New Zealand has announced it will declare a climate emergency
next Wednesday to battle global warming, as the new government took charge of
affairs after a sweeping win by the centre-left party, AFP reported.

It plans to table a motion next week to bring the emergency
into effect.

If the emergency comes into being, the country will join the
ranks of likes of Canada, France and Britain, which have also passed a similar
resolution.

“We’ve always considered climate change to be a huge
threat to our region, and it is something we must take immediate action
on,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, according to state broadcaster
TVNZ, AFP reported.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to progress a motion
around a climate emergency in parliament in the last term, but now we’re able
to,” said the PM.

Areden came back to power last month in her Labour party’s biggest
win in at least half a century.

The country apparently voted rewarding her government’s relatively successful response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The newly-elected government took oath on Tuesday and joined
office on Wednesday. The cabinet is starkly more diverse than many previous
ones, comprising people of color, rainbow community, and many women. 

In her last term, Ardern’s government passed a Zero Carbon
Bill, which sets the framework for net zero emissions by 2050, with cross-party
support in parliament, AFP reported.