Climate change to steer all New Zealand government decisions from now on

James Shaw says environmental factors will be 'at the forefront of our minds' when major decisions are made

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A climate change "lens" will now be applied to all major decisions made by the government, New Zealand's climate change minister has said, as floods and bushfires wreck havoc around the country in the first week of summer.

Minister James Shaw said cabinet "routinely" considers the effects of its decisions on human rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, rural communities, the disability community, and gender.