Climate Change Minister James Shaw says there's nothing token about the declaration of a climate emergency or the commitment for the public service to be carbon neutral in five years' time.
Parliament voted in favour of a motion declaring the climate emergency on Wednesday.
The dissenting voices of National and ACT accused the government of a hollow political stunt that will do nothing to reduce emissions.
National Climate Change spokesperson Stuart Smith was scathing during Wednesday's debate.
"Declaring a climate emergency is nothing but virtue signalling. Symbolic gestures just don't cut it".
ACT's Simon Court shared the sentiment.
"It's simply a triumph of politics over practical solutions. Slogans over substance".
Ollie Landridge sat outside Parliament demanding this declaration for at least 100 days.
He was elated, but said New Zealand had some catching up to do.
"We don't declare an emergency without sending a fire engine, we need to really move forward fast".
Landridge said the declaration could not just be symbolic.
"It's easy to be cynical and many people are, particularly the opposition. But, look, I don't want to talk about politics because this is an existential crisis humanity, not just New Zealanders but the world and we have to act on this, we have to," he said.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw assured that this is anything but token.
"It's not just symbolic declaration in and of itself, there's a whole work programme behind it and a reorganisation of the machinery of government from ministers right through agencies to deliver on our commitments," he said.
That includes the public service - which needs to be carbon neutral by 2025.
Shaw said the public sector accounts for around 7 percent of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions.
"That's a reasonable chunk, it doesn't solve the whole problem but it does solve a measurable and significant part.
"But really it's about making sure we've got our own House in order. If we're going to require this astonishing transformation of every aspect of our economy and society, it really is important that we pull finger and lead by example", he said.
There's a strong financial incentive for government agencies, because if they don't reach the target, they have to pay to offset emissions, out of their own baseline funding.
But Shaw said offsetting will very much be a last resort.
"You can't just kind of buy your way out using forestry offsets when you should be taking action to reduce your emissions in the first place," he said.
However the director of the Centre for Sustainability at Otago University, Janet Stephenson, suspects massive carbon offsetting will be required.
"I strongly doubt whether most government agencies, particularly the more substantial ones, are going to be able to achieve carbon neutrality in that time".
Rather than offsetting millions of dollars offshore or into short-term fixes like forestry, Stephenson wondered whether investment could be made into more innovative solutions - like retrofitting and insulating houses.
"So if we can think quite creatively about where those offsets could be spent I think we could do a kind of double good within New Zealand by both the government showing leadership but also those offsets going into really, really positive projects," she said.
Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the declaration was long overdue.
She said while the government is making a good start, she called on it to be bolder.
"We need to tangible policies that reflect the urgency of this emergency ... and to ensure Aotearoa plays a leading role on the world stage in protecting papatūānuku and taking real climate action," she said.
James Shaw said he completely agreed, and this was just the beginning.
He said over the term there would be a very significant array of policies to bend the curve on emissions.
RNZ
