New Zealand: All stories
Coal’s idea for tiny tax and trees given solid debunking
12 May 2009
Business leaders have debunked Solid Energy’s proposal for a small new carbon tax.
Air NZ wants carbon price cap in ETS
12 May 2009
Air New Zealand wants the emissions trading scheme review committee to consider including a price cap for carbon liability.
Emissions trading wrong route, say AA members
12 May 2009
Automobile Association members oppose the emissions trading scheme.
Auckland-Wellington for $4.40 in the Green Machine
12 May 2009
The public has to overcome “range anxiety” and convert interest in electric vehicles into owning and using the technology, says electric vehicle enthusiast Pat Boyle.
Sentimental baby-boomers drive up insurance
12 May 2009
Baby-boomers’ desire to live by the beach despite the threatened impact of climate change is pushing up insurance premiums.
Solid Energy pushes new 'tax and plant' emissions strategy
8 May 2009
State coal producer Solid Energy is pushing an alternative policy to the emissions trading scheme which will see the Government raise new taxes and regulations.
No takers for first NZUs offered on Trade Me
8 May 2009
The first auction of NZUs to be listed on the internet auction site Trade Me has closed without a sale.
Aussie officials to visit amid calls to end NZ policy 'chaos'
8 May 2009
Australian officials will brief New Zealand MPs about their new emissions trading plans next week.
NZX looks to regain carbon market ground
8 May 2009
Sources say that the New Zealand Stock Exchange is looking to repossess the alternate exchange ground as well as embarking on a scheme to become an international-grade market maker in carbon .
Landfill operator wants ETS delay for waste
8 May 2009
Delaying the solid waste sector’s entry into the emissions trading scheme until 2018 and increasing the scope of the existing environmental standard for landfill gas is the way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand’s landfills, Envirowaste told the ETS review committee yesterday.
R&D vital to success of ETS, says Landcare
8 May 2009
Investment in research and development, particularly in New Zealand-specific climate change research, is pivotal to the success of an emissions trading scheme, Landcare Research has told the ETS review committee.
Islands must pay back climate aid loans
8 May 2009
Much of the so-called international aid to the Pacific to allow poorer countries to accommodate climate change has taken the form of loans which will have to be repaid.
Australians merge to boost NZ coal gas search
8 May 2009
The private Australian coal seam gas exploration company Chartwell Energy Pty, which is involved in New Zealand exploration, plans a merger with listed Brisbane company Comet Ridge partly in order to boost its activities here.
We still want to harmonise, says Smith
5 May 2009
Talks on harmonising the New Zealand and Australian emissions trading schemes will continue, despite Australia’s decision to delay the start of its scheme.
Farming groups split on need for ETS
5 May 2009
Federated Farmers continued its call for the emissions trading scheme to be scrapped when it appeared before the emission trading scheme review committee yesterday - but not everyone in the agriculture sector agrees.
All eyes on first auction-site sale of NZUs
5 May 2009
The first auction of NZUs on internet auction site Trade Me closes on Thursday, with bids currently sitting at around $21 per tonne – well below the current price of secondary CERs of approximately $28 per tonne.
Solid Energy on trail of carbon accounting
5 May 2009
State-owned coal miner Solid Energy says it is well on the way to tracking carbon in its operations, but can’t say yet how the emissions trading scheme will affect the price of coal next year.
Ngai Tahu faces bill of millions in clawbacks
5 May 2009
Ngai Tahu has become an early example of the peril of ETS clawbacks, with tribal authorities indicating that it might have to pay anything between $40 million and $120 million in clawbacks, depending on the price of carbon at the time.
US climate deniers push views of Kiwi academic
5 May 2009
Auckland University climate figure Chris de Freitas put New Zealand into the top slot over the weekend in what is emerging as the United States’ leading denier forum.
ETS should be suspended, says coalition
5 May 2009
Greenhouse Policy Coalition executive director Catherine Beard, representing the energy-intensive sector on climate change issues, is calling on the select committee reviewing the emissions trading scheme to suspend the introduction of the industrial sector into the scheme until such time as the "flawed legislation has been properly reviewed and fixed".
Business leaders: emissions trading policy delays causing major investment blight
5 May 2009
Business leaders told the Parliamentary select committee reviewing the emissions trading scheme yesterday that indecision is stalling hundreds of millions in investments in sectors which will both benefit from or fear having a price of carbon.
Zespri aims high as carbon-clean producer
1 May 2009
Zespri is out to become the world’s leading environmentally friendly producer of kiwifruit in the wake of a groundbreaking research into the carbon footprint of New Zealand kiwifruit.
Gull wants fixed carbon price after ETS
1 May 2009
Independent oil company Gull has asked the emissions trading scheme review committee to set the price of carbon for at least the first 18 months after the liquid fuel sector enters the ETS.
Smith still quiet on Labour ETS offer
1 May 2009
The Government has not yet responded to Labour's offer to work with it on an emissions trading scheme.
