New Zealand: All stories
Local ship operator investigates move to biofuel
29 Jul 2008
Lyttelton-based sea, rail and road-freight company Pacifica is investigating the viability of biofuel for use in its generators and stevedoring equipment.
We'll fight for our forest rights, owners warn ETS policy-makers
25 Jul 2008
Kyoto Forest Owners say they will wage war if either major political party reneges on promises over carbon credits worth millions of dollars.
ANALYSIS: Heavy emitters and National scoring major own goal
25 Jul 2008
The little-covered press release issued by the Kyoto Forestry Association this week, seeking major-party assurances its members will still get hundreds of millions of dollars worth of carbon credits, speaks of the unspeakable position anti-emissions trading campaigners have got themselves and others into.
Our politicians ignoring peak oil impact, says forum
25 Jul 2008
Politicians are failing to deal with the impact of peak oil, imperilling New Zealand’s economic future says the Sustainable Energy Forum.
Coal, wind, waves - the hunt is on for hydrogen energy
25 Jul 2008
Research is under way in New Zealand to produce hydrogen energy from coal, wind and biomass – and maybe even waves.
Minister stays mum on support for Biofuels bill
25 Jul 2008
The Government says that its Biofuel bill has the backing of industry, but is not saying whether it has the backing of Parliament.
Energy authority cock-a-hoop over Tegel heat recovery success
25 Jul 2008
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is using Tegel Foods as a reference site for the efficiency of its own carbon dioxide emissions reduction incentive scheme.
Goldsmith organisation condemns plans for importing biofuels into NZ
25 Jul 2008
The Pacific Institute of Resource Management, headquartered in Wellington, and which has London-based environmentalist Edward Goldsmith as a director, believes that in importing biofuels into New Zealand will revert to the plantations and indentured labour era.
Public wants help with ETS costs, survey shows
22 Jul 2008
Overwhelming public support for help for households in coping with the costs of an emissions trading scheme could provide the impetus to get the scheme passed before the election.
Neptune in turbine talks over Cook Strait tidal energy plans
22 Jul 2008
New Zealand marine energy pioneer Neptune Power is in negotiations with the Newcastle-on-Tyne-based manufacturer of its prototype turbine about forming a tidal energy turbine company.
Fertiliser companies' carbon move could cost consumers
22 Jul 2008
A push by fertiliser companies to sheet home carbon dioxide emission charges to the “end users” of the fertiliser has conjured up the possibility of a carbon levy or surcharge on consumer foodstuffs sold in supermarkets and elsewhere.
Bitumen industry hits back at claims by cement companies
22 Jul 2008
Road contractors are responding to the cement-for-roads campaign with some research of their own and that will demonstrate a minimised through-life carbon footprint for bitumen paving compared to that of cement.
Meridian building windfarms in Australia and Antarctica
22 Jul 2008
Meridian Energy is spreading its wind farm expertise offshore – taking a 50 per cent holding in the Southern Hemisphere’s largest wind farm, being built in Australia, and working on projects in Antarctica.
Local councils doing the best they can with water, says Neilson
22 Jul 2008
Regional councils are doing as good a job of water management as can be expected with the tools and framework available, says the chief executive of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, Peter Neilson.
Contact plans wind farm for Southern Hawke's Bay
22 Jul 2008
Contact Energy has launched plans for a $500 million, 65-turbine, 177 megawatt wind farm near Dannevirke.
In time, Australia and NZ ETS plans can work together, say governments
18 Jul 2008
Australia and New Zealand have developed different emissions trading schemes because their economies are different, but will bring the schemes together over time. That’s the message from Wellington and Canberra this week as the governments of both countries push ahead with plans for emissions trading regimes as key planks of their climate change strategies.
Australia gets ETS agriculture right, say New Zealand farmers
18 Jul 2008
New Zealand farmers say they are sympathetic to Australia’s desire for caution over bringing agriculture into an emissions trading scheme.
Tell us how to cope with ETS, Business Council urges Government
18 Jul 2008
The Government would win more political support for emissions trading scheme if it told New Zealanders how it will help them to cope with the costs of the scheme, says the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development.
