KiC Advocacy
New Zealand’s Strategic Foreign Policy Assessment
Climate change is the most significant international issue facing Aotearoa over the next decade.
December 2025
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is undertaking its triennial Strategic Foreign Policy Assessment, to examine the international context New Zealand will navigate in the decade to 2036. KiC member Teall Crossen led a working group to write a submission in time for the Christmas Eve deadline.
As warming likely exceeds the 1.5°C limit in the next decade, climate impacts will intensify conflict, displacement, trade disruption, food insecurity and instability, with severe consequences for vulnerable communities, particularly in the Pacific. Aotearoa New Zealand is also experiencing impacts, while weakening domestic climate policies risk non-compliance with our international obligations, undermining credibility, increasing trade and reputational risks, and weakening the rules-based system on which we rely.
To protect our interests, our foreign policy must place climate change at its core across trade, security, development, and human rights, and demonstrate leadership through credible domestic action. Deepening relationships with Pacific Small Island Developing States should be a priority, grounded in trust and delivering on climate finance commitments.
