New Zealand will not commit to a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, according to Climate Change Minister Tim Groser. Groser announced that New Zealand will pledge under the United Nations Framework Convention along with nations responsible for 85% of the world's emissions. While the minister announced the country stands behind its existing Kyoto commitment, he said that the government had decided it was in "New Zealand’s best interests" to join China, Japan, the United States, and other heavy carbon polluters under the Framework.

The captain and navigator of a cargo ship that ran aground were each sentenced to seven months in jail on Friday for their involvement in what authorities have called New Zealand's worst maritime disaster. The two had already pled guilty to operating the ship dangerously and to altering documents, and a preliminary report by transportation investigators found that they had taken shortcuts to reach the port by deadline, eventually causing the ship to run aground on the Astrolabe reef.