New Zealand: All stories
Climate change will send pollen count soaring
10 Nov 2014
Scientists have identified a new hazard that will arrive as a result of climate change: a huge increase in hay fever and pollen allergies.
India wants to double coal production
10 Nov 2014
The man responsible for maintaining India’s power supply says he wants the country’s coal production to double within the next five years.
Big business sounds water warning bells
10 Nov 2014
Two-thirds of the world’s largest companies are reporting exposure to water risks, some of which have potential to limit growth, says the Carbon Disclosure Project.
EU plans power supergrid to boost renewables
10 Nov 2014
An electricity supergrid is being planned to connect all 28 European Union countries and provide them with insurance against power blackouts.
Why Australia’s entire power sector should support target
10 Nov 2014
There’s been much talk about how uncertainty over the future of Australia's Renewable Energy Target (RET) is affecting the renewable energy industry.
US drought shows why the price of water should rise
10 Nov 2014
Last January, California Governor Jerry Brown declareda State of Emergency following projections of severe drought.
Social acceptance new key for today's miners
10 Nov 2014
A licence to dig is no longer enough for today’s mining and extractive companies. Stakeholder approval is progressively becoming a “must have” for mining companies around the globe — a requirement these companies widely acknowledge through what’s known as a “social licence to operate”.
Our emissions plan hopeless, says renowned academic
3 Nov 2014
New Zealand has no chance of meeting its 2020 emissions reduction target under current policies, says a leading scientist involved in the latest IPCC report.
What the politicians said ...
3 Nov 2014
All three of New Zealand's major political parties say that the IPCC's latest call on climate change is important.
Climate refugees? We'll think of something ...
3 Nov 2014
New Zealand still has no plan to help climate change refugees – despite acknowledging that many Pacific Islands people might need to be relocated.
State miner rethinks environment liabilities
3 Nov 2014
The State coal-miner says its future environmental liabilities are not as great as it thought.
Tararua turbines set power-output record
3 Nov 2014
Two New Zealand wind turbines have set a world record for output.
Southern winery wins green award ... again
3 Nov 2014
A Marlborough winery that uses miniature sheep to tidy around its vines has won another sustainability award.
Business network names sustainability finalists
3 Nov 2014
Finalists for this year's Sustainable Business Network Awards have been named.
Denmark wants to be coal-free by 2025
3 Nov 2014
Denmark is looking into how the country can stop using coal as an energy supply by 2025, says Climate and Energy Minister Rasmus Helveg Petersen.
Actually, a high oil price might be a good thing for the world
3 Nov 2014
Oil prices have fallen dramatically since August – and, rather counter-intuitively, this could be a bad thing.
Salt-poisoning a growing threat to crops
3 Nov 2014
Salt is poisoning around 2000 hectares of irrigated farm land every day – and has been doing so for the past 20 years, according to new research.
Business leaders praise EU emissions deal
3 Nov 2014
A group of influential business leaders is welcoming Europe's new climate and energy deal.
Hunt for oil anchors Govt's environment plan
28 Oct 2014
The National Party is leading off its environmental package for its new term in power with plans to encourage more oil exploration – despite the burning of fossil fuels being the single biggest cause of climate change.
Honey hits the jackpot for steep-land believer
28 Oct 2014
In 2010, Taranaki farmer Neil Walker was enthusiastic about the potential for a combination of carbon farming and beekeeping to rejuvenate steep-land farming.
Green-coke pioneer puts faith in public-funding
28 Oct 2014
Clean-coal company CarbonScape is the first clean-tech company in New Zealand to use crowd-funding to raise capital.
Good tyres tread lightly on the Earth
28 Oct 2014
New Zealand could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 6000 tonnes a year by installing fuel-efficient tyres on the nation’s fleet of light vehicles.
Emissions register has a new look
28 Oct 2014
The Environmental Protection Authority is making the national emissions register more user-friendly.
Trans-Pacific Partnership threatens green trade deal
28 Oct 2014
The Trans-Pacific Partnership threatens a green trade deal that could ultimately do more to reduce carbon emissions than international climate agreements such as the failed Kyoto Protocol.
Supplies of rare earth materials are still far from secure
28 Oct 2014
Materials essential for technology products such as electric vehicles, wind turbines or hard disks, known as rare earth elements, aren’t becoming any less rare, or any less crucial.
Universities act to hit fossil fuel firms where it hurts
28 Oct 2014
Glasgow recently became the first European university to join the rapidly expanding fossil-free divestment movement. Following hot on the heels of the Australian National University, Glasgow promised to move £18m of investment over the next 10 years.
Chile's new tax could open carbon doors for NZ
20 Oct 2014
Chile’s new carbon tax potentially offers New Zealand an opportunity to offset some of its own agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, says economist Dr Suzi Kerr.
