New Zealand's abandonment of the Carbon Neutral Public Service programme

In 2009, New Zealand's new National-led government abandoned the Carbon Neutral Public Service (CNPS) programme, a Labour-led government initiative intended to help Government achieve carbon neutrality within its core agencies. This short analysis article provides an overview and brief assessment of the CNPS initiative by drawing on the relevant scholarly literature and public documents relating to New Zealand's climate change agenda. It is argued that although the CNPS programme faced a range of challenges it was successful in some respects. Although the Labour-led government was keen to act on climate change mitigation, New Zealand no longer intends to take a lead on carbon neutrality under the National-led government.