New Zealand: Politics
2005 TRICK: It doesn't tell the real emissions story
25 Aug 2016
New Zealand appears to be locking in 2005 as the baseline for emissions reductions, effectively ignoring the massive rise in the country’s greenhouse gases before then, says Green MP Kennedy Graham.
DE-GROWTH D-DAY: Why we must shrink the economy
25 Aug 2016
What is so refreshing about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is that they recognise the inherent tension between economic development and the ecology of our planet. Or so it seems.
Bennett backs 'creative accounting' for emissions
24 Aug 2016
New Zealand is planning to use what has been described as creative accounting to meet its post-2020 emissions reduction target.
NZ lets economics rule environment policies
23 Aug 2016
Balancing the environment with development is tricky. One way for policymakers to include the value of ecosystems in development is to set limits for pollution and other environmental impacts, known as environmental bottom lines.
Paris submissions close September 2
22 Aug 2016
The public has until September 2 to make submissions on New Zealand’s ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
NZ looks for carbon credit trading friends
19 Aug 2016
New Zealand is stepping up the hunt for sources of quality carbon credits to help to meet its international emissions reduction targets.
Bennett rules out parties' two key climate points
18 Aug 2016
Carbon budgeting and a climate commission are not on the table for cross-party talks on climate change.
National MPs join Green climate group
18 Aug 2016
Five National Party MPs have now joined a cross-party group investigating climate change – the most recent this morning.
Big role for business as NZ set to ratify Paris pact
17 Aug 2016
Business is being called in to help to plan New Zealand’s transition to a low-carbon economy, as the Government pledges to ratify the Paris Agreement this year.
DIRTY DOZEN: Big firms who traded in cheap units
16 Aug 2016
Some of New Zealand’s largest carbon emitters, along with forestry companies and even iwi are among the organisations that used cheap EURs to meet their liabilities under the Emissions Trading Scheme, a new report shows.
Why it's a tough job to get Paris pact over the line
15 Aug 2016
Getting the Paris Agreement on climate change into force this year is technically possible, but getting across the emissions threshold will be hard, says a New Zealander at the heart of the process.
UN gives our Super Fund top marks
15 Aug 2016
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has again scored an A-plus rating for governance and strategy around responsible investment in the latest benchmarking report by the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.
Keep us out of the ETS, pleads steel industry
12 Aug 2016
New Zealand Steel wants the steel industry excluded from the Emissions Trading Scheme, saying that rising carbon prices are putting the industry at risk.
Anxious farmers keen to keep carbon subsidies
10 Aug 2016
Farmers – already exempt from liability for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions from their businesses – urged the Government to keep other subsidies in place to further protect them from carbon pricing.
Nation needs emissions targets, says banker
9 Aug 2016
New Zealand should be setting annual emissions targets, says Westpac
CLIMATE COSTS: Three things we must do now
8 Aug 2016
New Zealand needs an Earthquake Commission-style Climate Change Fund to help to pay for the inevitable impacts of climate change, says an expert in public policy.
Environment groups push plan to meet Paris goals
8 Aug 2016
Environmental groups are working on a plan they say will help the Government to do what it needs to do to meet the Paris Agreement emissions reduction target.
Businesses call for ETS policy certainty
4 Aug 2016
Calls for cross-party policy on climate change, and complaints about “continual and ad-hoc” changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme dominated comments on the first stage of the latest review of the scheme.
We look to be light on climate change officials
3 Aug 2016
The Government has only a handful of staff dedicated to working fulltime on climate change.
Industries fought to keep 1:2 carbon subsidy
2 Aug 2016
The waste, stationary energy, industrial processing and agricultural sectors mounted the biggest opposition to getting rid of the one-for-two carbon subsidy.
Bennett: We'll have to revisit emissions cuts
28 Jul 2016
New Zealand will take another look at its post-2020 emissions reduction target once it has ratified the Paris Agreement, the climate change minister says.
Floods sound call to sea-level action, say Greens
27 Jul 2016
Floods in Kapiti and Waitara last weekend show why the Government must take action over rising sea levels caused by climate change, says the Green Party.
PARIS POSER: We must sign the pledge ... but when?
26 Jul 2016
An announcement is imminent on the tricky question of when New Zealand will ratify the Paris Agreement.
Pest-free state could help to control climate changes
26 Jul 2016
The Government’s mission to make New Zealand predator-free by 2050 could have a positive spin-off for the battle against a warming climate.
Our forests key to the future, say scientists
22 Jul 2016
Heavy-emitting businesses could be buying more than $500 million worth of forestry credits a year by 2025, says the Crown Research Institute Scion.
UN awards us a fail mark for handling of environment
22 Jul 2016
New Zealand’s poor environmental management – including action on climate change and sustainable agriculture – has scored it a fail mark on five of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Labour-Greens vow to champion clean-energy business
21 Jul 2016
Clean-tech manufacturing would have a seat at the Cabinet table under a Labour-Greens government.
Let's not rush carbon tax, says economist
21 Jul 2016
Research results saying New Zealand needs a carbon tax as well as the Emissions Trading Scheme should be investigated further before being adopted as policy, says an economist involved in emissions reduction modelling for the Government.
How farmers, big emitters blow our carbon budget
20 Jul 2016
More than 90 per cent of New Zealand’s carbon budget for the 2020s will be spent on subsidising agriculture and trade-exposed heavy emitters, government estimates show.
