New Zealand: All stories
Dunne's eggs crack
5 Sep 2008
United Future leader Peter Dunne has called for household assistance to cover emissions charges.
Meet Major Holmes, our forgotten father of oil
5 Sep 2008
In the oil-producing Gulf states, he is still known as Abu Naft, the father of oil.
Last-minute Ngai Tahu treaty claim unlikely to stall ETS
2 Sep 2008
A late Treaty of Waitangi claim by Ngai Tahu, which says the emissions trading scheme could cost it tens of millions of dollars, is unlikely to stop the scheme becoming law.
We've done the hard yards, say frustrated farmers
2 Sep 2008
A new non-binding emissions reduction target for agriculture shows there is little official understanding of hard work farmers have already done to reduce their emissions, says Federated Farmers.
Crammed capital to put its faith in new-look car pooling
2 Sep 2008
Incentives to make it easier for people to car pool will be offered to all workplaces in the Wellington region early next year.
Fishing industry questions new ETS free-units allocation
2 Sep 2008
The fishing sector is relieved that amendments to the Government’s climate change legislation include a major concession to the industry.
Mobil closes in on carbon dioxide breathrough
2 Sep 2008
Mobil is close to a technology which will literally absorb the problem of greenhouse gases from natural gas.
Maori Party against ETS bill: concern over subsidies, impacts on Maori land owners
2 Sep 2008
The Maori Party says in EST bill debate that it is "opposed to the concept of paying the polluters; of rewarding the corporate lobbyists with huge exemptions; and the very nature of trading rather than reducing emissions."
Wholesale electricity index up 9.79 points on a year ago
2 Sep 2008
The M-Co Wholesale Electricity Price Index for August was up 9.79 points on a year ago.
Parliament to have power over free credits
29 Aug 2008
Parliament is to have the power to reject allocation plans for free carbon credits – a move which could expose heavy emitters to having to purchase 100 per cent of their credits at times.
Emissions scheme passes second reading
29 Aug 2008
The ETS bill has passed its second reading and will go into committee stages on Tuesday.
ETS agreement blocks trade in 'black' hot-air credits
29 Aug 2008
AAU credits will not be automatically redeemable under the New Zealand emissions trading scheme.
Big businesses might flee NZ, warn heavy emitters
29 Aug 2008
New Zealand’s heavy emitters say that sharing some of their free carbon credits with smaller emitters could see companies leave the country.
Wind energy developers keep keen eye on new approvals process
29 Aug 2008
The wind energy sector is waiting with bated breath to see how the new “calling in” approvals process works.
Carbon credit sharing fails to impress wood processors
29 Aug 2008
Sharing carbon credits around is not enough of a remedy for wood processors bracing themselves for the introduction of an emissions trading scheme.
Council sees reluctance to accept change to water usage system
29 Aug 2008
New Zealand’s current water allocation system plays favourites for some and they are unlikely to want it to change, says Business Council for Sustainable Development chief Peter Neilson.
ETS DEALS: What the Greens and NZ First got changed
29 Aug 2008
Changes to the ETS bill, negotiated in return for the support of the Green and New Zealand First parties, are:
MAF excited at finding cellulose perennial solution to biofuels
29 Aug 2008
A MAF report indicates that using 12 per cent of the nation’s pastoral land to grow herbaceous feed-stocks for bioethanol production would provide equivalent energy to that “derived from current total petrol usage.”
BREAKING NEWS: ETS bill has the numbers
27 Aug 2008
The Government has got the numbers to pass the emissions trading scheme.
ETS ball now in Winston's court
26 Aug 2008
All eyes are now on New Zealand First as the country waits to see whether the Government has the numbers to get its emissions trading scheme passed before the election.
Greens will support the ETS
26 Aug 2008
The Green Party is supporting the emissions trading scheme, bringing the Government within five votes of getting the bill passed.
REACTION: Greenpeace welcomes Greens' decision
26 Aug 2008
Greenpeace has welcomed the Green's support for the emissions trading scheme (ETS), saying the party has secured some positive measures.
Heavy emitters stand to lose credits under deal with Greens
26 Aug 2008
New Zealand’s heaviest emitters of greenhouse gases will have to relinquish some of their free carbon credits to smaller companies under a deal won by the Green Party.
Report spells out future for precious water resources
26 Aug 2008
A major report into the management of one of New Zealand’s most precious commodities – fresh water - will be released tomorrow.
National goes quiet on coal-fired power
26 Aug 2008
The National Party is tamping down any discussion on the value of coal-fired power, in spite of coal comprising up 95 per cent of recoverable fuel reserves and in sufficient volume to last for 1500 years.
