New Zealand: All stories
Multi-party backing for admin bill to develop emissions trading market
23 Nov 2009
Parliament has adopted a Commerce Select Committee report’ recommending changes to law which will allow the country’s new emissions trading market to develop.
ETS changes mean tomorrow's NZers will pay 84 per cent of Kyoto costs, says council
23 Nov 2009
The Sustainability Council is sticking by its claim that amendments to the emissions trading scheme will mean that tomorrow’s New Zealanders will have to pay for today’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Maori quiet on ETS small print till Monday
20 Nov 2009
Details of a deal between the Maori Party and the Government for support for changes to the emissions trading scheme could be revealed on Monday.
Australia, US woo NZ biofuel pioneer
20 Nov 2009
A New Zealand pioneer in making bio-oil from algae is considering quitting the country.
IN THE HOUSE: Maori Party ETS deal
20 Nov 2009
Parliament yesterday discussed the potential impacts of the emissions trading scheme on Maori.
Posh house wins most-sustainable award
20 Nov 2009
A sophisticated inner-city Christchurch home has been named this year’s best sustainable home valued at more than $1 million.
Forum: Taking agriculture forward with the Emissions Trading Scheme
20 Nov 2009
Climate Change Issues Minister Nick Smith speaks to the Federated Farmers National Council Meeting in Wellington yesterday.
Time for a cup of tea, says veteran Nat
20 Nov 2009
A life-long National Party member is criticising the Government’s “headlong rush” into changes to the emissions trading scheme.
Next steps will depend on Maori Party bottom line
16 Nov 2009
ANALYSIS. – The backroom deal with the Maori Party will determine if changes to ETS law get through Parliament.
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.
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.
