News Direct: All stories
Auckland Universtiiy building project tops green ratings
13 Aug 2021
The University of Auckland’s Social Sciences Building has been awarded 93 points by the New Zealand Green Building Council achieving a 6 Green Star Design rating. This is the highest score awarded since the inception of the rating, putting the building in the ‘world leadership’ category.
10 YEARS AGO...
12 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, the then acting minister of energy Hekia Parata announced an increase to the number of homes that could be fitted with clean heating devices under the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart and Clean Heat scheme.
Genesis to add solar power to energy portfolio
12 Aug 2021
Media Release - Genesis Energy has signalled its intent to develop solar as part its renewable generation programme.
Contact and Genesis announce long-term renewable electricity agreement
12 Aug 2021
Media Release - Contact Energy is set to supply Genesis Energy with renewable electricity for 15 years from 2025, as part of a new, long-term power purchase agreement after key terms were signed yesterday.
10 YEARS AGO...
11 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, carbon was selling for $15 a tonne on the New Zealand secondary market.
Growing number of Wellingtonians going by bike
11 Aug 2021
Media Release - The number of Wellingtonians commuting by bike continues to grow with the latest data showing more people than ever riding into the central city during the busy morning peak
10 YEARS AGO...
10 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, Japanese businessmen started ditching their ties in a climate change inspired effort to reduce the use of air conditioning.
Climate change policy farmers' number one concern
10 Aug 2021
Media Release - Asked to identify their three greatest concerns in a recent survey, farmers listed climate change policy and the ETS (chosen by 18.5% of respondents), followed by regulation and compliance costs (17.1%), and freshwater policy (11.0%).
10 YEARS AGO...
9 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, one of the discoverers of plate tectonics, Professor Peter Barrett, said the public was having a harder time accepting the reality of climate change than they had accepting his ground-shifting research on the cause of earthquakes.
Greater Wellington welcomes free bus proposal
9 Aug 2021
Media Release - Greater Wellington councillors welcomed strong representation from Pôneke Collective, a broad coalition of students and welfare groups seeking more equitable access to public transport, at last week's Transport Committee meeting.
10 YEARS AGO...
6 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, the price of CERs (Certified Emissions Reduction certificate) tumbled from 13 Euros to just nine in under a week.
Aussie Govt allows renewable energy agency to invest in fossil fuels
6 Aug 2021
Media Release - The Federal Government has damaged the integrity of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) by changing its remit so that it can invest in fossil fuels.
10 YEARS AGO...
5 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, 67% of businesses making submissions to a review of the ETS were supportive of the scheme. Just two years earlier 78% of businesses had opposed the introduction of the ETS.
NZ's only climate venture fund makes first investment ...in Australia
5 Aug 2021
Media Release - Climate Venture Capital Fund, New Zealand’s only dedicated climate-change venture capital fund, has made its first investment.
Climate change with a supernatural twist
5 Aug 2021
Media Release - The Forgotten Ones is a new series of novels that imagines our children’s children’s future. Climate change has dramatically altered the entire earth and humans are on the verge of extinction. Heeding the call of a mysterious force, Maia must make her way from Aotearoa to the Arctic Circle in search of a better future.
10 YEARS AGO...
4 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, the then climate change minister Nick Smith asked officials to take another look at the New Zealand's ETS in response to news that Australia was about to introduce a carbon tax followed by its own ETS in 2015.
Climate change business conference announced
4 Aug 2021
Media Release - The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) have joined forces with the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) to take the 2021 Climate Change and Business Conference - Now to Net Zero, to a new level.
Investors sought for carbon cutting cooling technology
4 Aug 2021
Introducing Eco2Dairy; Cold Energy Technology’s latest piece of innovative cooling technology, capable of reducing New Zealand’s dairy farming carbon footprint by 263,250 tonnes of CO2e per year.
10 YEARS AGO...
3 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, British electricity generators were paying 16 pounds a tonne for carbon – nearly twice the then price of carbon in New Zealand.
Kapiti embeds climate into decsion making
3 Aug 2021
Media Release - Kapiti Coast District Council’s adoption of a Climate Emergency Action Framework means thinking about climate change will be even more firmly embedded in all Council decisions.
10 YEARS AGO...
2 Aug 2021
Ten years ago, government officials were reporting that emitters had responded well to the first round of returns under the ETS.
Hamilton cyclists in for a smoother ride
2 Aug 2021
Media Release - People on bikes are set for a smoother ride through the city with the introduction of specialist sweeping machines, made specifically for cycle lanes.
Two new cycle bridges over Northern Motorway
2 Aug 2021
Media Release - The opening of two bridges over Auckland’s Northern Motorway is the last link of a cycling and walking route which provides a safe, active alternative for students and commuters, Transport Minister Michael Wood said yesterday.
10 YEARS AGO...
30 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, the then UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon officially started the one-year countdown clock for the following year's Olympic Games in London - dedicated to the goal of sustainability.
IGCC 2021 Climate Awards entries are open
30 Jul 2021
Media Release - The Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) is excited to announce the Climate Awards are now open for entries.
10 YEARS AGO...
29 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, climate change denier Viscount Christopher Monckton announced he had sold out a talk at the Northern Club in Auckland.
