New Zealand: All stories
US oil sector fights climate disclosure push
25 Jul 2016
Oil companies say a campaign by environmentalists to force them to reveal more about their climate change risks and carbon emissions in financial documents could cause "disclosure overload" that would not better inform investors.
Our forests key to the future, say scientists
22 Jul 2016
Heavy-emitting businesses could be buying more than $500 million worth of forestry credits a year by 2025, says the Crown Research Institute Scion.
UN awards us a fail mark for handling of environment
22 Jul 2016
New Zealand’s poor environmental management – including action on climate change and sustainable agriculture – has scored it a fail mark on five of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Tesla unveils plans for new vehicle types
22 Jul 2016
Tesla Motors has outlined a new model for vehicle sharing and disclosed plans for several new electric vehicles, including much heavier trucks.
Nations urged to back airlines carbon scheme
22 Jul 2016
Governments are being urged to support a proposed United Nations carbon offset scheme to ensure airlines can tackle climate change at a global level.
Labour-Greens vow to champion clean-energy business
21 Jul 2016
Clean-tech manufacturing would have a seat at the Cabinet table under a Labour-Greens government.
Let's not rush carbon tax, says economist
21 Jul 2016
Research results saying New Zealand needs a carbon tax as well as the Emissions Trading Scheme should be investigated further before being adopted as policy, says an economist involved in emissions reduction modelling for the Government.
The future of Big Oil? At Shell, it's not oil
21 Jul 2016
At Australia’s Curtis Island, you can see Big Oil morphing into Big Gas. Just off the northeastern coast lies a 667-acre liquefied natural gas terminal owned by Royal Dutch Shell, an engineering feat of staggering complexity.
Audi plans e-car push to put heat on Tesla
21 Jul 2016
Audi will aim for electric cars to account for a quarter of its sales by 2025 as part of a strategic overhaul following the emissions scandal at parent Volkswagen Group, company sources said, in a move that could step up the challenge to Tesla Motors.
How farmers, big emitters blow our carbon budget
20 Jul 2016
More than 90 per cent of New Zealand’s carbon budget for the 2020s will be spent on subsidising agriculture and trade-exposed heavy emitters, government estimates show.
Minister reports on second stage of ETS review
20 Jul 2016
Climate change minister Paula Bennett has reported to her colleagues on the second stage of the Emissions Trading Scheme review.
Offshore windfarms power ahead in Europe
20 Jul 2016
Falling costs mean that power generated by offshore wind farms is becoming increasingly competitive with other fuels – and that’s good news for the climate.
Drones set to play big role in change to renewables
20 Jul 2016
Energy providers are looking at the emergent technology of drones to help them with their day-to-day maintenance of renewables installations and to decrease their costs.
America's booming marijuana industry is an energy hog
20 Jul 2016
As Americans go to the polls in November, at least four states will consider ballot questions on marijuana legalisation.
Carbon policy proposals fail to impress Beehive
19 Jul 2016
Two policy proposals floated in Carbon News yesterday – a Climate Responsibility Act, and combining carbon trading with a carbon tax and a cut in the goods and services tax – have not impressed the Government.
Humans leave greater green fingerprints
19 Jul 2016
Evidence of increased greening of the northern hemisphere over the past half-century points to the dominant effect human-induced greenhouse gases have on climate.
Solar farms offer bonus for tropical crops
19 Jul 2016
Research in England shows that solar farms reduce local temperature and provide shade, enabling crops in hot and desert climates to flourish.
Why we need a carbon tax ... as well as an ETS
18 Jul 2016
New Zealand needs a carbon tax as well as the Emissions Trading Scheme if it is to meet its promise to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, new research shows.
CLIMATE COSTS: Someone needs to be responsible
18 Jul 2016
A Climate Responsibility Act is being mooted to protect New Zealand from irresponsible environmental management in the same way the Fiscal Responsibility Act protects it from irresponsible financial management.
DROUGHT-DODGER: Let's hear it for the humble bean
18 Jul 2016
Scientists have found that some varieties of beans − a vital food crop grown on every continent except Antarctica − have developed ways of coping with the climate-related droughts that threaten them.
Major nations spend billions saving forests
18 Jul 2016
Forests straddling the equator are critical to a stable climate because they store vast amounts of carbon, and a new study finds that five developed countries are spending billions of dollars to keep those forests intact.
Monkey business threatening India's solar development
18 Jul 2016
Indian officials are looking into offering insurance for solar panel owners that would cover natural disasters, extreme weather, theft ... and monkey damage.
Subsidy loss will cost dairy farmers a 'low' $4588
15 Jul 2016
Removal of the one-for-two carbon subsidy will cost dairy farmers $4588 and households between $66 and $99 - costs that Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett says are “relatively low”.
