New Zealand: All stories
Pressure group takes coal case to court
15 Feb 2017
Development of a new open-cast coal mine near Westport is being challenged in court.
Introducing the terrifying maths of the Anthropocene
15 Feb 2017
Here are some surprising facts about humans’ effect on planet Earth. We have made enough concrete to create an exact replica of Earth 2mm thick. We have produced enough plastic to wrap Earth in clingfilm. We are creating “technofossils”, a new term for congealed human-made materials – plastics and concretes – that will be around for tens of millions of years.
Cafe chain converts waste coffee into renewable fuel
15 Feb 2017
Cafe chain Caffè Nero has revealed how it recycles coffee grounds from 122 of its London stores to make low-carbon fuel.
Forced divesting could be costly, warns Treasury
14 Feb 2017
TREASURY says that forcing government agencies to divest from unethical funds could be expensive.
Climate change research gets $2 million boost
14 Feb 2017
The Deep South National Science Challenge has announced funding totalling about $2 million for five new research projects to help New Zealanders to better understand their future climate.
Norway saves skiing with climate-friendly snow
14 Feb 2017
Ski resorts all over the world are increasingly turning to expensive snow-making machines as the climate warms. This method uses so much fuel that it contributes to global warming.
EDITORIAL: Numbers show the game is up
13 Feb 2017
By editor ADELIA HALLETT | Try these numbers: Humans are causing the climate to change at 170 times the natural rate. Our “carbon budget” to keep warming below 1.5deg will be used up in five years. New Zealand’s per person emissions work out to 18 tonnes a year each – nine times higher than the global allowance.
OPINION: Just another attempt to spread confusion
13 Feb 2017
Senior climate scientist PROFESSOR JAMES RENWICK goes looking for the facts in the latest so-called scandal about climate change.
European trains go down renewable route
13 Feb 2017
Renewable energy is helping to power increasing numbers of the world’s road vehicles. Now several European countries are exploring the potential for using renewables to fuel their trains.
ROBO BEES: Mini-drones could help out with pollination duties
13 Feb 2017
Mini-drones sporting horsehair coated in a sticky gel could one day take the pressure off beleaguered bee populations by transporting pollen from plant to plant.
Taste of the future ... turning food waste into flour
13 Feb 2017
Flour from food waste? Establishing a business doing just that has earned a pair of entrepreneurs recognition as a Good Food pioneer – and a year’s business mentoring.
Forest bonds seen as way for long-term green investment
10 Feb 2017
A world-leading environmental impact bond scheme could channel substantial private investment into planting vast areas of native and exotic forests in New Zealand.
Should we build on green spaces to ease housing crises?
10 Feb 2017
In Auckland, plans to build houses on the Pt England Reserve - home of endangered New Zealand dotterels - is highlighting the tension between housing people and nature. But it's not the only city grappling with the issue of building on its reserves.
Methane emissions higher than feared, say scientists
10 Feb 2017
Global methane emissions from oil production between 1980 and 2012 were far higher than previously thought – in some cases, as much as double the amount previously estimated, according to a new scientific study.
How mini-farms can achieve maxi-production
10 Feb 2017
Tiny, biointensive operations show smallholder farmers from around the world how they can grow far more food than conventional approaches.
EU must end coal by 2030 to meet Paris goals
10 Feb 2017
To hold global warming below 2deg, the 28-state EU bloc needs to smash dependence on coalby the end of next decade.
Relying on foreign credits dangerous, say officials
9 Feb 2017
New Zealand cannot rely on international carbon credits to meet its emissions reductions targets after 2030, officials have told the Government, warning that credits could be expensive and in short supply.
Norway spearheads Europe's electric vehicle surge
9 Feb 2017
Oslo, Norway’s capital, like most of the Scandinavian country’s cities and towns, boasts bus-lane access for electric vehicles, recharging stations aplenty, privileged parking, and toll-free travel for electric cars.
Climate change can move mountains
9 Feb 2017
A warming climate will fundamentally change the chemistry of mountain soils by shifting the balance of nutrients, visibly disrupting fragile, high-elevation ecosystems of grasses, flowers and trees within decades.
We need an environment offsets market, says TOP
8 Feb 2017
New Zealand needs a strong market in environmental offsets, says Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities Party.
UK plans to get rid of diesel vehicles ... and soon
8 Feb 2017
A scheme that would see the scrapping of diesel cars could be introduced in just months as part of a plan to lower emissions and improve air quality across the UK.
US sees electric vehicle sales soar
8 Feb 2017
Following a 5 per cent decline in sales from 2014 to 2015, US electric vehicle sales jumped by 37 per cent in 2016.
Scientists call for unravelling of basic climate change
8 Feb 2017
A group of distinguished climate scientists has called for a massive international co-operation to understand absolutely basic climate change.
Seawater puts a dent in delta rice production
8 Feb 2017
Urgent action is being called for to prevent salt intrusion causing severe damage to rice production and loss of drinking water in Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Polyol levy plan attracts three submissions
7 Feb 2017
Three people have made submissions on Government plans to put a carbon charge on imported goods containing polyol.
Tourism can make the world cleaner and greener
7 Feb 2017
OPINION | Tourism can be a force for good – depending how you do it, say World Tourism Organisation director-general TALEB RIFAI, United Nations Environment executive-director ERIK SOLHEIM and UNFCCC head PATRICIA ESPINOSA.
Miners again free to flatten mountaintops
7 Feb 2017
Blowing up mountaintops to strip them of coal just got easier, as Congressional lawmakers killed a freshly issued Obama administration rule that protected streams from mining waste.
