#164: Budget blues

On the importance of funding climate action

Mōrena, and happy Tuesday!

Look, I’ll cut straight to it: this week’s Budget from the government is a disappointment - this shows the government’s priorities for the next few years, and in terms of climate change it’s not looking good! This Budget:

• 🔥 Establishes a fund of $200 million over four years for co-investment in new gasfields (a direct response to lobbying from the oil and gas industry).

• 🚌 Cuts a $56 million fund specifically for electric buses - specifically set for decarbonising public transport (transport is one of Aotearoa’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions).

• 🔋Cuts $56 million over four years from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), a body aimed at helping households and businesses save energy and cut emissions - a move that is difficult to understand while everyday Kiwis are living through a cost of living crisis. This is coming at a time when providers are warning that we may have increased electricity outages in 2026 because we are not funding renewable power quickly enough.

• 🌊 Halves future international climate finance from $200 million to $100 million, which would mostly have gone to our Pacific neighbours. The funding also no longer has to be focused on climate action, which means any new climate initiatives would have to compete with other humanitarian needs - despite the fact that climate change exacerbates and creates further humanitarian crises.

Whichever party you voted for, we know that we all want flourishing communities, clean air, accessible transport, and to being able to provide for our tamariki. By allowing this Budget to prioritise support for unsustainable industries above a healthy future, the ministers who created this budget have let us all down.

The good news is that investing in sustainable, common-sense infrastructure we value will both improve all our lives and be good for the climate. We’ll have campaigns for you in the coming weeks (Oxfam has one ready today) - but the key thing to remember is that it is people who put this government in power, and we have the power to push them to reflect what we value.

What can we do today?

The most-clicked link last week was a petition calling to restrict the use of urgency in Parliament.

🐝 5 minutes: Girls just wanna have climate-positive funds

• Divesting (removing investments) from fossil fuels companies is an important way for organisations to put pressure on the fossil fuel industry. Back in 2014, Victoria University Wellington committed to divest $650,000 worth of fossil fuel investments, but recent evidence has emerged that they have not met their promise.

  Action: Sign the petition to call on VUW to stick to their original commitment to divesting from fossil fuels.

• They’re still a while away but it is never too early to get prepped for local elections. These will be crucial for getting meaningful climate action happening in our communities.
  Action: Check your enrolment or enrol for the first time!

🐇 15 minutes: Girls still just wanna have climate-positive funds

• Last week, we shared Oxfam’s call on the NZ government to keep funding climate action for the Pacific, and unfortunately this week we know that the Budget cuts $100 million a year from this funding. It’s not too late to remind the government that climate financing is essential for all of us to flourish, so tell them now! We suggest adding a line that specifically asks the government to reinstate the previous requirement that climate action is the primary purpose of the aid given.

  Action: Email MPs to call them to fund climate action in the Pacific

💃🏽 30+ minutes: Seriously, we still just want climate-postive funding

• This week, across the motu: Despite the climate emergency and the clear need for an end to mining, ANZ continues to offer banking services to Bathurst Resources. With enough pressure, we can push ANZ to join other banks like BNZ in phasing out banking services with not only Bathurst Resources, but all fossil fuel expansion companies. There are actions in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke, Ōtepoti, Rotorua, Ōtautahi, Whakatū, Māwhera, Wānaka and other cities.
  Action: Find the protest nearest you to show ANZ we won’t stand for them financing climate destruction

• Tāmaki Makaurau, Sat June 7th: Have an idea for how to improve your community? Bike Auckland have set up a cool event to help you turn your idea into a campaign. Turn up with your idea, get help from experts, and find other people who may be keen to be involved.
  Action: Join the workshop on community advocacy and building a campaign next Saturday!

In case you missed it

Due June 1st: The government is accepting submissions on the updates to the Waste Minimisation Act. Having a better system for collecting and processing products so they can be reused and recycled is crucial for minimising waste and emissions.
Action: Scroll down and edit Zero Waste’s submission to have your say on the new Waste Minimisation Act.

Wins!

Actual global solar installations have smashed past all projections! From Nat Bullard: "Not much more to say than this technology, consistently underestimated, now adds more capacity to the global grid than anything ever and will soon add more power in any given year than anything ever as well."

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. This week, take your pick! Enjoy this vegan banana bread recipe, or this poem by Marge Piercy which picks me up if I start to feel a bit tired from it all.

See you next week,

Dhanya & the Climate Club team

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