Firms made closure threats over 1:2 subsidy change
15 Jul 2016
Four companies threatened to close if the Government removed the one-for-two carbon subsidy.
POWER STRUGGLE: Why the energy market doesn't work
15 Jul 2016
The energy market must be fundamentally redesigned to deal with climate change, say the authors of two studies comparing the impacts of photovoltaics and fossil fuels supply chains.
New energy putting a dent in emissions
15 Jul 2016
Americans are using less electricity as buildings become more energy-efficient and industrial power demand weakens.
POWER SHOCK: Just how climate friendly are we?
14 Jul 2016
New Zealand’s electricity generation might not be as climate friendly as we think.
LanzaTech accumulates losses of $166m
14 Jul 2016
LanzaTech, the New Zealand-founded carbon recycling company, has widened its annual loss on falling revenue as it gears up for full commercialisation of its innovative technology.
Three reasons to be cheerful about the 1.5deg target
14 Jul 2016
The recent streak of record-breaking temperatures has shown that climate change is not waiting for the world to take decisive action.
Aviation industry preparing for ‘eleventh hour’ deal
14 Jul 2016
An agreement on curbing emissions from international flights will be reached at the ICAO general assembly this year, according to industry sources, while biofuels continue to struggle to emerge as a long-term solution for greening the sector.
Hotel installs biggest rooftop solar array in US
14 Jul 2016
The largest rooftop solar array in the United States has been installed on top of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Toyota to import used hybrids to fill market gap
13 Jul 2016
Toyota says it will import second-hand Prius plug-in hybrids to meet what it sees as a gap in the market for “reasonably priced” low-emissions vehicles.
ETS REVIEW: Plenty are talking about agriculture
13 Jul 2016
The Government might have wanted agriculture kept out of the current review of the Emissions Trading Scheme, but that hasn’t stopped scores of people, ranging from Air New Zealand to the country’s Catholic bishops, talking about it anyway.
No worries, says Republican Party, coal is clean
13 Jul 2016
The Republican National Convention's draft platform officially describes coal as "an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource."
Forester urges Govt to remove carbon market risks
12 Jul 2016
New Zealand will not get forestry investment on the scale needed to tackle climate change unless it cuts risk associated with the carbon market, says a company that planted 6500 hectares of carbon forests in the heyday of the Emissions Trading Scheme.
How a single word sparked a four-year saga of climate fact-checking and blog backlash
12 Jul 2016
By JOELLE GERGIS | In May 2012, my colleagues and I had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Climate, showing that temperatures recorded in New Zealand and Australia since 1950 were warmer than at any time in the past 1000 years.
Meet the woman who took on Canada’s tar sand barons
12 Jul 2016
Canada’s tar sand fields remind environmentalist Tzeporah Berman of Mordor, the evil land of fire and death in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Disturbing forests damages natural diversity
12 Jul 2016
By TIM RADFORD | It is not enough just to conserve forest. It may be just as important not to disturb any of it.
BONUS BILLION: Our untouched energy potential
11 Jul 2016
New Zealand businesses have a billion dollars worth of unrealised energy efficiency potential, says the head of the country’s energy conservation authority.
VW emissions scandal fuels corporate doubts
11 Jul 2016
Volkswagen has told the US Department of Justice that it will be paying nearly $15 billion in an effort to settle claims made by motorists in the US following the scandal over vehicle emissions.
Reducing water pollution with microbes and wood chips
11 Jul 2016
New Zealand scientists have played an important part in international efforts to develop systems that clean water flowing from farm tile drains.
World's largest storage battery will power LA
11 Jul 2016
More than 18,000 lithium ion battery packs could replace a gas-fired power plant used to meet peak demand in Los Angeles.
Electric Highway to expand in UK
11 Jul 2016
Ecotricity will start charging electric car drivers for using its British Electric Highway – Europe’s most comprehensive car charging network.
Road emissions rising ... at just the wrong time
8 Jul 2016
New Zealand’s transport emissions are expected to increase at the very time they need to fall to meet the country’s Paris Agreement target, a new analysis shows.
Bennett keen to talk with opposition parties
8 Jul 2016
Climate change minister Paula Bennett says she wants to talk to other political parties.
Fonterra signs on as biodiesel pioneer
8 Jul 2016
Dairy co-operative Fonterra has signed up as the first customer for Z Energy’s new biodiesel.
Climate change website dries up
8 Jul 2016
The Government’s climate change website – a one-stop shop for all climate-related Government business– is no more.
More companies looking beyond lightbulbs
8 Jul 2016
More companies are showing an interest in generating all of their energy and installing microgrids for the best available resiliency.
CLIMATE CRUNCH: Is the political ice beginning to melt?
7 Jul 2016
Cross-party political agreement on climate change action might have come a step closer.
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.
