Costs relating to climate adaptation have increased by $666 million, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton says.<\/p>\n
And we can expect these costs to increase, he says – especially as \u201cclimate change exacerbates the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events\u201d.<\/p>\n
Upton\u2019s comments come from his annual report for the year ending June 30, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 2024\/25 estimate found that $3.55 billion that contributed to environmental outcomes had been budgeted by 22 central government agencies for the fiscal year,\u201d Upton says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the overall spend was similar to the previous year, spending on climate adaptation had increased significantly (by $666 million), while expenditure in other areas decreased.”<\/p>\n In the annual report, Upton warns that climate adaptation spending is likely to increase, \u201cparticularly if New Zealand continues to take a reactive approach to this growing problem\u201d.<\/p>\n Upton\u2019s annual report follows the release of Our Marine Environment 2025<\/a> which shows as climate change and human activity puts growing pressure on New Zealand\u2019s oceans and coasts, hundreds of thousands of homes, jobs and entire sectors are at increasing risk<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018More complex than it needs to be\u2019<\/p>\n Upton says there\u2019s two factors that have made environmental management more complex than it needs to be: having a \u201cfragmented, but often siloed, approach\u201d to environmental policy and non-stop reform of environmental statutes and policy undertaken by successive governments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are multiple streams of policy work for climate change, freshwater quality and biodiversity. There is uncertainty about the timing and scale of some policies as well as how different regulations interact with each other. There are often conflicts or gaps,\u201d Upton says.<\/p>\n Travelling across Aotearoa, Upton says a common message he received from farmers and rural communities was \u201cour lurching, stop-start approach to policy development is not just a significant barrier to making process on environmental outcomes, but a real turn-off for many people who want to get on with improving things\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the policy landscape still up for grabs after a decade of sustained calls for action on water quality, biodiversity and climate, people are losing interest.\u201d<\/p>\n But Upton says there\u2019s widespread agreement across rural New Zealand on the major environmental challenges the country faces – these are climate change, freshwater quality, biodiversity loss, and the growing threat from pests and weeds.<\/p>\n Upton says while solutions to these will never be available within the three-year term of government, he is calling for cross-party consensus on environmental goals.<\/p>\n Having wide support for the country\u2019s environmental management system is important, he says.<\/p>\n Any chance<\/p>\n Upton carves out three points he hopes politicians should be able to agree on \u201cif we are to have any chance of at least maintaining, and hopefully improving, our environment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first is an understanding that our economy is a subset of the environment, not vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cClean air, water and soil are not only necessary to human survival, but from an economic perspective, they provide an impressive capital base on which to build our lives,” he says.<\/p>\n But as environmental services have been freely available, Upton says they have been taken for granted.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter years of raiding the environmental piggy bank for human progress, the environment is starting to send us invoices. These invoices are likely to be large.\u201d<\/p>\n