New Zealand: All stories
Electricity market: Prices continue to rise
20 May 2008
Electricity prices continued to rise last week.
Who pays for climate change?
20 May 2008
OPINION: New Zealand Centre for Political Research.- Last week the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment came out in support of the Government's Emissions Trading Bill as the gateway to a 'carbon-constrained future':
Let’s cool it, says Key, and sends ETS into a spin
19 May 2008
The National Party has kicked the emissions trading scheme into touch, saying it won’t support the bill in its present form and wants to delay passing it until after the election.
Worried farmers: We want to be part of the ETS
19 May 2008
Farmers want to do their bit and be part of the emissions trading scheme, says Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen.
Process all above board, says ETS chair Chauvel
19 May 2008
Finance and expenditure select committee chair Charles Chauvel is defending the way in which the committee has dealt with the climate change bill, and says that work is on schedule to report back to Parliament next month.
Nats could be punished, say environment groups
19 May 2008
Environment groups are warning the National Party that it could be punished at the ballot box for failing to take decisive action on climate change.
Canadian with Kiwi connections to take over Genesis
19 May 2008
Canadian New Zealander Albert Brantley is to be the new boss of Genesis Energy, operator of the Huntly power station and New Zealand’s largest electricity retailer.
ETS will trim Kyoto bill $909 million, pushes Key further out on policy tightrope
16 May 2008
The emissions trading scheme will avoid a 15 to 50 million tonne rise in emissions between 2008 and 2012, Climate Change Issues Minister David Parker has told Parliament, in what appears to a ground preparing statement ahead of National leader John Key’s ETS policy announcement this Sunday.
Expert tells businesses: Wake up, it’s happening now
16 May 2008
New Zealand businesses that fail to act now on carbon face a real risk of losing market share, with many already feeling the financial impact of the new way of doing business, says PWC partner Julia Hoare.
NZ energy-miser motor could lead the world
16 May 2008
A revolutionary New Zealand-designed electric motor with the potential to save huge amounts of energy and carbon has won $1.75 million of government research funding.
Gas from our coal could provide energy for 1600 years
16 May 2008
A report by New Zealand’s former technical supremo on coal, Peter Toynbee, indicates that New Zealand is in a powerful position in regard to coal-generated energy.
Official report urges focus on sustainable policies
16 May 2008
A two-year-old Ministry of Research Science and Technology paper has been dusted off because it urges the government to adopt policies that accelerate the channeling of resources into value added food technology.
At last, Nats to tell us where they stand on the ETS
15 May 2008
National will break its silence on Sunday on where it stands on the Government’s emissions trading scheme.
Bluffing over aluminium: EU says post-2012 ETS impact may be 'negligible'
15 May 2008
While Rio Tinto talks of its Bluff aluminium smelter being put on a path to closure by the proposed emissions trading scheme, the European Union says the effects of including the sector in its scheme “may well be negligible” once a new post-Kyoto international agreement is in place.
Booming biofuels company shows how it can be done
15 May 2008
Gull has stolen a march on the big fuel companies and proved that the Government’s initial biofuel target can be met.
Airships' potential not just hot air, says entrepreneur
15 May 2008
Fancy cutting transport costs by half and saving the environment at the same time? Airships might be just the ticket.
How Aunt Betty’s defeated food miles and won Tesco
15 May 2008
Old Fashioned Foods Group, whose signature brand is Aunt Bettys, lifted up their skirts and laid about them with a rolling pin when, in a remarkable display of agility, the group started acquiring space on the Tesco shelves. It did so by very largely obscuring its New Zealand origins.
OPINION: Wind Farms: Powering Future or Destroying Past?
15 May 2008
By the Save Central Group.- The region of Otago is in a state of significant upheaval over the giant turbines of Meridian’s Project Hayes and TrustPower’s Mahinerangi Wind Farm.
Angry Greens ask Government: Is it us or them?
14 May 2008
The Government is in the firing line from both National and the Greens over its performance on the emissions trading scheme.
