New Zealand: All stories
Wind turbines pay back life cycle carbon emissions in less than two years, NZ study finds
21 May 2024
Wind turbines in New Zealand pay back their lifecycle carbon emissions after just 1.5 years of operation, researchers from Victoria University in Wellington have found.
Farms could be the backbone of Aotearoa’s renewable energy future
17 May 2024
If each of New Zealand’s 50,000 farms installed a midsize solar array they would generate about two-thirds of the country’s current electricity needs.
Concern over job losses at Scion
17 May 2024
Foresters are “deeply apprehensive” over potential redundancies of scientists at Scion, with a proposed 30 jobs losses - about 10% the forestry crown research institute’s workforce.
Media round-up
17 May 2024
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in local media: How denser housing can be greener too; carbon credits might need to be cut as NZ Steel's efficient furnace comes online; and the prime minister tips a 'robust response' to climate change in the upcoming budget.
Infrastructure Commission finds some progress on climate - but road-building won’t solve congestion
16 May 2024
By Liz Kivi | The coalition government has reaffirmed its focus on roads just days after a major report from the Infrastructure Commission said we can’t build our way out of congestion.
ETS consultation suggests lower prices for NZUs
15 May 2024
A new consultation document from the Ministry for the Environment suggests lowering the auction floor price for the Emissions Trading Scheme, as well as lowering the trigger price for the cost containment reserve.
Aotearoa gives $17 million for PNG renewable energy
15 May 2024
A $17 million contribution to a renewable energy project on the Island of Bougainville is part of a $44.9 million package announced by foreign minister Winston Peter in Port Moresby earlier this week.
Govt seizes possible energy shortfall as PR opportunity?
14 May 2024
Last week was a remarkable one for the energy sector. It started with the government seizing on the latest gas data to set up a committee to ensure gas supply was maintained for “critical users”.
NZ must avoid environmental mistakes of the past: new book
14 May 2024
A new book about the Environmental Defence Society is full of salient lessons for today, including why the government’s proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill shouldn’t override environmental protections, according to its author.
Study highlights agreement on climate adaptation
14 May 2024
Scientists have looked over all the submissions to the National Adaptation Plan, finding the common ground among differing interest groups like businesses, environmental organisations, and iwi.
Court of Appeal rejects student climate change case
13 May 2024
The Court of Appeal last week dismissed an appeal by Victoria University students that sought a judicial review of the minister of energy and resources' decision to grant petroleum exploration permits.
Retiring diesel buses early would cut total emissions
13 May 2024
In terms of total emissions, it’s far better to take diesel buses off the road and replace them with electric buses, a Waka Kotahi study has found.
Cross-party inquiry to develop climate adaptation framework
10 May 2024
Climate change minister Simon Watts has announced a cross-party inquiry to develop an enduring framework to prepare and adapt for the effects of climate change.
Enough fiddling: The ETS needs to be allowed to do its job
10 May 2024
By Andrew Cushen | OPINION: While it isn’t perfect, the Emissions Trading Scheme is the only tool in our climate response that is working at the scale we need to meet the challenge in front of us. Turning this off or restricting it will impact us all environmentally, socially, and economically.
Media round-up
10 May 2024
In our weekly round-up of climate coverage in local media: The ‘bolshie' teen activist who isn't backing down; an obscure climate accounting decision with billion dollar consequences; and is the government hyping the gas crisis?
Budget will support low-emissions economy: Willis
9 May 2024
Finance minister Nicola Willis says this year's Budget will include investing in infrastructure to support a low emissions economy.
Major conference for Pacific experts on Indigenous knowledge and climate crisis
9 May 2024
More than 60 Pacific experts are at a conference looking at the intersection between Indigenous knowledge and the climate crisis, hosted by the University of Canterbury.
East coast residents might destroy forests if land use changes don’t go far enough
8 May 2024
Tairāwhiti residents are furious that pine plantation owners are pushing back against rule changes to protect catchments from the impacts of harvest slash and sediment, and are calling for a halt to new forestry plantings.
