UNCLASSIFIED
New Zealand Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade
Manatū Aorere
195 Lambton Quay
2 September 2025
Private Bag 18−901
Wellington 6160
New Zealand
Logan Cowan
T +64 4 439 8000
F +64 4 472 9596
[FYI request #30286 email]
OIA 30263
Tēnā koe Logan Cowan
Thank you for your email of 8 July 2025 regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade’s (MFAT) response to your OIA request of 4 March 2025 (our reference OIA
29998). Your requested:
1. All eight withheld documents be reassessed for partial release, with redactions
limited to the narrowest possible scope.
2. The Ministry reconsider its section 9 justifications, explicitly weighing the
overwhelming public interest in disclosure.
3. The Ministry clarify what steps, if any, are being taken to monitor, restrict, or
approve foreign-controlled geoengineering activities in NZ airspace.
4. All remaining materials withheld under section 18(f) be broken into manageable
parts for staged release, in keeping with the spirit of the OIA.
Your request has been numbered for administrative convenience.
Background
On 16 July 2025, MFAT emailed you to request a phone number so we could call you to
discuss the scope of your request. On 21 July 2025, you responded by declining this
request and asked that any discussion about refinement be undertaken via the FYI
website.
On 28 July 2025, part three of your request was transferred to the Ministry for the
Environment (MfE) under section 14(b) of the OIA for response.
On 5 August 2025, the timeframes for responding to your request were extended by an
additional20 working days because responding to your request necessitated the review
of a large quantity of information (section 15A(1)(a) of the OIA refers).
MFATs
response to OIA 29998
MFAT’s response to your previous OIA request of 4 March 2025 released 135 pages of
emails, formal messages, briefings, and submission relating to New Zealand’s
involvement with geoengineering in relation to resolutions tabled at the United Nations
Environment Assembly, on 2 May 2025.
UNCLASSIFIED
Page 2 of 6
The information relating to the eight withheld documents that were released was a list of
titles. Some of the titles were withheld in part under section 6(a) of the OIA, to avoid
prejudicing the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the
New Zealand Government. The documents themselves were withheld in full under the
following sections of the OIA:
•
6(a): to avoid prejudicing the security or defence of New Zealand or the
international relations of the New Zealand Government; and
•
6(b)(i): to protect the passing of information from another government on a
confidential basis.
Some information in the 135 pages of information released to you was withheld under
the following section 9 grounds of the OIA:
•
9(2)(a): to protect individuals’ privacy;
•
9(2)(g)(i): to protect the free and frank expression of opinions by departments;
and
•
9(2)(j): to avoid prejudice to negotiations.
On 24 March 2025; MFAT contacted you to seek a refinement of your request (reference
29998) to be for:
Briefings, reporting and advice to The Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning the
proposed United Nations Environment Assembly resolution concerning
geoengineering.
On 26 May 2025; you responded saying:
Thank you for your response. However, I must be clear: I will not accept any
attempt to dilute my request, nor will I entertain the threat of refusal due to scope
or research requirements. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is required to
provide the information I have requested under the Official Information Act (OIA),
regardless of the level of effort involved in locating and compiling it. It is precisely
the Ministry’s role to fulfil such requests, as public servants to the people, not to
turn away from providing the information we are entitled to.
I insist that you proceed with processing my original request without any
alterations. My request is clear, and I expect all relevant information to be provided
in full, without reduction or modification.
I look forward to receiving the requested information in its entirety.
Response to your request OIA 30263
1.
All eight withheld documents [reference in OIA 29998]
be reassessed for
partial release, with redactions limited to the narrowest possible scope.
The decision to withhold in full the eight documents listed in the response to OIA 29998
has been reviewed. Please refer to the below table for a breakdown of these decisions,
noting the update to MFAT’s decision on document one:
Page 3 of 6
Document
Date Range
Decision Made
1
RE: [6(a)]:
Your consideration of
7 Dec 2018 to 14 Title partially withheld under
UNEA Resolution on Geoengineering Jan 2019
6(a).
and its Governance
Largely withheld under the
following sections of the
OIA. Excerpt provided
below:
- 6(a), and
- 6(b)(i).
2
Geo-Engineering and its governance 4 Feb 2020 to 13 Withheld in full 6a; 6(b)(i)
- UNEA 5
Mar 2020
3
Update - "UNEA 5 resolution on
7 Jul 2020 to 22
Withheld in full 6a; 6(b)(i)
CATM" (includes 3 attachments)
Jul 2020
2 attachments withheld
under 6(a) and 6(b)(i). 1
attachment out of scope of
request
4
UNEA-5.2 Climate Altering
19 Oct 2021 to 3 Withheld in full 6(a); 6(b)(i)
Technologies and Measures
Feb 2022
5
FORMAL MESSAGE: [6(a)] (includes 24 Oct 2021
Title partially withheld under
1 attachment)
6(a).
Withheld in full, including
title and attachment 6(a).
6
RE: CATM Chat with [6(a)]
7 Dec 2021 to 5
Title partially withheld under
Jan 2022
6(a).
Withheld in full 6(a); 6(b)(i)
7
CATM - Options for UNEA 5.2
20 Jan 2022 to
Withheld in full 6(a); 6(b)(i)
21 Jan 2022
8
Sharing [6(a)]
views on SRM
21 Feb 2024 to
Title partially withheld under
22 Feb 2024
6(a).
Withheld in full 6a; 6(b)(i)
Excerpt of RE: [6(a)]: Your consideration of UNEA Resolution on Geoengineering
and its Governance, provided under section 16(1)(e) of the OIA.
Remainder of document withheld under sections 6(a) and 6(b)(i) of the OIA.