Flights to slip under radar of EU emissions limits
7 Feb 2017
International flights in and out of the European Union could be exempted from emissions limits for at least another four years to give the United Nations time to implement a global system to curb pollution from planes.
Include farming in ETS, says former climate envoy
3 Feb 2017
Our former climate ambassador says that agriculture should be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme – even if it is treated differently.
US opens door to NZ ecolabelled manufacturers
3 Feb 2017
Kiwi paint and floor-covering manufacturers licensed by Environmental Choice New Zealand will find it easier to crack markets in the United States markets this year.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY: Can waste solve the waste problem?
3 Feb 2017
OPINION | Aurecon's manufacturing market director Tim Plenderleith takes a glimpse at the future of manufacturing in a resource-constrained world.
Wind turbines again head for the home straight
3 Feb 2017
A new type of small wind turbine for home electricity generation, intended to match the popularity and potential of solar power, is being developed in Europe.
E-cars and cheap solar could sink fossil fuels by 2020
3 Feb 2017
Falling costs of electric vehicles and solar panels could halt worldwide growth in demand for oil and coal by 2020, a new report has suggested.
Authority set to hear solar panel 'tax' case
2 Feb 2017
The action of Hawke’s Bay lines company Unison Network in imposing a “tax” on customers who also use electricity from solar panels is to go before the Electricity Authority.
Energy leaders to hear the word from grid godfather
2 Feb 2017
The man known as the Godfather of the Smart Grid is coming to New Zealand.
Hydropower can be more environmentally friendly
2 Feb 2017
Hydropower provides 85 per cent of the world’s renewable electricity, but comes with a hefty environmental price tag.
EU hails clean energy 'year of delivery'
2 Feb 2017
The European Union is on track to meet its renewable energy, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas emission targets for 2020 following a 'year of delivery' across the renewables sector.
Linking carbon market would be a clever move
1 Feb 2017
New Zealand could cut the cost of meeting its international emissions reductions targets by linking its carbon market to emerging markets in Asia.
When the heat is on, we need city-wide plans to keep cool
1 Feb 2017
On top of another record hot year globally, and as heatwaves become more frequent and intense, our cities are making us even hotter.
Small-scale hydro makes a big difference
1 Feb 2017
It’s hard to appreciate the difference electricity makes to your life, unless you’ve ever had to live entirely without it.
Tesla batteries give California grid a boost
1 Feb 2017
Just off a freeway in Southern California, 396 refrigerator-size stacks of Tesla batteries, encased in white metal, have been hastily erected with a new mission: to suck up electricity from the grid during the day and feed it back into the system as needed, especially in the evening.
Government's new-energy action does little, says report
31 Jan 2017
The Government’s National Policy Statement on Renewable Electricity has had little impact on the consenting process for renewable energy projects, a review has found.
Giant US coal-fired power plant might close
31 Jan 2017
The largest coal-fired power plant in the West of the US could close later this year, a major symbolic blow to the future of coal as the backbone of America’s electric power grid.
EDS slams meaningless energy efficiency plans
27 Jan 2017
The Government is being told its latest plan to improve energy efficiency in New Zealand is misleading and brings its efforts on climate change into disrepute.
Can we learn to leave our wild forests alone?
27 Jan 2017
Here is how to turn a forest into a carbon-consuming machine that will help to contain global warming. Leave it alone. Let it grow. Do not log it.
How tiny microbes are revolutionising big agriculture
27 Jan 2017
Walk into your typical US or UK grocery store and feast your eyes on an amazing bounty of fresh and processed foods. In most industrialised countries, it’s hard to imagine that food production is one of the greatest challenges we will face in the coming decades.
Shampoo maker finds use for ocean of waste plastic
27 Jan 2017
Beaches strewn with plastic waste have become a graphic illustration of just how much plastic we use in everything from food packaging to cosmetics, and how much of it gets thrown away.
Emissions rules unfair, say coastal ship operators
26 Jan 2017
New Zealand shipping companies say it is unfair they are paying for their greenhouse gas emissions but international companies competing with them on coastal routes are not.
EV charging stations to get standard set-up
26 Jan 2017
The Government is standardising public electric-vehicle charging stations.
Electric cars will not stem global demand for oil, says BP
26 Jan 2017
Global demand for oil will still be growing in 2035 even with an enormous growth in electric cars in the next two decades, with numbers on the road rising from 1m to 100m, BP has predicted.
Local govt shake-up risks weakened environmental outcomes – Commissioner
Fri 27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s push to simplify local government is "deeply flawed" and has been launched without a clear understanding of which functions must remain regional, according to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
Govt plan to encourage new energy investment won’t cut costs for ordinary Kiwis
Thu 26 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | While gentailers and major energy users have welcomed the Government’s plan to leverage public sector demand to drive new energy projects, an expert says it is unlikely to reduce prices for ordinary people.
Govt's solar on farms initiative to cut costs, boost resilience
17 Feb 2026
Farms across Aotearoa will begin installing solar panels and battery systems as part of a government-backed demonstration programme designed to test whether on-farm renewable energy can reduce electricity costs and improve energy security for the food and fibre sector.
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.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
Today 12:30pm
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Tairāwhiti needs proper Govt support to heal the land – not empty announcements for political optics
24 Feb 2026
OPINION: The Government’s answer to Tairāwhiti’s severe erosion crisis – that the region apply for modest, contestable funding rounds – while rejecting the region's own land transition business case, leaves our long-term resilience hanging in the balance, writes Manu Caddie.
Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution
12 Feb 2026
A New Zealand startup is launching what it says is the world’s first plastic-free effervescent drink tablet, with the ambitious aim of eliminating bottled beverages to reduce global plastic pollution.