Soils SOS as cities gobble up our best growing land
20 Oct 2014
New Zealand is allowing its elite soils to be eaten up by cities – despite signing up to a new global campaign to protect valuable agricultural land.
Rod Oram: Why I'm getting out of fossil fuels
20 Oct 2014
Business commentator Rod Oram is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to sustainable investment.
Kiwi savers want investments to do clean work
20 Oct 2014
A survey of New Zealanders has revealed that Kiwis care deeply about how their KiwiSaver funds are being invested and that they want more sustainable KiwiSaver options.
Fracking boom could mean up to 12% more carbon emissions
20 Oct 2014
The consistent message from those who would seek to exploit shale gas is that it has three distinct advantages over existing forms of fossil fuel energy: it is cheap, it has a lower influence on global warming, and it reduces the reliance in foreign imports.
Greenpeace v Shell via Lego: The building blocks of a successful campaign
20 Oct 2014
October 9, 2014, was a big day in eco-activism: Lego announced that it would not renew a product-placement deal with Shell, following concerted pressure from Greenpeace as part of a campaign to ban Arctic oil exploration by attacking firms associated with such activities.
A new agricultural economy is knocking on the door
20 Oct 2014
Europe should be pushing for the rapid expansion of its network of biorefineries, to produce European food, fuel and feed, as well as a range of other high-value products that replace fossil fuels, writes ROBERT WRIGHT, Secretary-General of the European Renewable Ethanol Association:
Fish-catching technique nets innovation award
20 Oct 2014
A technique allowing wild fish to be landed live – and released if necessary – has won the supreme title in the New Zealand Innovators' Awards.
Problem seaweed could provide biofuel solution
20 Oct 2014
It has often been used as a farmland fertiliser, and in some communities it is eaten as a vegetable, but now researchers believe that seaweed could power our cars and heat our homes.
Solar chief: There’s no cost to solar energy, only savings
20 Oct 2014
SolarCity Corp, the United States’ largest residential solar service provider, has a history of pushing the envelope.
Outlook palls for fossil fuel investment
20 Oct 2014
Warnings within the world of high finance are coming thick and fast that the increasingly urgent need to combat climate change means investors could lose heavily by sinking funds into coal, oil and gas.
Don’t get too excited, no one has cracked nuclear fusion yet
20 Oct 2014
Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin’s excitement in the media announcement last week that it could make small-scale nuclear fusion power a reality in the next decade has understandably generated
Anxious foresters await review of foreign credits ban
13 Oct 2014
A controversial decision to make foresters the only emitters banned from using cheap foreign carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions is under review.
BUSINESS POSER: Are you creating value, or destroying it?
13 Oct 2014
New Zealand is leading the world on integrated reporting.
Beehive stays silent on emissions target
13 Oct 2014
The Government remains mum on New Zealand’s 2030 emissions reduction target.
New Zealand is drying out ... and here’s why
13 Oct 2014
Over 2012 and 2013, parts of New Zealand experienced their worst drought in nearly 70 years.
'Business as usual' no way to run our rivers
13 Oct 2014
If, as delegates to the 17th International Rivers Symposium agreed, that river restoration is “the hottest topic on the planet” then the insistence by governments world-wide to ignore it is the issue.
Landcorp bio-generation scheme runs out of gas
13 Oct 2014
Landcorp's pulling of the plug on its BioGenCool manure-powered electricity generation ends the first, large-scale experiment in using milking shed cow dung to drive the milking shed itself.
Fish heading south big worry for tropic zone
13 Oct 2014
Fish stocks could migrate up to 26 kilometres a decade as the world’s ocean warm.
WANTED: $44 trillion to switch to clean energy
13 Oct 2014
In a world wrestling with climate change and the need to phase out fossil fuels, nothing is more critical than making sure there are reliable and cost-effective clean energy technologies ready to fill the void.
World of clean energy 'feasible' by mid-century
13 Oct 2014
A global low-carbon energy economy is not only feasible, it could double electricity supply by 2050 while actually reducing air and water pollution, according to new research.
Shift to low-carbon economy could free up $1.8 trillion
13 Oct 2014
Decarbonising the electricity system worldwide would save $1.8 trillion over the coming two decades by avoiding the high operating costs of using fossil fuels, a new study finds.
Europe throws nuclear power a state-aid lifeline
13 Oct 2014
The European Commission has now agreed that Britain can subsidise the building of the world’s most expensive nuclear power station − despite previously believing that the deal breaks the European Union’s rules on state aid.
China’s mythical coal habit is no excuse for climate inaction
13 Oct 2014
By MAREK KUBIC.- I’ve heard it many a time, and you probably have, too. It’s supposedly the trump card to any argument on addressing climate change globally: “Yeah, but what’s the point? Isn’t China building a new coal plant every week?"
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.
