New Zealand: All stories
‘Dangerously fast’ methane increase suggests feedback mechanism may have begun
15 Feb 2022
Methane concentrations in the atmosphere have risen at a “dangerously fast” rate and now exceed 1,900 parts per billion, prompting some researchers to warn that climate change itself may be driving the increase.
NZX listed carbon fund now worth nearly $100 million
14 Feb 2022
The NZX traded SALT Carbon Fund has shot up in value from just $9.39 million in January of last year to $98.45 million at the end of last week.
Obituary: Peter Neilson - The ETS one of his most successful campaigns
14 Feb 2022
By Graeme Colman: Four days before he died last week, Peter Neilson was working on one of the last chapters of his memoir. It details the touch-and-go final effort to pass a law introducing emissions trading.
Polar bear inbreeding and bird 'divorces': Weird ways climate change is affecting animal species
14 Feb 2022
The world's biodiversity is constantly being threatened by warming temperatures and extreme changes in climate and weather patterns.
Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane
11 Feb 2022
As global methane concentrations soar over 1,900 parts per billion, some researchers fear that global warming itself is behind the rapid rise.
Greenhouse gas emissions down by 11% in September quarter
10 Feb 2022
A drop in coal use for electricity and Covid restrictions resulted in an 11% drop in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from industries and households in the September 2021 quarter, figures released by Stats NZ this morning show.
Landfills make up 75% of Marlborough council’s emissions
10 Feb 2022
Landfills make up 75% of the Marlborough District Council’s greenhouse gas emissions, a new report has found.
He Waka Eke Noa deadline extended
10 Feb 2022
The government is giving farmers an extra month to consult and report back on agricultural emissions.
10 YEARS AGO...
10 Feb 2022
Ten years ago, it was revealed NZUs were the unit of choice among New Zealand emitters required to surrender credits for the first time under the NZ ETS the previous year.
Rethinking how to measure methane's climate impact
10 Feb 2022
Like boxers whose punching power declines over their careers, greenhouse gasses lose their warming impact at different rates. So, to compare gasses' climate changing potential to the most common greenhouse gas—carbon dioxide—international negotiators often use a metric that measures their influence on global warming over a 100-year timeframe.
Tackling climate change at the core of government's economic strategy: PM
9 Feb 2022
Tackling climate change will be at the core of the government's economic strategy, prime minister Jacinda Ardern declared in her first parliamentary speech of the year yesterday.
Is there room for fruit trees in carbon capture programmes?
9 Feb 2022
Climate change concerns from buyers and regulators are pushing agricultural commodity groups in new directions. Some have even started to participate in carbon-capture incentive programs such as carbon markets. But is there room for tree fruit in these programmes?
Road User Charge Act could be amended to take climate change into account
4 Feb 2022
The government is considering amending the Road User Charge Act to allow it to charge motorists for externalities – including climate change.
EV sales up but still short of government targets
4 Feb 2022
The number of vehicles powered by some form of electrification almost doubled last year from 12,997 in 2020 to 25,194.
Feds hit back at climate change minister’s pricing comments
3 Feb 2022
Federated Farmers have responded angrily to climate change minister James Shaw’s comments on agricultural emission pricing, saying his approach risks “killing off the sector.”
Leading environmental NGOs call for doubling of Aotearoa's wetlands
3 Feb 2022
Eleven of New Zealand's leading environmental NGOs are calling on the government to double the extent of natural wetlands in Aotearoa by 2050.
Agriculture will join ETS if He Waka Eke Noa fails to deliver: Shaw
2 Feb 2022
Climate change minister James Shaw has reminded the farming sector that if it fails to come up with a plan that results in significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions agriculture will come under the ETS from 2025.
ETS alone won’t see NZ achieve its climate targets: OECD
1 Feb 2022
The OECD is recommending New Zealand adopt targeted climate change mitigation measures to address market failures that it says won’t be corrected by carbon pricing alone.
Light rail plan “catastrophically wrong”: Genter
31 Jan 2022
Green MP and former associate minister of transport Julie Anne Genter described the government's light rail plan for Auckland as “catastrophically wrong” in a tweet, shortly after the proposal was announced last Friday.
Plant-based epoxy enables recyclable carbon fibre
31 Jan 2022
Ten times stronger than steel, nearly half the weight of aluminum, far stiffer than fiberglass — carbon fibre carries a package of advantages, making it a preferred material for use in luxury sedans and Formula One racecars alike.
Light rail to take up to 12,000 cars off the road
28 Jan 2022
THE government claims its transport plan for Auckland announced this morning – which includes light rail – will remove up to 13 car lanes: equivalent to taking 12,000 cars off the roads.
New democratic mechanisms needed to combat climate change: David Hall
28 Jan 2022
Dr David Hall, the author A Careful Revolution: Towards a Low-Emissions Future (BWB Texts), says if believers in democracy fail to come up with new political mechanisms to tackle climate change authoritarians and despots will fill the void.
Investors urge government to support a global climate disclosure regime
27 Jan 2022
The Investor Group on Climate Change says the government should support the creation of a global reporting regime for climate risk disclosures.
New Zealanders pessimistic about climate change
25 Jan 2022
NEARLY eight out of ten New Zealanders believe the world is not doing enough to avoid damaging temperature rises.
Price of carbon up by 95% on this time last year
24 Jan 2022
The price of NZUs on the spot market have almost doubled since this time last year from $38.40 to $74.95.
The Lorax is Rod Carr's pick for best climate change related fiction book of all time
24 Dec 2021
The Lorax by Dr Seuss is Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr's choice for the best fiction book relating to climate change in the inaugural Carbon News Climate Change Summer Reading list.
