• Pamphlet: "Every wetland counts | He puipuiaki ia rohe kōreporepo"

Listen here to OraTaiao Co-convenor Dr Dermot Coffey on a panel discussion about gas stoves (11.25 minutes into the panel).

Article on the health and climate impacts of cooking with gas stoves, includes comments from OraTaiao Co-convenor Dr Dermot Coffey. Read here.

OraTaiao submission, 9 December 2021

OraTaiao submission, 24 November 2021

The Government's draft plan to reduce emission over the next 15 years is unambitious, flawed in many areas, and inadequate as a plan addressing the “biggest health crisis of the 21st century". The potential to recoup costs of emissions reducing policies with significant health gains, let alone savings from avoided climate change, must drive responsible and effective emissions planning.

Read full submission here.

MEDIA STATEMENT, 18 November 2021

Was NZ-Aotearoa’s appearance at the world’s climate conference COP26 our nuclear-free moment? “Definitely not,” said OraTaiao Co-convenor Dr Dermot Coffey, “but the good news is that the government can vastly improve on its COP26 failings by putting in place an emissions reduction plan that achieves a healthier, more resilient and more equitable Aotearoa.”

Make a submission on the Government’s first Emissions Reduction Plan 

Article about the results of the UN Climate Change Conference COP26, including comment from OraTaiao Co-convenor Dr Dermot Coffey. Read here.

OraTaiao submission, 3 November 2021

Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, the Māori centre of research excellence, has published a major report on the impact of climate change on Māori communities to coincide with the Cop26 conference. An open letter from OraTaiao, the New Zealand Climate and Health Council, last week called for Jacinda Ardern to “proactively place Indigenous and marginalised voices at the centre of Cop26”. Read here

The Annual General Meeting of OraTaiao: The New Zealand Climate and Health Council will be held on Monday 29 November at 7.30pm via audioconference/videoconference. This is an excellent opportunity to catch up with fellow OraTaiao members and to see what has been happening over this very eventful year. Please join us if you can – we’d love to have as many members attending this meeting as possible. Details of the agenda and how to join the videoconference will follow closer to the date.

Be braver about climate change, New Zealand. Dr George Laking. The Spinoff, 29 October 2021.

Seven health professional organisations groups have written an open letter to Jacinda Ardern ahead of COP26, demanding a huge increase in Aotearoa’s international climate contribution. OraTaiao Exec member Dr George Laking writes, "Human-induced climate change is the number one threat to health this century. Many people are used to thinking of health as cancer and other chronic conditions. But the things that truly decide health are such basic matters as a food supply and political stability, that in turn depend on the environment." Read here. 

Article about NZ government's weak response to the climate crisis, includes interview with OraTaiao Co-convenor Dr Dermot Coffey. Read here.

MEDIA STATEMENT, 27 October 2021

Seven health professional organisations (OraTaiao; NZ Medical Association; NZ Nurses Organisation; and the Colleges for Emergency Medicine, of Nurses, Physicians, and Anaesthetists) have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Ardern and the Climate Change Minister ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26, calling for a huge increase in Aotearoa’s international climate contribution, and asking to keep the capacity to limit global warming within a humanly adaptable 1.5 degrees.

Seven health professional organisations (OraTaiao, the College of Nurses Aotearoa, New Zealand Nurses Organisation, New Zealand Medical Association, Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists) have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Ardern and the Climate Change Minister ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26, calling for a huge increase in Aotearoa’s international climate contribution, and asking to keep the capacity to limit global warming within a humanly adaptable 1.5 degrees.  

• Letter to Rt Hon Ardern - October 2021

OraTaiao submission, 21 October 2021

"We congratulate Auckland Transport for proposing lower speed limits, especially the 30 km/hr limit on streets in suburbs near schools. In car versus pedestrian assaults, when the impact speed is below about 25km/hr, the risk of death is 5 – 10% but as the impact speed increases beyond 30 km/hr, the risk of death increases exponentially." 

Read full submission here.