New Zealand: Business
Insurance industry goes slow on climate risk
30 May 2018
A new report has highlighted the global insurance industry’s continued failure to recognise the existential threats posed by climate change.
Green bonds help to protect waterways, forests
30 May 2018
The financial mechanism known as green bonds can help to overcome systemic failures in water infrastructure development that are increasing in frequency and severity as Earth’s climate shifts.
E-waste 'miner' wins Government funding support
28 May 2018
An Auckland company looking to “mine” base and precious metals from electronic waste is being given a Government boost.
Tesco cuts emissions by 13% in one year
15 May 2018
UK supermarket giant Tesco cut its 2017-18 carbon emissions by 13 per cent on the previous year, and a full 26 per cent on 2015.
BP profits leap 71% as oil prices rebound
3 May 2018
BP’s profits jumped 71 per cent during the first three months of the year, in the latest sign that the British oil company is back on the path to growth.
Fonterra turns to wood to help fire dairy plant
2 May 2018
Fonterra says it will replace some coal with wood at one of its factories, a move expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2400 tonnes a year.
New tool eases pathway to disclosure
2 May 2018
Businesses wanting to disclose their carbon exposure to investors have a new tool.
What if Tesla's time is running out?
23 Apr 2018
A massive cash burn and multiple factory snafus mean investors in Tesla are losing patience.
Directors face climate liability, says report
20 Apr 2018
New legal analysis shows that company directors in at least four Commonwealth countries must take action to address material climate risk or face legal and reputational risk.
Plight of the bees hits unaware businesses
17 Apr 2018
Declining numbers of bees, butterflies and midges could leave companies facing the prospect of reduced crop quality and a shortage of raw materials.
MEMO BUSINESS: Ignore carbon liability at our peril
10 Apr 2018
Businesses ignore carbon liability at the country’s peril, an international investment organisation is warning.
FOSSIL FAIL: Report points finger at Big Four banks
29 Mar 2018
All four of New Zealand’s largest banks have received fail marks in a new climate change report analysing bank lending to fossil-fuel investments.
Bloomberg praises EU drive for green finance
27 Mar 2018
Capital markets are “one of the most powerful tools in the fight against climate change” which is often “overlooked”, says billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg.
Adidas has sold a million shoes made of plastic from the ocean
20 Mar 2018
Adidas chief executive Kasper Rorsted has let slip that his company last year sold one million shoes made out of ocean plastic.
How stock market could help fight climate change
12 Mar 2018
Finance experts are trying to figure out how to integrate environment, social and governance factors into investment planning by comparing returns of carbon-efficient and carbon-inefficient portfolios.
Business seeks closer access to climate talks
19 Feb 2018
Business lobbies in Europe and the US are pushing for a distinct, direct and formalised “business channel” into UN climate negotiations.
Why now's the time for businesses to cost carbon
13 Feb 2018
Businesses are being told to price carbon into their forecasts now – regardless of whether they currently face a carbon price.
Big companies back circular economy moves
8 Feb 2018
A new global initiative to foster the circular economy principles has been backed by more than 30 major international companies.
Ikea buys 25,000 acres of sustainable forestry
7 Feb 2018
Swedish multinational Ikea has announced it is buying 25,000 acres of forest in Alabama.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The eco-friendly guide to online Christmas shopping
5 Dec 2017
Shopping can be confusing at the best of times, and trying to find environmentally friendly options makes it even more difficult.
NZ Post takes out sustainability award
1 Dec 2017
Working with the Red Cross has won New Zealand Post the top prize in the Sustainable Business Network awards this year.
WASTE SIZE: Stella McCartney makes fashion industry stand
30 Nov 2017
Clothes must be designed differently, worn for longer and recycled as much as possible to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Big businesss targets unambitious, say analysts
30 Oct 2017
Nearly nine out of 10 of the world’s biggest companies have plans in place to reduce carbon emissions, new research has found, but only a fifth of them are doing so for 2030 and beyond.
Big brands promise 100% sustainable cotton by 2025
17 Oct 2017
Major clothing and textile companies, including Burberry, Adidas, Timberland, and Levi’s have pledged to use 100 per cent sustainable cotton by 2025.
You can put a price on a tree (even though it's priceless)
13 Oct 2017
What is something worth? How do you put a dollar value on something like a river, a forest or a reef?
