and resource allocation have lagged far behind the growing threats we face.
We are caught in a gap between disaster recovery – paying to clean up after each event – and preparedness – investing now in the infrastructure, planning, and resilience measures that would prevent some of that harm in the first place. An RNZ analysis found that gap growing ever more obvious as climate impacts accelerate, while policy responses remain reactive.
Global Obligations and Moral Responsibility
These choices also weaken Aotearoa’s standing on the world stage. Budget cuts to climate finance and adaptation – especially for Pacific neighbours bearing the brunt of sea-level rise – portray New Zealand as a fair-weather friend rather than a committed partner.
And that matters. Our international reputation and influence depend on credibility in upholding climate obligations agreed under global frameworks like the Paris Agreement. Scaling back climate leadership undermines both trust and moral authority.
What Comes Next?
Faced with this reality, we must ask: when will political leadership catch up to scientific urgency? When will we move beyond small, fragmented steps and begin investing seriously in both emissions reduction and adaptation infrastructure? How many more disasters, deaths, and economic losses must occur before climate policy aligns with the scale of the crisis?
Climate change isn’t a distant issue – it is happening here and now. New Zealand’s choices in climate policy will define not only our international reputation but the safety, wellbeing, and futures of citizens, whānau, and communities across the country.
Disclaimer
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Waatea News, its staff, management, or affiliated organisations. Waatea News provides a platform for a diversity of voices and perspectives but does not endorse or take responsibility for individual opinions published.