How the fast-track law could expose future NZ governments to expensive trade disputes
8 May 2024
By Jane Kelsey - The Conversation | Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by the present government were extinguished by any future administration.
Govt looking at policy to restrict forestry in the ETS: Watts
7 May 2024
By Liz Kivi | The government is looking at complementary policies around land use to restrict forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme, rather than making changes directly to the scheme.
OECD calls for review of how forestry is treated under ETS
7 May 2024
By Jeremy Rose | The OECD says the government should review the ETS with a focus on the treatment of carbon removals through afforestation.
Kiwi company aims to make alternative protein from carbon emissions
6 May 2024
A New Zealand-based start-up has raised $1 million towards commercialising production of an alternative protein made with carbon emissions.
Vanuatu tops sustainable wellbeing index
6 May 2024
Vanuatu has been declared the country that comes closest to achieving sustainable wellbeing in this year’s Happy Planet Index.
NZU stockpile grows to 169 million in last quarter
3 May 2024
The NZU stockpile is up about 9 million tonnes, according to the latest quarterly update from the Environmental Protection Authority.
Media round-up
3 May 2024
In our weekly round-up of local climate coverage: How a landmark legal victory in Europe could affect New Zealand; Iwi and business lay down a wero for the climate minister; and is Aotearoa really bringing in Indonesian coal every month just to keep the lights on?
Culture wars threaten climate change progress: James Shaw
2 May 2024
By Jeremy Rose | Former Green Party co-leader James Shaw used his valedictory speech yesterday to warn that partisans – some of them current cabinet ministers – were stoking a culture war to sabotage the bi-partisan agreement on a frame-work to tackle climate change.
Changes to oil and gas decommissioning regime coming
2 May 2024
The Australian and United Kingdom’s oil and gas decommissioning regimes are being considered as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones said.
Fast-charger trickle begins
1 May 2024
The government has announced the first of its promised 10,000 new high-speed EV chargers will be in service by mid this year.
Sustainability the price of admittance to offshore markets: report
1 May 2024
Eighty percent of New Zealand exports, by value, go to countries with climate related disclosures – proposed or in force.
Carbon market ‘rational’: Shaw
30 Apr 2024
Former climate change minister James Shaw says the low carbon price is the market acting rationally to current policy settings and what is likely to come in the future.
High-risk properties face rising insurance premiums
30 Apr 2024
Insurance premiums are increasingly reflecting detailed assessments of a property’s flood and earthquake risk, according to the Reserve Bank.
Fast-track Approvals Bill ‘serious risk’ to NZ exporters: Environmental Defence Society
29 Apr 2024
Exporters should be ‘deeply concerned’ that the Fast-track Approvals Bill has not been assessed for consistency with any of New Zealand’s free trade agreements, according to the Environmental Defence Society.
Kiwis still don’t understand electrifying benefits
29 Apr 2024
It will come as a surprise to many in the sector that many New Zealand households still don’t understand the benefits of electrification.
Climate Change Minister now in Cabinet after reshuffle
26 Apr 2024
Climate Change minister Simon Watts now has a seat at the Cabinet table.
NZ bottom of heap for EV chargers
26 Apr 2024
New Zealand has the fewest public EV chargers per EV of any member country of the International Energy Agency.
No plans to exit Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance: Simon Watts
24 Apr 2024
By Jeremy Rose | New Zealand is an associate member of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) an international grouping committed to ending “new concessions, licensing or leasing rounds.”
Hiringa launches Australasia’s first zero-emissions hydrogen refuelling network
24 Apr 2024
Green hydrogen company Hiringa Energy has launched Australasia’s first zero-emissions hydrogen refuelling network.
Rain brings relief to hydro lakes
24 Apr 2024
Recent heavy rain over the southern hydro lakes has given much needed relief as the major electricity companies reported on their performance to date.
NZ to cooperate with Philippines on international climate target, pledges $41 million climate finance to Southeast Asia
23 Apr 2024
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand has made its first tentative step towards forging an international agreement to meet its United Nations climate target by buying offshore offsetting.
