New Zealand: All stories
New brainstorming centre will tackle the 'weird stuff'
16 Feb 2015
A new centre of research excellence in Auckland will help New Zealand business to develop the “weird stuff” that could transform the economy, its director says.
Australia readies for first emissions auction
16 Feb 2015
Australia’s first Emissions Reduction Fund auction will be in April – a month later than the market expected.
Oil aside, we’ve reached peak chicken, peak rice, and peak milk
16 Feb 2015
We still haven't reached peak oil. But peak milk happened in 2004, peak soybeans in 2009, and peak chicken in 2006. Rice peaked in 1988.
Rice serves up double measure of biofuel and fodder
16 Feb 2015
Japanese scientists have found a potential answer to the biofuel dilemma that if you grow crops for energy, you have to sacrifice crops for food.
‘Bionic leaf’ could turn solar energy into chemicals and fuels
16 Feb 2015
Photosynthesis – turning the sun’s energy into food for plants – is the biological system that feeds the world, but despite its awesome power, the process is extremely inefficient.
Geoengineering might work in a rational world … but we don’t live in one
16 Feb 2015
The publication of a hefty two-volume report on geoengineering by the US National Research Council represents a marked shift in the global debate over how to respond to global warming.
NZ orange roughy exports grow as fish stocks improve
16 Feb 2015
New Zealand orange roughy exports are accelerating as catch limits of the deepwater fish, once a poster child for bad fisheries management, increase amid confidence about improving stocks.
Nats' Waitangi promise: We'll talk to Maori about climate change
9 Feb 2015
The Government has said it will work with Maori on the two big climate change/carbon pricing decisions it faces this year – the post-2020 emissions reduction target and the review of the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Climate debt grows as Australia messes about
9 Feb 2015
Policy procrastination over climate change is costing Australia money, a new analysis shows.
Cheap fuel little help with emissions, says expert
9 Feb 2015
Cheap fuel prices will do little to help New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions profile, says transport and energy expert Professor Ralph Simms.
Chatham Rock awaits island phosphate ruling
9 Feb 2015
A decision on whether a New Zealand company will be allowed to mine undersea phosphate for use in agricultural fertilisers will be released this week.
New labelling rules steer shoppers clear of palm oil
9 Feb 2015
By RUTH EVANS.- A European Union decision to give consumers more information about the food they buy could mean good news for tropical countries whose forests are threatened by the expanding trade in palm oil.
Asia powers into the forefront of solar revolution
9 Feb 2015
By PAUL BROWN.- China has overtaken the European Union as the largest new market for solar power.
Gas will replace oil in the UK – with or without fracking
9 Feb 2015
MPs in the UK recently needed more time voted against a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, but Lancashire, the local county council under most pressure, agreed it
Can Americans save the environment and expand oil drilling?
9 Feb 2015
In a few months, we will mark the five-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Canberra to get wind power from South Australia
9 Feb 2015
A South Australian wind farm has won the bid to provide the Australian Capital Territory with renewable energy.
Trading will be back, say Australian businesses
2 Feb 2015
Most Australian businesses believe the country will return to an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax by 2020.
NZ investors ignore fossil fuel warning signs
2 Feb 2015
New Zealand businesses are failing to read the warnings about investing in fossil fuels, says Morgan Foundation chief Geoff Simmons.
Churches reject State's fossil fuel view
2 Feb 2015
The State in New Zealand might still favour investment in fossil fuels, but increasingly our churches do not.
More green tourists asking environmental questions
2 Feb 2015
Tourists from across the world are increasingly demanding environmentally sustainable holidays.
Carbon pricing the challenge for the future
2 Feb 2015
The concept of carbon pricing as a tool to combat climate change is broadly accepted by the international community. But at what price, and under what conditions?
Welcome to 2015 where fracking changes everything
2 Feb 2015
Forget, for the moment, whether you think fracking is an energy godsend or an endtimes disaster. Just consider how it’s everywhere.
Fracking and local jobs … a false promise
2 Feb 2015
In a surprise decision that led to consternation in the oil and gas industry and elation among fracking opponents, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in December banned fracking in the state.
Yes minister, but ...
2 Feb 2015
In a piece published in the Guardian recently, Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt was purported to have once again rejected claims that a price on carbon would benefit emissions reduction targets.
Will Obama’s methane plan reduce dependence on natural gas?
