New Zealand: All stories
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.
How nuclear records paper over the flaws
7 Jul 2016
The nuclear industry is celebrating breaking records that have stood for a quarter of a century − but a new update on its successes still fails to disperse the clouds over its future.
FULL OF BEANS: Pulses should fill the food basket
7 Jul 2016
Three years ago, the United Nations passed a resolution declaring 2016 the International Year of the Pulse.
London to make dirty cars pay
7 Jul 2016
Older, dirtier cars will have to pay a £10 pollution charge to drive in central London, according to plans set out by Lord Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Piles of dirty secrets behind clean coal project
7 Jul 2016
A Mississippi project, a centerpiece of President Obama’s climate plan, has been plagued by problems that managers tried to conceal, and by cost overruns and questions of who will pay.
US farmers turn their tobacco into jet fuel
7 Jul 2016
As the demand for tobacco declines in the US, farmers in Virginia are experimenting with turning the crop into viable biofuel.
Greens slam Government for climate failures
6 Jul 2016
The Government is failing to prepare New Zealand for the impacts of climate change – and has slashed millions of dollars of funding for domestic policy advice on the issue, the Green Party says.
BURNING ISSUE: One fire service way to go, say Greens
6 Jul 2016
Amalgamation of the country’s two fire services should help them to prepare for the impacts of climate change – more fires and floods, says Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage.
Vector adds up benefits of charging stations
6 Jul 2016
Vector says its seven electric vehicle charging stations in Auckland have potentially prevented 29,000 kilograms of carbon emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
Humans drive evolution, creating and destroying species
6 Jul 2016
Researchers increasingly are looking at the idea that humans, through animal domestication, relocation and hunting, have become an evolutionary driving force that has led to new species, new traits and novel ecosystems.
Paris bans old polluting cars
6 Jul 2016
Paris has banned old polluting cars from the streets as part of its efforts to combat air pollution.
Do cows get seasick? Here comes the floating dairy farm
6 Jul 2016
Do cows get seasick? It’s not a question farmers often ask, except in the Dutch city of Rotterdam where a team of developers plans to build a floating dairy.
Global bond market mobilises for climate change
5 Jul 2016
Nearly $NZ100 billion has been invested in climate bonds, a new global report says.
Norway eyes full carbon capture by 2022
5 Jul 2016
Norway says that by 2022 it could realise every step in the development of a technology many see as critical to reducing global carbon emissions, carbon capture and storage.
ETS changes you might not know about ...
4 Jul 2016
The public attention might be on the Government’s review of the Emissions Trading Scheme. But behind the headlines other, quiet, changes are being made.
Energy leaders renew faith in renewables
4 Jul 2016
Energy Ministers and senior officials meeting at the G20 energy ministers’ meeting in Beijing have recognised recent progress to scale up renewable energy and examined opportunities for even greater action today.
Red alert sounds in the Arctic
4 Jul 2016
German scientists have fingered a new suspect in the great glacial melting mystery.
Green and cool roofs provide relief for hot cities
4 Jul 2016
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and the United Nations projects that this share will rise to 70 per cent by 2050.
Clinton's ambitious plan avoids carbon tax
4 Jul 2016
Hillary Clinton has promised to one-up President Obama on climate change, vowing to produce a third of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources by 2027, while spending billions of dollars to transform the energy economy.
Argentina to launch landmark renewables programme
4 Jul 2016
Argentina will launch an innovative renewable energy programme on August 22 with a public auction to buy 1000 MW of renewable energy.
What do you do with 162 million tonnes of manure?
4 Jul 2016
Americans' access to cheap meat comes at a cost: Millions of tonnes of manure and toxic pollutants which threaten some of the nation's most important waterways.
Treasury willing to set up sea-level watchdog group
1 Jul 2016
Treasury has told the Government it is willing to look at setting up a working group on the economic and fiscal impacts of sea-level rise from climate change.
Here's the weather report ... and it's not good
1 Jul 2016
Droughts, floods, storms, cyclones – the latest official predictions of the likely impacts of climate change on New Zealand make alarming reading.
BIKEBAHN: Germany building world’s biggest bicycle highway
1 Jul 2016
With the rise of popularity of e-bikes, Germany is building the world’s biggest bicycle “autobahn” of 62-miles, connecting 10 cities.
Brexit hot air causes climate project problems
1 Jul 2016
The shock waves felt round the world at the UK’s decision in a referendum to leave the European Union will have unexpected consequences for some major projects linked to climate change.
Ozone hole appears to be healing, scientists say
1 Jul 2016
The vast hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica appears to be healing, scientists say, putting the world on track to eventually remedy one of the biggest environmental concerns of the 1980s and 90s.
WEAK WORDS: We need clear advice, says watchdog
30 Jun 2016
New Zealand’s top environmental watchdog says that officials should be issuing clear warnings and advice about the implications of climate change.
