BUDGET 2025: Slashing climate support for Pacific a step backward

Climate justice threatened by decision  

22 May 2025 – WELLINGTON – Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply disappointed by yesterday’s budget announcement of a 50 percent cut in climate finance for vulnerable Pacific countries.  

“New Zealand has just announced that it will halve its already modest climate contribution, just when Pacific nations are facing climate debt and the effects of the climate crisis,” said Heidi Coetzee, Acting Chief Executive of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.” 

Although the overall ODA budget remains relatively stable, the government’s decision to cut climate finance to $100 million a year and to no longer earmark it specifically for climate action, will have serious impacts. This decision also walks back New Zealand’s international pledge to triple climate funding by 2030.  

Pacific debt crisis  

These cuts come as there is a debt crisis across the Pacific - as countries borrow to adapt to climate change and repair the damage it causes. Countries like Tonga, Samoa and Fiji are now spending more servicing climate debt than on health or education. Meanwhile, major donors like the US and the UK are pulling back from the region – further exacerbating the climate crisis. 

We urge the government to reconsider this decision.