Speech notes for address to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group 7.30pm, 12 October 2006, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Christchurch

Thank you for inviting me here this evening.

It is a pleasure to be here with so many people who are making a positive contribution to this global challenge: addressing climate change.

Hosting this important meeting in New Zealand is a privilege for us. It is an honour to have here the senior officials from the IPCC: Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Renate Christ, Ogunlade Davidson and Bert Metz, the other Bureau members for Working Group 3, Leo Meyer and his team from the TSU, and all of you, the authors of the Fourth Assessment Report on Mitigation.

Taking action on climate change

The issue of climate change, and how we deal with it, is one of the most important issues we face today. I am dedicated to tackling this issue, and seeing that action is taken to protect both the country I love – New Zealand – and our global community.

Virtually all nations are now realising climate change is a critical issue of our time. All of you here understand this.

But I’m not here today to preach – we’re all grappling with an issue that isn’t amenable to a quick fix. It requires not just a concerted effort, but changes in the way we live and work.

This evening I want to outline the New Zealand Government’s thinking on how we will tackle climate change in response to the unique challenges it will bring to our country in particular, and our role in acting alongside the global community.

In New Zealand, we think climate change is important enough that we have a minister – and I am privileged to be that minister – with responsibility for climate change issues.

Our government also recognises climate change as an issue that requires a long-term vision, enduring policies and responsible action.

In the short term, we are concentrating on policies that focus on sectors of the economy, keeping in mind that the policy initiatives we adopt will need to be consistent with our longer-term policy settings.

We are exploring the options available for reducing our emissions, as well as developing robust, long-term plans for preparing for and adapting to climate change.

Engaging with stakeholders and the public on the different policy options is also a key focus for us. I want to build a wide and informed consensus as part of our process of developing policies that will affect all communities throughout New Zealand. We have begun this task by getting out and talking to people about the issues, including through workshops and one-on-one meetings. We've been doing it for years. And we're making progress on building a durable consensus. Our Ministry for the Environment is also taking its annual roadshow, called Talk Environment, to 17 centres nationwide later this month. Climate change will be one of the main topics.

Climate change and national identity

The issue of a changing climate goes to the heart of New Zealanders’ identity and connection to this country. We are very proud of our ‘clean, green’ image.

We have four million people in a country the size of the United Kingdom or Italy, and large unspoilt areas of indigenous forest, unpolluted beaches, remote and beautiful mountains.

As you will know from your plane trip to New Zealand, we are pretty isolated down here in the south-west Pacific. The challenge for us is to keep our country beautiful, while responding to the needs and demands of a modern economy and society.

Our unique emissions profile
New Zealand is unique when compared with other developed countries, because half of our emissions come from the agricultural sector.

Our biologically-based economy is particularly vulnerable economically to a changing and unstable climate. Climate change is expected to bring more droughts to already drought-prone areas, and more floods to those areas that are already vulnerable to flood.

Studies by our National Institute of Water and Atmosphere suggest that, in large parts of eastern New Zealand, droughts occurring every 20 years may occur as often as every five years by 2080, if not sooner. Sometimes they may occur two years in a row, with no time to recover between them.

If you want to put a dollar figure on it, the last major drought we had, in 1997-98, cost the economy a billion dollars in New Zealand currency; and the floods of February 2004 are estimated to have cost well over $300 million. It is difficult to imagine how our farming industry will manage these kinds of events if they happen much more frequently.

To take action on the risks to our agricultural sector, the New Zealand Government has established a strong Agricultural Research programme and is introducing an Adaptation programme.

I’d like to think that New Zealand will be successful in our effort to develop and exploit some world-leading low-emissions technologies for the agriculture sector. Through the research programme, we will look at energy efficiency, low emissions on-farm productivity, and other areas such as biofuels.

The work the Government is doing on adaptation will also allow us to reduce risks and increase opportunities arising from the unavoidable effects of climate change. As part of the adaptation programme, the Government will be working towards formal partnerships with local government, insurers, engineers and the agriculture sector, to co-ordinate New Zealanders' preparation for likely impacts.

As well as our biologically-based industries, our energy base is also heavily dependent on the climate. Our relatively plentiful hydro-electric power generation supplies about 67 percent of our electrical energy. It is one of the things that helps us stay clean and green.

Current projections are that water into our hydro dams will, if anything, increase with climate change, but this is one of the more uncertain projections for New Zealand. To prepare for the impacts of climate change we are introducing an aggressive energy strategy to improve our security of supply and tackle our energy issues. The strategy will have much greater emphasis on energy efficiency as well as renewable energy in transport and electricity.

We have also introduced an initiative we call Govt3 which will help central government agencies “walk the talk” by becoming more sustainable. This includes saving money, fuel and emissions on the Government’s 20,000-strong vehicle fleet.

Other areas under consideration for New Zealand include looking to the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate for more options, and investigating what putting a price on emissions post-2012 will mean for New Zealand.

Our role in the global challenge
Which brings me to what I see as New Zealand’s role in reducing global emissions, despite our size.

New Zealand produces less than half a percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But it is also true that because of methane emitted from ruminant animals our emissions are the 11th highest in the world on a per capita basis, despite the fact that much more than half of our electricity already comes from renewable sources. We are actively seeking technological solutions for our agricultural emissions. There is no silver bullet but we are making progress.

Reducing emissions is a challenging task but we are determined to play our part in the global effort. It requires ingenuity and innovation. Happily, this is something New Zealanders are really good at.

Ultimately, it will be the small steps by individuals supported by the bigger steps of governments and businesses around the world that will make the difference.

IPCC
I would like to thank you all at the IPCC for your role in this global challenge and the part you play. We recognise that the IPCC provides a very real and effective means to determine possible future impacts, and on the best ways to act. You can achieve what smaller countries such as mine cannot hope to do by ourselves.

In your work at this meeting, you are ensuring that we will have the very best advice available to us on how to proceed.

It's a demanding road ahead of us but I believe that together we can make a difference. And I expect many of you here today will play an important role in this task.

Thank you.

• A background article by David Parker, including more details of current government action to deal with climate change, plus links to associated ministerial media statements and speeches, is available here