WELLINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Acting early on major climate risks could significantly reduce New Zealand's rising disaster recovery costs, the country's Climate Change Commission said on Thursday.

The commission's 2026 National Climate Change Risk Assessment identifies priority risk areas where targeted planning and investment would make the biggest difference, including infrastructure, communities and safety, nature and the bioeconomy, and decisions and funding.

New Zealand is already experiencing more frequent extreme weather, with damaging storms now occurring weekly compared with monthly 15 years ago, Climate Change Commission Chief Executive Jo Hendy said in a statement.

"In the first few months of this year alone, we've seen just how devastating these hazards can be for people's lives," Hendy was quoted as saying.

These hazards are placing increasing pressure on housing, transport networks, water systems, ecosystems and emergency services, according to the assessment report.

More than 500,000 buildings are currently exposed to inland flooding in New Zealand, with at least 235 billion NZ dollars (about 140 billion U.S. dollars) in assets at risk, Hendy noted. The commission warned that delayed action could push the costs into billions and "affect every part of people's lives."

The report highlighted an imbalance in government spending, with around 97 percent allocated to disaster response and only 3 percent to resilience building.

The commission called for stronger national policy settings to support local adaptation efforts and shift focus from recovery to long-term resilience, while keeping contributing to global emissions reduction efforts.

"The release of this climate risk report highlights a serious disconnect between the threats that New Zealanders are already experiencing and our highly partisan responses by political leaders," said Professor Bronwyn Hayward from New Zealand's University of Canterbury.

Professor of Environmental Health Alex Macmillan from the University of Otago said people were already seeing the health impacts of an increasingly unstable climate, putting further pressure on already stretched health systems. ■