Parliament will next week debate if a climate emergency in New Zealand should be declared, Leader of the House Chris Hipkins has told MPs.
Speaking in the House after the Speech from the Throne, Hipkins said that the motion will be debated next Tuesday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will personally introduce the motion next week, according to a spokesman.
Speaking to reporters on her way to the House this afternoon, Ardern said Labour has always considered climate change to be "a huge threat to our region".
"[It's] something we must take immediate action on."
Ardern said at the time of the first climate change emergency last year that the Government had voted in favour of the motion because "we see this as an urgent issue".
"We're not opposed to the idea of declaring an emergency in Parliament.
"Certainly I would like to think our policies and our approach demonstrates that we do see it as an emergency."
Act Leader David Seymour said that the Government's motion will amount to nothing more than a "marketing stunt that won't stop a tonne of emissions".
"If you have to declare an emergency, maybe your policy isn't working."
But National voted down the motion as it was just "Green Party symbolism", according to then-climate change spokesman Todd Muller.
He said National would be unlikely to vote to declare a climate change emergency until there was a proper plan in place and it wasn't just "the Green Party waving its flag".
In the time since the Greens first made the motion in 2019, there have been a number of protests outside of Parliament, urging the Government to declare a climate emergency.
Many councils around the country have already done so, as have many Governments in other countries around the world.
The UK, Ireland, Canada, and France have all declared climate emergencies and more than 50 New Zealand scientists have called for a declaration of a national climate emergency.