ABSTRACT
Moral leadership is a powerful ideal in the New Zealand social imaginary, but tempered by prevailing currents of policy conventionalism. This chapter explores the rhetoric and reality of climate policy across three New Zealand governments: the Fifth Labour Government (1999–2008), the Fifth National Government (2008–2017), and the Coalition Government under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (2017–). Using the concepts of leadership and followership from the polycentric and multilevel climate governance literature, this analysis finds that the rhetoric of leadership prevails under centre-left governments, exemplified by Ardern’s description of the climate crisis as ‘my generation’s nuclear-free moment’, while a rhetoric of followership prevails under the centre-right. Yet in both cases, rhetoric outpaces reality, with each government underperforming in relation to its declared ambition. Consequently, New Zealand’s progress on climate change is modest. However, in response to this climate action gap, a polycentric pattern of leadership and pioneership has emerged among Māori organisations, business leaders, environmental NGOs and youth groups. This chapter concludes by proposing that Ardern’s emotional leadership contributes to her international prominence as a climate leader, even when her domestic policy record is mixed and evolving.
