New Zealand: All stories
GAME ON: New vid pits players against climate apocalypse
1 Nov 2019
A new multiplatform video game aimed at raising awareness of the climate crisis features a group of refugees trying to survive as their world changes.
Directors learn climate denial no legal defence
31 Oct 2019
Denying humans are changing the climate will be no defence for directors facing lawsuits for failing to deal with carbon risk, businesses are being told.
ETS fertiliser claims wrong, says Ravensdown
31 Oct 2019
The Emissions Trading Scheme is over-estimating the amount of nitrous oxide being released as a result of fertiliser use – and that could cost the sector money when it starts paying for emissions, says fertiliser company Ravensdown.
Big farm subsidy won't work, says Super Fund
30 Oct 2019
The Government’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from farming won’t work while the sector is being given a 95 per cent subsidy, say the Guardians of the New Zealand Super Fund.
Flying less plays a small but positive part in climate fight
30 Oct 2019
As the notion of flight shame is taking off around the world, emissions from aviation are making a small but growing contribution to global warming.
Opinions side with charging for farm emissions
29 Oct 2019
A majority of people and organisations making submissions on whether agricultural emissions should be in the Emissions Trading Scheme say price-based mechanisms are the way to go.
FACT CHECK: Is that right, Paula?
29 Oct 2019
National Party deputy leader and former climate minister Paula Bennett says when it was in power, her party stabilised greenhouse gas emissions, while under this Government they will keep rising until 2025. Is she right?
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ...
29 Oct 2019
It’s a quiet week on the political front, but a busy week for green finance.
EDITORIAL: A Shaw thing
25 Oct 2019
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | Climate minister James Shaw, take a bow - you deserve five minutes in the sun for doing what none of your seven predecessors did.
Forest credits' future unclear as new laws loom
25 Oct 2019
The use of forestry carbon credits to offset agricultural emissions remains unclear as law changes go before Parliament.
Farmers win right to set own pricing scheme
24 Oct 2019
The agricultural sector has been given the go-ahead to develop its own carbon pricing scheme – but if it fails, it will come into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Changes go before Parliament today
24 Oct 2019
Changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme will be introduced to Parliament today.
Why science must go on a war footing
24 Oct 2019
Science, as it’s mostly practised today, is not up to the task of delivering timely knowledge on solutions to climate change.
Former Greens leader roasts Shaw's carbon bill
23 Oct 2019
Climate minister James Shaw will let the climate commission control carbon prices if he’s serious about cutting emissions, says the man who preceded him as co-leader of the Green Party.
We're letting down humanity, says climate scientist
23 Oct 2019
As the climate emergency becomes ever more acute, scientists need to alter the way they approach it – or face being part of the problem.
Ozone hole smallest since 80s, thanks to the wonky weather
23 Oct 2019
Wonky weather has given us the smallest Antarctic ozone hole on record since the 1980s, according to NASA.
Renewables could grow 50% in next five years
23 Oct 2019
Global supplies of renewable electricity are growing faster than expected and could expand by 50 per cent in the next five years, powered by a resurgence in solar energy.
Farmers will find out ETS future on Thursday
22 Oct 2019
Farmers will find out on Thursday whether they will be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Zero-carbon bill report pleases minister
22 Oct 2019
A report by the Environment Select Committee has made the zero-carbon bill even stronger, says climate minister James Shaw.
Select Committe backs methane status quo
21 Oct 2019
The Environment Select Committee has taken a bob each way on methane targets – recommending the Government’s target stay in place but that the Climate Change Commission should be able to change it.
NZ First talks big changes for agriculture
21 Oct 2019
New Zealand First is talking “sustainable transition” for the agricultural sector as the country waits for the zero-carbon bill to come back into Parliament.
Why driverless cars won’t deliver a transport revolution
21 Oct 2019
The breathless hype around driverless electric vehicles once promised an urban transport “revolution”.
It's official, our marine world is a mess
17 Oct 2019
Climate change and ocean acidification are piling pressure on a marine system already stressed by the impacts of human activities, the latest official state-of-the-environment report says.
High carbon price has downside, says gentailer
17 Oct 2019
High carbon prices could hinder electrification of New Zealand’s energy sector, the country’s largest electricity retailer says.
