New Zealand: All stories
POLITICS: Sorry, we're a bit busy
20 Mar 2020
CLIMATE change received only the briefest of attention in Parliament this week.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
20 Mar 2020
Covid-19-related cancellations continue, with the Agricultural Climate Change Conference scheduled for Palmerston North on April 1 and 2 the latest casualty.
General Motors wants to go big on EVs
20 Mar 2020
General Motors' Bolt and Volt models never sold well, but now the company is touting a battery that has more range than Tesla’s.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
19 Mar 2020
Parliament’s Environment Select Committee is hearing submissions on the Urban Development Bill today.
Scientists back soil sequestration
18 Mar 2020
Soil sequestration could remove billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from the atmosphere, scientists say.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
18 Mar 2020
Workshops with businesses affected by changes to the way in which the allocation of free credits to heavy emitters is calculated are being cancelled.
Big emitters get pandemic warning
17 Mar 2020
Allowing emitters to use the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to slow action on climate change would be a mistake, environmental organisations are warning.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
17 Mar 2020
Restrictions on travel and public gatherings as a result of the spread of the Covid-19 virus are affecting climate-change events.
Global heat closing in on Paris Agreement target
16 Mar 2020
Global average temperatures so far this year are 1.4deg above pre-Industrial levels – just 0.1deg below the Paris Agreement target.
Super fund dumps big emitters - and fills pockets
16 Mar 2020
New Zealand’s national superannuation fund is hundreds of millions of dollars off because it has shed high-carbon investments, says chief executive Matt Whineray.
ClimCom opens doors to carbon-budget ideas
16 Mar 2020
Energy, transport, farming and forestry businesses are the first sectors to put their vision of a carbon-neutral New Zealand to the body charged with developing the country’s carbon budgets.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
16 Mar 2020
This week’s energy sector conference in Wellington is going ahead, although the coronavirus pandemic means not everyone will be there in person.
We're not doing enough climate science
13 Mar 2020
New Zealand and Australia face a critical shortage of the climate-science capacity needed to prepare the countries for dealing with climate change.
Emissions increase in some energy sectors
13 Mar 2020
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation and burning fossil fuels rose at the end of last year.
POLITICS: The mood is all very GFC
13 Mar 2020
The coronavirus Covid-19 and the impact it could have on the economy dominated the attention of politicians this week, but they did manage to squeeze in a mention of climate change.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
13 Mar 2020
Auckland Council says it is preparing the city for warming of up to 3.5deg.
Green movement mourns loss of Rob Fenwick
12 Mar 2020
Sustainable business pioneer and environmental activist Sir Rob Fenwick has died.
Councils all talk and little action, says GBC
12 Mar 2020
Most local authorities are talking big on climate action but failing to cut emissions in their own operations, the Green Building Council says.
Experts to probe farm emissions tool
12 Mar 2020
A panel has been appointed to review the functioning of Overseer, the farm environmental modelling tool that could help farmers to measure their greenhouse gas emissions.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
12 Mar 2020
Parliament sits today and the Environment Select Committee meets to discuss the Urban Development Bill, changes to the Resource Management Act, and the issue of food waste.
New rules will hurt refinery and small shippers
11 Mar 2020
New clean-air rules for shipping will hit the Marsden Point oil refinery and some shipping operators in the pocket, the Ministry of Transport says.
EDS pours cold water on RMA 'bonfire'
11 Mar 2020
National’s planned “bonfire” of regulations will be pyrotechnics if the Resource Management Act is thrown on the flames, the Environmental Defence Society says.
Treasury cuts carbon footprint
11 Mar 2020
Treasury says it is putting its best foot forward in a bid to cut its own greenhouse gas emissions.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
11 Mar 2020
The impacts of climate change on the country’s energy system will be discussed in Wellington tomorrow.
ClimCom wants to see $50 carbon cap now
10 Mar 2020
The Climate Change Commission says controls on carbon prices should be lifted to about $50 a tonne now.
