New Zealand: Business
'Non-negotiable' – EU carbon pricing to hit Kiwi exporters, expert warns
Thu 11 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | High carbon exports will inevitably face a high carbon tax at the EU border, possibly in the next five years, and high methane agricultural products might not be exempt, an international expert told a local audience yesterday.
XRB consults on delaying climate reporting requirements
4 Sep 2025
The External Reporting Board is proposing a further two years relief for companies to adopt anticipated financial impacts reporting and scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions reporting and assurance.
Climate-friendly investment still lagging in NZ
2 Sep 2025
While local financial firms have made recent strides in climate governance and emissions reporting, New Zealand’s institutional investors are still missing in action when it comes to backing clean technologies and climate solutions, according to a new report.
Why climate strategy is now central to business success
26 Aug 2025
SPONSORED CONTENT: Ahead of next month’s Climate Change and Business Conference, New Zealand businesses are being urged to treat climate strategy not as a regulatory burden, but as a core driver of economic competitiveness.
NZ still lagging behind in ESG reporting
18 Aug 2025
The number of companies reporting on ESG and sustainability performance in New Zealand is improving, but we are still lagging behind compared with our key trading partners, according to a report.
NZ Post drops science-based climate target
8 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | NZ Post has dropped its science-based emissions reduction target of 42% by 2030 with no plans to replace it.
IRD will stop using wetland destruction in ‘how-to’ for claiming expenses
27 Jun 2025
By Liz Kivi | Environmental organisation Forest & Bird has welcomed the Inland Revenue’s decision to stop using wetland destruction as an example of a tax-deductible agricultural expense in future guidance.
NZ climate reports must shift from compliance to strategy as Scope 3 disclosures loom
26 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s largest climate-reporting entities are being urged to evolve their mandatory disclosures from checklist-style compliance to strategic, risk-focused documents, or risk falling behind.
Kiwi cleantech companies on the world stage
27 May 2025
Six New Zealand 'cleantech' companies were in Singapore earlier this month, along with a venture capital firm and the MacDiarmid Institute, to meet investors and multinational partners.
Govt puts off reviewing carbon subsidies
22 May 2025
By Shannon Williams | The government is no longer considering changes to phase-out rates for millions of dollars worth of carbon subsidies to industrial polluters under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
FMA exemption grants compliance relief to climate reporters
7 May 2025
The Financial Markets Authority has signed off on new exemptions giving climate-reporting entities a break from some of their compliance duties.
Govt needs to look at alternatives to free pollution credits for industrial emitters: Commission
11 Apr 2025
The Climate Change Commission says there are “legitimate questions” about hundreds of millions of public money spent on free carbon credits for polluters, and the government should be looking at alternatives.
Experts slam govt decision to wind down green investment bank
9 Apr 2025
The government’s move to scrap its green investment bank is a step backwards for emissions reductions and doesn’t stack up with the National Party’s economic and energy transition strategies, according to sustainable finance experts.
Aspiring Materials opens critical minerals pilot production plant
4 Apr 2025
Cleantech startup Aspiring Materials opened a pilot processing plant for critical minerals in Ōtautahi Christchurch last week.
Risky business – banks must consider climate risks, commissioner says
3 Apr 2025
Banks considering climate risks is prudent business practice, not just environmental activism, according to Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton.
New bill to block climate litigation ‘constitutional overreach’ - lawyers
27 Mar 2025
Climate and environmental advocates have slammed a National MP’s bill that would block people suing companies for climate damage.
Greenpeace accuses govt of weakening environmental protections to gain trade advantage
13 Mar 2025
The government's Infrastructure Investment Summit kicked off today, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon opening the summit with a clear message - "New Zealand is open for business".
Saving earthquake-prone buildings could slash emissions
7 Mar 2025
Saving all of Aotearoa New Zealand's seismically-deficient buildings could avoid up to 7.4 megatonnes of carbon emissions, a new study shows.
New tool to help Auckland businesses build climate resilience
28 Feb 2025
Climate Connect Aotearoa has launched a new digital tool called ClimateWise, designed to help small and medium-sized businesses adapt to climate change.
Plan to reduce climate risk reporting 'backward'
18 Feb 2025
Government plans to weaken the climate-related disclosures regime could damage the economy and disadvantage businesses, according to Lawyers for Climate Action.
XRB delays obligations on Scope 3
15 Nov 2024
The External Reporting Board has decided to delay the obligation to report and assure scope 3 emissions - indirect emissions from an organisation's supply chain - but has retained its requirement for climate-reporting entities to publish transition plans.
How nature and business can boost each other
28 Jul 2020
Businesses that add value to nature instead of degrading and destroying it could tap into a $10.1 trillion opportunity which could create 395 million jobs by 2030.
Microsoft can’t achieve climate goals alone
28 Jul 2020
Back in January, Microsoft announced arguably the most ambitious climate plan of any tech company to date.
