New Zealand: All stories
Government eyes new rules for inhibitors
14 Feb 2020
The Government is considering introducing new rules to govern the use of inhibitors in agriculture to avoid a repeat of the 2013 DCD trade disaster.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
14 Feb 2020
Submissions close today on the Urban Development Bill, allowing what the Government calls better co-ordination of land, infrastructure and public assets in complex urban development projects.
Climate crisis looms as major election issue
13 Feb 2020
Climate change will be a major factor for more than a quarter of voters in this year’s general election, a new poll suggests.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
13 Feb 2020
Parliament sits today, with MPs from the Environment Select Committee continuing hearing oral submissions on proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Green transport set to rule cities by 2030
13 Feb 2020
From public transport to cycling, sustainable transport is on course to overtake driving in the world’s biggest cities within a decade, according to a new study.
Fresh water from sunshine keeps thirst at bay
13 Feb 2020
An international team of scientists has developed a cheap way to provide fresh water to thirsty communities by making seawater drinkable without using electricity.
Energy producers cut CO2 emissions
12 Feb 2020
Carbon dioxide emissions from energy production in the developed world has finally fallen to the level it was at in 1990, the Kyoto Protocol baseline year.
Busy mast years can damage our forests
12 Feb 2020
Repeated mast years induced by climate change are damaging forests as pest numbers explode, new research shows.
This key MP favours change to RMA law
12 Feb 2020
At least one member of the select committee investigating changes to the Resource Management Act thinks the planning law should include climate change.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
12 Feb 2020
Parliament sits today and tomorrow, and the Environment Select Committee continues hearing submissions on changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Resource Management Act tomorrow.
We must have certainty with ETS, says Ballance
11 Feb 2020
Investment in emissions-cutting new technology like hydrogen could be jeopardised by uncertainty over the Emissions Trading Scheme, fertiliser manufacturer Ballance Agri-Nutrients says.
Government pumps $14m into forest water study
11 Feb 2020
A $14 million Government-funded project is under way to figure out how climate change will affect the amount of water and nutrients flowing through New Zealand forests.
Coronavirus halts work on Marsden solar plant
11 Feb 2020
Work on New Zealand’s largest solar farm has been put on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Rule-breaking plants take on changing climate
11 Feb 2020
Plants that break some of the rules of ecology by adapting in unconventional ways might have a higher chance of surviving climate change, new research suggests.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
11 Feb 2020
It’s back to the office today for MPs, as Parliament resumes for the year.
Big solar projects running into trouble
11 Feb 2020
Some of the most ambitious large-scale solar projects have been plagued by delay, ultimately making them a financial burden rather than a beacon on the renewable power horizon.
Climate-risk reports critical, politicians hear
10 Feb 2020
Directors of large companies, Crown entities and any organisation participating in the Emissions Trading Scheme should have to provide an annual signed and audited statement of climate risk, Parliament is being told.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
10 Feb 2020
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is looking for businesses that have switched to electric vehicles to be included in a billboard campaign next month.
New material could clean up fossil fuel industry
10 Feb 2020
A new material with the potential to slash carbon dioxide emissions from the refining of crude oil has got scientists excited.
How Big Oil's fake news fooled America
10 Feb 2020
For more than a century, oil industry spinmasters downplayed misdeeds, twisted facts, and cajoled the media into mimicking their talking points.
Wastewater flushes away a river of wealth
10 Feb 2020
Canadian scientists have identified a new source of energy, wealth and nourishment being lost each day in every city, town and municipality on the planet: a great river of wastewater.
Why and what we should learn from bushfires
7 Feb 2020
Wildfires raging in Australia this summer show why New Zealand must include emissions from natural disasters in its climate reporting, says an expert on environmental accounting.
Ants' sweet tooth could curb farm emissions
7 Feb 2020
A taste for pee means some ants could help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animals.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
7 Feb 2020
Today, submissions close on the Land Transport (Rail) Legislation Bill, allowing the rail network to be funded from the National Land Transport Fund.
We hate flight shame – but not enough to quit flying
7 Feb 2020
Despite flying being the single-fastest way to grow individual carbon footprints, people still want to fly. Passenger numbers even grew by 3.3 per cent globally last year alone.
Tesla could soon be world’s most valuable company
7 Feb 2020
Tesla shares continue blockbuster surge, with more analysts and investors recognising the trillion dollar-plus potential of the Elon Musk electric car and energy company.
