Climate and environmental change continue to stand as a backdrop for substantial social and economic shifts for the forthcoming decades. Understanding, predicting, adapting to and reducing the impacts of climate change requires coordinated efforts. The New Zealand commitment to emissions reduction by 2030 and onward to net zero, requires fundamental new synergies between academia, industry, finance sectors, government, and other communities. Substantial changes in the national funding models that support climate research are being reviewed, and links to the function of the Crown Research Institutes, the role of government agencies in funding research, and the role that academic institutions can play can be reconsidered.