3 Aug 2013

Greens say climate change will bring more costly storms

9:02 am on 3 August 2013

The Green Party says the cost of a ferocious storm that hit the country in June is a sign of things to come if climate change is not addressed.

The storm from 20 to 22 June brought the largest snowfalls in decades to the South Island and lashed Wellington with damaging gales.

Severe winds uprooted trees in Wellington including in the suburb of Island Bay.

Severe winds uprooted trees in Wellington including in the suburb of Island Bay. Photo: RNZ

The Insurance Council says about 9500 claims valued at over $21 million were settled for home and contents damage, $9 million for commercial claims and more than $1 million of motor vehicle claims.

A new report by the Prime Minister's chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, says global warming will contribute to increasingly wild weather for New Zealand in the coming years.

Green Party climate change spokesperson Kennedy Graham says lowering New Zealand's carbon levels is a matter of economic importance.

"There is a need for the private sector, especially in terms of industry, to recognise that there is a major economic opportunity to make the decarbonisation switch and if we don't do it we'll fall behind other countries and we'll lose out competitively."

Youth environmental action group Generation Zero says global warming will have a increasingly powerful effect on the economy. Spokesperson Paul Young says if something is not done, climate change will hit the most important sectors of New Zealand's economy, such as agriculture and tourism.