Progressing offshore mitigation for Aotearoa New Zealand

Oct 21, 2024

In October 2024, we held a public policy seminar on using offshore climate mitigation to help meet Aotearoa New Zealand’s 2030 target under the Paris Agreement.

Here are the slides presented at the seminar.

Here is the video recording of the seminar.

Seminar title: Progressing offshore mitigation for Aotearoa New Zealand

Speakers: Catherine Leining and Dr Sasha Maher from Motu Research; Dr Suzi Kerr from the Environmental Defense Fund

Date and time: Monday 21 October 2024 from 11am to 12:30pm

Location: Royal Society Te Apārangi, 11 Turnbull Street, Thorndon, Wellington. This seminar was streamed online and recorded. 

Seminar details: 

The world is not on track to prevent dangerous climate change. Cooperation between developed and developing countries is essential to bridge serious gaps in climate mitigation ambition, climate finance and equity.

In 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand pledged to cooperate with other countries by using offshore mitigation to help meet its 2030 target under the Paris Agreement. But so far, successive Governments (including the current Government) have not made this happen. This begs the question: why has Aotearoa New Zealand not progressed this cooperation with other countries further?

At this seminar, Catherine Leining, Motu Research Policy Fellow, and Dr Sasha Maher, Motu Research Affiliate, discussed the drivers, challenges, and enablers for international cooperation through offshore mitigation as part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s climate contribution under the Paris Agreement. They explored four competing mindsets blocking public support for funding offshore mitigation. They presented a fifth mindset which offers a better way ahead. 

As a respondent, Dr Suzi Kerr, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the US-based Environmental Defense Fund (which funded this work), shared her perspectives on making mitigation transfers work in practice.

This work features the Motu Note, “Think globally, act cooperatively: Progressing offshore mitigation for Aotearoa New Zealand.”