New Zealand: All stories

Oops! Treasury sums wrong by $50 billion
16 Nov 2009
Treasury underestimated by $50 billion the cost of proposed changes to the way in which the government hands out free carbon credits.

ETS debate might still be a week away
16 Nov 2009
Parliament might not debate changes to the emissions trading scheme until next week.

Dejected dairy giant plans next ETS move
16 Nov 2009
Dairy giant Fonterra is considering its next move after a parliamentary select committee failed to prevent measures that will exclude the co-operative’s processing from receiving free carbon credits.

Goff slams Government's billions blunder
16 Nov 2009
The shambolic process around the Government’s proposed Emissions Trading Scheme has been exposed by a $50 billion blunder by National, Labour Leader Phil Goff said today.

Harmonisation not the way, says expert
16 Nov 2009
An international expert on emissions trading says that detailed harmonisation of the New Zealand scheme with that of Australia is not necessary or desirable.

Greens: ETS something worth swearing about
16 Nov 2009
Revelations that Climate Change Minister Nick Smith's proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme are going to cost taxpayers an extra $105 billion is something really worth swearing about, Dr Russel Norman, Green Party Co-Leader, said today.

National foolish in slavishly following Australia, says Chauvel
16 Nov 2009
The Australian Government's decision to exclude agriculture from its emissions trading scheme is further evidence of the folly of National's headlong rush to harmonise with Australia in this area, Labour's climate change spokesperson Charles Chauvel says.

Aussie farmers out of ETS ‘faster than a rat up a drainpipe’
16 Nov 2009
As predicted by Federated Farmers two weeks ago, Australia’s Federal Government yesterday opted to permanently exclude farmers from its emissions trading scheme.

Error sends cost of ETS changes skyrocketing
13 Nov 2009
The cost of changes to the emissions trading scheme might be up to three times as high as the Government has said.

Vote deadlocked as ETS bill returns to House
13 Nov 2009
A deadlocked select committee is expected to report back to Parliament today on the Government’s planned changes to the emissions trading scheme.

Divided Maori Party likely to toe the line on ETS
13 Nov 2009
The Maori Party is deeply divided over changes to the emissions trading scheme – but is unlikely to split its vote on the issue.

Treasury says it hasn't got Kyoto accounts wrong
13 Nov 2009
Treasury is disputing a claim that it has failed to include liabilities for future forestry harvesting in New Zealand’s Kyoto accounts.
FORUM: Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Maldives on climate change
13 Nov 2009
By Douglas Alexander, British international development secretary, and Mohamed Nasheed, president of the Maldives

Farmers might move offshore, warns Fonterra
6 Nov 2009
Fonterra is being cut out of free carbon credits under the Government's amended emissions trading scheme - and is warning the move could drive farmers offshore.

Methane scare: NZ urged to watch and wait
6 Nov 2009
New Zealand policy makers are being urged not to react too quickly to American research suggesting methane might play a bigger part in climate change than previously thought.

ETS politics frustrating, says business chief
6 Nov 2009
Wellington’s obsession with the politics of climate change and carbon trading is turning off the rest of the country, says the EMA (Northern).

We can meet deadline, says ETS committee
6 Nov 2009
The Government says it’s on track to have changes to the emissions trading scheme in place by the time international leaders gather in Copenhagen next month to negotiate the next global climate change agreement.

Electric cars could deliver $8 billion+ net benefit
6 Nov 2009
The net benefit to New Zealand from comparing no uptake of electric vehicles to the expected market demand is $8.2 billion over a 50 year analysis period.
Forum: Why must New Zealand adopt the limitations of the Australian CPRS, asks EITG's Richard Hayes
6 Nov 2009
Cabinet minutes from the September 14 have some sobering news for forest owners thinking of selling credits off shore by converting NZU units to international government compliance assigned amount units (AAU) units.
FORUM: Country needs a change of focus
6 Nov 2009
Sustainable development remains high on the international agenda, even as policy makers are distracted by the political and fiscal fall-out of the global financial crisis, says NZIER.
Environmental priorities must connect the dots, say Greens
6 Nov 2009
This week's New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report on environmental priorities fails to connect the dots between modern environmental challenges, particularly when it suggests that reducing climate change emissions is a low priority for New Zealand, says the Green Party.

Bill sets dangerous precedent, says law expert
30 Oct 2009
The government’s climate change amendment bill is controversial, possibly unconstitutional, and sets a dangerous precedent, says constitutional law expert Professor Noel Cox.

Foss committee has tight deadlines
30 Oct 2009
The select committee considering amendments to the emissions trading scheme will be working hard to meet the November 16 reporting back deadline, says its chairman.

