ICNZ Conference 2025, Getting Resilience Right: Panel 1 – Climate Change

The devastating weather events in early 2023 were a reminder of New Zealand’s vulnerability to natural disasters and its impact on people, communities and property. The insurance cost alone is around $4 billion, with The Treasury estimating the overall cost to the economy at up to $14.5 billion. The prospect of more frequent and severe weather events due to climate change in coming years presents challenges and opportunities but this bottom line is New Zealand will have to invest and build its resilience to protect lives, property and infrastructure.

The Government is planning to introduce legislation this year setting up a framework for addressing climate change adaptation in response to a parliamentary select committee report that set out the objectives and principles in tackling what is a difficult and complex issue. There is still much work to do, and cross-party political support is crucial in forging a cohesive and consistent approach that survives a three-year parliamentary term when dealing with a multi-decade problem. The thorny questions include who should pay, when should we intervene, whose interests take precedent, when do we compel people to act, how much personal responsibility people must take and the level of compensation they receive.

The evidence indicates that acting early to invest in mitigation and adaptation measures to protect local communities avoids the huge economic and social disruption that the impacts of climate related disasters can impose on New Zealanders. It also sends the right signals to global reinsurers that New Zealand is acting to reduce risk and ensure insurance remains affordable and accessible. The opportunities include avoiding building in dumb places and investing in infrastructure to reduce risk for those in areas vulnerable to natural hazards such as flooding and coastal inundation.

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