National Party hopeful targets Indonesian coal used at Huntly
18 Jul 2008
The importing of “safe” coal from Indonesia as a substitute for our own plentiful – but more politically sensitive - variety is a National Party plank that will resonate between now and the general election.
Maori Party sticks to polluters-should-pay stance on ETS fuel plans
18 Jul 2008
The Maori Party is unlikely to push for an Australian-style buffer against the effects of increased fuel prices under New Zealand’s proposed emissions trading scheme.
Carbon trader helps landowner win funding for gas emissions study
18 Jul 2008
Greenair, the international carbon-trading company, has been closely involved in a foundation’s successful bid for public funds to measure carbon dioxide emission levels in trees.
Long-haul airlines to get carbon relief from Europe
18 Jul 2008
Airlines flying long-haul to Europe will get extra allocations of carbon credits under the European emissions trading scheme, says the European Commission to New Zealand.
Biofuel subsidies waste of money, says OECD report
18 Jul 2008
Government subsidies for biofuels are not helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new OECD report.
Spending on science and innovation is best for combating climate change
18 Jul 2008
There are technological solutions to the problems created by technology, writes Kim Carr, Australia’s Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research:
Tracking the price of carbon
18 Jul 2008
TO THE EDITOR: We are trying to keep track of the price of carbon for our management reporting purposes on a regular basis.
Parker, Swan meet tomorrow to talk emissions trading
16 Jul 2008
Australia’s proposed emissions trading scheme will be top of the agenda for a meeting between New Zealand Climate Change Minister David Parker and Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan tomorrow.
REACTION: NZ emission scheme should pick up some Aussie ideas, say forest owners
16 Jul 2008
Forest owners have welcomed the release by the Australian Government of its preferred policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
REACTION: Aussie ETS no model for New Zealand, say Greens
16 Jul 2008
The Green Party says it is disappointed that Australia’s proposed emissions trading scheme will not provide a model for New Zealand.
World won't buy ETS dream, top economist tells Aussies
15 Jul 2008
Australians are being told by one of the world’s leading economists that the world will never support an emissions trading regime.
Green economy good for jobs and business, says union expert
15 Jul 2008
New Zealand can be cautiously optimistic that shifting to a green economy will be good for jobs and business, as a new report in Australia predicts up to three million new jobs will be created under a green economy.
Air NZ reviewing implications of EU emissions plan
15 Jul 2008
Air New Zealand remains tight-lipped over the possible impact of the European Parliament’s second-reading vote in favour of including aviation in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme in 2012.
Pure Power looking to up New Zealand investment
15 Jul 2008
Singapore-based bio-energy company Pure Power is on the look-out for more investment opportunities in New Zealand.
Crest waits for Kaipara nod as Portugal prepares to plug in to wave power
15 Jul 2008
While Portugal gears up to launch the first commercial ocean energy generators, Crest Energy’s proposed Kaipara tidal energy project might take another step forward next week after the committee reviewing its resource consent application meets.
Waste-to-biofuel developer wins $12m in state funding
15 Jul 2008
A New Zealand company with plans to turn industrial waste gases into biofuel will receive $12 million of Government science funding.
Contact Energy’s pending parent determined to go nuclear
15 Jul 2008
Centrica, the UK parent of British Gas, which seeks to acquire Origin, and thus New Zealand’s Contact Energy, is involved in talks with EDF, the French power utility.
‘Missing’ greenhouse gas poses problem for government’s information technology thrust
15 Jul 2008
Nitrogen trifluoride is a little-recognised greenhouse gas with a punch many times that of carbon dioxide. It is sometimes rated as 17,000 times greater, and it is an emissions contaminant deliberately - if unknowingly - being fostered by the government.
ANALYSIS: Australian Green Paper: Will faces here go green or red?
15 Jul 2008
ANALYSIS: The Green Paper on Australia’s emissions trading scheme, being published tomorrow, could have policy and political repercussions in New Zealand.
Petrol shock: $8 a litre within 10 years, says Aussie report
11 Jul 2008
Petrol prices could hit $A8 a litre within 10 years, adding 31 cents to the price of a loaf of bread and pushing weekly household fuel bills as high as $220 a week, the Australian research institute CSIRO is warning in a report out today.