• We agree that climate change needs to be addressed through emissions reduction
first and foremost. Geoengineering can only be supplementary to mitigation.
• A precautionary approach should be applied to the use of geoengineering given the
large uncertainties about potential effects and side effects of some approaches.
• The potential scale and impact of effects including those with possible cross-border
or wider impact, the degree of uncertainty and the lack of governance structure
require attention at the multilateral level.
[6(a), 6(b)(i)]
Information has been withheld under the following sections of the OIA:
•
6(a): to avoid prejudicing the security or defence of New Zealand or the
international relations of the New Zealand Government; and
•
6(b)(i): to protect the passing of information from another government on a
confidential basis.
In addition, during the review of the original response to your OIA request (OIA 29998),
one additional email was identified as being in scope. This document is titled, “
AW:
Page 4 of 6
Update – “UNEA 5 Resolution on CATM”” and dated between 7 July 2020 and 27 August
2020. This additional email is also withheld in full under sections 6(a) and 6(b)(i) of the
OIA.
2. The Ministry reconsider its section 9 justifications [in OIA 29998]
, explicitly
weighing the overwhelming public interest in disclosure.
MFAT’s reasons for withholding information under section 9 are set out below:
9(2)(a): In the 135 pages of information released to you in OIA 29998 on
2 May 2025, the information withheld under s9(2)(a) is personal telephone numbers.
MFAT believes there is no public interest in releasing this information that outweighs
the privacy considerations to withhold them.
9(2)(g)(i): In the information provided to you for OIA 29998, the information
withheld under s9(2)(g)(i) are free and frank communications between MFAT officials
and officials from MfE. It is important for the effective conduct of public affairs that
officials can freely and frankly express their opinions. The public exposure of these
opinions is likely to have a chilling effect on officials’ willingness to communicate
openly, honestly and completely in future. MFAT assesses that there is no public
interest in releasing these opinions that outweighs the reasons for withholding it.
9(2)(j): As part of the review of our original response to your OIA request, it has
come to our attention that we had used section 9(2)(j) of the OIA and omitted to list
this ground in the accompanying response letter, dated 2 May 2025. We apologise
for this oversight. Information withheld under 9(2)(j) of the OIA is withheld to enable
any agency holding the information to carry on negotiations without prejudice or
disadvantage. The information provided to you relates to New Zealand’s negotiations
at the United Nations relating to geoengineering. Negotiations on this topic are
ongoing and as the information withheld relates to New Zealand’s negotiating
position, possible negotiating strategies, and issues within the negotiations, we
assess that the public interest to releasing the information is outweighed by the need
to withhold in order to prevent prejudice to these negotiations.
4. All remaining materials withheld under section 18(f) be broken into
manageable parts for staged release, in keeping with the spirit of the OIA.
On 4 March 2025, you requested:
Any documents, communications, or records from the New Zealand Government,
including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), and any other relevant government
departments or agencies, that reference New Zealand’s position, participation, or
knowledge regarding geoengineering activities, both in New Zealand and
internationally, from January 1, 2010, to the present. This includes any reports,
correspondence, or internal documents, irrespective of the location where these
records are stored (including external databases or servers).
Any records, emails, or reports between New Zealand Government agencies (such
as MFAT, DPMC, or the Ministry for the Environment) and foreign governments,
international organizations (e.g., the United Nations, World Meteorological
Organization), and private companies, discussing or referencing geoengineering
Page 5 of 6
projects, weather modification, or similar initiatives, including any projects
potentially being run by or in collaboration with foreign entities, such as the
United States Department of Defence (DoD), U.S. Air Force, or private
contractors with ties to New Zealand’s climate strategy.
Any internal memoranda or briefing documents produced by the New Zealand
Government or the Ministry of Defence that discuss the potential environmental,
economic, and national security impacts of geoengineering strategies, and New
Zealand’s potential role or awareness of such practices, especially when
implemented by foreign military agencies or private contractors operating in New
Zealand’s airspace or territory.
On 24 March 2025, MFAT contacted you regarding the size of your request, advising that
it was likely to be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, due to the substantial collation
and research required to provide a response, and proposed the following refinement:
Briefings, reporting and advice to The Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning the
proposed United Nations Environment Assembly resolution concerning
geoengineering.
You refused this request to refine on 26 March 2025. MFAT has reconsidered your
request to provide
all remaining materials withheld under section 18(f) be broken into
manageable parts for staged release, in keeping with the spirit of the OIA.
It has been assessed that locating any material in scope of your request would require
the review of thousands of documents, including the physical review of a large number
of hard copy documents stored offsite. As you can tell from the information that was
released to you under OIA 29998, passing reference to geoengineering is found within
emails and documents, rather than as the sole topic of one email or document. Due to
the timeframe of over a decade covered by your request, the large number of emails and
documents that would need to be retrieved and assessed, plus the necessity to review
historic paper files, means that locating and assessing whether information is in scope of
your request would amount to substantial collation and research which would negatively
impact on MFAT’s operations.
Due to the reasons outlined above your request for any records regarding
geoengineering for the period 1 January 2010 to 8 July 2025 remains refused under
18(f) of the OIA, due to the substantial research and collation required to locate them.
We considered whether fixing a charge for providing this information might resolve the
issues raised above but given the enormous volume of material that would need to be
reviewed to locate information that is potentially in scope, this option was not advanced.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official
information requests where possible. Therefore, our response to your request (with your
personal information removed) may be published on the Ministry website:
www.mfat.govt.nz/en/about-us/contact-us/official-information-act-responses/
Page 6 of 6
If you have any questions about this decision, you can contact us by email at:
[email address]. You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman of this decision by contacting
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone
0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Sarah Corbett
for Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Document Outline
