NZ PM defends policy after Greta Thunberg's criticism

Thunberg took to Twitter on Sunday (December 13) and said that New Zealand's "so called climate emergency declaration" was "of course nothing unique to any nation."

Ardern told reporters that whilst Thunberg was also referring to only a portion of their climate change goals, it's "only a good thing that there are people out there continuing to urge ambition and action."

"If it was the sum total of what we were doing, it would be worthy of criticism, it's clearly not," Ardern said.

Thunberg's tweet comes after New Zealand declared a climate emergency on December 2 and promised its public sector would become carbon neutral by 2025.

The program will be backed by a NZ$200 million ($141 million) fund to finance replacing coal boilers and help purchase electric or hybrid vehicles.