The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ are today releasing the latest, three-yearly update about the state of Aotearoa New Zealand’s atmosphere and climate.

Our atmosphere and climate 2023 provides further evidence that emissions from human activities are putting pressure on our climate, which is adversely impacting the environment, communities, Māori interests, infrastructure, and the economy.

Read the media release at New report highlights pressures on Aotearoa New Zealand’s climate.

Please contact the Ministry for the Environment and/or Stats NZ media teams via the contact details on the media release if you have any questions about the report or would like to request an interview.

About Our atmosphere and climate 2023

Our atmosphere and climate 2023 updates our last atmosphere and climate reports in 2017 and 2020. The report brings together recently published Stats NZ indicator data, as well as insights from research literature, to show how and why our climate is changing. The report also shows the impacts these changes are having on the environment, public health, wellbeing, culture, the economy, infrastructure and recreation in Aotearoa. A primary theme of this year’s report is the threat that climate change poses to Aotearoa’s biodiversity and ecosystems.

The outlook for atmosphere and climate

Building on Our atmosphere and climate 2020, this report also includes a series of evidence-based assessments about the outlook for atmosphere and climate. Looking ahead, as well as behind, represents an important shift in our approach to environmental reporting. We hope that this information helps people to understand climate change better and plan for the future.

Education resources

Alongside the Our atmosphere and climate 2023 report, the Ministry has also used the digital storytelling platform ArcGIS StoryMaps to look at the impacts our changing climate is having on the plants and animals that call Aotearoa New Zealand home.

Four stories, which include, photos, maps, videos, graphics and interactive features, show how climate change is causing:

• our glaciers to disappear and our snowlines to retreat, impacting biodiversity
• trees in our forests to produce more seeds, increasing the number of pests that predate on birds
• our oceans to warm, rise and become more acidic, which is impacting marine species
• stronger cyclones, hotter heatwaves and more frequent droughts and wildfires that result in losses and damages for nature and people.

Publicly available material from 10:45am, Wednesday 11 October

• The report is available here
• Stats NZ’s updated climate and atmosphere indicators are available here
• The StoryMap is available at Our Atmosphere & Climate 2023 (arcgis.com)
• The educational materials are available at sciencelearn.org.nz

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