A National MP who says she is "yet to see" evidence of man-made climate change will be given a reading list from the deputy leader of the party.
The comments were made by National list MP Maureen Pugh, who is based in West Coast - Tasman, and follows a tragic and fatal weather system which has left at least 11 people dead and thousands unable to live in their homes.
Asked if she believed climate change made Cyclone Gabrielle worse than it would have otherwise been, Pugh said a lot of damage, especially around Auckland, was because people were not able to "prune and manage trees".
"If I think back to the two cyclones we had that impacted Tasman and the West Coast [in] 2018... they're just things that nature throws at us.
"Of course I believe in climate change... climate change is real, it's been happening forever."
Asked if she believed in man-made climate change, Pugh said she had "yet to see the response from [Climate Change Minister] James Shaw."
"It's not what I think, it's what I can prove. I am waiting on the evidence from the minister.
"I'm not denying climate change, I've seen the evidence of it, we have cooled and warmed, cooled and warmed over millions of years.
"Climate change has been changing for millennia."
Shaw said he “hasn't got time to spend on people who don't believe in science”
'Regrets' unclear comments
Pugh has since issued a statement regarding her comments.
"I regret that my comments this morning were unclear and will have led some to think I am questioning the causes of climate change. That is not my position," she said.
"I accept the scientific consensus that human induced climate change is real and there is a need to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are seeing the impact of climate change in the cyclone that has devastated so much of New Zealand.
"That’s why National is committed to New Zealand achieving its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, including net zero by 2050."
Pugh 'going to be doing a lot of reading'
Other National MPs were asked for their views on man-made climate change - including leader Christopher Luxon and deputy leader Nicola Willis.
Willis said she had "a lot [Pugh] can read".
"She's going to be doing a lot of reading."
Luxon said he was of the strong view climate change was real.
Read more: 'No doubt' Cyclone Gabrielle a result of climate change - Luxon
"You've only got to look at the events over the last 15 years, 10 years in New Zealand to see that's exactly the case."
He said the party was "deeply committed" to net carbon zero by 2050.
Erica Stanford said "of course it is" man-made.
"As a National Party we've made a very clear statement, through the leader, that of course we are seeing the effects of climate change because of man's activities, and now we have to focus on what the solutions are."
Mark Mitchell said he "definitely" believed in it.
"Without a doubt, we can see that the weather we've been having to deal with in the last couple of weeks means that the climate is changing."
He said he would not comment on others' views but said "you only have to look around us ... the tragedy we're dealing with".
Asked if he believed in man-made climate change, Simon Watts said "I don't know where you've been in the last three weeks".
Chris Bishop said it was "pretty clear that man has definitely had an impact on the climate".
"There's no doubt about that.
"Climate change is real, we've got to take it seriously, and all parties in parliament are very focused on that."
"There's plenty of stuff online, I'm sure Maureen will be checking it out."
Gerry Brownlee, who in 2013 was criticised for expressing doubt about man-made climate change, confirmed he did believe in it.
"Man's activities in the world are contributing to a speeding of change in the climate, without a doubt."
He said Pugh could find a study "somewhere".
In 2021 Pugh revealed she had been struck by lightning three times, and in 2018 it was revealed Simon Bridges called her "f***ing useless" in a recorded phone call leaked by disgraced MP Jami-Lee Ross.
Comments show a 'policy vacuum' - expert
University of Canterbury politics and climate expert Professor Bronwyn Hayward said Pugh's comments were symptomatic of a wider problem for the National Party - a "policy vacuum" particularly on climate change matters.
She believed the National Party would try to spin the issue as a "rogue MP" or "outlier" but it exposed the party's "policy vacuum" on climate change issues.
Hayward said the comments showed a "lack of discipline" and were "unfortunate" and "really unhelpful" in the midst of a natural disaster which had been exacerbated by climate change.
She said the party, especially under the leadership of Luxon, was trying to reposition itself as a modern one which valued diversity of thought while still being "informed and science-based".
National Party climate change spokesman Todd Muller
Climate Change spokesperson Todd Muller said National was "absolutely committed to delivering on emissions targets".
“We signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, and we voted for the Zero Carbon Bill in 2019, which set Net Zero and methane targets and established the Climate Change Commission.
“National supported the Government’s emissions budgets last year.
“We’ll announce our policies in the lead up to the election."
Climate change's impact on Cyclone Gabrielle
On TVNZ's Sunday programme last week, Victoria University of Wellington senior climate scientist Professor James Renwick said the cyclone was a wake up call on climate change.
"I just hope that the country takes that call."
Asked what would happen if no action was taken on climate change, Renwick said it would mean "even heavier rainfall events... quite frequently and extreme high temperatures".
"The climate has already changed. Temperatures are already more a degree warmer than what they were a hundred years ago. They're at exactly what the models have been predicting for decades."
He said a grim future was avoidable.
"If we turned off all the greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow, then global warming would stop almost immediately - within a year or two. We're not locked in."
What is man-made climate change?
Climate change is long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. While some shifts can be natural, they tend to occur over very long periods of time.
However, since the 1800s - when the industrial revolution began - human activity has been the main driver of climate change. This is mainly through burning fossil fuels, which release - in particular - carbon into the atmosphere, according to the United Nations.
Those emissions trap the sun's heat within the planet's atmosphere and raise the overall temperature of the planet.
The Earth is 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the late 1800s. The last decade - 2011 to 2020 - was the warmest on record.
While the planet is warming, that does not necessarily mean climate change brings warmer weather. Weather and climate are different things. A warmer planet can influence, for example, sea temperatures, which can in turn influence the scale, intensity and frequency of storms.
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