Shared Policy Assumptions are pathways that describe NZ responses to climate change. There is the possibility that they may be at odds with global trends. SPAs contain descriptions of changes in population, human development, economy, lifestyle, policies, technology, and environment.
SPAs provide a range of plausible responses.
Four SPANZ have been developed:
| NZ Adaptation incremental & focused on short term gains | NZ focused on long-term strategic transitions to highly transformative adaptive state | |
| NZ mitigation lags global initiatives | A | D |
| Mitigation: lagging relative to global efforts | Mitigation: lagging global which is too little, too late for energy security, health & efficiency gains | |
| Adaption: incremental and reactive on piecemeal basis | Adaptation: strategy to maximise economic opportunity | |
| NZ mitigation complies with global initiatives | B | E |
| Mitigation: complies with very stringent global efforts | ||
| Adaptation: reactive, incremental approach with focus on economic gains | ||
| NZ mitigation leads global policy implementation | C | F |
| Mitigation: ahead of increasingly stringent global efforts | ||
| Adaptation: maximise both economic opportunities and sustainability across three pillars |