New Zealand: All stories
UK power generation achieves first coal-free day
26 Apr 2017
Friday was Britain’s first working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution.
Scottish wind powers affordable housing
26 Apr 2017
Three wind turbines in Scotland are generating electricity for the national grid and helping to raise funds to build affordable homes in rural communities.
Dutch building Europe’s first vertical farm
26 Apr 2017
A farm in the Netherlands will serve one of Europe’s biggest supermarket chains with lettuce grown using LED horticultural lighting.
Weird weather is being felt down on the farm
21 Apr 2017
Changes to New Zealand’s weather caused by global warming are starting to affect the country’s agricultural earnings.
CARBON CREEP: Suddenly, CO2 hits the 410ppm mark
21 Apr 2017
Chalk up another climate milestone … atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations hit 410 parts-per-million this week, the highest they’ve been in more than 15 million years.
Energy Star rating loses its twinkle
21 Apr 2017
The Government is scrapping the Energy Star rating on home appliances.
Clean water should be affordable to everyone
21 Apr 2017
Ask someone in Flint, Michigan, or São Paolo, Brazil — the list of cities rocked by water disasters seems to grow each day — how much safe, clean water is worth.
Toyota wins Green Car-of-the-Year Award ... again
21 Apr 2017
Toyota has again won the World Green Car-of-the-Year Award.
Who wants to work with wind turbines? Plenty, it seems
21 Apr 2017
The fastest-growing occupation in the United States — by a long shot, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — is wind turbine technician.
Food carts get taste of solar
21 Apr 2017
New York’s thousands of food carts are generating carbon credits.
Greens want to up carbon price and cut fossil fuels
20 Apr 2017
Higher carbon prices and a ban on new fossil-fuel electricity generation plants are the cornerstones of the Green Party’s plan to get New Zealand to 100 per cent renewable generation by 2030.
Harvard boffins to turn back the sun's rays
20 Apr 2017
Harvard scientists later this year will redirect the sun’s rays back into space as part of a larger research programme aimed at understanding the benefits and risks of geoengineering the planet to have a cooler climate.
Fracking brings new oil boom to Alaska
20 Apr 2017
Despite opposition from environmental groups and President Obama’s 2016 ban on drilling in federal Arctic waters, exploration in Alaska has revealed massive new volumes of oil.
Harvesting fertiliser from ‘bionic’ leaves
20 Apr 2017
The Harvard scientist who pioneered a “bionic leaf” that could generate the production of fuel has taken artificial photosynthesis a step further.
Scientist seeks capital backing for adaptation projects
19 Apr 2017
Ekos founder Dr Sean Weaver is working on a new project – a non-market mechanism to raise private capital to fund climate-change adaptation projects in developing countries.
Pool operator splashes out on electric pumps
19 Apr 2017
Auckland swimming pool operator Northern Arena says switching to electric heat-pumps for its pools has been good for swimmers and good for the climate.
We must make our soils great again
19 Apr 2017
Restoring soil fertility is one of humanity’s best options for making progress on three daunting challenges: Feeding everyone, weathering climate change and conserving biodiversity.
Climate change promises rough ride for airlines
19 Apr 2017
By TIM RADFORD | Keep that seat belt buckled − it could be a bumpy flight. New research predicts that severe clear air turbulence in the stratosphere could increase by 149 per cent because of climate change.
Boeing backs electric commuter jet
19 Apr 2017
Seattle startup Zunum Aero has received funding from Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures toward making its dream of electrified air travel a reality.
Star Wars desert moisture farming comes a step closer
19 Apr 2017
Luke Skywalker's family farmed moisture from the atmosphere using devices called “vaporators”. In the planet’s hot and dry desert landscape, moisture farming was an important activity for survival.
We're talking to Korea about carbon market links
18 Apr 2017
Talks to establish links between carbon markets in New Zealand and Korea are under way.
Bennett rules out farming and climate commission
18 Apr 2017
Climate minister Paula Bennett says carbon prices need to go higher, but she won’t be putting a price on agricultural emissions and she doesn’t think New Zealand needs a climate commission.
Upton gets job, but not everyone is pleased
18 Apr 2017
Simon Upton’s nomination to be the next Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has been confirmed by Parliament, but it wasn’t unanimous.
World's nuclear giants limp toward extinction
18 Apr 2017
Any lingering hope that a worldwide nuclear power renaissance would contribute to combating climate change appears to have been dashed by US company Westinghouse, the largest provider of nuclear technology in the world, filing for bankruptcy, and the severe financial difficulties of its Japanese parent company, Toshiba.
