New Zealand: Politics
Australia move could cut agriculture from ETS
20 Mar 2009
Aligning New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme more closely with that of Australia could mean an indefinite delay to bringing agriculture into the scheme, opening this country to charges of unfair subsidies, Greenpeace says.
ETS select committee starts hearing views
20 Mar 2009
The select committee reviewing the emissions trading scheme has started hearing submissions.
Capital acts to reduce carbon footprint
17 Mar 2009
Greater Wellington's Regional Sustainability Committee has implemented what it describes as a new regional greenhouse gas emissions inventory - a plan to reduce the region's overall carbon footprint.
Govt setting bad example, says UN award winner
13 Mar 2009
The scaling back of government green initiatives is setting a bad example for the private sector, says a Wellington environmental consultancy that has just been recognised by the United Nations.
Select committee has a chance to get it right
13 Mar 2009
The emissions trading scheme review is a good process which could give New Zealand a chance to “get it right”, says a leading climate change adviser.
Chauvel: Forget Australia and get on with our ETS
13 Mar 2009
Calls for alignment with Australia are really calls for New Zealand to delay the implementation of its emissions trading scheme, says Labour’s climate change spokesman Charles Chauvel.
Good week for the Roundtable
10 Mar 2009
COMMENT: The Business Roundtable will be pleased with the influence it is achieving through Nick Smith’s office.
Smith calls for new report on cost of ETS
6 Mar 2009
Two teams of economists with different opinions about the cost of the emissions trading scheme have been told to come up with a joint report for the ETS review.
Include biochar in ETS, urges top scientist
6 Mar 2009
World-renowned Australian scientist Professor Tim Flannery says that biochar technology – acknowledged as possibly our greatest chance of reducing atmospheric carbon – should be included in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme.
Minister backs ETS review climate change stand
6 Mar 2009
The emissions trading scheme review is standing by its decision not to hear debate about the validity of climate change science - and has the backing of Climate Change Minister Nick Smith.
ETS delay hampers lake protection moves
6 Mar 2009
Delays in establishing a domestic carbon market are hampering the efforts of a trust set up to protect an iconic New Zealand natural landmark.
Key Business NZ manager now minister's ETS kingpin
3 Mar 2009
Business New Zealand's energy, environment and infrastructure manager has a new job advising the government on climate change and emissions trading.
CTU pushes for environment and social projects
3 Mar 2009
The Council of Trade Unions is calling on the Government to set up a major programme of environmental and social projects as part of its package to kick start the economy.
ETS submissions close, but numbers are secret
3 Mar 2009
Submisisons on the review of the emissions trading scheme have closed - but just how many there are is still under wraps.
Business group to push for interim green tax
27 Feb 2009
The prospect of delaying the emissions trading scheme and introducing a green tax as an interim measure is being raised by a major business group.
Roundtable lines up Lomborg for second tour
27 Feb 2009
The New Zealand Business Roundtable appears to be planning a reprise tour of New Zealand by influential climate change academic Bjorn Lomborg.
NZUs market needs more industries, say foresters
24 Feb 2009
The NZUs market will not operate efficiently until other industries enter the emissions trading scheme, a forestry company is telling the Government.
TZ1 signs up another scheme
24 Feb 2009
New Zealand-based environmental markets registry provider TZ1 Registry has been appointed as the global registry for Plan Vivo.
Carter confirms ETS is the way to go
20 Feb 2009
Agriculture Minister David Carter says an emissions trading scheme remains the Government’s preferred option.
Green ideology gets blame for tragic bushfires
20 Feb 2009
The Australian Unity Party is circulating in New Zealand an article by Sydney Morning Herald conservative columnist Miranda Devine headed "Green Ideas Must Take Blame for Deaths".
Our carbon bill set to pass $600 million mark
17 Feb 2009
New Zealand’s estimated carbon liability could climb above $635 million when Treasury updates the underlying price of carbon it uses to calculate New Zealand’s carbon bill – despite the fact that carbon prices are at an all-time low.
Big emitters win more time to put ETS review case
13 Feb 2009
The closing date for submissions on the emissions trading scheme review has been extended because a group representing some of New Zealand’s largest companies realised it wasn’t going to be heard, Carbon News has learnt.
Capital might dump expensive green recycling bins
13 Feb 2009
Wellington City Council’s plan to make its kerb-side rubbish recycling system user-pays has surprised many in the eco-conscious capital.
Top polar scientists turn eyes on Antarctica
10 Feb 2009
More than 50 top international polar scientists meet in Wellington this week to discuss their cutting-edge climate change research.
Mighty River chief takes on carbon management
23 Jan 2009
It might not seem like the natural time to leave an established career in general management and take up a role in a new carbon funds management company, but for New Zealand Carbon Funds Management managing director James Moulder the timing is perfect.
