New Zealand: Politics
National climate pledges must be increased well before COP, Guterres tells nations
31 Aug 2020
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has repeated calls for countries to increase their 2030 emissions reduction targets – and to do it soon.
Paper reveals why Govt went ahead with ETS overhaul
24 Aug 2020
Fifteen days into the first covid-19 lockdown, officials told the Government the new $20 price floor in the Emissions Trading Scheme was critical to protecting taxpayers from what the pandemic could do to carbon prices.
Experts investigating companies' climate claims
20 Aug 2020
Investors looking for evidence that companies really are addressing climate risk are hiring outside experts to find it.
ON THE BALL: Provincial pride could drive emissions goal
19 Aug 2020
Ranfurly Shield-style competition between provinces could get New Zealanders to finally cut greenhouse gas emissions, provincial local councils say.
UPTON: Coastal retreat the only sensible option
13 Aug 2020
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton is calling for fast, orderly retreat from coastal areas vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
SHAW: Next government all about emissions cuts
12 Aug 2020
Climate policy in the next government will focus on tangible ways to cut emissions, Green Party co-leader James Shaw says.
Native species key to cutting emissions
11 Aug 2020
Restoration of New Zealand’s wild places should count towards the country’s emissions reduction targets, the Government says.
FRIDAY POLITICS: It's a choice of slow or slower
7 Aug 2020
Young protesters are targeting both Labour and National with sit-ins in Dunedin today, saying both have failed to address the climate crisis.
Finance sector essential to adapting to climate change
4 Aug 2020
The Government is being told banks should toughen up on lending for properties vulnerable to sea-level rise and flooding.
Count climate in insurance risk, says Robertson
3 Aug 2020
The Reserve Bank should be required to take climate change into account when assessing threats to the insurance industry, the finance minister says.
New law needed for managed retreat, says review
29 Jul 2020
Authorities could have the power to seize land threatened by climate change under a proposed new Public Works Act-type law.
Replace RMA with new law, says EDS
27 Jul 2020
New Zealand's primary planning law, the Resource Management Act should be scrapped and replaced with totally new legislation, the Environmental Defence Society says.
FRIDAY POLITICS: Ready and willing
24 Jul 2020
In a week that saw the end of the political careers of a Cabinet minister and yet another Opposition MP, a political drama of a climate sort has been playing out in suburban Auckland.
FRIDAY POLITICS: Enter the Man from the North
17 Jul 2020
Cabinet minister and New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is angry about the long shadow Rogernomics still casts over the people of the North.
Pandemic delays ClimCom's first report
16 Jul 2020
The Climate Change Commission is under pressure from the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic and could be up to three months' late filing New Zealand's first emissions-budget recommendations.
Climate stays with Simpson
16 Jul 2020
Coromandel MP Scott Simpson has retained the climate change portfolio in the latest National Party reshuffle.
Collins will keep zero-carbon law
15 Jul 2020
New National Party leader Judith Collins says zero-carbon legislation will stay in place under a government led by her, but there will be changes.
FRIDAY POLITICS: We need a power plan
10 Jul 2020
Picture this: you’re a Prime Minister who’s weathered a terrorist attack, a volcanic explosion and a pandemic, and then 10 weeks before you go to the polls one of the country’s largest employers announces it’s pulling out.
FRIDAY POLITICS: Draw your hammer
3 Jul 2020
Climate minister James Shaw is nailing his colours to the mast of the Climate Change Commission.
Ministers advance with shovels at the ready
1 Jul 2020
Infrastructure minister Shane Jones says New Zealand should be focusing its climate-change action on preparing for the impacts of a warming climate.
AGL links exec bonuses to emissions cutbacks
1 Jul 2020
Australia’s largest domestic emitter of greenhouse gases, the energy provider AGL, is the first major company in the country to link managers’ bonuses to lowering emissions.
Parker whips home third leg of climate trifecta
26 Jun 2020
The third leg of the Government’s climate change legislation trifecta came home this week.
Make climate-risk a must, urges Carr
24 Jun 2020
The Climate Change Commission has again told the Government that assessing the climate impact of projects should be mandatory under a new fast-track consenting process.
Good job and well done, says ClimCom
24 Jun 2020
The Government’s determination to overhaul the Emissions Trading Scheme despite the covid-19 pandemic has won praise from the Climate Change Commission.
Auckland can go big on emissions cuts
23 Jun 2020
Getting rid of rules about housing density and giving incentives for people to use public transport and buy electric vehicles could cut Auckland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, the OECD says.
ACC AIM: We want to lead on climate change
18 Jun 2020
New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation is decarbonising its portfolio in line with the country’s zero-carbon legislation, saying it wants to be a leader on climate change.
Parliament does major job on ETS
17 Jun 2020
Parliament has passed major changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme, bringing agricultural emissions into the scheme and, for the first time, setting a cap on emissions.
New consent panels to OK fast-track jobs
17 Jun 2020
The Climate Change Commission will be consulted about projects being fast-tracked through resource consent as part of the covic-19 pandemic economic recovery.