Think covid-19 disrupted food chain? Wait and see ...
10 Jul 2020
The pandemic has revealed deep flaws in the world’s food system and food leaders are calling for global coordination and climate resilient agriculture.
Jarden puts pedals under pioneer carbon trader
7 Jul 2020
If you’re looking for pioneering carbon dealer Nigel Brunel outside trading hours, chances are you’ll find him somewhere around Auckland on his bike.
Financial disclosure no stand-alone fix, says uni
18 Jun 2020
Financial disclosure of companies’ climate and carbon risk won’t drive change without other measures, new research warns.
Unilever lines up $2 billion to go low-carbon
16 Jun 2020
Climate Leaders’ Coalition member Unilever says it will spend nearly $2 billion globally over the next decade on low-carbon projects ranging from regenerative agriculture to carbon sequestration.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Emissions-fighter invites other businesses to follow
16 Apr 2020
A company that imports insulation panels from Europe wants all small businesses to join it in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
All companies should have to disclose, says NZX
8 Apr 2020
NZX says every business should have to disclose its climate-risk exposure.
Stage set for surge in sustainable investing
30 Mar 2020
The coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout will trigger a skyward surge in sustainable, responsible and impactful investing over the next 12 months, says the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations.
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.
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.
Dire prospects await corporate climate-wreckers
28 Feb 2020
Reputational damage, financial vulnerability and a lack of access to capital are likely impacts on firms that fail to respond to the climate crisis this decade, experts surveyed for a new study say.
Tourism operators ill-informed, says report
27 Feb 2020
Parts of the tourism industry are so ill-informed about what climate change could do to New Zealand that they think the sector could actually benefit from it, a new report says.
JPMorgan Chase to curb fossil fuel loans
27 Feb 2020
JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s biggest lenders to fossil fuel projects, will curb loans to coal firms and bar the financing of oil and gas developments in the Arctic.
Taxpayers give smelter credits worth $12m
25 Feb 2020
Taxpayer-funded carbon credits were worth $12.1 million last year to Tiwai Point aluminium smelter operator Pacific Aluminium.
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.
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.
Investors fight back against climate wreckers
10 Dec 2019
Two strands of action are being taken by investors against the planet’s biggest and most polluting companies to try to coerce them into complying with climate targets.
Why lower emissions mean better business
6 Dec 2019
Companies with high levels of greenhouse gas emissions are worth less than low-emitting companies, says financial analysis and advisory firm Forsyth Barr.
Tell us what you're doing, investors tell govts
2 Dec 2019
Institutional investors will either stay away or demand higher returns in New Zealand and Australia if their governments don’t produce credible, long-term climate investment strategies, a new report says.
New IMF chief urges climate action
2 Dec 2019
New International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva tells why global heating is as big a threat to economic stability as another financial crash.
Supermarkets, powercos best at sustainability
25 Nov 2019
Supermarkets and electricity retailers are scoring the highest marks with consumers for sustainability, but none is doing well enough, a new study says.
Wall Street increasingly weighs climate risks
8 Nov 2019
In the wake of two years of wildfires in California, Wall Street is incorporating a new risk metric when evaluating companies: climate resiliency.
Kiwi company pushes one-click carbon offsetting
5 Nov 2019
CarbonClick plans to be as much of a disrupter for carbon offsetting as Xero has been for accounting.
Climate at the ballot box in local govt elections
Mon 15 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate action as well as anti-climate stances are both the subject of promises at this year's local government elections, with pledges to focus on resilience to extreme weather events widely supported, while plans for cutting emissions have been countered by promises to block such action, as voting papers hit mailboxes last week.
Watts not considering removing electricity from ETS
Tue 16 Sep 2025
Energy and Climate Change Minister, Simon Watts, says he is “not currently considering” removing electricity generation from the Emissions Trading Scheme, as proposed by NZ First Minister Shane Jones.
International scientists slam NZ govt's proposed approach to methane
13 Aug 2025
New Zealand's proposed approach to methane emissions has again been attacked by international climate scientists, with a new study saying the attempt to redefine climate target-setting by livestock-exporting countries undermines the transition to a sustainable and equitable food system
Vector hits emissions reduction goal five years early
5 Sep 2025
By Liz Kivi | Auckland lines company Vector has met its 2030 emissions reduction reduction target five years early, more than halving its direct emissions, and crediting innovation and a laser-focus for its success in a hard-to-abate sector.
NZ needs to be part of a regional SAF strategy: Z, Air NZ
9 Sep 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand needs to be part of a regional strategic approach to sourcing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with domestic production less the aim than ensuring access to the fuel from one of a number of strategically positioned bio-refineries around the world.
Indigenous forest 'islands' could help transition exotic plantations to native bush
Thu 11 Sep 2025
Native forest 'islands' within exotic plantations might be the key to transitioning plantations from exotic to Indigenous, according to new research.
