New Zealand: Politics
Climate commission gives election advice
31 Aug 2020
The Climate Change Commission wants political parties and voters to assess election promises against its set of climate principles.
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.
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.