Fletcher role revealed, Government extends credit assistance further than sought
14 May 2008
The advice from Fletcher Building which helped persuade Government to make a further $1.3 billion in emission credit concessions to heavy emitters is revealed in an appendix to the interim report of the select committee considering the emissions trading bill.
Select committee probing fate of refrigeration gases in ETS
14 May 2008
The select committee considering the emissions trading bill is looking into “significant issues” including how to treat synthetic greenhouse gases.
Big landowners take centre stage at ETS hearings
14 May 2008
Some of New Zealand’s biggest land owners today will put their argument to Parliament’s finance and expenditure select committee for more flexibility under the emissions trading bill.
Government campaign urges industry to burn wood
14 May 2008
The Government is mounting a strong campaign urging industry to use wood instead of coal or oil.
OPINION: It’s time to take another look at our water
14 May 2008
The Green Party has capped any discussion of fresh water exports within the Labour-led coalition, and the National Party views the topic as a kind of Son of Nuclear issue, to be kept well clear of.
Select Committee interim report on emissions trading bill
14 May 2008
The Finance and Expenditure Select Committee has issued an 18-page interim report on the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Prefernece) bill.
Rio Tinto joins 'capital strike' game, says union leader
13 May 2008
Rio Tinto’s threat to close the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is the latest move in a “capital strike” campaign by heavy greenhouse-gas emitters to get their own way over the emissions trading scheme, says EPMU national secretary Andrew Little.
Smelter submission actually supports ETS, makes special pleadings
13 May 2008
ANALYSIS. - The operator of New Zealand’s only aluminium smelter supports New Zealand’s desire to introduce an emissions trading scheme.
Forest owners tell ETS body: Our burden is unfair
13 May 2008
The forestry industry’s displeasure at being the only sector left in the early stages of the emissions trading scheme reached Parliament yesterday.
Little point in NZ carbon trading currency, says business group
13 May 2008
A second major business group is suggesting that New Zealand should be using international carbon instruments instead of creating its own currency.
Shock shipping news puts New Zealand on the spot
13 May 2008
A United Nations study that claims the true scale of CO2 emissions from shipping is three times higher than previously thought, is bad news for New Zealand.
The Business Roundtable writes
13 May 2008
References to the Business Roundtable in your editorial of April 29, 2008 were drawn to my attention.
Dairy operator eyes $75m loss without forestry offset scheme
12 May 2008
The emissions trading scheme could cost the owners of one of New Zealand’s biggest dairy conversions $75 million and see prime pastoral farmland remain locked-up in plantation forest unless a forestry offset scheme is introduced.
Nats deny any ETS deal with Government
12 May 2008
National is denying reports that it is gearing up to do a deal with Labour over the emission trading scheme, and the Government isn’t commenting.
Most Kiwis believe big emitters running the climate change show
12 May 2008
Most New Zealanders think that big greenhouse-gas emitters are calling the shots on the country’s climate change policy, and a Labour-Green coalition is seen as the best combination to manage change, according to a new poll.
Can National really make the tough calls on climate change?
12 May 2008
ANALYSIS – National may be showing it really doesn’t want to act on climate change.
Celebrity chef could cook up a storm for our food exporters
12 May 2008
Suggestions by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay that British restaurants should be fined for having imported food on their menus are a sign of the misguided Northern Hemisphere perception of the environmental impact of the international food trade, and are potentially damaging to New Zealand, says Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock.
New poll: Kiwis like ETS delays but want heavy emitters to pay now
9 May 2008
New Zealanders approve of the Government’s billion-dollar decision to delay bringing transport into the emissions trading scheme – but think that heavy emitters should be facing the cost of their emissions now.
Transport delay seen as threat to carbon currency
9 May 2008
The viability of the proposed New Zealand carbon currency, NZU, is threatened by the Government’s decision to delay bringing transport into the emissions trading scheme for another two years, says the Sustainability Council.
Government disputes $80b 'carbon tax' windfall claim
9 May 2008
The Government is disputing a suggestion by Solid Energy chief Don Elder that it could stand to make $80 billion from New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme.
ANALYSIS: Will Don Elder today spell out his dream for New Zealand?