Happy holidays
24 Dec 2021
This is the final edition of Carbon News for the year. We'll be back on Monday 24 January. (And that's a cross section of a red cabbage put through a kaleidoscopic filter - courtesy of Twitter user @DanBebber.)
Haiku writing IPCC co-author joins Climate Change Commission board
23 Dec 2021
Leading climate scientist and IPCC co-author Andy Reisinger is one of three new appointments to the Climate Change Commission board.
Climate change contributes to record high insurance payouts
23 Dec 2021
Insurance claims resulting from weather events - some of which have been attributed to climate change by scientists - have hit a record high of $304.9 million in 2021, eclipsing last year's record of $274 million.
Environment minister responds to criticism of RMA amendment delay
23 Dec 2021
Environment minister David Parker's office has provided Carbon News with a response to questions raised in yesterday's story about the delay in the introduction of an amendment to the Resource Management Act allowing councils to decline applications on climate change grounds.
Government delays one of its “most significant” climate change policy changes
22 Dec 2021
Cabinet agreed on Monday to delay an amendment to the Resource Management Act that was trumpeted by climate change minister James Shaw as “one of the most significant policy changes to address climate change this term” when it was passed in June last year.
Seaweed company beefs up its R&D
21 Dec 2021
CH4 Aotearoa – a pioneer in using red seaweed (Asparagopsis) to reduce methane emissions from ruminant animals – is beefing up its R&D operations.
14,000 hectares of farm land converted to forestry in first six months of 2021
20 Dec 2021
More than 14,000 hectares of beef and sheep farm land was bought for forestry conversions in the first six months of 2021, according to a report commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
ETS revenue should be returned to the people: NZ Initiative
17 Dec 2021
The government is missing a chance to make the ETS progressive by not returning its revenues to ordinary New Zealanders in the form of a dividend, NZ Initiative economist Matt Burgess says.
Southern hemesphere's first electric ferry launched in Wellington
17 Dec 2021
The Southern Hemisphere's first electric ferry has been seen zipping across the waters of Te Whanganui-a-Tara for some time now . Yesterday it was officially launched.
$4.5 billion in projected ETS revenue committed to new climate emergency fund
16 Dec 2021
The government is committing the $4.5 billion it expects to earn from Emission Trading Scheme auctions over the next four years to a new Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
Environmental tipping points rather than monetised risks should guide budgets: Upton
15 Dec 2021
Identifying environmental tipping points rather than the dollar costs of environmental inaction should guide future wellbeing budgets, according to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton.
Government to introduce biofuel mandate
15 Dec 2021
From April 2023 fuel wholesalers will be required to include a percentage of biofuels in the fuels they sell in an effort to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, the government announced today.
Avoiding the waste of Christmases past
14 Dec 2021
Household waste going to landfill will jump by 30% this festive season if New Zealanders don't take actions to avoid the waste of Christmases past, according to WasteMINZ.
Courts around the world have made strong climate rulings – not so in New Zealand
14 Dec 2021
University of Waikato associate professor of law Nathan Cooper says New Zealand courts are lagging behind their international counterparts in forcing stronger action on emission reductions.
400 hectare green park announced by Christchurch Airport
13 Dec 2021
A 220-hectare solar array capable of generating 150 megawatts of electricity is the centre-piece of a green park being built on Christchurch Airport's Harewood Campus.
Government takes steps to avoid Sauvignon Blanc emergency
13 Dec 2021
They've declared a climate emergency and now the government is taking steps to ensure we can continue to drink chilled Sauvignon Blanc in a warming world.
NZ's first 'green hydrogen' plant opened
10 Dec 2021
A Maori trust and a Japanese corporation have teamed up to open New Zealand's first 'green hydrogen' plant near Taupo.
Hydro generation up, coal down
10 Dec 2021
Renewables contributed 83.6% of New Zealand's electricity generation in the September quarter up from 77.4% last year.
How close are we to price parity between EVs and ICE vehicles?
10 Dec 2021
The price of the batteries that power electric vehicles has fallen by about 90 percent since 2010, a continuing trend that will soon make EVs less expensive than gasoline vehicles.
Climate change a threat to New Zealand sovereignty: secretary of defence
9 Dec 2021
The challenges of climate change are increasing and unchecked pose a threat to New Zealand’s sovereignty, secretary of defence Andrew Bridgeman says in his forward to the just released He Moana Pukepuke E Ekengia E Te Waka – Defence Assessment 2021.
Unanimous support for sending Auckland climate tax proposal to consultation
9 Dec 2021
Auckland city councillors have voted unanimously to have the proposed Climate Action Targeted Rate go out for consultation as part of the annual budget process due to begin in late February.
On a wing and a prayer: Air NZ’s net zero plan
8 Dec 2021
By Jeremy Rose: Covid-19 has shown that it's possible to dramatically slash the carbon emissions of airlines by simply flying less but reducing the amount we travel by air isn’t among the options floated in Air New Zealand’s just released Sustainability Report.
Bluegreens co-chair Scott Simpson returns to climate change role
7 Dec 2021
Scott Simpson, the co-chair of the National Party’s Bluegreen advisory group, is back as the party's climate change spokesperson following the reshuffle by new leader Christopher Luxon.
Law changed to avoid public carrying the cost of oil and gas field clean-ups
6 Dec 2021
The Crown Minerals Act has been amended to avoid the public being left with the bill for the decommissioning of oil and gas fields.
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.
Govt resilience plan 'dangerous fantasy' - thinktank
Fri 29 Aug 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | An independent thinktank, whose members include former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer and multiple academics, is warning that the government’s long-term resilience strategy ignores physical and energy realities and exposes Kiwi households and businesses to systemic failure.
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
Wed 27 Aug 2025
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.
