New Zealand’s second NDC

By Robert McLachlan

Under the Paris Agreement, countries periodically submit NDCs or ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’. The first one covers emissions from 2021 to 2030, and the second (covering emissions out to 2035) is due early next year.

The Ministry for the Environment is consulting on our second NDC (due 8 December 2024). The world is currently on track for up to 3 ºC of warming by 2100 and the UN has called for more ambitious near-term targets. As I wrote earlier, New Zealand is currently warming at 3 degrees per century; unless emissions reduce, we’ll blow through both 1.5 and 2 ºC in fairly short order.

Here is my submission.