Poll shows most of us want action on climate change
11 Jul 2008
Another poll has confirmed that most New Zealanders believe that climate change is human-induced and want to take action.
NZIER-funded polling shows coalition deal may have to deliver ETS policy
11 Jul 2008
Emissions trading is an issue of great concern to Maori and Green party voters - and the major parties might need them to form a coalition after this year's election.
NZ, Australia emissions schemes sit happily together, says Parker
11 Jul 2008
New Zealand and Australia’s emissions-trading schemes are compatible and line-up on the basics, says Climate Change Minister David Parker.
Frustrated scientists hammer home the climate change message
11 Jul 2008
New Zealand scientists have gone on the offensive over climate change, issuing a 1700-word statement setting out the evidence that the climate is changing because of human activity.
Gas the way to go for home heating, say manufacturers
11 Jul 2008
Switching to gas and LPG for heating our water, our homes and for cooking could reduce New Zealand’s CO2 emissions by nearly two million tonnes each year and provide an important interim step towards renewable energy solutions, say New Zealand’s gas and LPG associations.
New gas system will make it easier to switch supplier
11 Jul 2008
Competition in the gas retailing sector will get a boost from March when a simplified system will make switching retailers easier.
ANALYSIS: The NZIER and friends' poll slip is showing
11 Jul 2008
A close-call election result is probably not what the NZIER and its major emitter study funders would have most liked in the results of their June TNS Conversa poll.
Paper giant might fold and flee if NZ emissions scheme 'hostile'
8 Jul 2008
International paper giant Norske Skog might quit New Zealand if it is confronted by what it regards as a hostile emissions regime, sources say.
NZIER releases public poll on climate change
8 Jul 2008
New research shows there is little public support for the proposed emissions trading scheme, says the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
ANALYSIS: The poll result NZIER’s mystery funders won’t like
8 Jul 2008
Perhaps the most sobering result for the NZIER and its supporters in its June TNS poll on emissions trading is the party vote one.
Forest owners urge NZ to follow Garnaut carbon storage action
8 Jul 2008
Australia’s emissions trading scheme is likely to recognise carbon stored in wood products – something New Zealand’s own forest industry would like to see on the table for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Worried union wants summit talks on climate change
8 Jul 2008
A national summit on climate change is being mooted by private-sector union heavyweight the EPMU.
ETS a ‘broken paradigm’ undercutting biodiversity efforts
Mon 25 Aug 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Pure Advantage is calling on the government to reform the Emissions Trading Scheme, with a new policy briefing saying that New Zealand’s offset-heavy approach is a “broken paradigm” undermining biodiversity and shifting risk to communities.
Profound shifts in our changing energy system – new data
Today 10:46am
New Zealand’s energy system is undergoing a profound shift as falling gas production and a dry hydro year reshaped the electricity market in 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Energy in New Zealand 2025.
International scientists slam NZ govt's proposed approach to methane
13 Aug 2025
New Zealand's proposed approach to methane emissions has again been attacked by international climate scientists, with a new study saying the attempt to redefine climate target-setting by livestock-exporting countries undermines the transition to a sustainable and equitable food system
Marginal drop in last year's regional emissions
Today 10:46am
Regional greenhouse gas emissions were down slightly last year, with a fall in gas supply leading to a big drop in Taranaki, but more coal burnt leading to higher emissions in Waikato, according to new figures from Stats NZ
Fund for low emissions transport winds up
31 Jul 2025
New Zealand’s Low Emission Transport Fund has officially wrapped up, ending a nine-year programme that put hundreds of millions of dollars towards accelerating the country’s shift to cleaner transport.
Certainty crucial to emissions cuts – Watts
20 Aug 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says that policy certainty is the Government’s primary lever for unlocking private capital and meeting climate targets, telling a carbon forestry conference that ETS settings are 'locked' through 2030.
Why climate strategy is now central to business success
Tue 26 Aug 2025
SPONSORED CONTENT: Ahead of next month’s Climate Change and Business Conference, New Zealand businesses are being urged to treat climate strategy not as a regulatory burden, but as a core driver of economic competitiveness.
