New Zealand: Politics
Public wants climate action now, new poll shows
9 May 2019
A poll to be released today shows a majority of New Zealanders – including National Party supporters - think the country needs to take action now on climate change.
How much methane will farmers have to cut?
9 May 2019
New Zealand’s farmers might have to reduce methane emissions from animals by nearly four million tonnes a year under the Government’s climate change plans.
Taranaki to be nation's clean-energy capital
9 May 2019
Taranaki will be home to a $27 million clean-energy centre, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has just announced.
Carbon bill offers softer touch to farm emissions
8 May 2019
New Zealand’s agricultural emissions will be cut – but not as much as other gases.
ZERO CARBON: What happens next
8 May 2019
The Government is amending the Climate Change Response Act (the law that governs the Emissions Trading Scheme) to implement its zero-carbon plans instead of introducing a new law.
You'll like the ZCB, Peters tells party faithful
2 May 2019
The long-awaited Zero Carbon Bill is close – and New Zealand First expects its supporters will like it.
Agriculture about to get the emissions answer
29 Apr 2019
The agricultural sector will find out soon whether it is likely to come into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Footprint falling - but don't start partying
26 Apr 2019
New Zealand’s biocapacity surplus – its ability to produce resources and absorb wastes – is falling, new data shows.
HALFWAY HOUSE: PM changes our climate focus
24 Apr 2019
Jacinda Ardern’s nuclear-free-moment speech on the campaign trail during the 2017 general election struck a chord.
Review has price cap message for Government
23 Apr 2019
The cap on carbon prices should be lifted, the Government has been told.
Problems getting worse, says environment report
18 Apr 2019
Climate change is already making New Zealand’s environmental problems worse and threatens the economy, a new official assessment of the state of New Zealand’s environment says.
No CGT, but green taxes still on the agenda
18 Apr 2019
A capital gains tax might be off the agenda, but the Government isn’t ruling out environmental taxes recommended by the Tax Working Group.
MEMO LABOUR: The answers are in your files
17 Apr 2019
Labour could find solutions in its own files to the problem of putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
NZ to include 'imported' greenhouse gases
15 Apr 2019
Greenhouse gases embedded in imported products will be included alongside home-grown emissions in the Government’s new reporting regime.
Zero Carbon Bill out soon, says Shaw
12 Apr 2019
The long-awaited Zero Carbon Bill will be unveiled soon, says climate minister James Shaw.
Harrison our new voice on world climate stage
10 Apr 2019
New Zealand has a new Climate Change Ambassador.
New panel to assess what changing climate is doing
10 Apr 2019
A new panel has been appointed to assess how climate change is likely to affect New Zealand.
Govt sleuths crack carbon emissions case
9 Apr 2019
The car fleet used by New Zealand's fraud sleuths might be the smallest in the entire Government, but it's also the most climate-friendly.
We won't use GE to cut farm emissions, says Shaw
5 Apr 2019
Climate minister James Shaw says New Zealand doesn’t need genetic engineering to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms.
All corporates should come clean, says Sanford
2 Apr 2019
New Zealand’s largest fishing company is calling for all companies to monitor and report on environmental issues.
Let ETS do its job, says English's economist
1 Apr 2019
New Zealand should stay clear of direct intervention to bring down emissions from the electricity sector and instead let the Emissions Trading Scheme do its job.
Courts likely to step in, says public law expert
28 Mar 2019
The courts are likely to step in on climate change if central government fails to, a legal expert says.
How forests can be long-term carbon stores
27 Mar 2019
Forests can be a long-term store of carbon if they’re managed correctly – but without them, New Zealand has no hope of reaching carbon neutrality by the middle of the century, a forestry expert says.
Business lobby warns of huge disruption
27 Mar 2019
Banning every industry except agriculture from using forestry credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions would be a huge disruption to the economy, says Business NZ.
Q and A: The commissioner explains
27 Mar 2019
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton answers questions on yesterday’s report recommending big changes to the way New Zealand deals with greenhouse gas emissions.
Minister not keen on Upton's ETS proposals
26 Mar 2019
Sweeping changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme proposed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, which would see forestry credits used only for offsetting emissions from farming and not from other industries, are unlikely to be picked up by the Government.
Farming in ETS good move, says forestry expert
26 Mar 2019
Agriculture should be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme as soon as possible – and farmers be given the opportunity to make money from it, the Government has been told.
Shipowners want out of 'unfair' ETS
25 Mar 2019
Shipowners want out of the Emissions Trading Scheme, saying it won’t be fair if they have to pay twice for their emissions.
Treasury sees use for international credits
22 Mar 2019
Treasury wants to retain the ability to use international carbon credits to meet New Zealand’s 2050 emissions reduction target, confidential papers show.
How emitters can't see the trees for the carbon
18 Mar 2019
Storing carbon in new native forests could help to bring down New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and protect native species at the same time, researchers say.
