The Future of Environment in Aotearoa
Vicky Robertson, Secretary for the Environment
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) partnership with the Circle has deepened and broadened our relationships with the private sector and enabled momentum and action on our critical environmental issues. We’ve seen great success, with fantastic collaborations across sectors and issues.
A couple of years ago, no one was talking about sustainable finance. It was something happening overseas, but not considered an area that New Zealand needed to investigate. As the Circle, we knew this was a critical unlocking mechanism to get a shift in the quality of our environment and for a transition to a low emissions economy.
We now have a conversation on sustainable finance happening across both the public and private sectors. The Government, led by MfE, has shifted considerably, considering mandatory requirements to disclose climate risk, a separate Climate Response Fund and Green Bonds as examples. The Circle has led the conversation, and this has helped both private and the public sectors step into new spaces.
The Circle work on adaptation in the seafood sector has also shifted the conversation for that sector, bringing different perspectives into the room to work out what can be done. It’s not so many years ago that it would have seemed unlikely to bring together organisations like Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Ngati Whatua Orakei Whai Rawa, Deloitte, Sealord, Silver Fern Farms and Transpower with the public sector to deliver a vision of guardianship of our natural resources.
Collaboration through the Circle is showing how we can tackle challenges like these together. It’s a great way to focus effort and get faster traction. Collaboration towards action is critical for achieving change. In fact, it’s the only way we will meet these challenges and create new opportunities.
When Sir Rob and I began the Circle, Rob was fierce in his reminder to me that time was running out for our natural treasures. This urgency is still with me and I feel it within the Circle partners as well. The way we live and make a living affects our environment. We also depend on it for how well we are as people and our significant economic activities, such as agriculture, horticulture and tourism.
Sadly, our environment is declining rapidly. Almost four thousand of our native species are currently threatened or at risk of extinction. The Ministry is due to release its updated state of our environment report, Environment Aotearoa, and this will give us an updated picture of the challenges we face now. And then there are the climate change impacts that we are already experiencing. It makes sense for us to join together to focus on priorities and get action happening that will make a difference.
I’ve been amazed at how many people are keen on being part of the Circle and this conversation. What I have observed is that we care, whether it’s because we rely on nature for our businesses, our wellbeing, our way of life, our connection to our whakapapa or for other reasons. The Circle shows that when we care about something we take responsibility for ensuring it’s there in the future.
For me, it’s personal. Protecting Aotearoa’s natural environment was important in my own upbringing, as it is for many of us. I have warm and vivid memories of many adventures with my dad. I was lucky to have this connection. I’m a firm believer in intergenerational equity – I have two grandchildren, and feel the responsibility to ensure they can experience our wild coastlines, swim in clear rivers, have fresh and clean air and food as much as I have been lucky enough to.
For now the Circle is focused on adaptation and climate change. Soon the Board will start to consider what’s next, and we are also asking ourselves how we measure impact. This is a tough space - there are long lag times between action and seeing change in the environment.
In Government, we have core priority work underway, with a lot of focus on setting strong foundations. Action on climate mitigation and adaptation, the resource management system and the waste system are critical areas. The Government is due to release its first Emissions Reduction Plan, and this will mark a new phase for all New Zealanders - giving us a sense of priorities, possibilities and opportunities up to 2035. So there is plenty of opportunity to work together from here on tangible actions that will make a difference!
Working together across the public and private sector can not only get us ahead and prepare the ground for change, but also take a wider view to consider the opportunities and ‘edge’ we can achieve for New Zealand when we put the environment at the centre of what we do.
The Circle helps the public sector bring in new thinking to shape our approach and test policy against what will work in practice. Change is affected at place, in your place. The Government might set the parameters, but these don’t work if they aren’t practical. Action at place is where change really happens. In your business, community, your own household. The Circle provides the opportunity to get real change happening through all parts of society, and have it endure over time.
The key lessons from our Circle collaborations so far that have resonated with me include: bringing in great people who are prepared to lead; not being afraid to ask the hard questions; feeling comfortable leaning into the discomfort of different views; and staying agile - it’s pivotal to keep adjusting to discussion and feedback.
Finally, I believe the challenges we face we can solve if we all think long term and work together to find exciting new ways to look after our environment. We as leaders are dealers in hope – and while the facts are sobering, there are many great steps, big and small, people are taking. Our mokopuna will thank us for it.