Climate Action

New Zealand is about to declare a climate emergency - here’s what that means

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses her supporters at a Labour Party event in Wellington, New Zealand, October 11, 2020. REUTERS/Praveen Menon - RC23GJ9CHRK4

New Zealand will join countries like Canada, France and Britain that have taken the same course to focus efforts on tackling climate change. Image: REUTERS/Praveen Menon

Praveen Menon
Reporter, Reuters
Share:
Our Impact
What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Climate Action?
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Climate Indicators is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:

Climate Indicators

  • The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, is putting forward a motion to declare a climate emergency on Wednesday.
  • If passed, New Zealand would join countries like Canada, France and Britain in similar efforts on tackling climate change.
  • Ardern returned to power in October, after winning the biggest election victory for her centre-left Labour Party in half a century.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government is to declare a climate emergency in a symbolic step to increase pressure for action to combat global warming.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern participates in a televised debate with National leader Judith Collins at TVNZ in Auckland, New Zealand, September 22, 2020.  Fiona Goodall/Pool via REUTERS - RC2L3J9IZADK
Jacinda Ardern will declare a climate emergency in early December. Image: Reuters

The government will put forward a motion to declare the emergency on Wednesday 4th of December 2020, the government said as parliament reconvened after a general election won by Ardern’s party.

Have you read?

“We’ve always considered climate change to be a huge threat to our region, and it is something we must take immediate action on,” Ardern said, according to state broadcaster TVNZ.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to progress a motion around a climate emergency in parliament in the last term, but now we’re able to.”

Ardern returned to power last month delivering the biggest election victory for her centre-left Labour Party in half a century as voters rewarded her for a decisive response to the novel coronavirus.

The resounding win allows Ardern’s party to govern alone although she has joined forces with the Green Party for the next three-year term.

The newly elected members of parliament were sworn in last Tuesday and resumed work last Wednesday in New Zealand’s most diverse parliament ever. It has several people of colour, members of rainbow communities and a large number of women.

In her last term, Ardern’s government passed a Zero Carbon Bill, which sets the framework for net zero emissions by 2050, with cross-party support in parliament.

If a climate emergency is passed, New Zealand would join countries like Canada, France and Britain that have taken the same course to focus efforts on tackling climate change.

Japanese lawmakers recently declared a climate emergency and committed to a firm timetable for net-zero emissions.

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Share:
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

How coal phase-out commitments can be turned into action in pursuit of Net Zero

Chris Stephens, Xinying Tok and Nancy Zhuang

October 9, 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum