New Zealand: All stories
More investors will spurn fossil fuels
2 Aug 2017
Oil and gas shares offer diminishing returns, and more investors will spurn fossil fuels, though finding a new home for their money is not easy.
WONDER WEED: Feed the fish kelp and help to fix climate
2 Aug 2017
Seaweed farms buffer the ocean’s growing acidity and provide ideal conditions for the cultivation of a variety of shellfish.
ETS changes of little help, say foresters
1 Aug 2017
The Government’s latest changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme will do nothing to get more trees in the ground, the forestry sector says.
Do petrol and diesel bans mean the death of biofuels?
1 Aug 2017
If cars running on fossil fuels will be substituted by electric cars, it could imply that all liquid transport fuels will be eliminated.
THE COUNT: At last, a leader talks climate policy
31 Jul 2017
Seven weeks out from the general election, we’ve finally got a political leader talking climate change policy – and it’s Winston Peters.
Plants might be wising up faster than humans
31 Jul 2017
Vegetation is adapting to soak up more CO2 and use less water.
Saving peatlands could help to save the planet
31 Jul 2017
New research hopes to reveal the role threatened bogs could play in the climate change story.
CLIMATE BUDGET: We're not ready, says Bennett
28 Jul 2017
New Zealand isn’t ready for a climate budget, says climate minister Paula Bennett.
We need expert climate advice, says commissioner
27 Jul 2017
New Zealand should adopt a UK-style Climate Change Commission and all political parties should support it, says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
ETS CHANGES: Good news and bad news
27 Jul 2017
The latest changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme have met with mixed reactions.
Britain sets 2040 for ban on diesel and petrol cars
27 Jul 2017
Britain will ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 amid fears that rising levels of nitrogen oxide pose a major risk to public health.
Google enters race for nuclear fusion technology
27 Jul 2017
Google and a leading US fusion company have developed a new computer algorithm that significantly speeds up progress toward clean, limitless energy.
Govt acts on auctioning and international units
26 Jul 2017
The $25 price cap is staying for now, but the importation of international units will be restricted when the New Zealand carbon market opens to the world again, the Government has just announced.
Wet weekend rewrites the record books
25 Jul 2017
Climate records continue to tumble this year, with Oamaru last weekend notching up its wettest day on record.
Bunker down, El Nino summers will get worse
25 Jul 2017
Climate change will mean more extreme El Niño summers – the weather pattern that causes droughts in the east of New Zealand and storms in the west.
It pays off to pay landowners to keep trees
25 Jul 2017
Paying landowners not to cut down trees is cheaper than the carbon-related costs the destruction of the forests would cause, new research shows.
Public doesn't need scientific climate consensus
25 Jul 2017
Climate change campaigns that focus on correcting public beliefs about scientific consensus are likely to backfire and undermine policy efforts, according to an expert commentary.
It's not easy building electric cars
25 Jul 2017
Despite Tesla’s success, the high risks of mass-producing an electric car from scratch haven’t changed all that much.
Environment officials quiet on new coal mines
24 Jul 2017
The Ministry for the Environment has given the Government no advice on the climate implications of developing 13 new coal mines.
THE COUNT: Floods fail to excite party leaders
24 Jul 2017
Climate change wasn’t on the lips of New Zealand’s political leaders last week, despite serious flooding in Canterbury and Otago and financial warnings from the world’s first professor of the economics of disasters.
Coastal home owners could pay huge price
21 Jul 2017
Threats from climate change-induced sea-level rise and storms are not reflected in the market value of coastal New Zealand property, putting many people at risk of financial disaster.
Busy ministry delays work on emissions planning
20 Jul 2017
Planning to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions in line with the country’s Paris Agreement commitments has been delayed because of the Ministry for the Environment’s heavy workload, confidential papers show.
Climate-related damage bill climbs to $174 million
19 Jul 2017
This year’s bill for climate-related disasters in New Zealand has climbed to $174.7 million.
European car makers plead with China to slow down
19 Jul 2017
Faced with China’s unwavering plan to accelerate the introduction of electric and hybrid cars, European manufacturers have joined forces with other global producers to plead with Beijing for a ‘less ambitious’ roadmap.
US utilities giving people cash for clean cars
19 Jul 2017
Carmakers, regulators, legislators and utilities are increasingly working together to boost sales of electric vehicles
Free footy tickets lure oil workers to renewables
19 Jul 2017
Redundant North Sea energy workers are being offered free football tickets to build revolutionary new electricity storage systems.