Rail comes out top of fast-consent work
16 Jun 2020
A sea-level-rise-proof Cook Strait ferry terminal and a host of improvements to the country’s rail service are among infrastructure projects the Government plans to give fast-track consent in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.
Nats should have done more, admits Muller
15 Jun 2020
New National Party leader Todd Muller has admitted his party should have done more about climate change when it was in power.
Forest owners stay with carbon wait-and-see
8 Jun 2020
Forest owners are adopting a wait-and-see approach to selling units as carbon prices head into record territory.
Carbon prices continue the good-news climb
4 Jun 2020
Carbon prices jumped another $2 yesterday as the market continued to react to Tuesday’s announcements about the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Shaw sings songs of praise for trading scheme
3 Jun 2020
Climate minister James Shaw – who three years ago was calling for the Emissions Trading Scheme to be scrapped – was singing its praises in Parliament yesterday.
Prices jump a dollar on fixed-price news
3 Jun 2020
Carbon prices jumped a dollar yesterday on the back of confirmation the fixed-price option will move to $35 this year.
Govt opposed ClimCom in cash-or-credits case
3 Jun 2020
The Government went against the advice of its own Climate Change Commission in allowing companies to continue to pay money instead of surrendering carbon credits to atone for their greenhouse gas emissions.
Effective carbon price-cap will hit $35 this year
2 Jun 2020
The effective price cap on carbon prices in New Zealand will go to $35 this year.
Biofuel could pull trucks into line, say officials
2 Jun 2020
New Zealand could cut its greenhouse gas emissions immediately by using more biofuels in trucks, officials say.
Cities critical to climate, Wellington tells Govt
26 May 2020
One of the country's largest local authorities says the Government 's plans for urban development are at odds with its programme for combatting climate change.
Simpson happy with his lot
26 May 2020
Coromandel MP Scott Simpson says he’s pleased to have kept the climate and environment portfolios in yesterday’s National Party reshuffle but had no say in the matter.
Muller's got 'very strong views' on cutting carbon
25 May 2020
New National Party leader Todd Muller says the drive toward a low-emissions economy should continue despite the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on the economy.
Government goes for silence on ETS
19 May 2020
The Government will make no announcements about changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme until after surrender date on May 31.
Everybody hold hands and get on with it, says SBC
18 May 2020
The Sustainable Business Council is calling for aa cross-party consensus over the spending of covid-19 pandemic recovery money on decarbonising the economy.
POLITICS: James Shaw dines out
15 May 2020
Climate minister James Shaw must be pinching himself; the $50 billion the Government is pouring into digging the country out of the covid-19 pandemic financial hole dwarfs what money he had secured so far to cut carbon out of the economy.
BUDGET: More money for infrastructure
14 May 2020
The Budget has come out with no real indication of the infrastructure projects the Government will back to stimulate the economy.
Wellington says govt urban plan fails on climate
14 May 2020
The Government's plans for urban development are at odds with its programme for dealing with climate change, says Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Don't force us to disclose, says business lobby
11 May 2020
Businesses should not be forced to disclose their exposure to risks from climate change, Business New Zealand says.
POLITICS AT PLAY: Get with the programme
8 May 2020
By ADELIA HALLETT | It seems the old fracture lines in the politics of climate change are still there.
ETS faces biggest overhaul in 10 years
5 May 2020
The biggest overhaul of the Emissions Trading Scheme since it was gutted in 2010 is back before Parliament.
Slow farmers might be forced into ETS
5 May 2020
Farmers might be forced into the Emissions Trading Scheme before 2025 if they fail to make sufficient progress towards cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Delay ETS changes for a year, say Nats
5 May 2020
The National Party wants changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme put on hold for a year, citing economic uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Fast, sustained phase-out of fossil fuels: best-performing countries in coal and transport sectors
Thu 10 Jul 2025
By Robert McLachlan | It’s true that climate change is getting worse – it will continue to get worse until emissions fall to near zero. But is action on phasing out fossil fuels really stalling?
Clear-sighted view to trade-offs crucial to reimagining our relationship with the land
Mon 7 Jul 2025
By Nick Swallow | COMMENT: New Zealand could see a 70% drop in the value of dairy land if we pursue our emissions targets for agriculture, according to a new report.
Mangroves' overlooked climate role
30 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s mangrove forests are pulling tens of thousands of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year, yet their climate benefits remain unrecognised in national emissions reporting.
How flying can be a climate solution
16 Jun 2025
By Paul Callister and Robert McLachlan - Planetary Ecology | How can aviation contribute to tackling climate change when no practicable technology-based solutions are on the horizon?
Emissions Trading Scheme needs deep reform - commissioner
Fri 11 Jul 2025
The government’s attempt to limit forestry conversions on rural land is unlikely to lead to meaningful change, according to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
NZ Post drops science-based climate target
Tue 8 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | NZ Post has dropped its science-based emissions reduction target of 42% by 2030 with no plans to replace it.