Minister reports on second stage of ETS review
20 Jul 2016
Climate change minister Paula Bennett has reported to her colleagues on the second stage of the Emissions Trading Scheme review.
Carbon policy proposals fail to impress Beehive
19 Jul 2016
Two policy proposals floated in Carbon News yesterday – a Climate Responsibility Act, and combining carbon trading with a carbon tax and a cut in the goods and services tax – have not impressed the Government.
Why we need a carbon tax ... as well as an ETS
18 Jul 2016
New Zealand needs a carbon tax as well as the Emissions Trading Scheme if it is to meet its promise to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, new research shows.
CLIMATE COSTS: Someone needs to be responsible
18 Jul 2016
A Climate Responsibility Act is being mooted to protect New Zealand from irresponsible environmental management in the same way the Fiscal Responsibility Act protects it from irresponsible financial management.
Subsidy loss will cost dairy farmers a 'low' $4588
15 Jul 2016
Removal of the one-for-two carbon subsidy will cost dairy farmers $4588 and households between $66 and $99 - costs that Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett says are “relatively low”.
Firms made closure threats over 1:2 subsidy change
15 Jul 2016
Four companies threatened to close if the Government removed the one-for-two carbon subsidy.
ETS REVIEW: Plenty are talking about agriculture
13 Jul 2016
The Government might have wanted agriculture kept out of the current review of the Emissions Trading Scheme, but that hasn’t stopped scores of people, ranging from Air New Zealand to the country’s Catholic bishops, talking about it anyway.
Bennett keen to talk with opposition parties
8 Jul 2016
Climate change minister Paula Bennett says she wants to talk to other political parties.
Climate change website dries up
8 Jul 2016
The Government’s climate change website – a one-stop shop for all climate-related Government business– is no more.
CLIMATE CRUNCH: Is the political ice beginning to melt?
7 Jul 2016
Cross-party political agreement on climate change action might have come a step closer.
Greens slam Government for climate failures
6 Jul 2016
The Government is failing to prepare New Zealand for the impacts of climate change – and has slashed millions of dollars of funding for domestic policy advice on the issue, the Green Party says.
BURNING ISSUE: One fire service way to go, say Greens
6 Jul 2016
Amalgamation of the country’s two fire services should help them to prepare for the impacts of climate change – more fires and floods, says Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage.
Global bond market mobilises for climate change
5 Jul 2016
Nearly $NZ100 billion has been invested in climate bonds, a new global report says.
ETS changes you might not know about ...
4 Jul 2016
The public attention might be on the Government’s review of the Emissions Trading Scheme. But behind the headlines other, quiet, changes are being made.
Treasury willing to set up sea-level watchdog group
1 Jul 2016
Treasury has told the Government it is willing to look at setting up a working group on the economic and fiscal impacts of sea-level rise from climate change.
Here's the weather report ... and it's not good
1 Jul 2016
Droughts, floods, storms, cyclones – the latest official predictions of the likely impacts of climate change on New Zealand make alarming reading.
WEAK WORDS: We need clear advice, says watchdog
30 Jun 2016
New Zealand’s top environmental watchdog says that officials should be issuing clear warnings and advice about the implications of climate change.
Bill and I haven't talked sea level, admits Bennett
30 Jun 2016
Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett says she has not asked Finance Minister Bill English to set up a working group to assess the economic impacts of rising sea levels, as recommended by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
Politicians not helping, says climate academic
29 Jun 2016
Carbon dioxide emissions are rising faster than ever – and political claims that population growth is causing it don’t help, says one of New Zealand’s leading climate scientists.
EMISSIONS EDICT: Time to act, says Toyota chief
24 Jun 2016
New Zealand businesses should now be asking how they are going to cut emissions in line with the country’s international pledges – even if those commitments are not yet going far enough, says Toyota New Zealand managing director Alistair Davis.
Officials tell why we need a carbon price floor
23 Jun 2016
A carbon price floor would be challenging but would give businesses certainty and guarantee foresters a price that made planting trees worthwhile, officials told the Government.
Govt’s own modelling shows LNG leads to higher electricity prices than other solutions
Thu 19 Feb 2026
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: According to modelling conducted by Concept Consulting for MBIE, either developing the Tariki gas storage facility or managing electricity demand would deliver lower wholesale electricity prices than the Government’s preferred solution of an LNG import terminal.
Govt's solar on farms initiative to cut costs, boost resilience
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Farms across Aotearoa will begin installing solar panels and battery systems as part of a government-backed demonstration programme designed to test whether on-farm renewable energy can reduce electricity costs and improve energy security for the food and fibre sector.
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.
NZ could become ‘dumping ground’ for dirty vehicles: Commissioner
16 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has warned the Government that its changes to the clean car standard could turn the country into a dumping ground for high emitting cars, making future emissions budgets harder to achieve.
Slash for cash turns storm debris into jobs and climate resilience
Thu 19 Feb 2026
A community-led initiative in Tairāwhiti is transforming storm-damaged forestry slash into jobs, soil regeneration and long-term climate resilience.
Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution
12 Feb 2026
A New Zealand startup is launching what it says is the world’s first plastic-free effervescent drink tablet, with the ambitious aim of eliminating bottled beverages to reduce global plastic pollution.
