New Zealand: All stories
Angry foresters want end to 1:2 subsidy
23 Feb 2016
Forest owners want the one-for-two subsidy gone – and are angry that the Government is likely to give heavy emitters extra free credits to cushion the blow.
ETS key is clear direction, say officials
23 Feb 2016
Officials have told new Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett that if the Emissions Trading Scheme is going to work it must have a clear, long-term direction.
We're streets ahead on renewables, says Mighty River
23 Feb 2016
Mighty River Power says it has gone “beyond 100 per cent renewable” generation.
OPINION: Our forest industry is heading south
23 Feb 2016
New Zealand’s third-largest export industry, forestry, is steadily shrinking.
Vector increases charging points at Auckland e-car station
23 Feb 2016
Vector says its Auckland city electric vehicle charging stations are getting busy.
British power stations burning biomass from America
23 Feb 2016
Last year, 6m tonnes of wood pellets harvested from forests in Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Virginia were shipped across the Atlantic, to be burnt in renewable biomass power plants.
Climate change is killing off India’s giant bees
23 Feb 2016
A warming climate and the loss of natural areas to meet the demands of tourism are driving Indian bee colonies to the brink, imperilling an essential food source.
New minister pushes for carbon price rise
22 Feb 2016
Carbon prices must rise, says new Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett.
NZ to promote international markets idea at UN
22 Feb 2016
A push by New Zealand to develop credible international carbon markets will take a step forward when United Nations climate change negotiators meet in May.
Late flurry lifts ETS submissions
22 Feb 2016
A last-minute flurry has seen submissions flooding in to the Emissions Trading Scheme review.
Why ETS examination should take the long view
22 Feb 2016
Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust senior fellow SUZI KERR answers the key question posed in the Emissions Trading Scheme Review – should the carbon price cap and the one-for-two provisional measures be scrapped?
ETS ... we're hitting the target but missing the point
22 Feb 2016
Ministry for the Environment officials have been blunt about the Emissions Trading Scheme’s impact to date: “Research for this evaluation, and evidence from the interviews, found no sector other than forestry made emissions reductions over the Kyoto Protocol Commitment Period One (2008-12) that were directly caused by NZ ETS obligations.”
Carbon capture could be costly and risky
22 Feb 2016
Attempts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it safely are all potentially costly gambles with the current technology, scientists say.
Better water use can cut global food gap
22 Feb 2016
Scientists say that forecasts of a world food shortage need not prove as disastrous as previously thought if humans learn to use water more effectively.
Ethical shoppers scorned – and the headlines don’t help
22 Feb 2016
If we want more people to shop ethically, it’s not very helpful to cast judgement on the “ordinary” shopping public whom ethical campaigners are trying to reach.
There's nothing silly about photovoltaics in roads
22 Feb 2016
Installing photovoltaics in roads isn’t as daft as it sounds – especially if they are supported by roadside wind turbines and tethered multicopters, says IDTechEx chair Dr Peter Harrop.
Liquidity will return when prices push up again
16 Feb 2016
Spot NZUs closed yesterday at $9.25. OMFinancial reports:
Fund managers could face climate backlash
15 Feb 2016
New Zealand fund managers who fail to take the risks associated with climate change into account when making investments face a real possibility of legal action, says Bell Gully partner and climate change specialist Simon Watt.
We're looking for friends in the carbon market
15 Feb 2016
New Zealand is once again actively pursuing linkages with other carbon markets.
Planting rate drops by a million seedlings
15 Feb 2016
Latest Government figures show that planting rates of exotic forests last year were even lower than they were in 2014, when nurseries destroyed hundreds of thousands of seedlings because foresters weren’t planting.
Forest owners eye manuka as crop of future
15 Feb 2016
Forest owners battered by low carbon prices and volatile log prices are thinking manuka as a potentially lucrative environmental crop.
MPs back cross-party consensus
15 Feb 2016
Twenty New Zealand MPs from six parties have joined an international organisation aiming for cross-party consensus on climate change policy.
Solid Energy might be short of fix-it funds
15 Feb 2016
Solid Energy’s liability for future environmental remediation could be larger than expected.
Time running out for ETS submissions
15 Feb 2016
The public has just four more days to have a say on whether emitters should be held liable for a greater chunk of their emissions.
Bill puts the environment in its place
15 Feb 2016
A bill putting the environment back into environmental protection is back before Parliament this week.
World energy leaders pack bags for the capital
15 Feb 2016
Government and private-sector leaders from across Asia and the Pacific will gather in Wellington next month to talk about energy resilience to climate change and other threats.
