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Climate change

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International Climate Change Policy

New Zealand participates in multilateral agreements and bilateral climate change partnerships to address the mitigation and adaptation challenges of climate change. International climate change discussions and negotiations are held principally under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Ministry for the Environment has a major role in New Zealand's international climate change negotiations.

New Zealand’s international climate change policy is developed collaboratively by the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Treasury, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Transport, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Ministry of Economic Development.

Hon Dr Nick Smith is the Minister for Climate Change Issues and has direct responsibility for the overall policy direction for climate change issues. Hon Tim Groser is the Minister Responsible for International Climate Change Negotiations and is responsible for representing New Zealand in international negotiations on climate change.

On this page you will find information on:

• Cancun Agreements
• New Zealand’s association with the Copenhagen Accord
• Copenhagen: UN Climate Change Conference, December 2009
• New Zealand’s 2020 Emissions Reduction Target
• New Zealand’s recent submissions to the UNFCCC
• Negotiations for a future international agreement
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• The Kyoto Protocol
• Useful links

Cancun Agreements

The UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun resulted in agreement to an omnibus decision that brings the key elements of Copenhagen Accord formally into the UNFCCC process.  The decision covers a shared vision for long-term cooperative action under the Convention, enhanced action on adaptation, enhanced action on mitigation for both developed and developing countries, finance, technology, and capacity building.   An accompanying decision was also adopted under the Kyoto Protocol track of the negotiations. 

For further information:

• Beehive press release
• The Cancun Agreements (full text)
• COP 16 Stakeholder's Brief (PDF, 485 KB)

New Zealand’s Association with the Copenhagen Accord

New Zealand has associated with the Copenhagen Accord, a political declaration that was noted by the Conference of the Parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The Copenhagen Accord is a constructive step forward to developing a comprehensive global deal on climate change. The Copenhagen Accord has strong support from both developed and developing countries and represents agreement at the highest political level for a global response to climate change. Joining the Accord reinforces New Zealand’s ongoing commitment to doing our fair share to resolving this global problem.

Annex I Parties (developed countries) that have associated with the Accord have submitted details of their proposed emissions targets for 2020. New Zealand has reaffirmed its conditional emissions reduction target range of 10% to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 that it first tabled in Bonn in August 2009. This is a similar response to other developed countries who have announced their support for the Accord. Many non-Annex I countries have also submitted emissions reduction actions.

• Press release
• The Copenhagen Accord (PDF, 183 KB)
• Information provided by Parties to the UNFCCC relating to the Copenhagen Accord

In Copenhagen, Parties also agreed to continue the Bali Roadmap negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the aim of concluding these negotiations at the Climate Change Conference in Mexico in November 2010.

Copenhagen: UN Climate Change Conference, December 2009

Key objectives and issues for New Zealand for post-2012

The mandate for New Zealand’s current international climate change negotiating position was provided by Cabinet decisions in March and November 2009.

New Zealand seeks the following to ensure a good quality comprehensive global agreement on climate change:

• the world is set on a pathway to limit temperature rise to not more than 2 degrees Celsius (or atmospheric stabilisation of greenhouse gases at not more than 450 ppm CO2 equivalent), and that this is reflected in a long-term global emission reduction goal;
• developed countries have economy wide mitigation commitments of comparable effort to that of New Zealand, and consistent with an aggregate emissions reduction for developed countries of 25 to 40 % below 1990 levels by 2020;
• developing countries’ mitigation action is quantified and fully commensurate with their respective capabilities, and consistent with an aggregate reduction for developing countries of 15 to 30 % below business-as-usual by 2020;
• the agreement promotes progress over time towards advanced and major emitting developing countries having mitigation commitments and/or pricing their emissions;
• financial and technological support is available, from public and private sector sources, sufficient to meet developing countries’ adaptation needs and a reasonable and declining proportion of their mitigation costs, with New Zealand making its fair contribution;
• an architecture that provides for countries’ commitments to evolve over time, and provides confidence that developed and developing countries will implement their commitments;
• full recourse to a broad and efficient international carbon market and effective rules for LULUCF.

Relevant Cabinet papers

• CAB (09) 120 (March 2009). Climate Change International Negotiations: Update and New Zealand Position.

• CAB Min (09) 10/4 (March 2009). Climate Change International Negotiations: Update and New Zealand Position.

Stakeholder Briefing

This document was presented at a stakeholder briefing in the lead-up to the December 2009 international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Stakeholder Briefing for Copenhagen Negotiations (PDF, 701 KB)

New Zealand’s 2020 Emissions Reduction Target

In August 2009, the Government announced a 2020 target range to signal New Zealand’s commitment to successful and ambitious efforts to address global climate change. Read more…about the emissions reduction target

New Zealand’s recent submissions to the UNFCCC

Submissions to the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)

Submissions on the review of the Kyoto Protocol

• September 2008: Review of the Kyoto Protocol pursuant to Article 9

Submissions to the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action Under the Convention (AWG-LCA)

Submissions to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA)

Submissions to the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI)

Negotiations for a future international agreement

In December 2007, The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali culminated in the adoption of the Bali Road Map, which paves the way to securing a post-2012 agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The Bali Road Map divides the negotiations into two tracks: the Ad-hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), and the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA). The AWG-KP works on future commitments of Parties listed in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol, while the AWG-LCA works on a broad negotiation under the UNFCCC involving all countries (developed and developing) on matters relating to the Bali Action Plan. The Bali Action Plan includes developing a shared vision, including a long-term global goal and looks at ways to enhance mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance in the context of addressing climate change.

Negotiations under these two tracks ha ve been extended from the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) which took place in Copenhagen in December 2009 to the Climate Change Conference (COP16) in Mexico in November 2010. A full calendar of the UN Climate Change Talks can be found here.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted by over 185 developed and developing countries, including New Zealand. The UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994 and now has 192 Parties.

The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to prevent “dangerous anthropogenic (man-made) interference with the climate system”. To aid in achieving this objective, Parties included in Annex I to the UNFCCC were asked to undertake voluntary actions with the aim of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000.

The Kyoto Protocol

It soon became apparent that a legally binding agreement was required to further progress towards the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC. With this in mind, the Parties to the UNFCCC negotiated the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in February 2005. To date, 183 countries have become Parties to the Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol contains legally binding emissions limitation or reduction objectives (targets) for developed countries. For the first commitment period (the five years from 2008 to 2012), individual developed country targets range from eight per cent below, to ten per cent above 1990 levels.  New Zealand’s obligation under the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels on average over the 2008-2012 commitment period, or take responsibility for any emissions over these levels.

Parties are allocated an assigned amount of emissions units equal to their target multiplied by the number of years in the commitment period. For example, in the first commitment period New Zealand is allocated Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) equal to five times its 1990 emissions levels.

Parties may implement domestic policies and measures to limit or reduce emissions to a level equivalent to or less than their assigned amount, or take responsibility for any excess emissions through the flexibility mechanisms provided for in the Kyoto Protocol.  The flexibility mechanisms are: International Emissions Trading, Joint Implementation, and the Clean Development Mechanism.  These mechanisms allow developed countries to purchase emissions units from other developed countries or from emissions reduction projects implemented in other countries and use these for compliance with their Kyoto Protocol obligations. The flexibility mechanisms thus allow a country to comply with its target even though its domestic emissions may exceed its assigned amount.

Useful links

• New Zealand’s latest national inventory report
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s climate change webpage
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports
• UNFCCC glossary of climate change acronyms.

Last updated: 4 March 2011