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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:

Stakeholder Briefing for Copenhagen Negotiations

This document was presented at a stakeholder briefing on the international climate change negotiations occurring in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.

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. 

Post-2012: the Bali Road Map to Copenhagen

Negotiations for a climate change agreement to apply post-2012 have begun. 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 are scheduled to conclude at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. A full calendar of the UN Climate Change Talks can be found here.

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 a Cabinet decision, taken in March 2009. This sets the following overarching guidelines:

  • Seek an environmentally effective and economically efficient agreement to meet the objective of the UNFCCC
  • Seek appropriate and effective action on mitigation by all developed countries and by major emitting and advanced developing countries
  • Commit New Zealand to a fair contribution to global mitigation efforts,  which recognise our national circumstances
  • Agree to rules before commitments (this is particularly important given the role of agricultural emissions and forest sinks in New Zealand’s emissions profile)

Relevant Cabinet papers:

  • CAB (09) 120. Climate Change International Negotiations: Update and New Zealand Position.
  • CAB Min (09) 10/4. Climate Change International Negotiations: Update and New Zealand Position.

Consultation on international negotiations

There is currently a special Select Committee review of New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme. Through this process, the Select Committee has heard from a range of stakeholders in both domestic and international climate change issues. Submissions to the review closed on 27 February. Hearings of the submissions were completed on 18 May.

Officials will also continue to engage with stakeholders in the lead up the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. To register your interest in international climate change issues, email information@mfe.govt.nz with “climate change international” in the subject line, and please include your name and contact details.

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)

4 May 2009 Potential consequences
24 April 2009 Possible improvements to emissions trading and the project-based mechanisms
Long term global goal
LULUCF
11 March 2009 Kyoto Protocol issues
15 February 2009 Legal issues
LULUCF
Improvements to emissions trading and the project based mechanisms
September 2008 Mitigation potential and targets

Submissions on the review of the Kyoto Protocol

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

 8 May 2009

Nationally appropriate mitigation actions in developing countries and the carbon market
4 May 2009 Impact of response measures
24 April 2009 Ideas and proposals on elements of paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan (Decision 1/CP.13), including on the form of the agreed outcome
Reduction Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in Developing Countries
30 September 2008 Overview comments on the Bali Action Plan
A shared vision, including a long-term global goal
Mitigation
Cooperation on research and development of current, new and innovative technologies, including win-win solutions
Measurable, reportable and verifiable actions
Enhanced action on finance

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

March 2009: Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change: Adaptation planning and practices
February 2009: IPCC guidelines

Submissions to the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI)

April 2009: Immunities provisions
30 September 2008: Reporting and Review of information submitted by Annex 1 Parties

Useful links

Last updated: 1 February 2010