1 August 2013

Government welcomes climate change report

Climate Change Minister Tim Groser today welcomed the report by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman, New Zealand’s Changing Oceans and Climate: the impact of human activity and implications for the future.

The report provides a useful overview of current scientific understanding of climate change. It endorses global consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change.

“New Zealand is playing its part in climate change mitigation, with world-leading action on reducing agriculture emissions that are highlighted in the report.

“We lead the world by having established the Global Research Alliance on Agriculture Emissions. This involves linking in climate change and agriculture scientists from over 30 countries in the search for alternative technologies and management systems,” Mr Groser says.

Sir Peter Gluckman’s report comes ahead of the release of the next comprehensive assessment report on climate science, impacts and mitigation by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which will inform international negotiations and domestic decisions in the coming years. Mr Groser, having recently returned from the meeting in Poland of the Major Emitters Forum - the 17 largest global emitting nations responsible for some 80 per cent of emissions says, “given New Zealand's prominent role in facilitating these global negotiations, we have been invited to more of their meetings as a special guest. These issues were widely discussed at this meeting as we all look forward to the next comprehensive report on the science.”

“As Sir Peter says, scientific reports cannot address how countries like ours respond to climate change, and find an acceptable. balance between environmental and economic drivers.

“The Government’s primary response to climate change is the Emissions Trading Scheme. New Zealand is committed to doing its fair share of international climate change action and we're working to extend global emission reductions beyond our own footprint,” Mr Groser says.

The report is available at http://www.pmcsa.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/New-Zealands-Changing-Climate-and-Oceans-report.pdf

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