Ministry sprouts staff as green workload grows
10 Mar 2020
The Ministry for the Environment says its staff numbers have increased as the Government has ramped up its workload.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
10 Mar 2020
Carbon capture and storage will be the focus of this year’s Carbon and Energy Professionals conference.
Veteran activist clear to tackle Big Business
9 Mar 2020
Veteran activist and Iwi Chairs’ Forum spokesman Mike Smith has been given the go-ahead to take some of the country’s largest companies to court in a bid to cut their emissions to zero by 2030.
POLITICS: Nats declare war on RMA
9 Mar 2020
The Resource Management Act will be toast under a National Government.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
9 Mar 2020
Parliament sits this week, with the Environment Select Committee meeting on Thursday to discuss the Urban Development Bill, changes to the Resource Management Act.
EDITORIAL: Loss of a leader
6 Mar 2020
By ADELIA HALLETT | Jeanette Fitzsimons, the Green politician and activist who died last night, exemplified the environmentalists’ mantra of thinking globally and acting locally.
Maori land owners back biological farming
6 Mar 2020
The owners of a million hectares of Maori land are turning their backs on “conventional” agriculture and adopting regenerative practices.
Taranaki hydrogen project gets $20m boost
6 Mar 2020
The Government is putting nearly $20 million into the Ballance-Hiringa hydrogen project in Taranaki.
Scientists lift their game on how lakes work
6 Mar 2020
Scientists know so little about how storms affect the delicate balance of lake ecosystems that we might be unable to protect them from the effects of climate change, says a NIWA academic.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
6 Mar 2020
It’s the last month for getting emissions returns in – the deadline is March 31.
Carbon capture and storage has stalled - needlessly
6 Mar 2020
The idea is simple: capture and concentrate CO2 before it's released to the air and store it deep underground where it can't escape.
Investor group tells firms to set out climate crisis plans
6 Mar 2020
An influential group of investors is for the first time demanding that all UK-listed companies disclose how the climate emergency will impact their business.
Startup predicts soil-carbon credits for farmers
5 Mar 2020
A company connecting investors directly with farmers taking action on climate change says it expects they will, eventually, get credits for the carbon stored in their paddocks.
Xero puts its best (carbon) footprint forward
5 Mar 2020
New Zealand accounting software company Xero says it has completely offset its carbon footprint for the past financial year.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
5 Mar 2020
Parliament’s Environment Committee is discussing changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Resource Management Act today.
Past failures put pressure on emissions deadlines
5 Mar 2020
Global failure to address climate change a decade ago means emissions must now drop at 7 per cent a year to meet the Paris Agreement, prompting scientists to call for the world to switch into crisis mode.
Support grows for cloud seeding
5 Mar 2020
New research supports cloud seeding efforts to bolster water supplies in drying regions, but some scientists question its effectiveness in addressing climate change.
Gluckman group to tackle the hard stuff
4 Mar 2020
A think-tank being launched in Auckland today could give New Zealand – and the world – the tools it needs to make the hard decisions about climate change, says founder Professor Sir Peter Gluckman.
Stretched officials making mistakes, say emitters
4 Mar 2020
Heavy industry is calling for a slowing of the Government’s climate programme in the face of what it says are dangerous errors in officials’ advice.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
4 Mar 2020
A demonstration against oil company OMV continues today, with two protesters occupying a company rig and a yacht shadowing it.
Green groups take on energy giant
4 Mar 2020
General Electric is in the sights of 65 environmental groups for promoting coal-fired power generation in 17 countries.
How wood waste can strengthen recycled concrete
4 Mar 2020
Researchers in Japan have revealed that discarded concrete can be strengthened with the addition of wood waste.
Officials question farmer ETS obligation
3 Mar 2020
Making farmers instead of agricultural processing companies the point of obligation under the Emissions Trading Scheme could push administration costs up 4000 per cent, officials say.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
3 Mar 2020
Parliament sits today and will resume debate on the Prime Minister’s speech.
Climate not big election issue, says National
2 Mar 2020
Climate change should be less of an election issue this year than it was last time round, thanks to cross-party agreement on the zero-carbon act, says National Party climate spokesperson Scott Simpson.
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.
