Caritas deeply disappointed at climate finance cut in Budget

In the Budget, released on May 22, climate finance was cut to $100 million a year, and is no longer earmarked specifically for climate action. Caritas said the climate finance decision walks back New Zealand’s international pledge at a United Nations Climate Change Conference last year to triple climate funding by 2030.

“New Zealand has just announced that it will halve its already modest climate contribution, just when Pacific nations are facing climate debt and the effects of the climate crisis,” said Heidi Coetzee, acting chief executive of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. 

These cuts come, Caritas warns, as there is a debt crisis across the Pacific as countries borrow to adapt to climate change and repair the damage it causes. Ms Coetzee noted that New Zealand’s climate aid has come as grants, rather than loans, so the reduced budget could increase the indebtedness of some Pacific nations.

“Countries like Tonga, Samoa and Fiji are now spending more servicing climate debt than on health or education. Meanwhile, major donors like the US and the UK are pulling back from the region – further exacerbating the climate crisis,” Caritas stated. 

“Pacific nations did not create this climate crisis, but they bear the full brunt of it,” Ms Coetzee added.

Caritas urged the Government to reconsider this decision.

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters told Radio New Zealand that they will push for more overseas development assistance (ODA) funding next year.

“Unfortunately, the previous Labour Government left a $200 million a year fiscal cliff in the ODA budget from January 2026.

“As Minister [Nicola] Willis acknowledged in her [Budget] speech, we argued for more ODA funding than was secured – and will seek more in the next budget cycle.”

Labour Party associate foreign affairs spokesperson Phil Twyford rejected that criticism, saying “Governments don’t budget in perpetuity for these things. Our Labour government made a four-year commitment, and it’s up to this Government to budget to continue that.”

In the 2025 Budget, there was a separate injection of $100 million per year into New Zealand’s aid to overseas nations, but a downward trajectory in aid levels is projected through to 2027.

FULL STORY

BUDGET 2025: Slashing climate support for Pacific a step backward (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)

Budget 2025: NZ branded ‘a fair-weather friend’ after climate and aid funding cuts (Radio New Zealand)

Government’s aid reduction betrayal of the Pacific say NGOs (Newsroom)