2 Feb 2015
By NATHAN PHILLIPS.- Like many Americans concerned with climate change and energy security, I reacted with high hopes to the President Obama’s proposal to reduce leaks of methane gas from oil and gas drilling.
Going down ... green lifts can cut building costs
2 Feb 2015
More energy-efficient elevators can significantly reduce the costs of operating a building, a new study shows.
Nutrients maker helping farmers to go green
2 Feb 2015
Ballance Agri-Nutrients has launched a specialist team to help farmers to navigate increasingly complex environmental regulations and consent requirements to promote clean green land, rivers and streams.
Bank moves in on sustainability
2 Feb 2015
Environmental sustainability is one of the topics being added to the ANZ’s Privately Owned Business Barometer survey this year.
Forest owners seek truth about dairying
27 Jan 2015
Foresters are calling for an honest analysis of the costs of the intensification of dairying.
Government stays quiet on emission trading plans
27 Jan 2015
The Government still isn’t talking about this year’s scheduled review of the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Climate-conscious Labour leader means business
27 Jan 2015
Businesses showing leadership on climate change can expect to get the ear of new Labour Party leader Andrew Little.
Register sees fewer carbon units
27 Jan 2015
More than 150 million carbon units passed through the New Zealand register last year.
CarbonScape 'crowd' get shares
27 Jan 2015
Investors in New Zealand’s largest equity crowd-funding offer have received their shares.
Climate’s threat to wheat is rising by degrees
27 Jan 2015
Worldwide field trials show that just one degree of warming could slash wheat yields by 42 million tonnes and cause devastating shortages of this vital staple food.
Energy pours into cutting-edge conservation ideas
27 Jan 2015
A battery that could treble electric car mileage and cut costs is among the innovations moving closer to reality on the frontiers of science.
Coal casts cloud over Germany’s energy revolution
27 Jan 2015
The energy market in Germany saw a spectacular change last year as renewable energy became the major source of its electricity supply − leaving lignite, coal and nuclear behind.
Sun and wind could make electricity too cheap to meter
27 Jan 2015
Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter, said Lewis L Strauss, chair of the US Atomic Energy Commission, in 1954.
Energy leaders fret about uncertainties
27 Jan 2015
Energy leaders see price volatility and the future of a climate framework as the biggest uncertainties facing the industry.
UN stresses need for genetic diversity
27 Jan 2015
Knowledge of agricultural genetic resources needs to grow more quickly because of the critical role they have to play in feeding the world as climate change advances faster than expected, according to the United Nations.
Africa will be able to feed itself within the next 15 years
27 Jan 2015
Africa will be able to feed itself in the next 15 years. That’s one of the big “bets on the future” that Bill and Melinda Gates (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/) have made in their foundation’s latest annual letter.
Kiwi keeps an eye on Qatar project environment
27 Jan 2015
A New Zealander is in the Middle East working to reduce the environmental impacts of a major sea port project.
Your energy ideas could win $4m
27 Jan 2015
New Zealand companies with ground-breaking renewable energy technologies are being invited to compete for a slice of a $US4 million prize.
Dairying costs exceed export income, says report
22 Dec 2014
Dairying is probably costing the country more than it earns in export revenue.
Transport and heating force up gas emissions
22 Dec 2014
Greenhouse gas emissions from energy are up as the burning of gas and oil for transport and heating cancels out gains from renewable electricity production.
Minister's transport plan just tokenism, says expert
22 Dec 2014
The Government is being accused of tokenism in its attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
World wood production just grows and grows
22 Dec 2014
Global wood production has recovered from the economic downturn of 2008-2009 and is showing steady growth for the fourth consecutive year.
Extremes a concern as planet gets hotter and colder
22 Dec 2014
Scientists predict that lethal heat waves in Europe, and ice storms and big freezes across the globe, could become regular events if greenhouse gas emissions are not controlled.
Health fears see New York ban fracking
22 Dec 2014
The administration of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has banned hydraulic fracturing in the state, citing public health concerns.
Chile’s mines set hot pace in renewables
22 Dec 2014
Mining is the fourth-largest energy consumer in Australia, using roughly 10 per cent of Australia’s total. Some of this comes from the electricity grid — but much is supplied off-grid in the form of diesel and other fossil fuels.
Organic techniques closing gap on farming yields
22 Dec 2014
The unintended consequences of the agricultural food system – polluted air and water, dead zones in coastal seas, soil erosion – have profound environment implications for human health and the environment. So more sustainable agricultural practices are needed as soon as possible.
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.
