New Zealand could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves and catastrophic glacier melts in the near future, as greenhouse gas levels hit record highs, a new report about the nation\u2019s climate has revealed.<\/p>\n
Released on Wednesday, the Our Atmosphere and Climate 2026 report shows New Zealand is experiencing mounting climate pressures, which will have wide-reaching implications for the environment, native species and communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe signal is just becoming clearer \u2026 there are multiple indicators that are showing increased warming and the likelihood of climate change,\u201d Dr Alison Collins, chief science adviser for the ministry for cities, environment, regions and transport (Mcert) told the Guardian.<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s annual average temperature has risen by 1.36C since records began in 1909, and seven of the 10 warmest years on record occurred in the last decade, the report said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst it sounds like a small amount \u2026 it is a significant baseline shift that\u2019s having ramifications through nature, through our communities, and through businesses and industry,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
The report finds that as the climate heats, glaciers are shrinking<\/a>. New Zealand has roughly 3000 glaciers, and they have shrunk in volume from 56 cubic kilometres in 1997 to 30 cubic kilometres in 2023, the report said.<\/p>\n Modelling of glacier retreat shows a high risk of further decline on the horizon. Under the \u201clow climate scenario\u201d \u2013 which assumes low emissions \u2013 glaciers will very likely lose between 14 and 86% of their volume by 2100. Under the \u201chigh climate scenario\u201d, that figure rises to between 69 and 100% of their volume.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about substantial loss,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n Flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Greenhouse gases have increased to record levels in New Zealand\u2019s atmosphere, the report shows. There was a 30% increase in carbon dioxide since monitoring began in New Zealand in 1972. Methane levels had also slightly increased in 2025 to their highest concentration ever.<\/p>\n \u201cThat additional heat is showing up in rising temperatures, warming oceans, rising seas, shifting rainfall patterns and more intense extremes,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n Among those extremes were heatwaves, which the report said were \u201cvery likely\u201d to increase in frequency, length and intensity across the country. The number of days hitting more than 25C was also \u201cvery likely\u201d to increase by 2050, which will expose people to heat-related health risks, including physical illness, disease and psychological distress.<\/p>\n Marine heatwaves are also becoming more pronounced and affecting some native species, the report said. In 2025, the series revealed New Zealand\u2019s oceans were warming 34% faster than the global average<\/a> which has been linked to mass sea sponge bleaching<\/a>, die-offs of southern bull kelp, large scale fish standings<\/a> and penguin deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n The three-yearly update from Mcert and Stats NZ collates statistics, data and research across five domains \u2013 air, atmosphere and climate, freshwater, land, and marine \u2013 to paint a picture of the state of New Zealand\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n The report outlined a myriad of issues that will stem from continued warming, including damaging storms and cyclones that pose a risk to life, droughts affecting species and agricultural industries, sea level rise eroding infrastructure and housing and M\u0101ori communities having reduced access to culturally significant places.<\/p>\n Severe storms, including Cyclone Gabrielle<\/a> and the Auckland floods<\/a> in 2023, have battered New Zealand in recent years, causing deaths, widespread devastation and billions of dollars in costs.<\/p>\n New Zealand was built and developed around a relatively stable set of climate conditions and the report examines what happens when those conditions begin to change, Collins said.<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change is not just an environmental issue. It\u2019s a human story. It\u2019s an economic story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves and catastrophic glacier melts in the near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-919051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}