Officials work to cut shocking vehicle emissions
18 Jul 2017
Officials will put a plan to cut New Zealand’s appalling transport emissions to the Government before the end of the year.
Gases are changing the atmosphere ... and rapidly
18 Jul 2017
Humanity’s grand experiment in the atmosphere continues, and a new report documents just how far it has gone.
Livestock mega farms booming in Britain
18 Jul 2017
Nearly every county in England has at least one industrial-scale livestock farm, with close to 800 US-style mega farms operating across the UK, new research reveals.
Some biofuels worse than fossil fuels, warns report
18 Jul 2017
Biofuel use needs to increase to help to fight climate change as liquid fuels will be needed by aircraft and ships for many decades to come, finds a new report requested by the UK government.
Greens put case for billion-dollar growth fund
17 Jul 2017
A billion-dollar Green Infrastructure Fund and New Zealand at net-zero emissions by 2050 will be priorities for the Green Party in government.
Auckland could face a Japan-like climate
17 Jul 2017
Summer in Auckland could, by the end of the century, be as hot as summer in Yokohama is now, a new report says.
THE COUNT: James Shaw takes Greens into the lead
17 Jul 2017
It’s runs on the board this week for two leaders in The Count, our weekly tally of public statements about climate change by party leaders in the lead-up to the general election.
TOO HOT TO FLY: Increasing heat might ground planes
17 Jul 2017
As temperatures rise it may become too hot to fly, with aircraft likelier to be grounded, and more passengers more likely to lose their seats.
Next design step is bringing the weather indoors
17 Jul 2017
A building’s primary purpose may be to keep the weather out, but most do such an effective job of this that they also inadvertently deprive us of contact with two key requirements for our well-being and effectiveness: nature and change.
Wood-for-coal switch would save us millions
14 Jul 2017
Using wood instead of coal to provide industrial heat would cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions by 460,000 tonnes and save more than $11 million a year in carbon credits, a new report says.
ARKS OF THE APOCALYPSE: Science digs in to save our stuff
14 Jul 2017
All around the world, scientists are building repositories of everything from seeds to ice to mammal milk — racing to preserve a natural order that is fast disappearing.
Green groups slam Coke's recycled plastic scheme
14 Jul 2017
Coca-Cola's plan to reduce the millions of plastic bottles that end up in the world’s oceans every day has been criticised by environmental groups as unambitious PR spin.
Shoppers can pick their own kai at the supermarket farm
14 Jul 2017
A German startup intends to distribute smart vertical farming systems to supermarkets, providing customers with the option to hand-pick fresh vegetables and herbs.
Net-zero worthy target, says cross-party group
13 Jul 2017
The pan-political Globe climate group says cutting New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 is worth serious discussion.
Global database gives more power to scientists
13 Jul 2017
Climate scientists will be able to more accurately study Earth’s temperature changes, thanks to a global database.
Earth's sixth mass extinction event under way
13 Jul 2017
A “biological annihilation” of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is under way and is more severe than previously feared.
Ministers eye ways to beat mines planning rules
12 Jul 2017
The Government has been looking at approving new coal mines by creating special economic zones bypassing usual planning rules, Forest & Bird says.
How a different climate will change business and work
12 Jul 2017
The planet, already feeling the effects of climate change, is also poised to cause irreversible shifts in the ways we work, and the skills that employers need.
China and EU bolster greener global shipping
12 Jul 2017
The trillion-dollar global shipping industry might soon be forced to curb greenhouse gas emissions under new rules backed by the European Union and China.
Artificial environments turning the world outside in
12 Jul 2017
When meltwater breached the global seed bank near Svalbard in May, after unusually warm weather, it served as a stark reminder of the need to safeguard humanity’s future in the face of increasing turbulence.
E-cars selling, but not enough to make a difference
11 Jul 2017
New Zealanders are buying electric vehicles in “record” numbers, but they are not making a dent in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Young Greens come to the zero-carbon party
11 Jul 2017
Young Green Party supporters are joining young National and Labour in supporting the Zero Carbon Act.
Handful of fossil fuel producers feed global emissions
11 Jul 2017
A mere 25 fossil fuel producers have accounted for just over half of global greenhouse emissions emissions in the past three decades, a new report says.
Who checks corporate claims of climate leadership?
11 Jul 2017
Big companies say they are leading the way to a cleaner future, but with only voluntary disclosures to keep them honest we just have to trust them.
Pacific climate response in question as NZ finance remains unclear
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | With New Zealand's $1.3 billion international climate finance commitment set to end with no clarity on what follows, the Auditor-General says oversight of that funding remains patchy and long-term outcomes are unclear.
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.
