New Zealand: All stories
Solid Energy buys back Spring Creek
3 Feb 2012
Solid Energy has bought back Cargill’s 49 per cent share of Spring Creek Mining Company, the owner of Spring Creek underground mine near Greymouth.
$500m boost if farm emissions cut
27 Jan 2012
Halving agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could give a $500 million-a-year boost to the economy.
Door to Europe could open for foresters
27 Jan 2012
Possible rule changes in Europe could open the way for New Zealand forest owners to sell credits into the European Emissions Trading Scheme.
Minister puts plans for environment
27 Jan 2012
New rules to protect New Zealand’s oceans and freshwater, streamlining the Resource Management Act, a new Environment Reporting Act and aligning the Emissions Trading Scheme with that of Australia are on the Government’s agenda.
Interest high in green-living project
27 Jan 2012
Proponents of an off-the-grid housing community say the idea is generating strong interest from here and abroad.
Hydropower on rise worldwide
27 Jan 2012
Global use of hydropower increased more than 5 per cent between 2009 and 2010, according to new research.
LIfe gets harder for the environment
27 Jan 2012
This year will be a challenging one not only for the economy, but for the environment as well, writes Organics Aotearoa New Zealand chairman DEREK BROADMORE
Smart growers profit from low carbon prices
20 Jan 2012
Savvy forest owners who sold carbon credits at the peak of the market are buying credits back again at severely depressed prices.
Forest owners fast out of the blocks
20 Jan 2012
Forest owners are proving quick off the mark this year in applying for carbon credits.
Prices force major forester to rethink
20 Jan 2012
Low carbon prices are causing one of our largest forestry companies to think twice about selling this year.
Airlines look at buying into our ETS
20 Jan 2012
The implementation of a carbon tax on airlines flying into Europe is thought to be prompting some to consider opting in to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.
Taupo tempts clean-tech Americans
20 Jan 2012
The first step has been taken toward developing an off-the-grid housing community that could lure wealthy American business people to this country.
Meridian drops wind farm project
20 Jan 2012
Meridian Energy has canned the controversial Project Hayes wind farm.
Home-drinks firm has throwaway line
20 Jan 2012
Home fizzy-drink machine maker Soda Stream is launching a campaign to show New Zealanders just how many bottles we throw away.
Poor prices will hurt government income
16 Dec 2011
Collapsing carbon prices could leave a hole in the Government’s books.
Smith (and climate change) down the track
16 Dec 2011
The removal of the Climate Change Minister Nick Smith from National's parliamentary front bench is a sign of things to come under this Government, the Green Party is warning.
Clean streams progress just a trickle
16 Dec 2011
The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord Snapshot of Progress Report for the 2010/11 dairy season, shows a mixed bag of progress towards improving fresh water quality, MAF says.
Groser looks for more ETS partners
9 Dec 2011
New Zealand is working towards a regional carbon market.
Durban knows our foresters are there
9 Dec 2011
New Zealand Forest Owners' Association chief executive DAVID RHODES reports from the Durban climate change negotiations:
Drop Denniston, says business lobby
9 Dec 2011
Turning the Denniston Plateau into a coal mine threatens New Zealand’s clean green image, says the Pure Advantage green-growth business lobby group.
Sunshine cars go all the way south
9 Dec 2011
The first New Zealand-built electric car has travelled the country.
Cadmium, compaction, carbon ... our soil is under attack
2 Dec 2011
Toxic cadmium levels, soil compaction and carbon loss are looming as major problems which could affect New Zealand’s agricultural economy, a soil scientist is warning.
Fonterra forces farmers to fence
2 Dec 2011
The fencing of water ways is to become a condition of supply for Fonterra dairy farmers as the industry moves to clean up its environmental image.
LanzaTech to make avgas for US
2 Dec 2011
New Zealand gas fermentation company LanzaTech has won an American government contract to make aviation fuel from waste products.
Smart meters need study, says expert
2 Dec 2011
New Zealand's electricity industry and regulators could usefully collaborate with academic researchers on randomised testing to gain insights into household impacts of smart meters, says a visiting American researcher.
Scientists see big job for southern seas
2 Dec 2011
Scientists say they are increasingly realising the importance of the Southern Ocean for New Zealand and Australia in the way that it acts as a "sink" absorbing a huge share of mankind's excess heat and carbon dioxide and slowing down the rate of climate change.
New microscope makes pollen job easier
2 Dec 2011
A ground-breaking intelligent digital microscope developed at Massey University looks set to revolutionise climate research.
Hacker slams lignite on miner's website
25 Nov 2011
Solid Energy’s website has been hacked overnight by protesters opposed to the company’s Southland lignite development.
