Newstream

  • Hīkina te Kohupara / Pathways to Net Zero by 2050

    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

  • OraTaiao calls for healthier government response to climate advice

    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.

  • OraTaiao appeals to Government: plate up for climate change and health

    MEDIA STATEMENT, 28 May, 2021
    Since Government buys what thousands of us eat daily in New Zealand, ‘buying healthy’ has long been an immediately available yet overlooked step towards addressing climate and health-induced inequities according to OraTaiao: New Zealand Climate and Health Council and they are challenging Government to act now to remedy this.  
  • Building resilience in Aotearoa’s food systems

    OraTaiao's policy statement urges the government to accelerate progress towards a carbon-neutral public sector and build longer term resilience in our food systems through procurement of healthy and sustainable food by government-funded institutions. This statement was prepared by Penny Field, Louise Mainvil, and Anna De Mello from OraTaiao's food systems working group. 

  • OraTaiao underwhelmed by the Budget’s support for climate or health

    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.

  • Auckland Regional Land Transport Plan

    OraTaiao submission, 2 May 2021

    "While we support the intent of the draft advice, much more ambitious targets for active and public transport increases, and modeshare shifts from private motor vehicles need to be included. There has not been enough consideration of the health and health equity gains that can be made by emission reducing policies and Te Tiriti o Waitangi has not been centralised."

    Read full submission here.

  • Climate Change Commission's first package of advice to the Government "Climate action for Aotearoa"

    OraTaiao submission, 26 March 2021

    We cannot support the majority of the Commission's recommendations as they do not take into account the health and health equity gains that can be made by emission reducing policies, and the advice does not account for the harm climate change will cause to health and healthy equity.

    Read full submission here.

  • Stuff: Climate change: Calls for public health expert to be appointed to commission

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

  • Letter to Climate Change Minister March 2021

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

  • Climate Change minister must make urgent health appointment

    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. 

  • Put health at the heart of Aotearoa's climate response

    Make a submission to the Climate Change Commission!

    The Climate Change Commission is consulting on its first package of advice to the Government which will help shape Aotearoa’s climate crisis response. In their current form the Commission’s draft recommendations ignore the important health and equity gains that could be made from the right kind of climate action. They also do not sufficiently recognise te Tiriti o Waitangi.

  • Call for abstracts - Sustainable Health and Climate Health Aotearoa Conference 2021

    The Sustainable Healthcare and Climate Health Aotearoa Conference invites experts, researchers, up-and-coming leaders and sustainability champions to submit abstracts for presentation (in person or virtually) at our annual conference in Wellington on 22–23 June 2021. The theme is 'Re-thinking Sustainable Health in Aotearoa'. For more information see here.

  • Stuff: Fix public transport to stop fossil fuel pollution deaths, climate expert says

    Article on new air pollution study showing deaths from burning fossil fuels with comments by OraTaiao Co-convenor, Dr Dermot Coffey, including recommending a “rapidly decarbonising society”. Read here.

  • Promotional flyers for every staff tea room!

    Promote the health benefits of climate action and the work of OraTaiao at your workplace by putting up a flyer in your tea room and on notice boards. Just download and print out the flyers below. Choose either A4 size or go for the smaller A5 size. 

  • Designing a healthy response to climate change

    Article by Dr Dermot Coffey. NZMJ Digest Issue 99. Read here (PDF).

  • Briefing to Incoming Ministers Dec 2020

    The following briefing was sent to Ministers and Associate Ministers with portfolios in health, housing, transport, energy, building & construction, environment, agriculture, and climate change. Tackling climate change requires an all of government response.