ANALYSIS: How we can live without cars
26 Aug 2008
A new report by the Land Transport Agency reads like a Green Party policy statement at first glance – it’s time to change public attitudes so that single-occupant car journeys become a thing of the past and people use more public transport.
Queenstown man heads for court to try to block ETS
26 Aug 2008
A Queenstown businessman is taking the Government to the High Court in a bid to prevent the passing of the Emissions Trading Scheme.
NEW ROADS: Do we really need them, asks energy activist
26 Aug 2008
Forget road tolls - the real questions is whether we need new roads at all.
FORUM: The Cartarets - report from a sinking world
26 Aug 2008
While New Zealanders debate measures to prevent the expected impacts of climate change, the real impacts are already hitting home for some people.
ETS CRUNCH TIME: Shaky, but Greens pact might swing the deal
22 Aug 2008
It’s crunch time for the emissions trading scheme, but concessions the Green Party has won on the allocation of free units might be enough to swing the deal for the Government.
Pass the ETS, greens, unions and business tell politicians
22 Aug 2008
Environmentalists, unions and business are urging politicians to pass the emissions trading scheme.
Extra sitting time will give time for ETS bill to be passed
22 Aug 2008
The Government is confident that there is enough time left in which to pass the emissions trading bill - if it can get the support.
Northland gives nod to Kaipara tidal energy project
22 Aug 2008
Crest Energy has passed a major hurdle in its bid to set up a tidal energy plant at the mouth of the Kaipara Harbour.
Bamboo can be a lucrative friend, pioneer tells Kiwis
22 Aug 2008
Environmentally friendly bamboo could be a winning crop for New Zealand if people didn’t have such a negative view of it, says an industry pioneer.
Genesis and Rodney council reach understanding on wastewater
22 Aug 2008
Genesis Energy and the Rodney District Council have taken joint plans to build a new wastewater plant for Helensville a step further with the signing of a memorandum of understanding - despite allegations that the power giant is buying community support for it's proposed power station.
Niwa scientists take serious look at algae for biofuel
22 Aug 2008
The sudden falling-from-grace of biofuels because of links to food shortages and food-price rises has intensified research into local algae sources by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
City-centre green village signs Telecom as anchor tenant
22 Aug 2008
Telecom has become the anchor tenant of Wellington’s Willis Central scheme, confirming the designer's claim that it will be the nation’s first genuine Green inner-city mixed-use development.
English outlines National's climate-change policies
22 Aug 2008
National Party leader Bill English used this week's trans-Tasman Change and Business Conference to outline his party's position on climate change.
Use cost to help decide on ETS, says Business NZ
22 Aug 2008
Business NZ has responded to the Greens’ request for the public to help them decide whether to support Labour’s proposed emissions trading scheme.
OUR CARBON PROBLEM: Ideas, people ... but no money
19 Aug 2008
New Zealand has the ideas and the people but not the money to develop world-beating clean technologies.
NZ billions behind in carbon bonanza race, says Tindall
19 Aug 2008
New Zealand has just five years to get its share of the low-carbon economy bonanza, says Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall.
Global leaders? We’re not even close, says carbon-footprint pioneer
19 Aug 2008
New Zealand is being left behind when it comes to quantifying its carbon footprint, says enterprise-level carbon-footprint accounting software provider Revolution ID.
Seabed miner plans minerals hunt in NZ waters
19 Aug 2008
AIM-quoted Nautilus Minerals has selected New Zealand waters for deep-sea dredging for copper, zinc, gold, and silver.
NZ might have to take Pacific climate-change refugees
19 Aug 2008
New Zealand might have to open its doors and pockets to Pacific Islands peoples forced to leave their homelands because of climate change, a senior NGO official is warning.
Car-racing series gives nod to ethanol-mix biofuels
19 Aug 2008
Cars in the Toyota Racing Series will be allowed to run on ethanol-based biofuels, after Motorsport New Zealand modified the rules to allow it.
National’s energy policy hooks the fishing crowd
19 Aug 2008
Anglers who say coal is a better option than hydro power think they might have found an ally in the National Party.
We'll have an ETS in nine months, vows National
15 Aug 2008
The National Party says it will have an emissions trading scheme in place within nine months of becoming government – three months later than it has said earlier.
Key’s energy message: We’ll give you all the electricity you need
15 Aug 2008
Those who want to grow need to know they have the power supply necessary to do so – that’s the key message at the heart of the National Party’s energy policy released yesterday by leader John Key and energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee.
ANALYSIS: Nats' policy shop - an open back door?
15 Aug 2008
The National Party’s energy policy hits some fairly predictable expected notes – reform the Resource Management Act (RMA), make it easier for new power stations to be built, promote oil and gas exploration, get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy ... but it’s some of the finer detail (and in many cases lack of it) that makes the policy interesting.
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.