Electric vehicle sales triple in Australia
7 Feb 2020
Electric vehicle sales in Australia more than tripled last year but were still far lower than in a majority of developed countries, industry data shows.
We're mining gold, not coal, say Martha operators
5 Feb 2020
The minerals industry says linking plans for a new tailings dam at the Martha gold mine to climate change is absurd.
Mine only what we really need, scientists warn
5 Feb 2020
Mining should be allowed only when it is necessary for obtaining the basic necessities of life, says a group of eminent scientists and other New Zealanders.
Urban farming focus of $100,000 research award
5 Feb 2020
An urban farming initiative is at the centre of the first $100,000 Pivot Award, a premier research award aimed at enabling innovation in Taranaki's agriculture sector.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
5 Feb 2020
It's Waitangi Day tomorrow, which means there will be no Carbon News.
Rome airport pioneers eco-friendly tarmac
5 Feb 2020
Rome’s Fiumicino airport is testing a pioneering tarmac developed by an Italian company, made of a material that has twice the lifespan of traditional asphalt and is better for the environment.
AI to monitor deforestation
5 Feb 2020
Artificial intelligence is being used to measure forest – and carbon – loss in New Zealand.
EU urged to adopt meat tax to tackle climate emergency
5 Feb 2020
A sustainability charge on meat to cover its environmental damage could raise billions to help farmers and consumers produce and eat better food, according to a report.
Give us a choice, foresters tell Parliament
4 Feb 2020
The owners of forests already in the Emissions Trading Scheme should be able to choose whether to switch to a new form of carbon accounting, MPs have heard.
Climate case kicks off against major corporates
4 Feb 2020
By VICTORIA YOUNG | Lawyers for Fonterra, Genesis Energy, Dairy Holdings, NZ Steel, Z Energy, NZ Refining and BT Mining all attended the High Court at Auckland yesterday to fight off a claim by climate activist Mike Smith.
GO ELECTRIC: The secret's in the sums
4 Feb 2020
Do the maths, says Massey University applied mathematician Professor Robert McLauchlan, it really does make sense to get rid of your fossil-fueled car.
OPINION: Why the market ups and downs?
4 Feb 2020
By LIZZIE CHAMBERS | Since the Government's proposed ETS settings were announced just prior to Christmas, we have watched NZU prices jump up significantly.
* WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
4 Feb 2020
Climate Change Iwi Leaders’ Group chair Mike Smith continues his case against Fonterra and others in the High Court today.
Emissions ‘business as usual’ story is misleading
4 Feb 2020
Stop using the worst-case scenario for climate warming as the most likely outcome — more-realistic baselines make for better policy.
Expert warns against offshore credits sprees
3 Feb 2020
New Zealand should be buying offshore carbon credits every year instead of going on a buying spree when its carbon bill falls due, says an expert on international carbon policy and markets.
Dairy firms see ETS dates clashing
3 Feb 2020
Reporting dates for the Emissions Trading Scheme should line up with farm production schedules, dairy companies say.
CentrePort goes electric for container tractors
3 Feb 2020
CentrePort is going electric for moving freight around the Wellington port.
CarbonScape in line for major award
3 Feb 2020
Marlborough clean-tech company CarbonScape has been nominated in the Environmental Achievement of the Year category in the annual Tire Technology International Awards.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
3 Feb 2020
Submissions on the Resource Management Expert Panel’s issues paper and on proposed increases to landfill levies close today.
OPINION: These fires have changed us
3 Feb 2020
By THOMAS KENEALLY | Last Australian autumn, and all through winter, a group of retired fire chiefs wanted to meet with prime minister Scott Morrison, and warn him that Australia had passed, as if through a gate, to a new level of combustibility, and that the fire peril for the coming summer would be unprecedented in length and ferocity.
NICK SMITH: How National's ETS did the job
31 Jan 2020
National MP and former climate minister Nick Smith says his Emissions Trading Scheme has seen New Zealand out-perform Australia on emissions reduction.
Forests will swallow small-town jobs, MPs hear
31 Jan 2020
Rural towns like Moerewa face losing hundreds of jobs if the Government doesn’t rein in the conversion of farms to carbon forests, MPs have been told.
Fonterra plant dumps coal for wood pellets
31 Jan 2020
Fonterra’s Te Awamutu milk-processing plant is going coal-free.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
31 Jan 2020
Today is the last day to apply for unique emissions factors for Emissions Trading Scheme returns.
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.