Agriculture will be in ETS, says finance minister
15 Mar 2019
Finance minister Grant Robertson has just told thousands of striking school students that the Government is committed to bringing agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Shaw now first stop for farm emissions action
15 Mar 2019
The Interim Climate Change Committee will now report directly to climate minister James Shaw on whether the agricultural sector should be liable for emissions under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Climate group about to rule on agriculture gases
14 Mar 2019
The Interim Climate Change Committee will make its recommendations next month on how New Zealand should treat greenhouse gases from agriculture.
Schoolkids mass for national climate protests
14 Mar 2019
School students in more than 30 New Zealand towns and cities will take part in tomorrow’s global School Strike 4 Climate.
Shaw about to reveal climate policy timetable
12 Mar 2019
The Government will release details of its climate change policy timetable on Friday.
Councils might have to consider emissions
7 Mar 2019
Councils considering proposals under the Resource Management Act might soon have to take greenhouse gas emissions into account.
Fertiliser firm wants balance in carbon credits
5 Mar 2019
A company given millions of dollars’ worth of free carbon credits says the system giving it the units should not be stopped until at least 70 per cent of its competitors also face a carbon price.
Farmers must pay for emissions, say foresters
4 Mar 2019
The Government’s latest attempts to make the Emissions Trading Scheme attractive for forestry won’t work if farmers don’t have to pay for their emissions, say foresters.
Government hires big guns for Taranaki summit
1 Mar 2019
Midnight Oil lead singer Peter Garrett and rock-star economist Kate Raworth will be headlining at the Government’s Just Transition Summit in Taranaki in May.
Look it up, minister tells West Coast council
27 Feb 2019
Climate minister James Shaw says he doesn’t intend explaining climate change to the West Coast Regional Council, which has expressed doubt about whether it is being caused by human activity.
Nats make 'measured and reasonable' climate plan
25 Feb 2019
A National government might give fewer free carbon credits to trade-exposed industrial emitters but is unlikely to force a large-scale reduction in biological emissions from agriculture, according to a new paper.
Cullen report backs more environmental taxes
21 Feb 2019
Greater environmental taxes and strengthening of the Emissions Trading Scheme are on the way if the Government adopts recommendations from its Tax Working Group.
These mayors haven't signed climate declaration
21 Feb 2019
Twenty-three local body leaders haven’t signed the Local Government Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change.
MONEY MYSTERY: How much will this cost us?
19 Feb 2019
Treasury expects most emitters to pay the Government a carbon fee this year instead of surrendering carbon credits – and that will cost the country money.
Big businesses stand shy of 1.5deg commitment
18 Feb 2019
Two large New Zealand companies making commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions are still talking about keeping global heating below 2deg, not the 1.5deg scientists now say is the maximum the world can safely reach.
Has Coast got climate facts, Muller asks ministers
18 Feb 2019
Opposition climate spokesman Todd Muller wants to know if the Government has provided the West Coast Regional Council with evidence that human-induced climate change is real.
Emissions need multi-pronged action, says EDS
14 Feb 2019
The Emissions Trading Scheme alone will not drive the level of land-use change New Zealand will need to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, a new report says.
Plastic waste our prime worry, survey shows
13 Feb 2019
New Zealanders are capable of making the society-wide changes needed to tackle climate change – but at the moment they’re more focused on getting rid of plastic waste.
Mâori want say in planting of marginal land
12 Feb 2019
PLANS TO TURN farms on steep country into forests could see the Government run foul of Mâori economic development plans.
Watts’s last stand: Simeon Brown takes energy portfolio
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Energy Minister Simon Watts has lost the portfolio to Cabinet fixer Simeon Brown in a reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning.
Fonterra admits ‘100% grass-fed’ claim breached law in greenwashing row
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Fonterra has admitted its “100% New Zealand grass-fed” claims on Anchor butter were misleading and breached the law, settling a case brought by Greenpeace Aotearoa over packaging used between December 2023 and April 2025.
Annual emissions fell to lowest in 15 years in Sept 2025
5 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to their lowest annual total in the year to September 2025 since records began 2010, according to Statistics New Zealand data published this morning.
Momentum speeds up for low-emissions heavy transport
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s heavy vehicle sector is starting to move toward lower-emissions alternatives, with electric vehicles now delivering cost savings as well as lower emissions.
Wellington planting nears one million trees
30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greater Wellington’s parks restoration programme will hit one million native trees this year, with the first dams to rewet peat wetlands in Queen Elizabeth Park now completed after a years-long effort to bring these ecosystems – and their carbon sequestering superpowers – back to life.
Businesses look for ways to cut costs in response to oil shock
Wed 1 Apr 2026
New Zealand’s small and medium-sized businesses are looking for ways to ease the pressure as global tensions see rising fossil fuel prices and diminishing supply, with decision-makers mulling measures including work-from-home polices and transport or logistics changes.