Europe a turn-off for our forest owners
25 Nov 2011
New Zealand’s carbon trading future probably lies with Australia, Japan and parts of the United States and Canada, and not with Europe, says the chief executive of the Forest Owners' Association.
Business brains want Beehive to come clean
25 Nov 2011
Business lobby group Pure Advantage is calling for an across-Parliament agreement for an environmentally clean business growth plan for New Zealand.
US firm invites LanzaTech to the party
25 Nov 2011
An American company that has worked out how to convert carbohydrates into the man-made petrochemical molecule isobutylene has asked New Zealand’s LanzaTech to work with it.
Biological farming gets cash boost
25 Nov 2011
New Zealand Biological Farming Systems Research Centre as been awarded funding by DairyNZ for a scoping study into biological farming systems.
Scrap lignite plan, says energy expert
18 Nov 2011
A New Zealand scientist at the heart of the IPCC says Solid Energy’s lignite development should not go ahead.
ETS here to stay, vows Groser
18 Nov 2011
New Zealand will push for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, but the Emissions Trading Scheme is here to say regardless of the outcome of international climate change negotiations in Durban this month.
Environment: Where the minor parties stand
18 Nov 2011
Both National and Labour are vowing that the Emissions Trading Scheme is here to say, but what do the smaller parties have to say about the environment?
Kauri might hold clues to climate secrets
18 Nov 2011
NIWA scientists will use geochemistry of precisely-dated kauri tree rings to examine New Zealand's climate during the last millennium.
Farmers growing keen on sustainability
18 Nov 2011
Dairy farmers are rapidly buying into the sustainability debate, says the fertiliser industry.
Offsetting OK ... but there's a catch
11 Nov 2011
The owners of pre-1990 forests will be allowed to replant in another area without penalty under a National Government – but there could be be a price to pay.
Key admits our rivers in trouble
11 Nov 2011
Prime Minister John Key has conceded that many of New Zealand’s rivers are in trouble after all.
Unhappy exporters voice ETS fears
11 Nov 2011
National's promise to slow down implementation of the Emissions Trading Scheme has failed to impress exporters.
LanzaTech lands a first with India
11 Nov 2011
LanzaTech has just signed its first commercial customer, marking a milestone in the Kiwi clean-energy technology company’s global development.
Aquaflow to show know-how in Australia
11 Nov 2011
New Zealand’s Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation is joining forces with an Australian company to build plants that turn waste into fuel.
Pig gas turns into nice little earner
11 Nov 2011
Australian pig farmers are to earn carbon credits for cutting methane emissions from their animals.
NZ doctors 'asleep at the wheel'
11 Nov 2011
Senior doctors and other health professionals are backing calls in the New Zealand Medical Journal for the country to do much more to reduce the risks of climate instability to acceptable levels.
Wind power projects short of money
11 Nov 2011
Development of the wind power industry is being held back by a lack of capital, a new report says.
Environment key poll issue, says Labour
4 Nov 2011
Labour is about to pitch its environment policy as an election-winner.
Chauvel lists flaws in ETS review
4 Nov 2011
The Emissions Trading Scheme would be up for review again under a Labour Government.
Some forest owners offered a break
4 Nov 2011
Owners of pre-1990 forests could be in line for an annual allocation of carbon credits under a Labour government.
Local govt shake-up risks weakened environmental outcomes – Commissioner
Fri 27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s push to simplify local government is "deeply flawed" and has been launched without a clear understanding of which functions must remain regional, according to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
Gisborne leads NZ in solar battery uptake as resilience drives demand
Wed 4 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Battery storage is rapidly moving from add-on to mainstream in New Zealand’s residential solar market, with 2025 data showing stark regional differences in uptake, according to new analysis.
Govt's solar on farms initiative to cut costs, boost resilience
17 Feb 2026
Farms across Aotearoa will begin installing solar panels and battery systems as part of a government-backed demonstration programme designed to test whether on-farm renewable energy can reduce electricity costs and improve energy security for the food and fibre sector.
Annual emissions fell to lowest in 15 years in Sept 2025
5 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to their lowest annual total in the year to September 2025 since records began 2010, according to Statistics New Zealand data published this morning.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
Tue 3 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Tairāwhiti needs proper Govt support to heal the land – not empty announcements for political optics
24 Feb 2026
OPINION: The Government’s answer to Tairāwhiti’s severe erosion crisis – that the region apply for modest, contestable funding rounds – while rejecting the region's own land transition business case, leaves our long-term resilience hanging in the balance, writes Manu Caddie.
Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution
12 Feb 2026
A New Zealand startup is launching what it says is the world’s first plastic-free effervescent drink tablet, with the ambitious aim of eliminating bottled beverages to reduce global plastic pollution.