In theory, Germans ready to ditch cars
18 Apr 2017
German motorists are ready, in theory at least, to abandon their cars in favour of buses, trains and bikes, according to a new study.
POWER PLAY: Tesla will have e-truck ready to roll this year
18 Apr 2017
Tesla has announced it will launch its first all-electric truck toward the end of this year.
EDITORIAL: Today is D-day for the climate debate
13 Apr 2017
Today could see one of the most important debates Parliament has ever had – a special session on proposals to make New Zealand carbon-neutral by the second half of the century.
Investors get carbon exposure advice
13 Apr 2017
Institutional investors are being told what they should look for when it comes to carbon exposure.
Permafrost thaw threatens flood of emissions
13 Apr 2017
Permafrost, the layer of permanently frozen ground that lies just beneath the Earth’s surface in the polar regions, has been found to be more sensitive to the effects of global warming than climatology had recognised.
GLUCKMAN REPORT: It's clear our rivers need help
12 Apr 2017
New Zealand’s waterways are in trouble and climate change is making it worse, the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser is warning.
SEND IN THE DRONES: Sky-high power stations find a friend
12 Apr 2017
Technology that uses flying drones to generate electricity from the wind is getting a boost from a German utility.
Most industrial emitters meet returns deadline
11 Apr 2017
Most industrial emitters got their 2016 returns in on time.
Coastal flooding advice out soon, says ministry
11 Apr 2017
New guidelines to help local government to cope with increased coastal flooding caused by climate change will be released soon, the government says.
Three ways to improve shipping’s footprint
11 Apr 2017
Do you wear runners, drink coffee or own a mobile phone? The chances are that these products cruised to you on a ship.
COOL IDEA: Forests offer way to ease climate fears
11 Apr 2017
European and US scientists have worked out how the Northern hemisphere keeps cool − so be grateful for the trees, and especially for the forests.
Parliament under carbon-neutral pressure
10 Apr 2017
Proposals for a carbon-neutral New Zealand will go before Parliament this week, as the nation's youth start to apply political pressure over the world they will inherit.
Crucial jet streams stall as the world gets warmer
10 Apr 2017
The warming of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases is slowing the jet streams which drive the northern hemisphere’s weather.
Solar power and saltwater to grow veges in desert
10 Apr 2017
A Norwegian company plans to establish a solar-powered facility in the Aqaba desert in Jordan, capable of growing a variety of crops without wasting any fresh water.
POWER POSERS: Energy industry worries and waits
7 Apr 2017
Uncertainty over the Government’s plans to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change is keeping New Zealand’s energy executives awake at night, says the World Energy Council.
Brexit barrier to clean energy, says WEC
7 Apr 2017
Brexit is undermining Europe’s switch to renewable energy, the World Energy Council says.
Carbon price fall springs $100m surprise
7 Apr 2017
A fall in the price of carbon has left the Government with a smaller-than-expected liability on its books.
RMA changes get through Parliament - just
7 Apr 2017
The Government’s changes to the Resource Management Act scraped through Parliament last night.
America’s farmers face uncertain future
7 Apr 2017
Spare a thought for the farmers of America: climate change is going to make their lives more difficult.
Green HQ gets green light
7 Apr 2017
In a case of gamekeeper-turned-poacher, New Zealand’s Green Building Council has improved the environmental performance of its own office.
Europe votes to take action on palm oil
7 Apr 2017
The European Parliament this week adopted a resolution calling the European Commission to phase out the use of biofuels based on vegetable oils by 2020, and to establish a single certification scheme to guarantee only sustainably produced palm oil enters the EU market.
Politicians go face-to-face with environment facts
6 Apr 2017
The state of New Zealand’s environment is on the agenda for the country’s politicians today.
Just four years left of the 1.5deg carbon budget
6 Apr 2017
Four years of current emissions would be enough to blow what’s left of the carbon budget for a good chance of keeping global temperature rise to 1.5deg.
We're heading for the warmest climate in half-a-billion years
6 Apr 2017
Unabated fossil fuel use has the potential to push the Earth’s climate into a state not seen in at least half a billion years, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
Europe vows no new coal-fired plants from 2020
6 Apr 2017
Europe’s energy utilities have rung a death knell for coal, with a historic pledge that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.
Healthy soil is the real key to feeding the world
6 Apr 2017
One of the biggest modern myths about agriculture is that organic farming is inherently sustainable. It can be, but it isn’t necessarily.
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.