EY finds smart investors dodging carbon exposure
11 Oct 2017
Two-thirds of the investors surveyed by international accountancy company EY have already changed their investments because of carbon exposure.
Big banks slow to track emissions portfolios
11 Oct 2017
The World Bank is aiming to put 28 per cent of its funding into climate-related projects by 2020. But it does not track the greenhouse gas emissions of its portfolio, let alone have a target to reduce them.
Climatecoin lines up the carbon markets
9 Oct 2017
Blockchain – the technology developed by cryptocurrency pioneer Bitcoin to knock financial intermediaries out of transactions – has the carbon markets in its sights.
My company's carbon footprint is the size of a small country
9 Oct 2017
Global businesses are, quite rightly, under scrutiny for what they are doing to tackle challenges such as climate change and poverty, writes STEPHEN BADGER, chairman of Mars Inc.
Evian launches carbon-neutral bottling plant
25 Sep 2017
Evian has introduced its first carbon-neutral bottling facility as part of the company’s plans to become 100 per cent carbon neutral by 2020.
Better 'use by' labels, less food waste
22 Sep 2017
Simplifying "sell by" dates should help to reduce food waste, which releases greenhouse gases as it rots in landfills. The move could save people money, too.
GREEN IS GO: Investors seek good businesses
21 Sep 2017
Institutional investors in New Zealand and Australia want to put more money into good green businesses – if they can find them.
Big Business makes commitment to electric vehicles
21 Sep 2017
A coalition of global corporations has launched a global campaign to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles.
San Miguel pulls plug on bottled water business
21 Sep 2017
Asian beverage giant San Miguel Corporation announced that it will soon discontinue its bottled water business as part of its strategy to limit plastic waste.
Climate-change baddies doing business in NZ
14 Sep 2017
Companies operating in New Zealand have been named as some of the most obstructive to global action on climate change.
Business group pushes for social impacts action
12 Sep 2017
The Government should take environmental and social impacts into account when it is letting contracts, Business New Zealand says.
Blame these 90 companies for climate crisis, says report
12 Sep 2017
More than a quarter of sea level rise and about half the warming from 1880 to 2010 can be traced back to just 90 corporations, says a new report.
Refrigerant Recovery earns praise
7 Sep 2017
A business initiative that safely disposes of climate-damaging gases from the refrigeration and air conditioning industries has had its accreditation as a product stewardship scheme extended.
Business body names sustainability award finalists
31 Aug 2017
Finalists in this year’s Sustainable Business Network awards have just been announced.
Climate-savvy customers making presence felt
24 Aug 2017
Most New Zealand companies are already being affected by customer demands for environmental sustainability - or expect to feel an impact.
Super fund goes 40% low-carbon
16 Aug 2017
Forty per cent of the New Zealand Super Fund is now low-carbon.
FREE CREDITS: And the winner is NZ Steel
15 Aug 2017
New Zealand Steel is once again the big winner in the Government’s allocation of free carbon credits to industrial emitters.
Climate change minister tight-lipped on ACT climate policy
Tue 16 Jun 2026
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is keeping his cards close to his chest about the ACT Party’s election campaign pledge last week that it would resubmit New Zealand’s Paris Agreement target.
New Zealand faces $26b energy infrastructure challenge, report warns
Mon 15 Jun 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand will need an additional $26 billion of investment in energy infrastructure over the next 30 years to meet its decarbonisation goals, with a new report warning that policy certainty is critical to unlocking the renewable generation needed to power a low-carbon economy.
Fed Farmers' election wish-list includes stopping whole-farm conversions to carbon forestry
9 Jun 2026
Federated Farmers has launched a five-point plan for the next government, setting out what it says should be a major focus for political parties heading into the November election.
'Terrible result': Emissions barely budged in 2024
5 Jun 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions were virtually unchanged in 2024, falling by 0.03%, despite the economy shrinking by ten times that amount during the same period, according to new data.
Labour pledges unlimited public transport for $20 a week
10 Jun 2026
The Labour Party is promising to cap weekly public transport fares at $20 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, if elected in November.
Nature-based solutions – such as forestry – crucial for carbon removal
5 Jun 2026
COMMENT: Transitioning from erodible pasture to well-managed forest can yield substantial environmental benefits, writes James Treadwell.
