Topics tagged with 'Agriculture'
Auckland says yes to ethical investments
12 Apr 2017
Auckland Council has joined the fossil-fuel divestment movement.
Parliament under carbon-neutral pressure
10 Apr 2017
Proposals for a carbon-neutral New Zealand will go before Parliament this week, as the nation's youth start to apply political pressure over the world they will inherit.
Complacency threatens climate change action
10 Apr 2017
The world is “meandering into a failed future” because of its unwillingness to take decisive action on climate change, a leading UK academic has warned.
Arctic meltwater ponds feed climate concerns
10 Apr 2017
Even in the white-out world of ice, the Arctic is growing greener. Plankton blooms below the frozen ocean and in Greenland’s icy mountains meltwater ponds become little ecosystems that will eventually enrich the ocean.
America’s farmers face uncertain future
7 Apr 2017
Spare a thought for the farmers of America: climate change is going to make their lives more difficult.
Politicians go face-to-face with environment facts
6 Apr 2017
The state of New Zealand’s environment is on the agenda for the country’s politicians today.
March of Myrtle rust could mean trouble for trees
5 Apr 2017
Myrtle rust – a fungus disease that could kill native and commercial trees – is in New Zealand.
Vital groundwater being depleted faster than ever
5 Apr 2017
China, the world’s most populous country, doubled within just 10 years its use of irreplaceable groundwater from underground reservoirs that are replenished more slowly than they are drained.
Soon we could be driving on eggshells and tomato skins
4 Apr 2017
Researchers from Ohio State University have found a way to recycle food waste, specifically eggshells and tomato skin, into car tyres, replacing carbon black, a petroleum-based filler used in creating tyres.
Carbon law could make Paris promise a reality
4 Apr 2017
By 2020, fossil fuels will no longer be subsidised by the taxpayer, anywhere in the world. And by then, carbon dioxide emissions worldwide will have started to fall.
SIMON UPTON: Credits, caps and cross-party deals
3 Apr 2017
The man likely to be the next Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says there might not be enough international carbon credits available to meet New Zealand’s Paris Agreement targets.
Farms can grow production … and cut emissions
3 Apr 2017
Substantial reductions in the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions at a South Canterbury farm show environmental gains can be made hand in hand with a farm’s growth, government scientists say.
Soil microbes hold key to climate puzzle
30 Mar 2017
Climate scientists puzzled by the traffic of carbon between soil and air might have to think more deeply about the role played by soil microbes − the planet’s smallest inhabitants.
Farmers join in as landowners return to planting
29 Mar 2017
Landowners are planting forests again – and farmers looking to offset emissions appear to be among them.
NZ and China shake on Asia-Pacific carbon market
28 Mar 2017
New Zealand and China are to work together on developing an Asia-Pacific carbon market, and will double-team over the way agriculture is treated in international climate negotiations.
Polluting of rivers must be stopped, says OECD
27 Mar 2017
Pollution of waterways by agriculture must be tackled to protect the world’s fresh water, the OECD is warning.
NET-ZERO REPORT: We can do more, says bioenergy industry
24 Mar 2017
A cross-party report on how New Zealand can get to net-zero emissions in the second half of the century ignores some immediate opportunities, the Bioenergy Association says.
Grassland lab raises the alarm on species loss
23 Mar 2017
Scientists in California who turned a patch of natural grassland into a laboratory have established a subtle link between flowering times and the mix of species in an ecosystem – indicating that global warming could change planetary biology and disrupt ecosystems in hitherto unsuspected ways.
SAHARA SAGA: If humans did this they could do it again
22 Mar 2017
Once upon a time, the Sahara was green. There were vast lakes. Hippos and giraffe lived there, and large human populations of fishers foraged for food alongside the lakeshores.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: We cannot continue on this path
21 Mar 2017
Two reports out today signal a sea-change for New Zealand. One says the New Zealand’s economy is reaching its environmental limits. The other says New Zealand cannot meet its Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets without changing land use.
OECD REPORT: We need price on agricultural emissions
21 Mar 2017
The OECD says New Zealand needs to put a price on greenhouse gases from the agricultural sector.
NET-ZERO REPORT: Pastoral farming must change
21 Mar 2017
New Zealand cannot cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and keep farming the way it is now.
Environment reports cast eye over NZ efforts
20 Mar 2017
Two major environmental reports and a new sustainability law are on the agenda this week.
Wind turbine manufacturer needs more capital
20 Mar 2017
Windflow Technology, the unprofitable wind turbine manufacturer, has widened its first-half loss and says it needs new injections of capital.
There's nothing like a healthy diet to beat climate change
16 Mar 2017
Scientists have worked out how to combat climate change and improve human health, one mouthful at a time.
Smaller forests get financial helping hand
15 Mar 2017
Landowners wanting to plant small-to-medium-sized new forests might be able to get some government funding to help them.