Businesses keen to save on energy use
15 Feb 2016
More than 60 of New Zealand’s largest energy-using businesses are now working with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to save on energy use – representing around 40 per cent of the country’s total business energy use.
Organic farmers win better base for milk price
15 Feb 2016
Fonterra is offering organic farmers an independent milk price reflecting consumer demand.
Effluent reduction model could change dairying
15 Feb 2016
A Northland farmer's determination to secure the resource consent compliance that had been eluding him has seen him play a key role in a potentially game-changing effluent reduction model for the dairy industry.
Worth listening to …
15 Feb 2016
The In The Eye of the Storm: Pacific Climate Change Conference gets under way in Wellington today. Radio New Zealand's Colin Peacock spoke to Kiribati president Anote Tong yesterday about what the Pacific is facing, and what countries like New Zealand should be doing.
How a phosphorus shortage could leave us short of food
15 Feb 2016
It’s not as well-known as the other issues, but phosphorus depletion is no less significant. We could live without cars or unusual species, but if phosphorus ran out we’d have to live without food.
Our thirst for gadgets has created an empire of e-waste
15 Feb 2016
Technological improvements mean that the phones, tablets, computers and other electric devices we find so essential are cheaper and more powerful than ever.
Scientists issue chilling climate legacy warning
15 Feb 2016
Scientists stress the need for climate policy to focus not on this century but on the inescapable impacts of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10,000 years.
New aviation rules will just delay the heavy lifting
15 Feb 2016
There appeared to be some rare good news this week for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft.
Saving our ecosystems step in the right direction
15 Feb 2016
When we think about adapting humanity to the challenges of climate change, it’s tempting to reach for technological solutions. We talk about seeding our oceans and clouds with compounds designed to trigger rain or increasing carbon uptake. We talk about building grand structures to protect our coastlines from rising sea levels and storm surges.
How's the carbon market going? Experts can't agree
9 Feb 2016
Government officials say that New Zealand’s carbon market is liquid – but Westpac’s economists say it’s not.
Why there's little cost in wiping ETS protections
9 Feb 2016
Scrapping the one-for-two and the $25 carbon price cap is likely to have little impact on the economy.
ETS has made little impact, says ministry
9 Feb 2016
The Emissions Trading Scheme has failed to encourage any significant emissions reduction by businesses, a government report has found.
Why Paris might lead to shortage of NZUs
9 Feb 2016
The supply of NZUs could be about to become tighter, a new report says.
Govt's ETS stand has dangers, say economists
9 Feb 2016
Excluding agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme might be economically inefficient, say Westpac economists.
Foresters will do deal on carbon price cap
9 Feb 2016
Foresters want the $25 carbon-price cap gone – but they’d live with it if there were a price floor, says a Government-commissioned report.
It's time to rethink what we want from farming
9 Feb 2016
Scientists say nature conservation and protecting the planet from global warming can both be achieved if land is used sustainably, not just for immediate profit.
Useful waste offers win-win energy benefits
9 Feb 2016
An unsung success story in the switch to renewable energy is the use of waste to produce gas – and a valuable by-product.
Disease threatens to kill off bananas ... but there's a way we might save them
9 Feb 2016
Catastrophe is looming for the banana industry. A new strain has emerged of a soil-borne fungus known as “Panama disease” which can wipe out entire plantations – and it is rapidly spreading around the world.
Investors tip balance toward renewables
9 Feb 2016
With investment in renewable electricity sources now outstripping polluting fossil fuels, a new study sees signs of change in global attitudes towards climate risks.
Oceans are heating up ... at the double
9 Feb 2016
Records from a sailing ship’s round-the-world research voyage almost 150 years ago provide further evidence that the Earth is continuing to warm unchecked.
Giant blades snatch energy from the air
9 Feb 2016
Science can now make energy by building immense wind turbine blades and filtering carbon from the air, but the challenge is commercial viability.
A rubbish deal goes down ... inside Russia’s mafia-dominated waste industry
9 Feb 2016
Most Europeans take pride in recycling. A good citizen separates glass from plastics, biowaste from metal cans and brags about it to their friends. Recycling helps to soothe some of the anxiety driven by endless consumption.
How human impacts fuel weather extremes
9 Feb 2016
Researchers show that floods and droughts often happen at least in part because of human-induced influences on the climate, and not just from natural causes.
Many Brits can't be bothered, survey shows
9 Feb 2016
Half the people worried about climate change are not willing to make any changes to their lives to prevent it, a new study suggests.
Pacific Islands call for fossil fuel phase-out, NZ hangs back
Thu 23 Apr 2026
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
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
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.
