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.

Scientists undertaking the annual Southern Alps end-of-summer snowline survey this week will be using advanced photographic technology to help clarify obscure snowlines due to ash and dust from the Australian bushfires.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
NIWA researchers have helped unlock information trapped in ancient air samples from Greenland and Antarctica that shows the amount of methane humans are emitting into the atmosphere from fossil fuels has been vastly underestimated.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.
Dr Rob Bell worked out a long time ago that sea-level rise is much more than a scientific problem. No wonder then that people say his ability to listen is one of his best traits.
2019: New Zealand’s 4th-warmest year on record
In the past 10 years, more weather records have been broken than in any other time in New Zealand’s history.
New Zealand has just experienced its hottest November on record, according to NIWA climate scientists.
Novel handwriting recognition project casts new light on historic weather data.
This interactive website lets you to look at projections for a number of climate variables for New Zealand between now and 2100.
New Zealand’s changing ocean environment has prompted the call to develop a system that will keep closer tabs on information from scientific monitoring buoys so the data they produce can be shared as widely as possible.
Expect to hear a lot more about climate change in the news in the weeks ahead – and a lot about NIWA’s work underpinning the science that is signalling a warmer world right now and its effects in the future.
While we know that glaciers are sensitive to changes in their local climate, our understanding of exactly how mountain glaciers will respond to climate change is incomplete.
NIWA is using serious games to look at problems holistically, support understanding and give a framework for climate change adaptation decision-making.
Two reports released today by NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge reveal new information about how many New Zealanders, how many buildings and how much infrastructure could be affected by extreme river and coastal flooding from storms and sea-level rise.

CO2 levels measured at Baring Head

The graph shows carbon dioxide (CO2) levels measured at Baring Head, NIWA’s clean air station, near Wellington. This station has been running since 1972 and is home to the longest running continuous CO2 measurements in the Southern Hemisphere.

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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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