OraTaiao submission, 15 September 2021

"The Emissions Trading Scheme is important for public health.... The current free allocation of units represents a subsidy by the Government of climate pollution by industry and is not consistent with the rapid decarbonization of industry that is required to address the climate crisis and meet the ambitions of net zero emissions in Aotearoa/New Zealand by 2050."

Read full submission here.

Article about reducing the carbon footprint of surgery in Aotearoa, NZ, with comments from OraTaiao Co-convenor, Dr Dermot Coffey. Read here.

OraTaiao submission, 30 August 2021

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s background document on Aotearoa’s approach to the COP26 negotiations is disappointing - human health and wellbeing are not mentioned once in the entire document. We strongly recommend that our response properly take account of the health risks from climate change, that the national and international health benefits from climate action be appropriately addressed in our approach, and human health and wellbeing be the major principles that guide our negotiations."

Read full submission here.

OraTaiao submission, 4 August 2021

OraTaiao recognise and agree that the Resource Management Act (RMA) is in urgent need of renewal, modification and updating. Our natural and built environment is a significant factor in the development of non-communicable diseases in Aotearoa, and with these responsible for 89% of all deaths in Aotearoa and for an estimated 7,000 premature deaths of New Zealanders between the ages of 30 and 70 in 2012^[1]. It similarly influences our climate change emissions via transport choices, energy use and farming. Planning for climate change adaptation is now inevitable, and this will be an essential component of all three Acts which will replace the RMA, not just the Climate Adaptation Act.

MEDIA STATEMENT, 9 July 2021

OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council strongly supports the recent call by Forest & Bird, Greenpeace, the Environmental Defence Society, and Choose Clean Water urging Government to limit freshwater nitrate levels to less than 1mg/L.

"This is a perfect example of where public health, ecological, and climate concerns overlap," says Dermot Coffey, Co-convenor of OraTaiao, "and where setting and achieving a safe limit on nitrate levels will benefit all three simultaneously."

MEDIA STATEMENT, 8 July 2021

“New Zealand’s ranking of zero points on the Global Climate and Health Alliance health scorecard for climate commitments sounds the siren for urgent action,” says Dr Dermot Coffey, Co-convenor of OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council. The GCHA today publicly released the climate health scorecard for the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of 66 countries with NZ sharing bottom place with just 3 others.

OraTaiao submission, 24 June 2021

The health and wellbeing co-benefits of climate change mitigation strategies that increase active and public transport are well documented. These co-benefits need to be elevated within Hīkina te Kohupara to become a central focus of the transport system transformation.

Read full submission here

Christchurch, 9 June 2021 -- Responding to today’s release of the Climate Change Commission’s advice to the government on New Zealand’s climate ambitions, OraTaiao called on Minister for Climate Change Hon. James Shaw to safeguard the health of Aotearoa and step up to our fair share when the world meets in Glasgow this November to keep human-adaptable 1.5 degrees warming within reach.

Simply going by the 2021 Budget, one wouldn’t know our government has declared a climate emergency; rather it was another disappointment in a long string of underwhelming Budgets, said Dr Dermot Coffey, Co-convenor, OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council.

Please read OraTaiao's response to the 2021 Budget.

OraTaiao submission, 2 May 2021

Read full submission here.

Article about OraTaiao and other health professional organisations asking for a public health expert to be appointed to the Climate Change Commission. Read here.

Twelve health professional organisations have written to Climate Change Minister James Shaw asking for public health representation on the Climate Change Commission.

• Letter to Hon James Shaw - March 2021

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT – OraTaiao, RACP, NZMA, Health Promotion Forum of NZ, 25 March 2021

Health organisations have written to Climate Change Minister James Shaw asking him to appoint a public health expert to the Climate Change Commission to ensure Aotearoa improves health as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.