New Zealand: Politics
Confident Labour sits in ETS driving seat
11 Sep 2009
Talks over the future of the emissions trading scheme are on again, with Labour sending strong signals that it feels in the driving seat.
Personal trading not for us, say Greens
11 Sep 2009
A personal carbon trading regime being proposed for Britain is unlikely to work here, says Green Party climate change spokesperson Jeanette Fitzsimons.
EXCLUSIVE: Here's a way out of ETS impasse
4 Sep 2009
The impasse between National and Labour over the emissions trading scheme could be broken by a compromise over the contentious issue of an intensity-based scheme.
Why not create our own market, asks carbon trader
4 Sep 2009
New Zealand should stop talking about a carbon market and get on and create one, says a leading carbon trader.
All sectors, all gases the way to go, says ETS report
31 Aug 2009
Climate change is probably true and an all-sectors, all-gases emissions trading scheme is the best option for New Zealand, says the committee set up to review the scheme.
National's best ETS bet is deal with Labour
31 Aug 2009
The Labour Party is looking like the Government’s most likely emissions trading scheme partner.
Report lists 34 ways to shape our carbon future
31 Aug 2009
The Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee has made 34 recommendations about New Zealand’s response to climate change and the shape of the emissions trading scheme.
Dunne: A middle road through complex issues
31 Aug 2009
The Emissions Trading Scheme Select Committee review has demonstrated strong support for such a scheme and gives the Government the platform it needs to develop its position for the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference, committee chairman Peter Dunne said today.
Business: Review leaves huge issues up in the air
31 Aug 2009
The report of the select committee which reviewed the emissions trading scheme is a disappointment which still leaves the country with no broad cross-party agreement on climate change policy to provide investment certainty.
National: We'll continue talks with all parties
31 Aug 2009
Minister for Climate Change Issues Nick Smith today welcomed the report of the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee.
Labour: Big chance for a meaningful ETS
31 Aug 2009
The Labour Party has used today’s report back of the ETS Committee to repeat its call for a broad-based scheme with integrity to be agreed by Parliament.
Farmers: Report is a loaded gun at our heads
31 Aug 2009
Farmers are reacting angrily to news that a parliamentary select committee thinks that agriculture should be part of the emissions trading scheme.
Read the full ETS review report here ...
31 Aug 2009
The emissions trading scheme review is a 132-page report that took seven months to put together.
EXCLUSIVE: Business says no to carbon trade hobbles
28 Aug 2009
New Zealand business leaders and decision makers want free trade in carbon units and oppose a price cap, a new survey shows.
Speculation rife as ETS report faces new delay
28 Aug 2009
The report of the emissions trading scheme review select committee is now unlikely to be released before Monday.
Row as Parker demands House sees ETS report
28 Aug 2009
There was heated debate at Parliament yesterday over claims the ETS review select committee’s report should have been immediately presented to the House under standing orders.
Smith cautious on methane in ETS, bi-party deal
28 Aug 2009
The Government has a cautious view of bringing ruminant animal emissions into an emission trading scheme, says Climate Change Issues Minister Nick Smith.
ETS review body to report next week
21 Aug 2009
The select committee reviewing the emissions trading scheme will release its long-awaited report next week.
ETS deal hangs on Key's response to Goff
21 Aug 2009
National is having significant difficulty delivering the “broad-based political support” sought for an amended ETS by its Climate Change Issues Minister.
Smith hopes ETS will please everyone
21 Aug 2009
The Minister for Climate Changes Issues has told business leaders he hopes for a settled emissions trading scheme attracting broad political sign up.
Agriculture bogs down bipartisan ETS deal
14 Aug 2009
Talks between National and Labour over a bipartisan agreement on an emissions trading scheme are thought to be breaking down over agriculture.
Business warns extra assistance to emitters could equal another round of tax cuts
14 Aug 2009
Adjusting assistance to large emitters in New Zealand to Australia's proposed levels could cost the equivalent of another round of tax cuts.
Groser and Greenpeace at odds on Bonn reception
14 Aug 2009
New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target is higher than many countries anticipated, says Associate Climate Change Issues Minister Tim Groser.
NZ sets 10-20% emissions target ... with big ifs
10 Aug 2009
New Zealand heads into climate change talks in Bonn tonight with a 2020 emissions reduction target of between 10 and 20 per cent below 1990 levels – providing the rest of the world comes to the party.
ANALYSIS: Now it comes down to the ETS deal for agriculture
10 Aug 2009
The Government has pretty cunningly positioned itself in its first emissions reduction target offering.
We'll have to do more, say academics
10 Aug 2009
New Zealand will need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 per cent by 2020 to avoid damaging climate change, says a public policy expert.
Where NZ stands in the world of emissions cuts
10 Aug 2009
How does New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target compare to that of other countries?
BUSINESS LEADERS: Target will have to rise later
10 Aug 2009
The Government’s opening offer to reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent to 20 per cent by 2020 will need to be improved during coming international negotiations, says the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development.