Banks need to actively manage climate-related risks: Reserve Bank
23 Apr 2024
Too little climate action taken too late will cut banks’ profits, but won’t threaten bank solvency or financial stability, according to the latest Reserve Bank modelling.
Fast-Track legislation wrong track for climate targets, say lawyers
22 Apr 2024
Fast-Track legislation will take New Zealand further off track from meeting climate change obligations - and places the country at risk of breaching them, according to Lawyers for Climate Action.
Is a storm brewing for NZ dairy production?
22 Apr 2024
By Nick Swallow | OPINION: Animal proteins make up 40% of New Zealand’s exports. So why aren’t we talking about alternative proteins, which look set to disrupt the dairy industry along with a major source of our country’s wealth?
Australia's climate change policy threat to the Pacific: former Tuvalu PM
19 Apr 2024
By Jeremy Rose | Former Tuvalu prime minister Enele Sopoaga declared Australia’s climate change policy a threat to the survival of the Pacific at a gathering in Wellington yesterday.
Climate crisis will reduce NZ economy by up to 10% according to international study
19 Apr 2024
Climate change is projected to reduce the global economy by 19% by 2049, and New Zealand will be among the countries feeling the pinch.
Media round-up
19 Apr 2024
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in local media: Could Te Kuha coal mine be a candidate for ‘goodbye Freddy’? scientists argue that the government's methane inquiry is a chance to build consensus; and is the government planning to 'quietly fail' on climate targets?
NZ agrees to cooperate on carbon markets with Singapore and Thailand
18 Apr 2024
New Zealand has signed separate partnership agreements with Singapore and Thailand, saying the countries will work together on carbon markets as one of several green economy measures.
Emissions down for 2022
18 Apr 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions fell by 4% in 2022, according to new figures.
Mining more coal will help pay for climate change journey: Shane Jones
17 Apr 2024
By Jeremy Rose | Resources minister Shane Jones told RNZ this morning that digging up more coal would help deliver the economic surplus required to meet the country’s climate change commitments.
Highly productive land decreasing as agricultural land use intensifies, carbon forestry set to increase
17 Apr 2024
The latest environmental report outlines the pressure on land and soil from changes in use and invasive species.
Five reasons why the Fast-track Approvals Bill threatens NZ’s already fragile ecosystems
17 Apr 2024
By Margaret Stanley | Conservation “good news” stories – the release of native birds into new habitats, for example – are always welcome.
Cuts to climate finance put exports in jeopardy: Lawyers
23 May 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has halved international climate finance, a move aid organisations describe as “devastating,” and which lawyers say could put our Paris Agreement commitments and export market access at risk.
Could ‘orange’ hydrogen be NZ’s key to net-zero?
Fri 30 May 2025
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand could be sitting on resources for a thriving multi-billion-dollar, low-carbon hydrogen economy, which might even be capable of creating a net reduction of carbon dioxide, according to scientists.
Fed Farmers ‘ready to go into battle’ over methane target
21 May 2025
Federated Farmers say they will never accept a 24% methane reduction target, and they are prepared to go into battle with the government over the issue.
Carbon price too low to fund carbon capture
20 May 2025
The government’s climate target to 2030 is at risk, after revelations that a carbon capture project which the government was relying on to deliver one third of its carbon reductions, might not go ahead.
While govt ‘refreshes’ fund for low carbon trucks, are transport emissions set to accelerate?
Wed 28 May 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has announced it is updating the Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund, however cuts to funds to decarbonise transport in last week’s budget, and potential changes to road user charges, could stall transport emissions reductions.
Council delays forestry plan as national rules remain unclear
21 May 2025
Tairāwhiti’s forestry reforms are facing fresh delays, with Gisborne District Council now tying its plan changes to national direction that remains uncertain.
Kiwi cleantech companies on the world stage
27 May 2025
Six New Zealand 'cleantech' companies were in Singapore earlier this month, along with a venture capital firm and the MacDiarmid Institute, to meet investors and multinational partners.