9 May 2008
What did Don Elder hope to achieve by assuming a carbon price of $200 per tonne and almost nil-emissions reduction – to produce a result showing the Government could make a surplus of up to $80 billion from its emissions trading scheme?
Petrify, liquefy: New ways to bury greenhouse gas
9 May 2008
Turn greenhouse gases to stone? Transform them into a treacle-like liquid deep under the seabed? The ideas may sound like far-fetched schemes from an alchemist's notebook, but scientists are pursuing them as many countries prepare to bury captured greenhouse gases in coming years as part of the fight against global warming.
EXCLUSIVE: Top Fletcher officers played key role in ETS policy switch
8 May 2008
Highly reliable sources have told Carbon News that two senior Fletcher Building executives, Jonathan Ling and Hans Buwalda, were the key players in successfully lobbying Climate Change Minister David Parker for major changes to the emissions trading scheme, announced on Tuesday.
NZX chief: Here's our big chance to impress the Americans
8 May 2008
New Zealand has a chance to build a strong relationship with the United States over greenhouse-gas emissions trading by being the first country to bring agriculture and forestry into the scheme, says NZX chief Mark Weldon.
Big players put cases to ETS select committee
8 May 2008
The select committee hearing submissions on the emissions trading bill is in for an interesting day today, with energy producers, users and lobbyists lining up to make submissions.
Capital developer creating ‘first true green building’
8 May 2008
Leading restoration developer Ian Cassells is highlighting New Zealand’s “phony” approach to green building by developing the country’s first office-as-a-village, which will eliminate car emissions by having people live, work and play in the same place.
Government ETS moves will batter forestry Kyoto credit values
7 May 2008
Forest owners expect the value of their hard-won Kyoto carbon credits to plummet as a result of yesterday’s announced changes to the emissions trading scheme, with the likely result that few new forests will be planted.
Stock exchange chief looks to the futures
7 May 2008
NZX chief Mark Weldon says that changes to the timetable for implementation of the emissions trading scheme will move demand from a spot market to a futures market.
Non-committal Nats happy to play the waiting game
7 May 2008
National says it is carefully avoiding “running the politics” on climate change and won’t finalise its climate-change policy until at least July, when it sees Australia’s proposals.
Government allies vent their anger
7 May 2008
Government moves to delay the impact of the emissions trading scheme on big-business and motorists have earned anger from allies, with the Green Party threatening to pull its support.
Pandering, polluting, unprincipled – and popular
7 May 2008
ANALYSIS – The Government yesterday gave control over New Zealand’s transport fuel emissions to the offshore oil markets.
Local council shakeup will weaken environmental protection, say critics
Wed 26 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s sweeping overhaul of local councils threatens to erode hard-won environmental protections, warning that stripping regional councils of directly elected governance will weaken oversight of freshwater, biodiversity and land-use decisions.
‘Highly uncertain’ ETS hampers Genesis biomass plans
Fri 28 Nov 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | “Highly uncertain” New Zealand carbon prices and market settings are identified as a commercial threat by Genesis Energy to its planned use of biomass to replace coal and gas at its Huntly power station by 2028.
Marex invests in methane-busting biotech, hopes to kickstart NZ methane credits
Thu 27 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | NASDAQ-listed financial services group Marex has taken a minority stake in Ruminant Biotech, an Auckland-based agritech startup, with a view to kick-starting Marex’s methane-based carbon credits trading business in New Zealand.
Mounting emissions due to Government decisions
20 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Coalition Government’s climate policies have added a whopping 26 million tonnes of emissions out to 2030, according to new analysis of Government projections.
Christchurch Airport boasts world-first liquid-hydrogen refuelling for test aircraft
30 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Local companies working on hydrogen-electric flight have made ‘a significant step forward’ in successfully filling aviation tanks with liquid hydrogen produced and stored on-site at an international airport for the first time.
Indigenous land cover shrinking as urban areas expand
Mon 24 Nov 2025
Indigenous land cover in Aotearoa New Zealand has continued its long-term decline, with new figures from Stats NZ revealing a further loss of native ecosystems as urban development and industrial activity increase.
Investors must support positive climate-tech
Fri 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.