Green investment fund defends slow start
17 Oct 2019
The Government’s Green Investment Finance fund says it is working on “a number of opportunities” for investment.
Stand aside, science, we can solve this in any old kitchen
17 Oct 2019
Forget the laboratory - substances to solve some environmental problems can be easily created in a kitchen, new research shows.
Now's the time to go green, bank tells business
16 Oct 2019
Green financial markets will not develop in New Zealand if companies don’t use them, Westpac says.
NZ joins finance ministers' climate group
16 Oct 2019
Finance minister Grant Robertson is joining the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action.
Shell has no choice but to keep drilling, says CEO
16 Oct 2019
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden has warned of the consequences of rejecting oil and gas too quickly.
Unions put case for 'just transition'
15 Oct 2019
Unions want reform of the tax system and redundancy payments for all laid-off workers as part of a “just transition” to a low-carbon economy.
HEY, JUDE: That's dangerous talk, say 'fanatics'
15 Oct 2019
National MP Judith Collins’ dismissal of the need for urgent action on climate change is being called ill-informed, dangerous and just plain wrong.
Google donations finance climate deniers
15 Oct 2019
Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis.
Farmers and foresters are taking to the streets
14 Oct 2019
Tensions between farmers and foresters over land acquisitions are about to be played out on the streets of Wellington.
Fanatics overstating climate case, says Collins
14 Oct 2019
National Party MP Judith Collins says the risks of letting global heating go beyond 1.5deg above pre-Industrial levels are being overstated by an “increasingly fanatical” green lobby.
Fossil fuel industry has seen the future ... and it's plastic
14 Oct 2019
How will Big Oil adapt as fossil fuel demand wanes with the rise of renewable energy and battery power? The answer is plastic.
Beware of a populist backlash, unions warn
11 Oct 2019
New Zealand risks a Brexit-style populist backlash if it mishandles decarbonisation of the economy, unions are warning.
History shows we can handle it, says CCC chief
11 Oct 2019
Cutting carbon out of the economy should not cause the “collateral damage” seen in New Zealand’s other economic transformations, says the first head of the Climate Change Commission.
Nobel winner made battery discovery at Exxon
11 Oct 2019
Stanley Whittingham, the Nobel Prize recipient cited for making the "first functional lithium battery," came to his discovery in the 1970s as a research scientist at Exxon.
ARDERN: Consensus fine, but we need to move on
10 Oct 2019
The Government will not pay any price to get cross-party support on its climate legislation, the Prime Minister says.
Stand by for a doubling of the carbon price
10 Oct 2019
The price of spot carbon in New Zealand could double over the next five years.
SOLO ACT: Amy tells it like it is
10 Oct 2019
Yesterday, a 29-year-old Auckland music teacher who has been an activist for only a few short weeks, screwed up her courage and told some of the country’s biggest businesses they’re not doing enough on climate change.
Carney gives business two years to make climate rules
10 Oct 2019
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned major corporations that they have two years to agree rules for reporting climate risks before global regulators devise their own and make them compulsory.
Higher carbon prices vital, says ETS expert
9 Oct 2019
Rising carbon prices are critical to getting New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emission down, business leaders have been told.
Insurers issue warning to local councils
9 Oct 2019
Local councils that fail to properly assess and prepare for climate change risk legal action from insurance companies, an industry executive says.
National wants in on the ETS act
9 Oct 2019
If the Government wants cross-party consensus on climate legislation it should put up legislation the Opposition can support, National’s climate spokesperson says.
How Chia Sisters took their business green
9 Oct 2019
Student climate activist Florence van Dyke has taken the fight to a new arena – business. And it’s working.
'A DEADLY PROBLEM': Should SUVs be banned from cities?
9 Oct 2019
SUVs are a paradox. While many people buy them to feel safer, they are statistically less safe than regular cars.
Denmark wants to rid Europe of fossil-fueled cars
9 Oct 2019
Denmark, backed by 10 other European Union countries, has called for a strategy to phase out diesel and petrol cars by 2030.
Banking academic to head climate commission
8 Oct 2019
Former Reserve Bank chair Dr Rod Carr will head the Climate Change Commission.
Govt poised to reveal farm emissions decision
8 Oct 2019
An announcement on how the agricultural sector will be charged for greenhouse gas emissions is imminent, the Government says.
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.
