New Zealand: All stories
Biomining delivers the elements of the future
1 Feb 2018
Biomining is the kind of technique promised by science fiction: a vast tank filled with microorganisms that leach metal from ore, old mobile phones and hard drives.
How our climate research was turned into fake news
1 Feb 2018
Science is slow. It rests on painstaking research with accumulating evidence. This makes for an inherently uneasy relationship with the modern media age, especially once issues are politicised.
Landowners keep credits under Billion Trees plan
31 Jan 2018
Landowners will keep the carbon credits and liability under proposed new production forestry joint ventures with the Government as part of its One Billion Trees programme.
Breakthrough could mean seawater fuel of the future
31 Jan 2018
Advances in electrolysis technology bring seawater one step closer as the fuel of the future.
How Shaw intends to massively change our lives
30 Jan 2018
Climate minister James Shaw has outlined economic changes on the scale of those brought in by Michael Joseph Savage in 1935 and Roger Douglas in 1984.
Doughnut economics? What Shaw's on about
30 Jan 2018
When British economist Kate Raworth wanted to show where she saw economics going, she picked up a pencil and drew two circles, one inside the other.
Our phosphorus levels are getting dangerous
30 Jan 2018
Man-made phosphorus pollution is reaching dangerously high levels in freshwater basins, new research says.
El Nino and emissions are the reasons it's so hot
30 Jan 2018
Record hot temperatures over the past few years are down to the El Niño weather pattern releasing huge amounts of heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions, scientists say.
Time to put the kettle on as solar power scheme tees off
30 Jan 2018
Aucklanders buying and selling solar-generated electricity to each other have shared enough power to make five million cups of tea, says peer-to-peer energy company P2 Power.
TAKE FIVE: Renewable energy projects are out to impress
30 Jan 2018
As renewable energy is no longer considered a niche technology, countries and energy companies have embarked on a race to impress the world with majestic clean energy projects of all kinds.
Climate change is the country's biggest worry
26 Jan 2018
Two-thirds of New Zealanders rank climate change as the single biggest issue the world faces, new research suggests.
Musk could pocket $95b if Tesla's dreams come true
26 Jan 2018
Tesla president and CEO Elon Musk stands to reap the word’s biggest ever payday – $US70 billion ($NZ95b) by some estimates – if he can deliver on his company's new 10-year performance plan.
First electric barges prepare to sail from European ports
26 Jan 2018
The world’s first fully electric, emission-free and potentially crewless container barges are to operate from European ports this northern summer.
Corporates winning race to become 100% renewable
26 Jan 2018
The RE100 group of multinational companies pledging to run entirely on renewable energy has made astonishing progress over the past year.
Coca-Cola launches ‘World Without Waste’ campaign
26 Jan 2018
Coca-Cola has pledged to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100 per cent of its packaging worldwide and to mak its bottles using at least 50 per cent recycled plastic by 2030.
We'll do better than emissions target, says Shaw
25 Jan 2018
The new government will not officially increase the country's 2020 emissions reduction target.
We must change what we eat, say scientists
25 Jan 2018
Big diet changes – possibly incentivised by taxes on foods with a high carbon footprint - are coming if the world is to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, scientists say.
Localised heating warms cities without fossil fuels
25 Jan 2018
Heating homes and offices without adding to the dangers of climate change is a major challenge for many cities, but re-imagined district heating is now offering an answer.
LETTERS: Let's not waste this opportunity
25 Jan 2018
It is good to see Environment Associate Minister Eugenie Sage providing a lead from the top with regard to addressing our waste.
NZ gets more low marks for environment action
24 Jan 2018
New Zealand, which sells itself as 100 per cent pure, has been given another bad report card for environmental performance.
Drought city's telltale map puts pressure on water users
24 Jan 2018
The latest weapon in Cape Town’s water saving arsenal is a map that exposes private meter readings to public scrutiny.
LETTERS: Food in plastic
24 Jan 2018
In recent months, our local supermarket has been purchasing silver beet wrapped in plastic.
Shaw puts ETS on ice until end of next year
23 Jan 2018
Any further changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme – including getting rid of free credits to heavy emitters and changing forestry rules – will not be made until the end of next year, the Government says.
OIO cutting rights role wrong move, say foresters
23 Jan 2018
Giving the Overseas Investment Office approval of the sale of forestry cutting rights will jeopardise the Government’s billion trees plan, forest owners say.
EV projects win $3m in Government funding
23 Jan 2018
Twenty new electric vehicle projects, including a 58-tonne truck to carry dairy products and developing a qualification for EV technicians, are to receive government funding.
