New Zealand: All stories
The politics of risk in 2026
3 Feb 2026
The opening speeches of Parliament’s first sitting days offered little new policy detail, but they repeated the themes likely to define energy and environment politics in 2026 - and the framing each party wants to carry into an election year.
Changes to climate reporting expected by mid-year
3 Feb 2026
Changes to New Zealand’s climate reporting requirements are expected to become law by mid year, with the Finance and Expenditure Committee recommending passing the bill when it reported it back last week.
Kiwis want Govt investment to reduce climate risk
2 Feb 2026
New Zealanders strongly support proactive efforts to reduce the risks from climate related events like flooding, landslips and sea level rise and keep communities safe, according to a new survey.
Opposition attacks Govt over fossil fuel phaseout backdown
2 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Revelations that Resources Minister Shane Jones ruled out New Zealand signing up to a 'road map' away from fossil fuels at last year’s global climate summit show the National Party’s minor coalition partners’ undue influence over the Government, according to Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Gisborne council urged to stop 'appeasing' forestry industry
2 Feb 2026
By Zita Campbell, Local Democracy Reporter | A Gisborne environmental group is lobbying the Gisborne District Council to stop appeasing the forestry industry, and protesters say they want more action “faster”.
Commentators slam Govt inaction in aftermath of climate change-fuelled storms
30 Jan 2026
By Liz Kivi | Climate action - or inaction - is shaping up to be an election issue, with multiple commentators drawing a line between the Coalition Government’s backsliding on climate targets and the deadly extreme weather events of the past week.
Foresters warn emissions plan changes push risk into next decade
30 Jan 2026
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry says the Government’s amendment to the Second Emissions Reduction Plan provides welcome policy clarity in the short term, but leaves significant delivery risks unresolved beyond 2030, particularly as agriculture pricing is shelved and greater reliance is placed on forestry removals.
Greenpeace slams ‘bogus’ climate plan
30 Jan 2026
The Government’s re-jigged emissions plan has a giant “cow-shaped hole” in it, exposing a climate strategy that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, according to Greenpeace.
Ōtara homeowner lays bare cost of flood-proofing as council confirms no private funding
30 Jan 2026
Taelegalolo'u Mary Afemata | A lifelong Ōtara resident is using her family home as a real-world example of what flood resilience looks like in practice.
Media round-up
30 Jan 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: A climate scientist says it's not too late for people to reduce emissions and slow the effects of climate change, forestry urges Government to remove legal accountability for slash, and which regions lead NZ in rooftop solar – and which ones lag behind?
Out of Paris, but will the US formally quit the UN climate regime?
30 Jan 2026
The Trump administration has decided to withdraw the US from the broader UN climate convention, raising questions about the legality of the move and what it means in practice.
Govt updates emissions plan to blow past legislated target
29 Jan 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government has updated its emissions reduction plan, with agricultural emissions now set to blow past the legislated 2030 target.
Govt rules out support for Gisborne storm transition plan
29 Jan 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government has ruled out providing financial support for Gisborne District Council’s long-term storm and land-use transition plan, despite mounting evidence that poor land use is intensifying the impacts of extreme weather across Tairāwhiti and other regions.
New Auckland alliance to accelerate nature regeneration
29 Jan 2026
Auckland Council alongside the Sustainable Business Network have launched the Tāmaki Taiao Alliance, a new collaboration designed to accelerate nature regeneration at scale across Tāmaki Makaurau.
Court rejects challenge to Minister and Commission over climate targets
28 Jan 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Supreme Court has rejected Lawyers for Climate Action’s bid to challenge the Climate Change Commission and former Climate Minister James Shaw over climate targets, ending a long-running case which had been working its way through the courts since 2021.
Govt weighs LNG backstop as gas decline accelerates
28 Jan 2026
Liquefied natural gas imports are moving from a back-pocket idea to an active procurement process, with ministers expected to make decisions soon on whether – and how – to add LNG as an emergency backstop for New Zealand’s tightening gas and electricity system.
NZ’s sodden January explained: what’s driven this month’s big wet?
28 Jan 2026
By James Renwick, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It has been a month of umbrellas rather than sunscreen across much of New Zealand, with persistent rain, low sunshine and deadly storms dominating headlines and daily life.
Shifting peak power use could save NZ $3 billion, report finds
27 Jan 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Almost a quarter of New Zealand’s peak electricity demand could be shifted to off-peak hours, saving the country $3 billion in power generation and infrastructure to meet peak demand, according to new analysis from EECA.
Govt consulting on further ETS fee cuts for foresters
27 Jan 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government has moved to reduce compliance costs for forest owners, announcing a further cut to ETS registry charges and a new consultation on service fees, a move welcomed by forestry industry groups.
Energy and environment enters an election year pressure cooker
27 Jan 2026
Parliament resumes this week but the year ahead is already framed by the November 7 election.
Supreme Court mandates climate consideration in petroleum permitting
26 Jan 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government must consider climate change when offering petroleum exploration permits, according to a recent ruling from the Supreme Court.
Financial sector must account for hard realities of climate change
26 Jan 2026
COMMENT: While the world’s largest asset manager ditching its $2 billion climate tech commitment to New Zealand is part of a greater walkback of climate finance, concerns about climate-related risk continue to shape present-day financial decisions, writes David Hall.
