In written evidence for the Waitangi Tribunal’s Climate Change Kaupapa Priority Inquiry, Shaw says the government’s lack of climate ambition and failure to work in partnership with Māori is compounding the harm to Māori communities and their assets in the face of the climate crisis.

Shaw, who is now working as an investment manager in Singapore, and was climate change minister from the formation of the Labour-led Government in 2017 until its dissolution in 2023, will present the evidence on the Wai 3340 Totaranui Nama Ono Trust claim at an upcoming hearing for the Waitangi Tribunal.

Shaw has supplied evidence on:

• The approach taken by the Government over 2017-23 to involve Māori in the formation and implementation of climate change policy
• The establishment of the Māori Climate Platform
• Taking Māori interests into account in formulating climate change policy
• How New Zealand’s fair share in reducing global emissions should be viewed

In his evidence, Shaw said the Crown’s failure to enact policies consistent with the 1.5C threshold outlined in the Paris Agreement and the Zero Carbon Act represents a failure to protect Māori and Māori assets covered by Te Tiriti.

“Multiple studies, including those led by the Government itself, have illustrated the increased risk that Māori and Māori-owned assets face, both from the impacts of climate change and from the lost opportunity represented by a stalled or failed transition to a low-carbon economy,” he said.

“Furthermore, the Crown’s failure to work in partnership with Māori to enable Māori to develop their own responses to the climate crisis is likely to compound the negative impact felt by Māori and Māori assets.”

Shaw said that if Te Tiriti is to be interpreted to require the Government to take adequate steps to protect the natural environment and its ecosystems that Māori rely upon from the impact of climate change, then this appears to be in line with New Zealand’s obligations under the Paris Agreement, which the Government is responsible for ensuring compliance with.

“In complying with Te Tiriti and ensuring equitable outcomes under the Paris Agreement the Government would have heightened obligations towards Māori, given that Māori are often more at risk from the impacts of climate change than the general population. 

“For example, marae and other Māori settlements tend to be lower lying and less resilient to the impacts of climate. In these cases, the Government needs to work with Māori in adaption measures such as relocations of settlements.”

Māori climate platform

Shaw said in his time as climate change minister, he regularly consulted with Māori on the formation and implementation of Government climate change policy.

In May 2021, the Climate Change Commission released its first advice to the Government on its Emissions Budgets and Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP). This included recommendations that the Government work in partnership with Iwi/Māori to ensure that the ERP reflect principles of the Treaty, result in equitable outcomes for Iwi/Māori and advance a Māori-led approach.

In this first ERP, the Government made several commitments to Māori, including the key commitment to establish a Māori climate platform to activate kaupapa Māori and tangata Māori solutions to the climate crisis. This included resilience and adaptation to the effects of climate change as well as the transition to a low-emission economy.

“I was conscious that a Māori-led and Tiriti consistent approach meant that the Crown should not take the lead on the design of the platform. However, the Emissions Reduction Plan was a government document, which the Ministry for the Environment had lead responsibility for implementing and Cabinet had responsibility for resourcing via the Budget. The Government therefore had the responsibility to initiate the platform without dictating its design, naming or membership,” Shaw said.

“To this end, the Cabinet Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Committee adopted a phased approach to the design and development of the Platform. Phase one was to establish an Interim Ministerial Advisory Committee, Māori Climate Platform (the Committee) to provide me with recommendations for a more enduring governance mechanism prior to seeking Cabinet agreement.”

The Committee was charged with designing the platform. Some specifications were outlined in their terms of reference, and included recommending a framework and mechanisms to embed Te Tiriti in the climate policy response and include appropriate structure, governance, and representation recommendations to support allocation and administration of $18 million, as well as possible future funding to enable Māori climate action.

Shaw said the Committee's recommendations were to be supported with evidence that they reflect feedback from Māori, and a plan for their implementation.

The Committee established the independent Oho Mauri Trust (the Trust), and recommended that the Trust govern both the establishment and continuing operation of a Māori climate action platform.

