Climate change

Climate change effects are accelerating, driving the need for actions informed by sound climate knowledge.

Climate change

NIWA is committed to providing the science needed to adapt to and mitigate climate change. By making informed choices now, we can reduce risks, maximise opportunities, foster climate resilience and work towards a carbon-neutral economy.

“The challenges of reducing our national greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate are hugely important and affect all New Zealanders. The Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill provides the framework for responding to these challenges. NIWA’s role – providing research for evidence-based decision-making and science-based solutions to reduce emissions and adapt to our changing climate – is now more important than ever.”

Dr Andrew Tait, Chief Scientist, Climate, Atmosphere and Hazards

The latest climate change facts you need to know:

Latest news

A newly launched tool developed by NIWA and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to predict dryness and drought will help farmers and growers be better prepared for challenging weather conditions.
NIWA has launched a $5 million per year package of new projects aiming to tackle some of New Zealand’s most pressing challenges, including responding to and preparing for extreme weather events.
New maps from NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge show areas across Aotearoa New Zealand that could be inundated by extreme coastal flooding.
NIWA’s annual end-of-summer snowline survey has revealed continued loss of snow and ice for New Zealand’s famous glaciers.

Our work

MethaneSAT is New Zealand’s first official government-funded satellite mission. The core mission of this unique satellite is to support reductions in methane emissions around the world.
This research project aims to establish connections between weather and river flow forecasting, inundation prediction, and the associated risks to people and assets, using the RiskScape platform.

Latest videos

Our Climate is Changing

Our climate is changing - we need to act now.

Mā te haumaru ō nga puna wai ō Rākaihautū ka ora mo ake tonu: Increasing flood resilience across Aotearoa

This five-year NIWA-led research programme is developing a system to map flood hazard consistently across the whole country. It will reveal how our flood risk might change over the next 100 years because of changes to rainfall and sea level from climate change, as well as due to land-use changes. Find out more.

Glacier melt: A Time Capsule

Since 2016 enough ice has melted from the South Island’s Brewster Glacier to meet the drinking water needs of all New Zealanders for three years.

Climate has always been important for Māori. It affects natural environmental systems and resources, influences social-ecological knowledge and practice, shapes community vulnerability and resilience.
2022: New Zealand’s warmest year on record, again.
Mia Blyth talks to an environmental hazard specialist who feels a very personal connection to his work.
Improvements in data and climate science mean forecasters are able to predict patterns much further ahead and in far greater detail. Melissa Bray looks at what this may mean for farmers.
Coastal waters around Aotearoa New Zealand became unusually warm last month, say NIWA.
A group of international scientists are visiting some of New Zealand’s most significant coastal wetlands as part of a five-year research project to help the country adapt and prepare for sea-level rise.
NIWA researchers are developing a physics-informed and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven method to vastly reduce the computer power needed to provide accurate climate change projections.
The development of updated national climate projections for Aotearoa New Zealand is underway and expected to be completed in 2024.
The My Coastal Futures game was developed to help people understand climate change impacts and start thinking about how they might adapt. It provides players with the experience of making decisions about their coastal property as the sea level rises
Students will explore possible adaptation options using the criteria of cost, ease, timeliness, and any limitations, including uncertainty.
Students will apply understanding gained from previous activities and will engage in the uncertainty of climate change and its implications.
Building on their knowledge of the local climate and any recent events, students explore predicted impacts of climate change.
As ‘climate journalists’, students will research a recent significant local or national climate related event.
In this activity, students will determine the potential personal impacts of climate change on things that are important to them.
In this lesson, you will play NIWA’s online serious game, My coastal futures.
This page outlines specific learning intentions, success criteria and key climate change background knowledge for these teaching resources.
New Zealand’s wettest and 4th-warmest July on record
New Zealand’s weather is proving no exception to the record-breaking extremes occurring around the globe.
Climate change means more intense storm systems are on their way. Science can’t stop it raining, but it can help communities prepare for the worst and plan for the future.
An international team of climate scientists is working in North Canterbury to try to understand the reasons why giant glaciers disappeared thousands of years ago.
The annual end-of-summer snowline survey of more than 50 South Island glaciers has revealed continued loss of snow and ice. Last week, scientists from NIWA, Victoria University of Wellington, and Department of Conservation took thousands of aerial photographs of glaciers. Some of them are used to build 3D models that track ice volume changes.
New research from the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate and NIWA shows that New Zealand could experience very long and “very severe” marine heatwaves by the end of the century.
The three-year PARTneR–2 project aims to help countries in the Pacific become more resilient to the impacts of climate-related hazards.
NIWA is asking people in flood-affected areas to contribute photos to a national database to support understanding of flood hazard and flood risk.
NIWA is developing a national river flow forecasting tool for New Zealand that aims to support and strengthen our planning for and response to extreme rainfall events.

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All staff working on this subject

Hydro-ecological Modeller
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Marine Ecologist - Quantitative Modeller
Atmospheric Modeller
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Hazard and Risk Analyst
Principal Scientist - Marine Ecology
Principal Scientist - Climate
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Marine Biogeochemistry Technician
Freshwater Fish Ecologist
Principal Scientist-Marine Biogeochemistry
Principal Scientist - Climate and Environmental Applications
Emeritus Researcher – Atmospheric Radiation
Principal Scientist - Carbon Chemistry and Modelling
Principal Scientist - Atmosphere and Climate
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NWP/CFD Modeller and Analyst
Surface Water - Groundwater Modeller
Coastal and Estuarine Physical Processes Scientist
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Marine Physics Modeller
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Climate Scientist
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scientist
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