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Minister for Climate Change Issues Tim Groser has welcomed the publishing of New Zealand’s Sixth National Communication on Climate Change and the associated First Biennial Report.

Acting Minister for Climate Change Issues Simon Bridges today announced decisions to restrict the use of some types of Kyoto Protocol emission units within New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme. 

“Decisions in the international climate change negotiations in Doha last year, including restrictions on New Zealand’s ability to trade any international Kyoto units after 2015, and the lack of action on international markets at the recent Warsaw negotiations, have contributed to uncertainties within Kyoto markets,” Mr Bridges says.

Mr President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would first like to acknowledge the Government and the people of Poland, and thank them for generously hosting our discussions over these two weeks.

Amidst all the complexities of the scientific and political debate about the right way to meet the challenge from anthropogenic greenhouse warming, certain rather large realities impose themselves on that debate:

Minister for Climate Change Tim Groser departs for Warsaw tomorrow to participate in the annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Mr Groser will co-chair the ministerial dialogue on the Durban Platform, working on the shape of the international agreement post-2020.

Mr Speaker, I move that the WorkSafe New Zealand Bill, the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Bill (No 3), and the Mines Rescue Bill be now read a third time.

It gives me great satisfaction to support these Bills at third reading.

Following the release of the report of the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy in 2012, this Government committed to implementing the Royal Commission’s 16 recommendations by the end of 2013.

Climate Change Minister Tim Groser welcomes the release of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) Climate Change 2013 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  

The report on climate science, released in Stockholm on Friday, is the first of three volumes making up the AR5.

“The IPCC’s assessment reports are comprehensive and authoritative. They are written and peer reviewed by the world’s leading climate specialists, and are the best scientific assessments of climate issues available,” says Mr Groser.

Climate Change Minister Tim Groser today welcomed top-level international climate change negotiators who are gathered in Auckland this week for the second New Zealand-hosted informal dialogue on the new United Nations climate change agreement. 

New Zealand has taken this initiative, using a different meeting format and approach, to inject some fresh thinking into this crucial negotiation.

Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has announced New Zealand has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to five per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

“Our 2020 target is more ambitious than our Kyoto Protocol first commitment period target, compares favourably with our traditional partners’ actions and reflects New Zealand’s unique national circumstances,” says Mr Groser.

Climate Change Minister Tim Groser today welcomed the report by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman, New Zealand’s Changing Oceans and Climate: the impact of human activity and implications for the future.

The report provides a useful overview of current scientific understanding of climate change. It endorses global consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change.

Minister of Trade and for Climate Change Issues Tim Groser will depart tomorrow for Washington to meet his new US counterpart, United States Trade Representative, Mike Froman.

In Washington Mr Groser will also hold discussions with key stakeholders in the Trans-Pacific Partnership including Members of Congress and industry.

This arresting phrase – ‘Agriculture: New Zealand’s Silicon Valley’ – is not mine. It is Sir Graeme Harrison’s and I can’t improve on it. Sir Graeme, you will recall, is the founder and Chairman of ANZCO Foods, one of New Zealand’s largest exporters.

I like the phrase for three complementary reasons:

Climate Change Minister Tim Groser today welcomed New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Net Position which show we are on track to meet our Kyoto commitments.

The Greenhouse Gas Inventory provides a historical snapshot of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, while the Net Position forecasts by how much New Zealand’s emissions will be above or below our Kyoto Protocol target.

Trade and Climate Change Issues Minister Tim Groser will depart for Europe today to attend international trade and climate change meetings.

The focus of Mr Groser’s visit will be the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland from 23-27 January, along with meetings in Geneva.