ETS review submissions start to flow
23 Jan 2009
Submissions on the review of the emissions trading scheme are starting to trickle in.
Cheaper carbon is the up-side of the downturn
20 Jan 2009
The cost of implementing an emissions trading scheme is falling with the recession, says a prominent business adviser.
Nats' ETS opinions don't worry me, says Hide
20 Jan 2009
Act Party leader Rodney Hide says that he is unconcerned by comments from United Future leader Peter Dunne and Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee that New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme is here to stay.
No takers with emissions trading review a month away
16 Jan 2009
Submissions on the review of New Zealand emissions trading scheme close on February 13 - and so far none have been made.
Solid Energy: NZIER report all we funded
16 Jan 2009
Solid Energy says that the NZIER report on the implications of the emissions trading scheme is the only work it has funded on the issue.
ETS select committee opens for business
19 Dec 2008
Submissions on the review of the emissions trading scheme are now open.
No suspension of ETS - what the PM said
19 Dec 2008
On Wednesday, Prime Minister John Key told Parliament that the Government would not now suspend the emissions trading scheme.
PM indicates ETS law will not be suspended during review
18 Dec 2008
The Prime Minister has indicated the ETs law will not be suspended during the select committee review.
Dunne to bar time-wasters from ETS review hearings
16 Dec 2008
Groups wanting to relitigate the science of climate change or to grandstand on the issue are likely to find themselves shut out from appearing before the select committee reviewing the emissions trading scheme.
National will have an ETS, says Brownlee
12 Dec 2008
National will bring in an emissions trading scheme, says Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee.
Environmental sustainability key issue, say advisers
12 Dec 2008
Environmental sustainability is now a central issue for New Zealand, say top government advisers.
Harawira tries again to link treaty and ETS
12 Dec 2008
The Maori Party is again trying to get the impact on Treaty of Waitangi settlements included in the emissions trading scheme.
ETS review committee announced
9 Dec 2008
The ETS review is shaping as a bun-fight, with Rodney Hide, David Carter and Jeanette Fitzsimons all on the committee that will do the work.
Smith: we want consensus on climate change
9 Dec 2008
Climate Change Minister Nick Smith says he wants New Zealand to build a broader consensus on how to make progress on climate-change issues.
Chauvel: Hide failed to show for the last select committee
9 Dec 2008
Labour says that Act Party leader Rodney Hide has some gall pushing a new select committee inquiry into the emissions trading scheme when he hardly showed up for the last one.
Dunne at the helm: We need an ETS quickly
9 Dec 2008
New Zealand needs a robust emissions trading scheme in place as quickly as possible to reassure businesses and shore-up our international credibility, says the man who will chair the ETS review.
Buck: Forget ETS review, we're nearly out of time
9 Dec 2008
A New Zealander named in Britain as one of the 50 people most able to prevent the continued destruction of the world says that New Zealand doesn’t have the luxury of “forgetting” about climate change while it reviews its legislative direction.
Emissions scheme 'sound', but Treasury issues warning
5 Dec 2008
Treasury says that the emissions trading scheme is sound, and warns that giving “generous treatment” to emitters would simply transfer the costs to taxpayers.
We should put a price on water, says Treasury
5 Dec 2008
Treasury is floating the prospect of a market price for water.
District council factors in 10% cost of ETS
2 Dec 2008
Stratford District Council will factor in a 10 per cent increase in operating costs from 2011 to cover the increased transport and reporting costs under the current ETS, and “perhaps” a 5 per cent increase in its farm operating budget from 2013.
Anxious EMA wants to meet ministers on ETS review
28 Nov 2008
The Employers and Manufacturers' Association is seeking urgent meetings with government ministers to express concern that a review of the emissions trading scheme might include questioning whether human-induced climate change is real.
Act's climate change questions damaging, says professor
28 Nov 2008
Questioning the science of human-induced climate change will damage New Zealand’s ability to promote agricultural interests at the Copenhagen talks and beyond, says a leading scientist.
Govt mum on position for Poznan
28 Nov 2008
Government ministers and officials are tight-lipped the position New Zealand will take at next week’s Poznan talks preparing for next year’s Copenhagen conference on the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Oil companies hail move to look at carbon tax
25 Nov 2008
Oil and gas companies are applauding National's moves to revisit carbon tax and to overhaul the Resource Management Act, and say they are confident of a better working relationship with the new government than with the old one.
Listener criticises government's ETS move
25 Nov 2008
The new government's decision to completely review the emissions trading scheme "beggars belief", says the Listener.
Govt’s own modelling shows LNG leads to higher electricity prices than other solutions
Today 11:30am
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
Today 11:30am
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.
