Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Secretary-General,
2025 marks 10 years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, our best hope of limiting global warming and the impacts of climate change.
2025 is a critical moment for the operation of the Agreement. The science is clear; and Parties have recognised two crucial things.
First, the Agreement is working – taking us from a projected temperature rise of more than 4 degrees before Paris, to 2-and-a-bit now.
Second, more needs to be done to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
New Zealand is committed to the Paris Agreement. We take its obligations seriously. We have worked hard to submit a second NDC that is ambitious and achievable; an NDC that is informed by the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement; and, we were one of few countries to submit this by the February 2025 deadline.
Now, more than half a year later, we need more countries to follow through on this obligation and submit NDCs, ones that cover all sectors and gases, and which mean we limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
NDCs are a statement of intent – critical to limiting warming and limiting climate impacts; critical to growth and managing the global economic transition that is under way; and critical to making our agreed multilateral architecture work.
New Zealand reiterates the call for countries to urgently submit NDCs informed by the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement; and we express our appreciation to our partners that have already taken this step forward with us [and welcome the announcements made here today].
The Blue Pacific has been central to action on climate change – whether this has been on 1.5 degrees, on sea level rise, or on the ICJ Advisory Opinion. This is one reason New Zealand supports Australia’s bid to host COP31 in partnership with the Pacific.
A COP has never been held physically in the Pacific. A COP31 hosted in partnership with the Pacific is an opportunity, at a time we are facing global headwinds, to work in genuine partnership across region. It is an opportunity to highlight some of the most climate-ambitious and climate-vulnerable countries in the world; and an opportunity to bring attention to a region that is larger than any continent. We want to draw on the experiences and lessons from our region to deliver climate outcomes for the world.
New Zealand stands with Australia and other Pacific Islands Forum members – we are fully committed to the bid to host a Pacific COP31 in 2026.
Thank you.