ETS certainty vital, says wind energy chief
1 May 2009
Certainty over the emissions trading scheme is vital to encouraging investment in new wind-energy projects, says the Wind Energy Associaton.
Fifty years of work under threat, says Oxfam
1 May 2009
Climate change could reverse all the international development work of the past 50 years, the emissions trading scheme review committee heard yesterday.
Minister delays release of ETS risk report
28 Apr 2009
A new report into the economic risks of the emissions trading scheme has not yet been made public amid concerns that it does not adequately cover the potential benefits.
NZ scientists: We're being gagged
28 Apr 2009
New Zealand’s public science institutes are “rife” with cases of scientists being gagged, Carbon News has been told.
Labour expects ETS answer this week
28 Apr 2009
The Labour Party expects a formal response from the Government this week on its offer to co-operate on an emissions trading scheme.
Forest focus wrong, institute tells ETS hearing
28 Apr 2009
New Zealand should focus on the role that forests play in mitigation of climate change - and not just on forestry emissions, says the Institute of Forestry.
ETS will close mills, warn wood processors
28 Apr 2009
The emissions trading scheme will force mill closures and have a catastrophic impact on rural communities, says the Wood Processors' Association.
You must adapt, minister tells farmers
28 Apr 2009
Agriculture Minister David Carter says that New Zealand farmers should be starting to adapt their farm management to deal with the impacts of climate change – and be looking for possible benefits to exploit.
EU aid decision good news for NZ
28 Apr 2009
The European Union decision to let Australia select the providers of Brussels–financed aid in the Asia-Pacific region is good news for New Zealand manufacturers and professional services.
Nautilus likes look of Tongan mineral deposits
28 Apr 2009
Nautilus Minerals has located 10 multi-mineral deposits in Tongan waters at the northern end of the 2500 km-long Kermadec-Tonga arc.
Genesis buying credits, but quiet on NZUs deal
24 Apr 2009
New Zealand’s largest thermal electricity generator has made forays into the carbon market – but won’t say if it was the purchaser involved in the first sale of New Zealand Units.
Kiwi researchers in major cow methane breakthrough
24 Apr 2009
Breakthrough research into the cattle genetics could lead to the breeding of cattle that produces less methane.
Trading website readies for carbon units sale
24 Apr 2009
A sale of New Zealand Units is on the cards for internet trading site Trade Me.
Forestry sector has date with ETS review
24 Apr 2009
Forestry sector submissions will be heard by the emissions trading scheme review committee on Monday.
Origin could be player in southern coal gas
24 Apr 2009
L&M’s intensive prospecting for coal seam gas in the coal-bearing areas of Southland indicates that the durable New Zealand independent is standing by to welcome a major league partner – possibly Origin, according to some sources.
Deforestation must stop, says power company
24 Apr 2009
One of New Zealand's largest power companies is urging the Government not to do anything to encourage further deforestation.
King Solomon looking at more than gold
24 Apr 2009
The evocatively named King Solomon Mines is looking hard at boosting activities in New Zealand - and possibly beyond its core gold-mining activities.
Scientists fear another methane catastrophe
24 Apr 2009
A major spike in the powerful greenhouse gas methane nearly 12,000 years ago wasn't the result of a catastrophic release of seafloor gas hydrates, scientists say.
Opinion:
24 Apr 2009
Your story "Inhibitors no silver bullet, warn farmers" (April 21) is a particularly disappointing effort by Carbon News.
Coastal Farmers take environment award
24 Apr 2009
Omamari beef farmers Peter and Pam Kelly have taken out the supreme award in the 2009 Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
Forest industry fears carbon deficit blow-out
21 Apr 2009
Normal levels of forest harvesting could trigger a post-2018 carbon deficit blow-out unless action is taken soon, says an informed industry source.
NZ could lead in wind energy, says global expert
21 Apr 2009
New Zealand could be a world leader in the wind energy sector, developing and exporting wind turbine technology and expertise, says a visiting international expert.
Inhibitors no silver bullet, warn farmers
21 Apr 2009
Nitrification inhibitors should not be seen as a one-size-fits-all solution for reducing agricultural emissions, says Federated Farmers in the wake New Zealand’s latest emissions data.
Climate deal fraught with problems, says EU envoy
21 Apr 2009
An address by David Daly, the new head of the European Union delegation to Australia, to the recent Greenhouse 2009 conference in Western Australia is being carefully scrutinised by his counterparts throughout Oceania - especially in New Zealand.
Wellington shelves 'green capital' plans
21 Apr 2009
A forecast that Wellington city ratepayers would have to shoulder a stiff annual additional cost has prompted the city council to shelve plans that, in the words of Mayor Kerry Prendergast, would have made Wellington the “first green capital in the world.”
NZ-designed system wins Aussie GECA mark
21 Apr 2009
The HRV healthy home ventilation system developed by HRV New Zealand has been awarded the prestigious Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) mark.
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.