“The platform was also intended to be part of a multi-pronged approach to support Māori climate action and a Te Tiriti-led approach to an equitable transition for Māori through Aotearoa New Zealand's climate response,” he said.

In October 2023, Cabinet agreed to the draw-down from the 'Māori Climate Action' Climate Emergency Response Fund Budget 2022-tagged contingency, an amount of $18 million over the 23/24, 24/25 and 25/26 years and a further $10m for 26/27 and further ‘outyears’.

“I subsequently disestablished the Interim Ministerial Advisory Committee and obtained approval for fees to be allocated to Trust members,” Shaw said.

The Trust was to have a primary function to build the capacity of local Māori groups around the country to respond to climate change. A secondary function was to inform the Government’s climate change policy based on this practical experience of working on the ground with Māori groups around the country. 

However, before this work could start, there was a change of Government.

“I understand that the incoming Government terminated the arrangement with the Oho Mauri Trust before it could start operating,” Shaw said.

“I also understand that the funding that was allocated to the Māori Climate Platform is being used to fund Government-approved climate related projects for Māori. I also understand that the present Government has scrapped the Climate Resilience for Māori Initiative and the Mātauranga approaches to agriculture emissions reduction programme.

“My view is that these decisions are inconsistent with the approach agreed by the Government in the Emissions Reduction Plan, which was for a Māori-led response. I am not aware that the Government has notified an amendment to the Emissions Reduction Plan changing this approach.”

Shaw had hoped to depoliticise climate

Shaw said during his time as climate change minister, he hoped he would set a precedent to be followed by future governments. 

“The climate change policies that the Government I was part of pursued were aimed at bringing about economic transition to a more resilient and prosperous economy.

"The aim of the Zero Carbon Act and the establishment of the Commission was to depoliticise climate policy to the maximum extent possible and, thereby, to reduce the wild swings in climate change policy, and the attendant economic downsides, experienced in other countries.

"For the same reason the appointments to the Commission were made by a Nominating Committee at arm’s length from ministers in a manner modelled on the Guardians of the Superfund.

"Therefore, during my time as Minister, I took the general approach (which was also generally followed by the Government) of following the recommendations of the Climate Change Commission. My hope was that, in so doing, I would set a precedent to be followed by future governments.

"In my view it is particularly important for Māori that decisions on climate change policy be depoliticised in this way, given the disproportionate impact on Māori of climate change impacts and the economic transition."

NZ one of the worst emitters, least ambitious

Shaw said that one of the criticisms that is often levelled at climate change policy in New Zealand is that the country produces less than one percent of global emissions and that, therefore, any action taken here won’t solve the problem.

"There are around ninety countries whose emissions are also less than one percent of global emissions: collectively these countries make up around 30% of global emissions, which is more than any of the five largest emitters, i.e. China, the US, India, the EU and Russia. If New Zealand chooses not to act, we should not expect the other small emitters to act either. 

"There would therefore be no grounds for us to expect any of the large emitters to act either, as each of their emissions outputs is less than that of the collective small nations (and in fact, every large emitter is only a collective of smaller emitting entities such as cities and states). New Zealand can only expect other countries to act if we choose to act and to a standard expected of other OECD countries."

He said as a developed economy, which has become wealthy through high emitting industry, New Zealand has obligations to take the lead in setting an example in committing to ambitious emission reductions.

"In this regard, it is up to each country to determine what its fair share is. However, on most indicators, such as consumption emissions per capita, production emissions per capita, emissions per unit of GDP, etc., New Zealand is currently one of the worst emitters in the world and with one of the least ambitious targets in the OECD."

The Waitangi Tribunal Climate Change Priority Inquiry started in December, with a second week of hearings in April.

With 50 claimants and hearings scheduled to last eight weeks, it is the first time globally that a commission of inquiry has specifically looked into the impacts of government policy and decisions on an Indigenous group concerning climate change.