Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson believes the Government needs to act much faster in its fight against climate change.
It comes after the world's leading climate scientists issued a damning "final warning" for humanity in a report released on Tuesday.
"There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all," said the report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Davidson said although Climate Change Minister and fellow Greens co-leader James Shaw has made massive progress in this space, she added more Green seats are needed in Parliament after this year's election to be able to make enough of a difference.
"We've got to act now and New Zealand/Aotearoa has the choice of having the most climate-focused Government next term, with more Green ministers in Cabinet," she told AM Early. "Or, we can have a Government that's going to take us even further toward that ruin."
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Tuesday his focus was on reducing New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions.
Hipkins said climate change was part of the "bread and butter" issues he promised to focus on soon after becoming Prime Minister.
However, Davidson said, "we have to act right now".
"We can actually make the change; we have the technology, we have the solutions - what we need is a Government with the political courage."
When asked if the Greens had done enough on the matter with co-leader Shaw as a Cabinet minister, Davidson said the party had been able to "bring more climate action in the past five years than we have in three decades.
"But it's nowhere near fast enough," he told AM Early host Michael O'Keefe. "It's nowhere near the urgency progress the Greens would prioritise."
That's why a Government with more Green MPs was needed, she said.
Newshub.
