Unfortunately, the small reductions that have started and the hope for accelerating these are mostly stalled or reversed by a barrage of climate-hostile policy changes. The draft second Emissions Reduction Plan is inadequate to achieve the domestic 2050 emissions targets. We are already way off track to meet our third emissions budget, our 2050 net zero target, or our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and we can’t see how the 2026-2030 plan will turn the ship around. Our inaction will make things even worse. The government's net-based approach wastes the unprecedented opportunity for health gains and health sector savings by prioritising direct gross emissions cuts with health co-benefits. To a tired and stretched health sector workforce, this is indefensible. Furthermore, fully resourcing all Māori and iwi-led emissions reduction plans and priorities is long overdue. Aotearoa’s climate action must enable an equitable transition, grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Mātauranga Māori. 

OraTaiao's full submission to The Ministry for the Environment, prepared by Liz Springford, Scott Metcalfe, and Dermot Coffey, is available here.

Meaningful emissions reductions come from, well… reducing emissions. Not trying to catch them with closed fists. OraTaiao is concerned that carbon capture, utilisation, and storage schemes are a distraction from meaningful climate action. These schemes pose significant threats to our climate goals, and to health equity. The proposal will fail to abate emissions, will not ensure environmental integrity, and is not appropriate for the Aotearoa NZ context. Using CCUS as a greenlight for proceeding with oil and gas exploration is not only a significant financial and technical risk, it will increase climate damage and harm to human and ecosystem health. Each stage of the CCUS process poses major public health risks; also not present in MBIE risk assessments. We urge MBIE not to incentivise carbon capture schemes, and to reprioritise climate health and health equity.

OraTaiao's full submission to the The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, prepared by Summer Wright, is available here.

We take issue with the narrow lens the Climate Adaptation Framework is taking, namely the focus on weather-related concerns. Furthermore, health and well-being is often given little (if any) consideration when designing solutions for climate adaptation other than in the protection of health service facilities. This is a significant oversight due to each climate risk having health and well-being implications as part of the cascading risk profile. We highlight that the wider health sector has recently created climate change scenarios in line with XRB Climate Standards. The best way to minimise the long-term costs relating to adapting to the physical risks of climate change is to continue rapid and significant investment in climate change mitigation.

OraTaiao's full submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee, prepared by Dr. Dermot Coffey and Vicktoria Blake, is available here.

We strongly support bringing emissions from international shipping and aviation into our existing climate response framework. Incorporating international aviation emissions into our existing systems would allow the tourist industry to pivot with support to a post-fossil fuel world. We resist efforts to protect the status quo, namely, the international shipping industry not paying its fair share for the climate damage it causes.

OraTaiao's full submission to He Pou a Rangi The Climate Change Commission, prepared by Dr Dermot Coffey, is available here.

We strongly support strengthening our 2050 targets, acknowledging the significant health gains associated with well-designed climate action and the necessary deepening of such action that global equity demands. We call for swifter and more ambitious cuts in our short-lived and long-lived gases. This is in recognition that the window for remaining under average warming of 1.5˚C is much smaller and closing. The risk of crossing irreversible climate tipping points should not be underestimated, and these need to be part of any decision on the rapidity of biogenic methane cuts.

OraTaiao's full submission to He Pou a Rangi The Climate Change Commission, prepared by Dr Dermot Coffey, is available here.

Robust legislation governing land use and environmental pollution is vital for safeguarding people’s lives and their health. It is essential that changes to the existing legislation are an improvement on the status quo, rather than the dangerous and retrograde step in environmental governance for public health that the Fast-track Approvals Bill represents. The proposed Bill risks increasing public health disasters by bypassing meaningful environmental health safeguards, allowing Ministers to approve projects without considering the serious risks to people's safety, health, or to their fundamental human rights. We strongly recommend this Bill is rejected in its entirety.

OraTaiao's full submission to the Environment Select Committee, prepared by Dermot Coffey and Summer Wright, is available here.

MEDIA RELEASE, 3 April 2024

OraTaiao calls on all of Aotearoa to get active and take a stand for health this Friday, by joining the School Strike for Climate Strike to be held in at least 20 locations around the country.

The revised Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024 (GPS2024) is a throwback to a mid-20th century mentality in which the car is king and other modes are neglected to the point of death. It represents an absolute failure from the government to protect New Zealander’s futures. In short, from a health, equity and climate perspective, it is an utter disaster which represents an assault on the health and wellbeing of the people of New Zealand. 

OraTaiao's full submission to Te Manatū Waka (Ministry of Transport), prepared by Dr Dermot Coffey, is available here.

GPs play a vital part in reducing emissions by adopting strategies including reducing medication waste and promoting active transport, writes OraTaiao Co-convenor Dermot Coffey in NZ Doctor Rata Aotearoa. We are grateful for permission to now republish his op-ed here. 

MEDIA RELEASE, 26 February 2024 

OraTaiao is appalled by Government plans to introduce legislation abolishing Te Aka Whai Ora ahead of an urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing on the matter on Thursday. 

Uncertainty about the future of safe and healthy transport options in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland has increased since the election. Opportunities for formal submissions have been restricted, as consultation on transport funding and priorities has been replaced by edicts from agencies and politicians such Waka Kotahi, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.

Regarding work to create safer pedestrian crossings in the city, negative comments from both the Transport Minister and the Mayor have cited an article in the NZ Herald which contained inaccuracies and was later corrected. 

In the absence of a consultation request, OraTaiao has taken the step of writing to the Mayor to provide accurate information about raised pedestrian crossings. Our letter from Co-convenors Dr Dermot Coffey and Summer Wright is available here. 

OraTaiao has added its name to a joint letter to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Manatū Aorere Ministry of Foreign Affairs urging them to support the UN General Assembly resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The full text of the resolution, moved by Egypt and co-sponsored by 20 other countries, is available here.

• Letter – UN General Assembly UNGA) resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire

Rob Campbell needs little introduction. He has over 40 years of experience in board governance in private, public and social organisations. The last government made him a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance then sacked him from his roles as Chair of Te Whatu Ora and Environmental Protection Authority. Rob continues to think that health and the environment are linked and badly governed. We were delighted to have him as our guest speaker to open the 2023 OraTaiao AGM, and to stay for a lengthy Q&A.

The piling up of threat upon threat as global warming accelerates is not matched by political will to reduce and mitigate climate change effects, writes OraTaiao Co-convenor Dermot Coffey in New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa. We are grateful for permission to now republish his op-ed here.