NZ working hard to ensure future generations to live on healthy planet: James Shaw

“This research explores what could happen with ice melts occurring at both polar caps and paints a disturbing picture of what our world will be like if we fail to act,” says James Shaw.

The Minister for Climate Change has welcomed new New Zealand-led research that warns of more "dangerous and unpredictable" weather in the future if the world doesn't get more serious about climate change action.

"This research explores what could happen with ice melts occurring at both polar caps and paints a disturbing picture of what our world will be like if we fail to act," says James Shaw.

"It is research like this that emboldens me in my work on the Zero Carbon Bill. I can proudly say we are working as hard as we can to ensure our kids and grandkids have a healthy planet to live on.

"Today's findings from Victoria University and GNS Science and their international associates put further evidence on the table that policies around the world need to match what science is showing us. Kids around the world are already rallying in their community and crying out for it.

"Future generations are at the mercy, or benefit, of policies we're putting in place today. So those policies need to take account of the clear warnings which reports like 'Global environmental consequences of twenty-first-century ice-sheet melt' are giving us.

"I appreciate the valuable work this research provides, with its new understandings around the very real risks global warming's impact on Earth's polar ice caps presents – especially for vulnerable coastal countries like ours.

"It strengthens my commitment to help see New Zealand do what it can to be part of the solution," says James Shaw.

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)