Carbon certifier moves into British market
30 Oct 2009
The government-owned CarboNZero carbon certification programme is moving into Britain on a large scale.

Ecostore: First, we take Manhatten …
30 Oct 2009
An Auckland businessman who this week takes on Manhatten says that a recession is the perfect time in which to embrace ideas like carbon neutrality.
Australian provider buys CERs from China
30 Oct 2009
Australian company COzero says it has completed the purchase of more than 1.4 million CERs (certified emission reduction units) from three projects in China.

$209 MILLION A YEAR - that's what we'll pay to protect Rio Tinto, says analyst
23 Oct 2009
Protecting Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point aluminium smelter from the full impacts of the emissions trading scheme will cost New Zealand $225,000 a year for every job at the smelter, a management consultant says.

Hide hacks at ETS policy management – tied bill voting more likely
23 Oct 2009
Act party leader Rodney Hide says the process of establishing the ETS is “shot through with lobbying, unprincipled deal-making and divergent treatment of different economic activities”.

Japan casts keen eye on NZ forest credits
23 Oct 2009
Interest in New Zealand’s forestry credits is growing in Japan, says the company involved in the first international sale of the units.

Legal tangle awaits amended climate bill
23 Oct 2009
The Government might have scored an own goal in its haste to push through its climate change amendment bill.

Farming opportunites huge, says recruiter
23 Oct 2009
Carbon reduction and carbon trading hold huge potential for farmers – if they can get beyond the rhetoric and see the opportunities, says an Australian consulting firm looking for staff in New Zealand.

Turia confirms big iwi leading Maori Party ETS policy
23 Oct 2009
The Maori Party is taking its lead from the iwi leadership group on emissions trading policy.

Chauvel to energy leaders: ETS changes too generous to last
23 Oct 2009
It’s unfair to business to give large concessions and subsidies that won't last.

ETS committee grants more time
23 Oct 2009
Politicians will hear more submissions next week on changes to the emissions trading scheme.

Committee vote-tie could send ETS bill back with no changes
16 Oct 2009
EXCLUSIVE - The Government is facing the prospect of a vote tie which will stop any changes to ETS law emerging from select committee.

Fishing carbon quota plan splits industry
16 Oct 2009
Government plans to give some $17 million worth of free carbon credits to quota holders, instead of to the owners of fishing boats as originally planned, has divided the fishing industry.

INTERVIEW: It's time to do the hard bit, says Nick Main
16 Oct 2009
Talking about a carbon economy is easy, says expatriate New Zealander Nick Main, but doing it is the hard part.

Business blasts rushed changes to ETS
16 Oct 2009
The Government came under fire from business last night for rushing through changes to the emissions trading scheme.

Taxpayers face hefty bill from ETS subsidies, says business council
16 Oct 2009
Subsidies to heavy emitters could cost taxpayers $3.5 billion, the Business Council for Sustainable Development is warning.
'Unique' sustainability role under study
16 Oct 2009
New Zealand is a "unique" case study in the politicisation of sustainable development, say researchers at Waikato University.

Protests force slowdown on full-speed-ahead ETS
15 Oct 2009
The Government has been forced to back down over plans to restrict oral submissions on changes to the emissions trading scheme to 50 – all of which were to be heard today.

ETS changes being rammed through, says angry Act
15 Oct 2009
The Act Party is demanding more time for oral submissions on changes to the emissions trading scheme.

Business lobby group gets a night appointment
15 Oct 2009
Business New Zealand will deliver its oral submission on changes to the emissions trading scheme tonight.

Thanks, but no thanks, says Greenpeace
15 Oct 2009
At least one of the organisations down to give an oral submission on the emissions trading scheme is refusing to appear.

NEWS ALERT: Move to hear all oral submissions in ETS bill today
15 Oct 2009
A move will be made at 1pm to have the select committee considering major emissions trading scheme changes hear all oral submissions today.

Who Foss wants to hear on the ETS today
15 Oct 2009
Carbon News has obtained the list of organisations the ETS select committee chair wants to hear from in a single day for oral submissions.

No choice but to accept timeline, say Greens
15 Oct 2009
Oral submissions on changes to the emissions trading scheme will go ahead this afternoon, despite a lack of notice.

Papers show initial ETS costs as high as $500m
9 Oct 2009
The Government’s changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme will cost $400m to $500m between now and the end of 2012, according to just-released Cabinet papers.

Cabinet paper reveals possible major policy shock for forestry
9 Oct 2009
The forestry industry might be in for a shock ETS policy change, Cabinet papers released today hint.

Cabinet buys a piece of string on cost of new ETS subsidies
9 Oct 2009
A cabinet paper released today confirms no work has been done to budget for the cost of extending subsidies to large emitters after 2012.