Best by the rest...
9 Sep 2022
New Zealand has had to deal with it's fair share of pest control over the years, and the new task at hand is how to deal with the growing populations of wallabies starting to 'infest' the nation. PHOTO: The Guardian/Alan Gibson
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: A proposed 400 megawatt solar power station near Taupō will be pitched for resource consent later this month; experts urge changes in forestry and farming; and wallabies are quickly becoming an invasive species.
Massive solar farm project near Taupō about to see the light
By Matthew Martin - Stuff
Plans to build a 400MW solar power station on farmland near Taupō will be heard by an independent resource consent commissioner later this month. There are concerns about this development with loss of farmland and a claim that New Zealand would lose '3000 dairy cows and “at least $30,000,000” annually if the consent was granted'.
Eats, hops and breeds: New Zealand’s worsening wallaby plague
Eva Corlett - The Guardian
A skilled hunter can shoot 100 of the invasive marsupials in a night. But with millions of hectares infested, some fear control efforts are too late
George Monbiot: presenting alternatives to farming
Kim Hill - RNZ
The New Zealand diet is particularly bad for the planet due to the vast amount of land required to produce food for it, says environmental campaigner and author George Monbiot.
Forestry needs an urgent reset
Gary Taylor - Newsroom
Forestry has an important place in our economy, but it's time to improve the sector's environmental performance. Gary Taylor explains how.
One simple trick to get more people on trains and buses: run them more often
Suraya Sidhu Singh - The Spinoff
Enticing people onto public transport seems like a tough nut to crack – until you realise we’re not doing the one relatively inexpensive thing that’s proven to work
The Aotearoa History Show: NZ Railways
William Ray - RNZ
All aboard for a voyage into the history of New Zealand’s railways! From a standing start of little tank engines chugging along wooden rails, New Zealand built a vast rail network, made up of enough steel rail to wrap halfway around the moon.
NZ’s most walkable towns and cities ranked: see how your neighbourhood stacks up
Tom Logan - The Conversation
If you live in a city or town, you have a mental map of the places you travel to most. But how accessible are those places, and how long does it take you to get there? Most of all, could you do everything you need to do without a car?
print this story
NZ could become ‘dumping ground’ for dirty vehicles: Commissioner
Today 11:15am
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.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
Today 11:15am
New Zealand could see 97% of its glaciers vanish by 2100, with new international modelling projecting a rapid acceleration in glacier extinction from the 2030s onward – even under lower-warming scenarios.
Govt slammed for weakening methane target
Mon 15 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams The Government has pushed through legislation under urgency to almost halve New Zealand’s 2050 methane target – a move Opposition parties say disregards scientific advice, breaks the country’s hard-won political consensus on climate action, and shifts the burden of higher warming and higher future costs onto the next generation.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
Mon 15 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Despite ‘intransigent’ states blocking multilateralism and a disappointing official outcome, Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says he left the COP30 climate summit feeling more positive than after previous UN climate conferences.
Weak carbon policy misses ‘exponential’ NZ growth opportunity: KiC
Mon 15 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Ambitious climate change policy is a route to a faster-growing New Zealand economy because of the potential for “exponential” growth in decarbonising technologies,” says KiwisinClimate, a global lobby group of New Zealanders working on climate change policy.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
Fri 12 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, says New Zealand restarting fossil fuel exploration and subsidies is an obvious breach of international law, exposing the country to international and domestic litigation.
Govt overhaul leaves the door open for coal mining on conservation land
Fri 12 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s sweeping reclassification of thousands of hectares of publicly-owned conservation land has met with sharp criticism, with environmental groups saying the decision leaves vulnerable ecosystems exposed to mining and development.
Hydro increases overall renewable electricity generation in September quarter
Fri 12 Dec 2025
The September quarter saw 89.4% of all electricity generated from renewable sources, with hydro, geothermal and solar leading the charge, according to new data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Gentailers push back hard on Electricity Authority’s plan
Fri 12 Dec 2025
The four major generator-retailers have pushed back strongly against the Electricity Authority’s proposals to overhaul non-discrimination and price-consistency rules, arguing the proposed regime is built on “perceived risks” rather than evidence and could inadvertently raise retail electricity prices.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
Fri 12 Dec 2025
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is calling for submissions on its international treaty examination of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
