See full report here – it’s worth the read.
Executive Summary
New Zealand’s funding for climate action is an essential lifeline for communities across our Pacific region.
This report shows the positive difference that climate funding from New Zealand has made since this support was increased from 2022. Funding from New Zealand is directly improving the lives of tens of thousands of people across the Pacific, while increasing collective resilience to the accelerating impacts of climate change.
Renewing this commitment, with new funding from 2026, would build on the strong relationships that have been forged with governments and communities in the Pacific and beyond.
If we continue the trend of ramping up funding for climate action, New Zealand could be on track to meet our fair share of the assistance promised to lower=income countries, including here in the Pacific.
New Zealand must keep our promise to help our Pacific neighbours, who have done nothing to cause the climate crisis, but are already feeling the worst of the effects. As this report shows, the New Zealand Government’s funding for climate action in the Pacific makes a significant contribution to the collective resilience of our region.
Let’s keep up the good work.
Keeping New Zealand’s Promise to the Pacific
From 2022 to 2025, the New Zealand Government committed $1.3 billion to climate finance, with $800 million dedicated specifically to climate action. This funding has supported Pacific communities to build resilience through clean water, climate-smart agriculture and disaster preparedness.
This support is not charity. It is a promise made by New Zealand, alongside other wealthy countries, in recognition of our greater historical responsibility for climate change. It is a promise we must keep.
New Zealand leads globally by providing all public climate finance as grants. Most of this funding goes directly to Pacific communities, helping them adapt and thrive in a changing climate. In contrast, two-thirds of climate finance from other rich countries is delivered as loans, often at commercial rates. This approach ignores the needs of communities and adds to their financial burden.
In a global context where many wealthy nations are turning away from the harm they have caused, New Zealand’s climate finance has offered hope. It has shown what is possible when funding is delivered with fairness and integrity.
As the impacts of climate change in the Pacific continue to accelerate, now is the time to renew our commitment. In 2024, Oxfam Aotearoa and World Vision NZ published a joint report calling for increased climate funding to meet New Zealand’s fair share. The Council for International Development endorsed the findings, with 22 member organisations signing an open letter urging the Government to scale up funding to at least $558 million a year.
Ramping up climate finance would allow New Zealand to continue the momentum of recent years. It would strengthen relationships across the region and ensure that communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis are not left behind.
New Zealand’s Climate Finance - towards our fair share
Source: Analysis of transaction-level data on actual disbursement, published by MFAT and the International Aid Transparency Initiative, as of October 2025. Fair Share calculated by Oxfam Aotearoa and World Vision NZ
Keeping Up the Good Work
New Zealand’s climate finance programme has set a global standard. All funding is delivered as grants, avoiding the debt burden created by other governments that count loans as climate finance. The programme prioritises adaptation, especially for Small Island Developing States in the Pacific, helping to fill a major gap in global support.
From 2022, new programmes began moving through MFAT’s consultation and design process. By 2023, delivery had intensified, with spending more than double that of any previous year. This marked a turning point in New Zealand’s commitment to climate action in the Pacific.
New Zealand’s Climate Finance (2022-2025) supports climate action and gender equality, across the Pacific and beyond
Source: Analysis of transaction-level data on actual disbursement, published by MFAT and the International Aid Transparency Initiative, as of October 2025.
All of the $800 million in climate-dedicated funding was allocated to projects with a principal objective of adapting to or mitigating climate change. The remaining funding counted as climate finance reflects the mainstreaming of climate objectives into broader development programmes.
If commitments beyond 2025 had been set in advance, allowing programming to continue to ramp up, New Zealand would have been on track to meet its fair share of international climate finance commitments. But with no new funding announced in the 2024 or 2025 budgets, the momentum is now at risk. Programmes are winding down, and the current trend shows a ramping down of spending that mirrors the earlier ramp up.
This volatility creates challenges for Pacific efforts to adapt to climate change. Programmes that have just started to reach affected communities are now at risk, with the uncertainty of further funding making it difficult to follow best practice in long-term planning, stable delivery and meaningful participation by local communities.
The lack of a commitment to international climate funding beyond 2025 is also a risk for New Zealand’s reputation. Even though baseline funding for Official Development Assistance increased in the 2025 budget, this was offset by the drop in climate-specific support. Reports from the OECD and Oxfam have listed New Zealand alongside countries that have cut international assistance.
With Pacific countries facing uncertainty and a likely shortfall in funding from traditional partners, including USAID, it is more important than ever for New Zealand to provide steady and reliable support. As Foreign Minister Winston Peters said during a visit to Washington, DC:
“It leaves the Pacific seriously exposed unless, of course, like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific step up.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, with a cross-party Parliamentary delegation, opens a New Zealand-funded building for Tuvalu’s Ministry of Fisheries in 2018. Photo courtesy of MFAT
Recipients of New Zealand climate finance, 2022-2025
Source: Analysis of transaction-level data on actual disbursement, published by MFAT and the International Aid Transparency Initiative, as of October 2025.
By continuing the trend of year-on-year increases in funding for climate action, New Zealand would soon be on track to funding our fair share of global climate efforts and would make a major contribution to ensuring the resilience of our Pacific region to the accelerating impacts of climate change.
All of the $800 million in climate-dedicated funding was allocated to projects with a principal objective of adapting to or mitigating climate change. The remaining funding counted as climate finance reflects the mainstreaming of climate objectives into broader development programmes.
If commitments beyond 2025 had been set in advance, allowing programming to continue to ramp up, New Zealand would have been on track to meet its fair share of international climate finance commitments. But with no new funding announced in the 2024 or 2025 budgets, the momentum is now at risk. Programmes are winding down, and the current trend shows a ramping down of spending that mirrors the earlier ramp up.
To see a breakdown of the impact of our work in specific countries like Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, check out the full report here.
Conclusion
Now is the time to keep our promise to fund climate action.
New Zealand’s funding for climate action is already doing so much good in communities across the Pacific and beyond.
Since 2022, the climate finance programme has strengthened the New Zealand Government’s reputation and relationships with our Pacific neighbours, directly benefited tens of thousands of people, and contributed to the collective resilience of our region.
To keep up the good work, the New Zealand Government should:
• renew New Zealand’s climate finance commitment with new funding from 2026.
• continue the trend of ramping up funding to meet New Zealand’s fair share of climate assistance promised to lower income countries.
• continue to provide all public climate finance as grants, with a focus on locally-led approaches to climate adaptation for communities in the Pacific.
• prioritise more funding for climate programmes with a principal focus on gender equality, building on the existing support for programmes with a signficant gender equality objective.
