New Zealand: All stories
Lockdown gave us whiff of life with low pollution
19 May 2020
Seven weeks of lockdown has provided evidence of how pollution can vanish overnight, says the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
19 May 2020
MPs take a break from Parliament this week, but will be back in the House next week.
Saucy sugar joins drive to find us better food
19 May 2020
Australia’s sugar industry is joining forces with health experts to call for a complete change to the world’s food systems.
Everybody hold hands and get on with it, says SBC
18 May 2020
The Sustainable Business Council is calling for aa cross-party consensus over the spending of covid-19 pandemic recovery money on decarbonising the economy.
Experts are back in fashion – so, get them talking
18 May 2020
British cabinet minister Michael Gove once sneered that “people have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong.”
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
18 May 2020
Members of the Sustainable Business Council meet today and on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the organisation’s future direction.
At last, a fair deal for our atomic love affair
18 May 2020
However you view the argument, nuclear passions run strong. A new film gives us a breathless ride through our atomic love affair.
POLITICS: James Shaw dines out
15 May 2020
Climate minister James Shaw must be pinching himself; the $50 billion the Government is pouring into digging the country out of the covid-19 pandemic financial hole dwarfs what money he had secured so far to cut carbon out of the economy.
HOW THEY SAW IT: reaction to the Budget
15 May 2020
Environmental Defence Society: A Green New Deal. Pleased with $1.1 billion to create 11,000 jobs “restoring the natural world”. Hopes this reset of economic thinking will flow through to the allocation of the $3 billion infrastructure fund, and the projects chosen are low-carbon.
Rising prices push up free-credits cost
15 May 2020
Rising carbon prices are pushing up the on-going cost of giving free carbon credits to emitters.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
15 May 2020
MPs take a break from Parliament next week but will be back in the House on May 26.
BUDGET: More money for infrastructure
14 May 2020
The Budget has come out with no real indication of the infrastructure projects the Government will back to stimulate the economy.
Wellington says govt urban plan fails on climate
14 May 2020
The Government's plans for urban development are at odds with its programme for dealing with climate change, says Greater Wellington Regional Council.
EDITORIAL: All aboard!
14 May 2020
By ADELIA HALLETT | Whangarei Engineering Company – better known as Weco – was once the country’s biggest shipyard.
Third of new Toyotas are hybrid, says company
14 May 2020
A third of new Toyota vehicles sold in New Zealand are hybrids, the company says.
Why Govt should put exisiting buildings first
14 May 2020
Improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings should be the country’s top energy priority, an insulation company says.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
14 May 2020
It’s Budget Day; at 2pm, the Government will unveil its economic plans for the year, including what finance minister Grant Robertson says is the first stage of the national recovery from the covid-19 pandemic.
Wind might pass coal sooner than we thought
14 May 2020
A milestone in the clean energy transition may arrive earlier than expected, with renewables overtaking coal as a leading source of electricity by the end of this year.
Pandemic will permanently change car industry
14 May 2020
Plunging sales could force car factories to close and lead to takeovers and mergers, but also bolster sales of electric vehicles.
Industry blames Beehive for plant closure
13 May 2020
New Zealand’s only large biodiesel plant is being mothballed in a move the industry says is a direct result of the Government’s failure to plan for the future of the country’s energy production.
Ammonia no wonder-fuel, says NZ expert
13 May 2020
Ammonia is unlikely to become a wonder-fuel in the near future, a New Zealand energy expert says.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
13 May 2020
Tomorrow is Budget Day, when the Government will, presumably, unveil some of its plans to help the economy recovery from the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic.
Bad soil fungi will welcome warmer weather
13 May 2020
Rising temperatures will increase crop losses as warmer soils encourage the growth of pathogenic soil fungi, scientists say.
New genetics regime will cut dairy herd emissions
12 May 2020
A new national regime for recording dairy genetics will help to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s herd, officials say.
Ammonia is the energy future, say scientists
12 May 2020
Forget hydrogen – the energy future is ammonia, Australia researchers say.
Don't force us to disclose, says business lobby
11 May 2020
Businesses should not be forced to disclose their exposure to risks from climate change, Business New Zealand says.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
11 May 2020
The Government will announce this afternoon whether covid-19 pandemic restrictions will be eased, taking the country from level three to level two.
POLITICS AT PLAY: Get with the programme
8 May 2020
By ADELIA HALLETT | It seems the old fracture lines in the politics of climate change are still there.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
8 May 2020
Parliament's Epidemic Response Select Committee hears submissions today from Business New Zealand and Local Government New Zealand – two organisations promoting a low-carbon pandemic recovery.
Why world cannot return to 'business as usual'
8 May 2020
Mayors from many of the world’s leading cities have warned there can be no return to “business as usual” in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis if humanity is to escape catastrophic climate breakdown.
Budget will move on emissions, hints Robertson
7 May 2020
Finance minister Grant Robertson has just given the strongest signal yet that next week’s Budget will include plans to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions as well as rescuing the economy from the impacts of the covid-19 crisis.
Small businesses get guide to cutting emissions
7 May 2020
Small businesses wanting to cut emissions have a new guide to show them how to do it.
Officials untangle emissions and planning consent
7 May 2020
Officials are working on national guidelines to help councils to deal with greenhouse gas emissions in planning processes and consents.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
7 May 2020
Parliament sits today, but is not expected to get to either of the climate change bills on the order paper – reform of the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Resource Management Act.
ABOUT DROUGHT: 2020 looks like one of worst
6 May 2020
This year is proving to be one of the worst on record in New Zealand for drought, adding weight to scientists’ projections about the impact climate change could have on the country.
Nats favour wider spread in covid recovery plan
6 May 2020
National says cutting carbon emissions should not be the only priority of the covid-19 recovery programme.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
6 May 2020
Today is a busy day for sustainable business leaders; the Sustainable Business Council’s Sustainability Leadership Programme kicks off and the Sustainable Business Network is holding discussions on New Zealand’s low-carbon future and a post-covid-19 sustainable economy.
ETS faces biggest overhaul in 10 years
5 May 2020
The biggest overhaul of the Emissions Trading Scheme since it was gutted in 2010 is back before Parliament.
Slow farmers might be forced into ETS
5 May 2020
Farmers might be forced into the Emissions Trading Scheme before 2025 if they fail to make sufficient progress towards cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Delay ETS changes for a year, say Nats
5 May 2020
The National Party wants changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme put on hold for a year, citing economic uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Big Investors show they're keen on green
5 May 2020
Major investors are backing calls to make the covid-19 economic recovery consistent with cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Nats don't like railway network plans
4 May 2020
National is resisting moves to run the country’s rail network on a less-than-purely-commercial footing.
Fast-track projects get nod from business and greenies
4 May 2020
Plans to fast-track some covid-19 recovery projects through the Resource Management Act are winning approval from business and environmentalists.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
4 May 2020
PARLIAMENT’S Environment Select Committee meets today for a briefing on the Government’s Estimates and to discuss the Urban Development Bill.
Big Business backs low-carbon recovery projects
1 May 2020
Big Business is pushing for low-carbon projects to be a priority for covid-19 pandemic recovery funding.
POLITICS: Re-birth of the ETS
1 May 2020
The Environment Select Committee’s report on planned changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme goes back to Parliament on Monday.
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.