Bill and I haven't talked sea level, admits Bennett
30 Jun 2016
Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett says she has not asked Finance Minister Bill English to set up a working group to assess the economic impacts of rising sea levels, as recommended by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
Gases tracker tells a tale
30 Jun 2016
Want to get a handle on the nature of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions? Have a look at the Ministry for the Environment’s new emissions tracker.
TRASH TO TREASURE: Mining waste can be mined again
30 Jun 2016
Mines typically follow a set path from prospecting, to development, to extraction and finally closure as the finite resources are exhausted. But does that really need to be the end of the mine’s productive life?
Why electric cars need to boost market share
30 Jun 2016
Electric vehicles will need to increase their combined market share to 16 per cent by 2020 to achieve the aggressive fuel economy standards set by regulators, according to new research by the World Energy Council.
Politicians not helping, says climate academic
29 Jun 2016
Carbon dioxide emissions are rising faster than ever – and political claims that population growth is causing it don’t help, says one of New Zealand’s leading climate scientists.
Government makes energy-use facts available
29 Jun 2016
Three years’ worth of information on New Zealand’s energy use is now available to the public.
How China can harness wind of change
29 Jun 2016
Strategically siting wind turbines where their energy can most easily be fed into the national grid could help to meet more than a quarter of China’s massive electricity demand.
Oakland votes to ban coal shipments
29 Jun 2016
Officials in Oakland, California, have effectively ended proposals to open a new coal export terminal by voting to ban the transport and storage of the fossil fuel within city limits.
Siemens freezes UK wind power investment
29 Jun 2016
Siemens is putting new wind power investment plans in the UK on hold due to uncertainty caused by last week’s Brexit vote.
Rolls-Royce sets 2020 for crewless cargo ships
28 Jun 2016
Massive crewless cargo ships plying the world's oceans may sound far-fetched, but Rolls-Royce has been working on the idea for a number of years and now says it expects the first remotely controlled vessels to be in operation by 2020.
Wind and solar have won – it’s too late for the rest
28 Jun 2016
Across the world, solar photovoltaics and wind are the dominant clean energy technologies. This dominance is likely to become overwhelming over the next few years, preventing other clean energy from growing much.
Germany agrees to ban fracking
28 Jun 2016
German politicians have approved a law that bans fracking, ending years of dispute over the controversial technology to release oil and gas locked deep underground.
Sweden tests world’s first electric road
27 Jun 2016
Sweden just opened a test electric road of two kilometres, which allows electric vehicles to connect to an overhead system similar to light rail.
How science can strengthen endangered plants
27 Jun 2016
As the human population swells – and in the face of a changing and unpredictable climate – the demand for natural resources increases. This leads to distressing rates of deforestation to prepare land for agriculture, medicinal and forestry products. Related to this is an alarming reduction in species worldwide.
Berlin pulls out of fossil fuels
27 Jun 2016
Berlin’s parliament has voted to pull its money out of coal, gas and oil companies.
EMISSIONS EDICT: Time to act, says Toyota chief
24 Jun 2016
New Zealand businesses should now be asking how they are going to cut emissions in line with the country’s international pledges – even if those commitments are not yet going far enough, says Toyota New Zealand managing director Alistair Davis.
Pacific Islands call for fossil fuel phase-out, NZ hangs back
Today 11:00am
By Liz Kivi | Pacific Islands nations have launched a landmark declaration for a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, calling for a Fossil Fuel Treaty and urgent phase-out of fossil fuels, however New Zealand isn’t rushing to join the call.
Going concern status flags depth of Methanex NZ's gas crisis
Tue 21 Apr 2026
Methanex's New Zealand operation is relying on financial support from its Canadian parent to remain a going concern after a second consecutive year of asset impairments left the business with negative equity.
Fonterra admits ‘100% grass-fed’ claim breached law in greenwashing row
2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Fonterra has admitted its “100% New Zealand grass-fed” claims on Anchor butter were misleading and breached the law, settling a case brought by Greenpeace Aotearoa over packaging used between December 2023 and April 2025.
Climate pollution static but NZ still on track for first emissions budget, says MfE
Fri 17 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand is still on track to meet its first emissions budget, according to the Ministry for the Environment, despite the pace of emissions reductions slowing to a standstill.
NZ’s latest push to roll out more EV chargers is a good thing – but can it go the distance?
14 Apr 2026
A $50 million plan to expand New Zealand’s public electric vehicle (EV) charging network marks another step toward a lower-emissions transport system.
Wilding conifers continue to plague Southland
Fri 17 Apr 2026
By Matthew Rosenberg, Local Democracy Reporter | Fast-spreading conifer trees are causing headaches in Southland as inconsistent funding continues to hinder control efforts.
Victorian Hydrogen announces Southland urea fertiliser project using coal
Wed 22 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Australian-based Victorian Hydrogen has announced it is developing a new 1.5 million-tonne-a-year urea fertiliser operation in Southland, which it will apply for under fast-track legislation.
