In the blue corner

We were still cleaning up from the floods from a few weeks ago, only to be hit by Cyclone Gabrielle a week later. I can only begin to imagine how distressing it must be to have your entire property underwater in many cases, with your belongings virtually unrecognisable. My condolences also go out to the families of those who lost their lives.

We are less than two months into 2023 and already we are having to deal with two significant weather events which will change how we think about climate adaptation and mitigation.

When the National government signed up to the Paris Accord in 2015, we signed New Zealand up to becoming carbon netzero by 2050.

We stood up to the challenge of signing that agreement then, and we will stick by that decision now and right through our journey to 2050.

The path forward lies with both adaptation and mitigation, not one or the other.

Managed retreat in some parts of New Zealand may be required, as will building more resilience for our bridges, roads and other infrastructure.

But mitigation requires more than announcements and ribbon-cutting, which is what the current Government seem focused on.

They have committed to spending billions of dollars on climate change since they have been in office, yet emissions have continued to increase even with the country being locked down for large periods due to Covid-19.

We need to start being open with New Zealanders about climate change. It is a massive challenge to get to net zero by 2050, but if we make the necessary changes in the most efficient and costeffective way we can, then impacts on our households, businesses and farmers will be mitigated.

The reality of this situation is that climate change is quite literally on our shores. We can throw away billions of dollars on pet projects that fail to reduce emissions, or we can put that money into adaptation by rebuilding and repurposing our infrastructure as well as mitigating future emissions in an equitable way.

There is no doubt that climate change requires action, but if we do not get this balance right, we will see more and more tragedies like those we have seen in northern and eastern parts of the North Island.

We owe it to those that have lost their lives and whose livelihoods have been destroyed to get this right and prevent more disasters while we can.