BUSINESS NZ: Emissions target sensible
10 Aug 2009
Business New Zealand is welcoming the Government's 2020 emissions reduction target of between 10 and 20 per cent on 1990 levels.
GREENS: Target weakens New Zealand’s prospects
10 Aug 2009
Prime Minister John Key is running from responsibility with a weak 2020 emissions target, the Green Party says in a media release.
GREENPEACE: Target will not go down well with world
10 Aug 2009
The Government cannot expect its emission reduction target range to go down well internationally, says Greenpeace.
OXFAM: Target shows NZ does not care
10 Aug 2009
The announcement today of the Government's proposed emissions reduction target is tantamount to telling millions of vulnerable people around the world that New Zealand does not care enough about their fate to make the cuts that are needed, says Oxfam.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE SOCIETY: A day of shame
10 Aug 2009
The Environmental Defence Society has described the government's emissions target of 10 to 20 per cent reduction by 2020 as "underwhelming and incomprehensible."
Pacific nations call for drastic carbon cuts
7 Aug 2009
The Government is under pressure over a call from Pacific Islands countries to drastically cut carbon emissions by 2020.
ETS unsettled as NZ packs for Bonn talks
7 Aug 2009
The future of New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme remains up in the air as the Government heads to the Bonn climate change talks.
Emissions target to be set next week
31 Jul 2009
Public consultation on New Zealand’s 2020 emissions target ends today.
ETS in place by December, says Smith
31 Jul 2009
The Government aims to have an amended emissions trading scheme in place by December.
Government misreading public mood for free ride for agriculture?
24 Jul 2009
There appears to be little public tolerance for a freer ride for agriculture under New Zealand's ETS, despite a Ministerial claim to the contrary.
Unique online consulation confirms multi-party deal desire
24 Jul 2009
The Government's unique online consultation on New Zealand's emissions target took 70 minutes and six seconds.
Power companies in by 2011, expert picks
17 Jul 2009
The Government is likely to push the entry of the stationary energy sector into the emissions trading scheme out to 2011 and industrial processes to the following year.
ETS review body eyes Government line
17 Jul 2009
The emissions trading scheme review committee is keeping quiet about when it will release its findings - but is aligning with the Government behind the scenes.
Maori Party might support Nats' ETS changes
14 Jul 2009
The Maori Party will today ask iwi leaders whether it should support the National Government’s changes to the emissions trading scheme – potentially giving it the majority it needs in Parliament.
Maori want more reasearch on emissions impact
14 Jul 2009
Iwi leaders meeting the Government in Ngaruawahia this morning are expected to call for more research and analysis on the likely impact on Maori of the Government’s 2020 emissions reduction target.
Reluctant farmers ready to set reduction target
14 Jul 2009
Federated Farmers will set its policy on New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target later this week - but the federation is still holding out for the emissions trading scheme to be scrapped.
Good progress on emission target consultation
10 Jul 2009
The Minister says he's pleased with public involvement in the setting of a 2020 emissions reduction target, business says its meeting was postive...and Lucy Lawless says the session she went to was a blast.
ANALYSIS: And in the red corner ...
10 Jul 2009
New Zealand is in the middle of a powerful, if somewhat veiled, vice when it comes to the emissions trading scheme.
It's a passion, says young climate ambassador
10 Jul 2009
One of five young New Zealanders who will represent this country at the Children’s Climate Forum in Copenhagen in December might yet be lured away from a promising medical career to pursue climate change campaigning.
Big guns open up on 2020 emissions target
7 Jul 2009
Tension is building over the Government’s call for public input on New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target.
ETS review body sets meeting date
7 Jul 2009
The emissions trading scheme review committee will next be meeting on July 15.
NZ climate deniers wed US counterpart
7 Jul 2009
New Zealand’s premier climate change denier site has linked up with its United States counterpart.
NZ hydrogen regulation to catch up with the world
18 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The government has announced a regulatory reset for New Zealand’s emerging clean tech hydrogen sector.
State-owned farmer drives profit growth with emissions reductions
19 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Government-owned Landcorp, trading as Pāmu, is one-third of the way to meeting its 2031 emissions reduction targets, with five years left to run to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30.3% against 2021 emissions.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Transport pollution was the biggest contributor to an increase in New Zealand’s consumption-based emissions in 2023, with emissions from household travel up 12%, and consumption-based emissions totalling 58.3 million tonnes – up 1.6% from the previous year.
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.
Uncertainty eroding confidence in forestry sector
5 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Warnings are mounting that tree planting is set to plunge to “very close to zero”, as new Ministry for Primary Industries data shows ETS registration applications falling sharply as confidence in forestry declines.
Investors must support positive climate-tech
28 Nov 2025
OPINION: We need better leadership than the current ‘climate opportunism’ that is rife in the Beehive, and we need to back a marketplace that will make it happen, writes Rob Campbell.