Geoengineering has a downside, say scientists
23 Jan 2018
Geoengineering to reverse climate change could wipe out more species than it saves, scientists are warning.
SWITCHED ON: Norway wants short electric flights by 2040
23 Jan 2018
All of Norway’s short-haul airliners should be entirely electric by 2040, says the country’s airport operator, cementing the Nordic nation’s role as a pioneer in the field of electric transport.
Lloyd's of London latest to divest from coal
23 Jan 2018
Lloyd’s of London, the world’s oldest insurance market, has become the latest financial firm to announce that it plans to stop investing in coal companies.
IT'S A GAS: Cook dinner on energy from food you dumped
23 Jan 2018
In an age of worrying climate change and looming fossil energy decline, home-produced biogas is an extremely promising technology whose time has come.
LETTERS: Waste is a cultural thing
23 Jan 2018
Re: your article about Eugenie Sage and our waste problem.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Carbon emissions running wild
22 Jan 2018
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions blow-out continues unabashed, with net emissions expected to more than double by 2030, despite international pledges to cut them.
One-for-two subsidy enters its dying days
22 Jan 2018
New Zealand’s one-for-two carbon subsidy is almost gone.
Policies will begin to bite down on the farm
22 Jan 2018
Government policies – including the Emissions Trading Scheme - are expected to start making a dent in New Zealand’s agricultural emissions over the next 12 years.
2017 hottest year on record without help from El Niño
22 Jan 2018
Last year was the hottest since global records began that was not given an additional boost by the natural climate cycle El Niño, according to new data.
Minister vows to fix our rubbish record on waste
22 Jan 2018
The Government will review the way the Waste Management Act is being implemented as New Zealand’s rubbish mountain climbs.
Revealed: the cost of climate change
15 Dec 2017
Lack of government leadership means New Zealand business, society, infrastructure and the land itself are exposed to billions of dollars worth of potential damage from the impacts of climate change, the Government has been told.
Here's to a happy (and low-carbon) Christmas
15 Dec 2017
It has been a busy year – domestic carbon prices climbed nearly $3, New Zealand ratified the Paris Agreement and pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050, and, for the first time, climate change was an election issue, of sorts.
Are we getting it right, questions emissions expert
14 Dec 2017
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from farming could have fallen by 20 per cent on 1990 levels if the efficiency gains of the past 25 years hadn’t been used to boost production.
Insurance giant dumps investments in tar sands
14 Dec 2017
One of the world’s biggest financial services companies is both dumping investments and ending insurance for controversial US oil pipelines.
This time, climate officials hope for a bit more action
13 Dec 2017
In late 2015, officials gave new climate minister Paula Bennett as list of five things they thought should be done over the next two years.
Big investors put pressure on carbon emitters
13 Dec 2017
The biggest New Zealand and Australia institutional investors are among more than 225 global investors with more than $37.5 trillion in assets under management promising to “engage” the world’s largest emitting companies to act on climate change.
Climate commission will look at farm emissions
12 Dec 2017
Climate minister James Shaw says the new climate commission will play a role in dealing with agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
Paris summit will call for shipping to meet climate goals
12 Dec 2017
The shipping industry will be urged to align with international climate goals under a declaration to be launched at a climate summit in Paris today.
NZ has 'reckless' plan for global carbon-trading
11 Dec 2017
New Zealand's approach to negotiating carbon-trading relationships with other countries is drawing fire.
Ardern and Shaw to miss big day out in Paris
11 Dec 2017
Neither Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern nor climate minister James Shaw will be at the One Planet Summit Day in Paris tomorrow.
Business chiefs call for carbon transparency
11 Dec 2017
Leading chief financial officers, chairs of pension funds and the chief executives of global accounting bodies – including one from New Zealand - are calling for transparency about carbon exposure.
HUSH-HUSH: Officials want lid on global-market talk
8 Dec 2017
Officials are working on getting New Zealand access to international carbon markets when they develop – but they don’t want their activities made public.
Automakers worry over how many will buy their e-cars
7 Dec 2017
Carmakers putting huge investment into electric vehicles at the behest of governments a having to live with the fear of potentially choking on unsold inventories.
The trick is reading farmers' minds, says scientist
6 Dec 2017
Understanding why farmers are not taking advantage of ways to make more money while cutting greenhouse gas emissions is critical to getting New Zealand’s emissions down, says a leading scientist.
Watch what you eat, scientists tell the rich
6 Dec 2017
Global greenhouse gas emissions would fall if people in rich countries like New Zealand ate healthily, Dutch scientists say.
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.
