Greens announce Kiwi Climate Fund to tackle climate change

The Green Party today announced a comprehensive plan to tackle climate change including replacing the Emissions Trading Scheme with a Kiwi Climate Fund.

“We’re the first generation that will feel the effects of climate change, and the last that can stop it. We have a responsibility to act, and the Green Party has a plan to do it,” said Green Party leader James Shaw.

“The Green Party’s first priority in government will be passing the Zero Carbon Act and to set up an independent Climate Commission, to reduce climate pollution to net zero by 2050.

“The Kiwi Climate Fund will put a simple, transparent charge on all climate pollution and use the revenue to fund tree planting around the country.

“The Fund’s remaining surplus will be returned to every New Zealander, aged 18 and over, every year as a dividend. We estimate this could be $250 per person in 2020.

“Farmers will no longer be exempt from reducing climate pollution. We will introduce a charge on agricultural emissions, starting in 2020, which is estimated to reduce the average dairy farm’s profitability by less than 2 percent, or less than 6 percent when combined with the Green Party’s proposed clean rivers nitrate levy. Farmers will be able to reduce this cost by planting trees on their land.

“An independent Climate Commission will ultimately advise governments on the charge to put on emissions. By 2020 I expect the charge on carbon dioxide to be around $40 per tonne, and $6 and $3 per tonne for nitrous oxide and methane emissions from agriculture.

“No farmer I’ve talked to wants their child to inherit a world with longer droughts and drier rivers. Agriculture can no longer be exempt from reducing climate pollution; farmers need to be part of the solution.

“Global demand for low-emission food, fibre and material is going to boom and our farmers have the potential to become world-leading producers of sustainable high-value food and fibre.

“We’ll ensure Government walks the talk by directing the Super Fund and ACC Fund to completely divest from fossil fuel companies, so that pensions are not dependent on economically risky and environmentally toxic investments.

“The Kiwi Climate Fund sits alongside a suite of other practical Green Party policies, including investing in clean buses and trains, safer cycling, creating a $100 Green Infrastructure Fund, 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030, our $210 million Sustainable Farming Partnership Fund, and our commitment to end coal mining and deep sea oil drilling,” Mr Shaw said.

Volunteer

The Greens are proud to be driven by passionate people like you. Today we need your help to take action on the biggest issues facing Aotearoa. Volu...

Action

Save Auckland's Climate Budget

Sign the petition to stop Mayor Wayne Brown's proposal for dangerous cuts to climate and environmental programmes that protect us from extreme weat...

Action

No New Mines 2023

Action

Expand Voting

Now more than ever, young people in Aotearoa are impacted by Government decisions, and they deserve to have a say. We are calling on all Members of...

Action

End Intensive Winter Grazing

Sign the petition to Labour Ministers, to move faster in bringing regulations into force and end intensive winter grazing.

Action

Trains for Climate

Add your name to our open letter urging the Minister for Finance Grant Robertson to save our passenger trains between Wellington, the Wairarapa and...

Action

Healthy Oceans 2022

Join our Healthy Oceans Crew to help us keep the health and protection of our oceans high on the Labour Government’s political agenda.

Action

It's time: A Ministry for Rainbow Communities

Join our call asking the Prime Minister to establish a Ministry for Rainbow Communities that can champion Rainbow issues.

Action

No new mines on conservation land

Sign the open letter asking Labour Ministers to stick to their promise of banning new mining projects on conservation land.

Action

Allow community ownership of our buses

Public transport is an essential service and helps to tackle the climate crisis by reducing our carbon emissions. But there are barriers to communi...

Action

Local Events

We have activists across Aotearoa / New Zealand who are working hard to build a brighter future for our kids and grandkids. This page lists upcomin...

Latest Environment Announcements

Story

You wood not believe it: Greens secure win for urban trees

The Green Party’s advocacy has secured an amendment to the Natural and Built Environment Bill at a crucial stage of the Parliamentary process to en...

Forestry sector must compensate for slash damage

The Green Party welcomes today’s release of the report of the Ministerial Inquiry into slash and sediment, and are clear that the forestry industry...

Greens launch petition to protect conservation lands from mining by Mineralogy International Limited

The Green Party has today launched a petition calling for conservation land to be protected from mining by big overseas companies such as Mineralog...

National's drought of ideas won't help farmers facing climate change

Christopher Luxon and the National Party have once again presented another lazy, back-of-the-napkin policy to Aotearoa.

Freshwater crisis needs stronger government action

New Zealand’s rivers, lakes and freshwater are in crisis and there needs to be a more ambitious Government plan to clean them up and protect agains...

Greens welcome waste strategy release and work

The Green Party is today welcoming the release of the Government’s waste strategy, but says it has a big gap without action on the container return...

Story

National’s climate pledge a joke

Today’s pledge from the National Party to deliver net zero carbon by 2050 is a bad-faith, disingenuous, and empty promise.

National needs to come clean about climate cuts

The National Party needs to come clean about the impact of its plan to raid the climate budget and cancel $2 billion of investment in action to cut...

New $750m fund part of Climate-Safe Communities plan to protect towns and cities from flooding

The Green Party has today announced a Climate-Safe Communities plan to both cut emissions and protect our communities from the impact of climate ch...

James Shaw - Climate Safe Communities Speech

A family whose home was flooded to the ceiling of the ground floor. The kitchen, dining and living rooms filled as completely as a fish-tank.

Cabinet’s emissions pricing plan leaves too much to chance

Only the Green Party has a plan to reduce agricultural emissions at the scale and pace needed. The Labour Cabinet’s plan for pricing agriculture em...

Saving the planet and saving money, it’s as easy as more Green MPs

A new Clean Power Payment will save households up to $1,200 on their energy bills, every year, and slash carbon emissions.

Story

Greens would push Labour much further on solar power

Labour’s plan to support rooftop solar is a step in the right direction, but falls short of what could be achieved through the Green Party’s Clean ...

Bills lower, climate happier under Green Party plan

Labour’s announcement of an energy rebate is a step in the right direction, but the Greens’ Clean Power Payment would do much more for households.

Government must stop all new oil and gas exploration

The Green Party are welcoming a pause on all remaining oil and gas exploration, and call on the Government to stop it all together.

Crown mineral change does not go far enough

Long overdue changes to the Crown Minerals Act are a welcome step in the right direction but the Government needs to go further to end the nonsensi...

Fix electricity market to help both climate and cost of living

The four big electricity companies should be required to reinvest massive profits into cutting both household bills and climate pollution, the Gree...

Luxon risks burning down five years of climate progress

Chris Luxon’s plan to reopen new gas projects in the middle of the climate crisis is about as irresponsible as it gets.