Shaw JamesCLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE (ZERO CARBON) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon JAMES SHAW (Minister for Climate Change): I move That the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.Since I introduced the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill into the House five months ago the Earth experienced its hottest month on record. Tens of thousands of people led by those too young to vote marched in our streets to demand action to stem the climate crisis and councils across the country declared a climate emergency and have started deploying the resources to deal with it. A clear majority of New Zealanders right across the political spectrum are increasingly concerned about climate change and are looking to this Parliament for the strongest possible signal that the political leadership of this country is united in our response to the climate crisis.It is within this context that I welcome the bill back from select committee and into the House for its second reading. The Environment Committee have performed a thorough consideration of this bill and I would like to thank all members of that committee for their efforts. In particular I'd like to thank the chair Dr Duncan Webb the former chair Dr Deborah Russell the Opposition's climate change spokesperson the Hon Scott Simpson and former spokesperson Todd Muller. This bill is much improved as a result of all of their efforts.The primary purpose of this bill is to provide a framework for New Zealand to develop and implement clear and stable climate change policies that contribute to the global effort under the Paris Agreement to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to prepare for and adapt to the effects of climate change. The bill establishes a Climate Change Commission to provide independent expert advice on the transition to a low-emissions economy and a nation resilient to the effects of climate change and to hold this and all future Governments to account for progress.The bill sets in statute an emissions reduction target for reducing greenhouse gases by 2050. The target has two components: one an emissions reduction goal for biogenic methane and another for all greenhouse gases. The bill establishes a system of emissions budgets to step progressively towards the 2050 target and enable policy settings to adapt to within a predictable framework. Once an emissions budget has been set and notified the bill places an obligation on the Government to prepare a plan that includes policies and strategies to ensure that the emissions budget is met.The commission will prepare annual reports that track New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions and removals and track progress towards emissions budgets. The commission will also prepare a report after the end of each budget period that determines whether the emissions budget has been achieved and evaluates the success of the emissions reduction plan. The bill requires the commission to prepare a national climate change risk assessment every six years to evaluate risks to New Zealand from current and future effects of climate change. In response to each risk assessment the bill requires the Minister to produce a national adaptation plan to set up the Government's plan to respond to the effects of climate change.The bill also enables the Minister to require certain organisations to provide information on climate change adaptation. This provision is intended to improve our understanding of New Zealand's preparedness for dealing with the effects of climate change and will be used to inform the development of the risk assessment the adaptation plan and the subsequent progress reports on this plan.The Environment Committee received over 10000 written submissions and undertook 29 hearings across the country where they listened to 800 individuals organisations and groups express their views on the bill. The committee heard from parents students scientists farmers academics health professionals businesses industry representatives activists iwi local government former MPs and more. I want to thank all those New Zealanders who took the time—many for the first time ever—to submit at select committee. Your thoughtful contributions and your courage of conviction have been immensely helpful and enabled the committee to develop a stronger and more durable bill across a range of areas.First in response to submitters who wanted to see the purpose statement reference the bill's adaptation functions the bill has been amended to include adaptation in the purpose statement. This will send a clear signal to decision makers that preparing for and adapting to the effects of climate change is of fundamental importance.Second the bill will now require the commission to have regard for the Crown/Māori relationship Te Ao Māori and specific impacts on iwi and Māori when performing all its functions and duties and exercising its powers to assist the Crown to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Ministry for the Environment with support from Te Arawhiti will develop guidance for how the commission should engage with Māori.Third the purpose of emissions budgets in the bill will now include a reference to the need for New Zealand to contribute to global efforts to limit the average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This will align emissions budgets with the overall purpose of the bill and reinforce the need for decision makers to consider the global response to climate change when determining the level of emissions budgets.Fourth to ensure that we strike the balance between emissions reductions and removals the bill now allows the Climate Change Commission to consider the form of the target in its reviews including what the target should be and how the target should be met including the use of offshore mitigation or domestic forestry offsets.Fifth when preparing advice on emissions budgets and emission reductions plans the bill has been amended to require the commission to have regard to the implication and potential implications of land-use change on communities. This will ensure that impacts on communities are taken into account as the Government makes decisions on the role of emissions reduction and removal options and how impacts can be managed to achieve a just transition.Sixth emissions from international aviation and shipping are an important consideration globally. Although they are in the remit of processes that are parallel to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change a number of countries are now starting to include these emissions in their policy frameworks. The bill has therefore been amended to enable the commission to provide advice to Government on whether emissions from international shipping and aviation should be accounted for in emissions budgets and the target—and if so how—when it undertakes its review of the 2050 target. That will allow the Government to decide at that point if these emissions should be brought into the scope of the emissions budget and target.Seventh to ensure consistency of Government policy with our climate change objectives the bill has been amended to remove the clause that allowed public decision makers to exclude the 2050 target or an emissions budget from their decision making without the risk that those decisions could be invalidated. This should allow for common law to evolve over time. In addition the emissions reduction plan the budget is required to produce in response to each emissions budget has been added as a permissive consideration that decision makers can have regard to when exercising their public functions.Finally to ensure that the commission has access to the requisite information it needs to support the effective operations of its functions the bill now affords the commission the authority to request information on climate change adaptation from reporting organisations. This amendment will ensure that the commission is not reliant on the Minister for the information that it needs to perform its adaptation functions.The improvements that I have outlined are important ones. The Environment Committee's findings confirm that the bill will establish the regulatory architecture needed to continue the transition to a low-emissions economy and a nation with the resilience to adapt to the effects of climate change. It will provide stability and predictability for New Zealanders today and into the future.I would like to remind members of this House that the window of opportunity to prevent the worst impacts of catastrophic climate change is very narrow and closing fast. We as the elected representatives of New Zealanders have a duty of care to them their children and their grandchildren to take that opportunity before that window closes. We have led the world before in nuclear disarmament and in votes for women and now we need to lead again. I urge members to support this bill so that we may deliver a just inclusive and sustainable future for all New Zealanders. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.