Greenpeace calls foul on AB's Ineos sponsorship
29 Jul 2021
Media Release - Greenpeace is calling foul on NZ Rugby’s decision to sign a sponsorship deal with the oil and plastic polluting petrochemical giant INEOS.
Earth overshoot day
29 Jul 2021
Media Release - It's Earth Overshoot Day again. Two years ago it was 26th July, last year, mostly due to Covid, Earth Overshoot Day was 22nd August, so globally the situation has slightly improved.
10 YEARS AGO...
28 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, Business NZ released a report advising against integrating the Australian and New Zealand carbon markets.
10 YEARS AGO...
27 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, New Zealand hosted climate change negotiators from 30 countries in an effort to break a deadlock in efforts to forge a post-Kyoto agreement. But little progress was made.
Campaign to save urban trees launched
27 Jul 2021
Media Release - A new campaign to stop the cutting down of mature trees in New Zealand’s cities has launched today.
10 YEARS AGO...
26 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, investors paused work on a multi-million dollar biodiesel plant because of uncertainty over the government's continuation of a biofuel subsidy.
10 YEARS AGO...
23 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, Generation Zero was launched. The youth-based political movement called for today's carbon bills to be paid today, and for the country to unite behind the goal of a zero carbon future.
Coal not the way forward for Southland: NGOs
23 Jul 2021
Media Release - Environmental NGOs wrote to Southland District Council yesterday expressing deep concern over the Council’s decision to grant an access arrangement to New Brighton Collieries Limited (NBCL), an overseas owned company, for coal exploration in the Ohai forestry area.
Mercedes-Benz prepares to go all-electric
23 Jul 2021
Media Release - Mercedes-Benz is getting ready to go all electric by the end of the decade, where market conditions allow. Shifting from electric-first to electric-only, the world's preeminent luxury car company is accelerating toward an emissions-free and software-driven future.
Fully renewable energy feasible for Samoa: Otago study
23 Jul 2021
Media Release - The future of Samoa’s electricity system could go green, a University of Otago study has shown.
10 YEARS AGO...
22 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan told the UN that consumerism was draining the world of resources and threatening the planet's existence.
10 YEARS AGO...
21 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, global carbon markets were in free fall and NZUs were trading for around $16.
Canterbury engineers working on carbon negative hydrogen
21 Jul 2021
Media Release - University of Canterbury engineering researchers are developing a carbon-neutral – even carbon-negative – way to create clean ‘green’ hydrogen to power our world more sustainably.
Return of the giants
21 Jul 2021
Media Release - “It's great to see the return of these forest giants,” commented Daran Ponter, Chair of Greater Wellington, as he planted the first of 300 kahikatea on the Mataihuka block at Queen Elizabeth Park. “It has long been known that these wonderful trees, such an abundant mahinga kai for Maori, once dominated this landscape.”
10 YEARS AGO...
20 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, the head of a firm investing in clean-tech said New Zealand needed to adopt bold policies like those being enacted in Australia if it was to develop a strong clean-tech sector.
Govt procurement goes green
20 Jul 2021
Media Release - A new All-of-Government (AoG) office supplies contract – used by over a thousand government agencies – focuses on low-waste, sustainable products, and will deliver tangible economic and environmental outcomes, Laurence Pidcock, General Manager of New Zealand Government Procurement (NZGP, a branch within MBIE), announced today.
10 YEARS AGO...
19 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, the manager of NZ Carbon Farming was saying confidence in the future of the Emissions Trading Scheme had led to an upsurge in carbon investment.
Proposed EU carbon tax will hurt poor countries: UN
19 Jul 2021
UN Media Release - Although a new European Union (EU) climate initiative unveiled on Wednesday could change global trade patterns to favour countries where production is relatively carbon efficient, its value in mitigating climate change will likely be limited, the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, has warned.
10 YEARS AGO...
16 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, the UN was reporting that the renewable energy sector was performing well despite stiff headwinds from an economic slowdown, low gas prices, and cuts to incentive schemes.
Hydrogen agreement signed with Singapore
16 Jul 2021
Media Release - The signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation on low-carbon hydrogen with Singapore signals the start of greater collaboration between the two countries as they transition towards low carbon economies, says Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods.
National releases ute tax video
16 Jul 2021
Media Release - Leader of the Opposition Judith Collins says National’s ‘Demand the Debate’ campaign has received unprecedented support since its launch on Sunday and has today released a video highlighting the effect the Government’s Ute Tax will have on the rural sector.
10 YEARS AGO...
15 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, the then National Government came under fire in Parliament for supporting plans for a lignite mine in Southland.
10 YEARS AGO...
14 Jul 2021
Ten years ago, The Australian Government rolled out a tool to help Australians understand the likely impact of the just announced price of carbon... In hindsight they could have just said: "Sweet bugger all, mate."
Local offset company buys German firm
14 Jul 2021
Media Release - CarbonClick acquires German based sustainability app “Wonderflower”.
Common low-grade clay strengthens low-carbon concrete
Thu 5 Jun 2025
Media release | Engineers at RMIT University have converted low-grade clay into a high-performance cement supplement, opening a potential new market in sustainable construction materials.
