New Zealand recorded its seventh warmest year last year, according to NIWA's annual climate summary.
Several locations had dry spells of more than 40 days, leading to widespread water use restrictions in parts of the North Island.
The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has called climate change her generation's "nuclear-free moment", and last month the Government declared a national climate emergency.
James Renwick, a climate science professor at Victoria University and a commissioner for the Climate Change Commission, says now it's time for them to take practical action.
