Skip to this page's content Skip to access keys
Go to home page [Ministry for the Environment]

Home | Contact us | Related links | Site map
Working
with you		 | The
issues		 | Laws and
treaties		 | State of the
environment		 | Publications | About the
Ministry

You are here: The issues Contains: Climate change Contains: Policies and initiatives Contains: Other government sustainability initiatives with climate change benefits Contains:

Other government sustainability initiatives with climate change benefits - Other initiatives

Public awareness

The government has launched public awareness campaigns to raise public awareness about climate change and to inspire individuals to take action. For example, the Ecowise Travel Guide is a leaflet for tourists explaining how to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact when travelling in New Zealand.

Other public awareness campaigns focus on households or on particular sectors of the economy; for example, the Energywise project and the Choke the Smoke Campaign

Existing Projects to Reduce Emissions (PRE)

The Projects to Reduce Emissions (PRE) programme supports initiatives which achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise not occur.

The programme awards participants tradable Kyoto Protocol emissions units for reducing greenhouse gas emissions during the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period (2008–2012).

The projects must achieve reductions that are additional to business-as-usual, which means the programme helps bring forward projects that would not otherwise be economic. Projects must also take place in New Zealand and result in a reduction in the total greenhouse gas emissions that New Zealand reports in the greenhouse gas inventory.

There have been two contestable tender rounds for the PRE programme, the first in 2003 and the second in 2004. At this stage there will not be a third tender round.

Enhanced eco-verification

“Eco-verification" involves setting standards for the environmental impacts of products and processes, determining how to measure compliance with these standards, and then verifying and certifying that the standards have been met.

  • The enhanced eco-verification initiative aims to:
  • improve information about standards and certifications relating to the reduced environmental impacts of products and firms
  • facilitate tools to help businesses meet those standards
  • enhance systems to verify that the standards have been met.

As part of the initiative, the government will expand the Environmental Choice NZ eco-label to a wider range of products, and will also establish an online database of reliable eco-labels and standards verification schemes which are used in New Zealand.

Research

The government has increased funding for climate change research, as previously mentioned in this publication. The annual investment round by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology includes $150 million to investigate how to promote sustainability and respond to climate change.

One new initiative includes research into wild animal control for emissions reduction ($1m) to see if by removing wild animals from regenerating vegetation we can increase its carbon sink capacity.