Party Positions on Climate and the Environment

Helping you decide which parties prioritise environmental matters.

This table summarises how the seven main parties responded to three independent scorecards published ahead of the 2026 General Election. Ratings reflect each organisation's assessment of party responses or established policy. We have standardised the wording and rating labels and selected the questions we believe most directly relate to our countires environmental outcomes.

Photo Credit: Oliver Lechner, Pexels

Climate commitments Source: Climate Club	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Remain in the Paris Agreement	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Unclear
Set science-based methane reduction targets in law	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
End new fossil fuel development and phase out imports	No	Yes	Partly	No	No	Partly	Yes
Move to 100% renewable electricity	No	Yes	Yes	No	Partly	Yes	Yes
Move industry towards zero emissions	No	Yes	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Partly
Accelerate active and electric transport	No	Yes	Yes	Partly	Partly	Yes	Yes
Reduce emissions while addressing climate justice	No	Yes	Partly	Unclear	No	Yes	Yes
Support forestry sequestration	No	Yes	Yes	Partly	Unclear	Yes	Partly

Climate policy Source: Greenpeace Aotearoa	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Reinstate the offshore oil and gas exploration ban	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Partly	Yes
Bring agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme	No	Yes	No	No	No	Partly	Yes

Conservation Source: Greenpeace Aotearoa	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Retain public conservation land (no sell-off)	No	Yes	Yes	Partly	Partly	Yes	Yes
Withdraw the Conservation Amendment Bill	No	Yes	Partly	No	No	Partly	Yes
Ban mining on conservation land	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Partly	Yes

Oceans Source: Greenpeace Aotearoa	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Ban bottom trawling on seamounts	No	Yes	No	No	No	Mostly	Yes
End bottom trawling in the South Pacific	No	Yes	Mostly	No	No	Mostly	Yes
Ratify the Global Ocean Treaty	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Protect the Tasman Sea	No	Yes	Mostly	No	No	Yes	Yes
Withdraw the Fisheries Amendment Bill	Partly	Yes	Yes	Partly	No	Yes	Yes
Ban seabed mining	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes

Environmental law Source: Greenpeace Aotearoa	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Repeal new compensation rules for regulated land use	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Restore nature protections in resource consenting	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes

Climate resilience and leadership Source: Kiwis in Climate	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Build climate resilience into major economic and infrastructure decisions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not surveyed
Incentivise climate resilience before disasters occur	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not surveyed
Establish a cross-party parliamentary group on climate	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not surveyed
Hold a national climate and nature emergency briefing for political leaders	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Not surveyed
Develop a long-term national electrification strategy	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Not surveyed
Aim for New Zealand to be a global leader on climate action	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not surveyed

Industry donations received Source: Greenpeace Aotearoa, since 2022	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Fossil fuel industry	Received	None	None	Received	Received	None	None
Agribusiness	Received	None	None	Received	Received	None	None
Mining industry	Received	None	None	Received	Received	None	None
Fishing industry	None	None	None	Received	Received	None	None

Working across parties Source: 1News and The Spinoff, to 30 October 2026	ACT	Green	Labour	National	NZ First	Opportunity	Te Pāti Māori
Will work with all other parties to achieve these outcomes	No	Partly	No	No	No	Partly	Unclear

Rating key: Yes (clear commitment), Mostly (supports the policy with a material qualification), Partly (supports the general objective without committing to the specific policy), No (opposes or has no identifiable position), Unclear (position not stated). For industry donations, Received means Greenpeace identified donations from that industry since 2022. Kiwis in Climate did not survey Te Pāti Māori. Working across parties is based on each party's public coalition statements, not a climate-specific question.

Where the parties stand

We vote on or before Saturday (7th Nov 2026), and three independent scorecards show clear differences in how the parties approach climate and the environment.

Climate Club, Greenpeace Aotearoa and Kiwis in Climate each asked the main parties about their policy positions. Greenpeace graded the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori at A overall, Opportunity at B and Labour at C. ACT, NZ First and National received F grades across all five of its environmental areas.

The results are not all one-sided. Every party surveyed by Kiwis in Climate backed building climate resilience into major infrastructure decisions, incentivising resilience before disasters, and forming a cross-party parliamentary group on climate. Those are the areas relevant to the regions recovering from recent weather events, and exposed to future events.

The largest gaps are on fossil fuel exploration, bringing agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme, seabed mining and electrification. Greenpeace also reports that ACT, National and NZ First received donations from the fossil fuel, agribusiness and mining industries.

Climate Club and Greenpeace are advocacy organisations, and their questions reflect their own priorities. Read their full scorecards here:

• Climate Club, 2026 Climate Action Scorecard

• Greenpeace Aotearoa, Election 2026 Environmental Policy Scorecards

• Kiwis in Climate, Pre-Election Panel

Make your vote count for the Environment

This is one of the biggest things you can do to positivly effect our environment - make sure your vote counts!

If you are from one of these political parties and belive we have not representd your political policies corectly, please get it touch with us.