Hawke’s Bay weather response: What councils changed after Cyclone Gabrielle
26 Jan 2026
By Linda Hall, Local Democracy Reporter |Hawke’s Bay councils say preparation played a key role in responding to the latest devastating weather to strike the country.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Seasons greetings for the summer break
19 Dec 2025
The Carbon News team is taking a break over the summer holidays. We’ll be back with more crucial climate coverage from New Zealand and around the world from 26 January 2026.
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.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greenpeace says Government changes to national direction instruments under the RMA paves the way for mining in wetlands and biodiversity hotspots and will expose some of Aotearoa’s most fragile ecosystems to irreversible damage.
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.
Govt unveils plans for carbon storage regulations – and ETS rewards
18 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has released plans to regulate carbon capture and storage in natural geological formations, which include Emissions Trading Scheme incentives, with the aim of introducing related legislation in 2026.
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Progress to slash farming emissions is being blocked by limited farmer confidence in mitigation tools, inconsistent engagement, misinformation and a lack of clear policy signals, according to a new report.
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.
Could tidal energy one day power NZ?
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests Aotearoa holds some of the world’s strongest tidal-stream energy potential – enough to generate up to 93% of today’s electricity use – but one expert cautions that extracting energy at such a scale could have significant impacts and remains highly uncertain.
Climate change policy moving to new mega-ministry
17 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The Government’s primary adviser on climate change policy, the Ministry for the Environment, is to be folded into a new mega-agency that will also cover urban, transport, local government and housing.
RMA’s successors hinge on two untested bets
17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
Communities must be central to climate adaptation strategies – 10 insights to guide national policy
17 Dec 2025
Discussions about how New Zealand should adapt to a changing climate have been going on for more than two decades.
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.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
16 Dec 2025
New Zealand could see 97% of its glaciers vanish by 2100, with new international modelling projecting a rapid acceleration in glacier extinction from the 2030s onward – even under lower-warming scenarios.
Govt slammed for weakening methane target
15 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams The Government has pushed through legislation under urgency to almost halve New Zealand’s 2050 methane target – a move Opposition parties say disregards scientific advice, breaks the country’s hard-won political consensus on climate action, and shifts the burden of higher warming and higher future costs onto the next generation.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
15 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Despite ‘intransigent’ states blocking multilateralism and a disappointing official outcome, Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says he left the COP30 climate summit feeling more positive than after previous UN climate conferences.
Weak carbon policy misses ‘exponential’ NZ growth opportunity: KiC
15 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Ambitious climate change policy is a route to a faster-growing New Zealand economy because of the potential for “exponential” growth in decarbonising technologies,” says KiwisinClimate, a global lobby group of New Zealanders working on climate change policy.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
12 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, says New Zealand restarting fossil fuel exploration and subsidies is an obvious breach of international law, exposing the country to international and domestic litigation.
Govt overhaul leaves the door open for coal mining on conservation land
12 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s sweeping reclassification of thousands of hectares of publicly-owned conservation land has met with sharp criticism, with environmental groups saying the decision leaves vulnerable ecosystems exposed to mining and development.
Hydro increases overall renewable electricity generation in September quarter
12 Dec 2025
The September quarter saw 89.4% of all electricity generated from renewable sources, with hydro, geothermal and solar leading the charge, according to new data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Gentailers push back hard on Electricity Authority’s plan
12 Dec 2025
The four major generator-retailers have pushed back strongly against the Electricity Authority’s proposals to overhaul non-discrimination and price-consistency rules, arguing the proposed regime is built on “perceived risks” rather than evidence and could inadvertently raise retail electricity prices.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
12 Dec 2025
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is calling for submissions on its international treaty examination of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
Media round-up
12 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Another offshore wind firm exits New Zealand over a clash with seabed mining; Fonterra falls behind on its climate goals as farm emissions remain flat; and the businesses trapped by the gas 'death spiral'.
What are the causes of recent record-high global temperatures?
12 Dec 2025
The past three years have been exceptionally warm globally.
Govt warned that scrapping ag emission pricing comes with risks
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s move to halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing without replacing it with any other action will leave New Zealand facing a bigger gap to meet its third emissions budget, Environment ministry officials have warned.
Minister not concerned about potential economic impacts of ruling out offshore mitigation
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts isn’t worried that ruling out using offshore mitigation is effectively reneging from the Paris Agreement with potential to damage New Zealand’s economy and access to export markets.
Is Govt rushing through changes to climate framework to avoid litigation?
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says the Government’s motivation for proposed changes to the country’s climate framework law are unclear: “The only reason I can think of is one grounded in potential litigation risk.”
Greens slam move to disband Environment Ministry
Fri 20 Feb 2026
The Green Party has joined climate and health advocates in condemning the Government's decision to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment as part of a multi-ministry merger.
Govt’s own modelling shows LNG leads to higher electricity prices than other solutions
Thu 19 Feb 2026
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: According to modelling conducted by Concept Consulting for MBIE, either developing the Tariki gas storage facility or managing electricity demand would deliver lower wholesale electricity prices than the Government’s preferred solution of an LNG import terminal.
Govt's solar on farms initiative to cut costs, boost resilience
Tue 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.
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.
Slash for cash turns storm debris into jobs and climate resilience
Thu 19 Feb 2026
A community-led initiative in Tairāwhiti is transforming storm-damaged forestry slash into jobs, soil regeneration and long-term climate resilience.
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.