Scientists track down travelling droughts
14 Mar 2017
The biggest and worst droughts might not stay fixed in one place but can travel thousands of kilometres from their origin, according to a new study.
Morganists want new approach to controls on farming
10 Mar 2017
The Opportunities Party would put a cap on New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, get rid of the $25 carbon price cap and free credits for heavy emitters and bring some agricultural emissions into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Too much info can put people off sustainability
9 Mar 2017
Most people would agree that living more sustainably is something to strive for -- but it’s a lot easier said than done.
Energy needs broader view, says new minister
8 Mar 2017
New Zealand needs to broaden use of renewable energy beyond the electricity generation, says the new energy minister - but she expects fossil fuels to stay in the mix.
Minister defends action on water standards
8 Mar 2017
Environmental debates in Parliament yesterday stayed with the issue of the moment – fresh water.
We need to get wise about our heated cities
3 Mar 2017
New Zealand needs to think about ways to keep its cities cool in the face of climate change – and the answer could be more trees, says an international planning expert due to speak here next month.
CRUMBS! A loaf of bread takes it out of the environment
3 Mar 2017
What does a staple food such as bread have to do with global warming?
Our environment image at risk, says global agency
1 Mar 2017
New Zealand risks damaging its clean-and-green reputation by failing to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the International Energy Agency warns.
Poison algal blooms in our waterways will worsen
1 Mar 2017
Climate change will mean more poisonous algal blooms in New Zealand’s rivers and lakes, a scientist is warning.
Solar power plants now cheaper than coal
24 Feb 2017
Solar power in Australia is more affordable than new fossil fuel and nuclear power, with costs plummeting by almost 60 per cent over the past five years, a new report released by the Climate Council has found.
Farmers want action on land use and tree planting
23 Feb 2017
Farmers want research into alternative land uses to help them to cope with climate change, and greater incentives to plant carbon-storing trees on their farms.
Solar energy powers sustainable solutions
23 Feb 2017
Every mouthful of food eaten by virtually every creature on Earth depends ultimately on the sun.
Government eyes land-use changes to cut emissions
22 Feb 2017
The Government is looking at changing some current land uses – including forestry and farming – to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump's wall would carry environmental costs
21 Feb 2017
The likely impact on human society of Donald Trump’s Mexico wall has been well-noted, but in the longer-term a barrier across an entire continent will also have severe ecological consequences.
Samba drums up opposition to factory farming
21 Feb 2017
Concern about the environmental impact of industrialised farming through the use of pesticides and the destruction of the rainforest has even spread to Brazil’s famous Rio carnival.
Will blazing a low-carbon path pay off for California?
20 Feb 2017
President Trump has made it clear he intends to dismantle the Obama administration’s policies for reducing US greenhouse gas emissions.
How your life could change without fossil fuels
17 Feb 2017
Here is a vision of the future in a warming world without fossil fuels:
EDITORIAL: Numbers show the game is up
13 Feb 2017
By editor ADELIA HALLETT | Try these numbers: Humans are causing the climate to change at 170 times the natural rate. Our “carbon budget” to keep warming below 1.5deg will be used up in five years. New Zealand’s per person emissions work out to 18 tonnes a year each – nine times higher than the global allowance.
Taste of the future ... turning food waste into flour
13 Feb 2017
Flour from food waste? Establishing a business doing just that has earned a pair of entrepreneurs recognition as a Good Food pioneer – and a year’s business mentoring.
Forest bonds seen as way for long-term green investment
10 Feb 2017
A world-leading environmental impact bond scheme could channel substantial private investment into planting vast areas of native and exotic forests in New Zealand.
Should we build on green spaces to ease housing crises?
10 Feb 2017
In Auckland, plans to build houses on the Pt England Reserve - home of endangered New Zealand dotterels - is highlighting the tension between housing people and nature. But it's not the only city grappling with the issue of building on its reserves.
Scientists call for unravelling of basic climate change
8 Feb 2017
A group of distinguished climate scientists has called for a massive international co-operation to understand absolutely basic climate change.
Seawater puts a dent in delta rice production
8 Feb 2017
Urgent action is being called for to prevent salt intrusion causing severe damage to rice production and loss of drinking water in Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Include farming in ETS, says former climate envoy
3 Feb 2017
Our former climate ambassador says that agriculture should be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme – even if it is treated differently.
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Progress to slash farming emissions is being blocked by limited farmer confidence in mitigation tools, inconsistent engagement, misinformation and a lack of clear policy signals, according to a new report.
NZ’s government wants tourism to drive economic growth – but how will it deal with aviation emissions?
22 Oct 2025
By Robert McLachlan, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University | Following a brief dip during the COVID pandemic, aviation is back in a growth phase.
Air NZ inks deal for its first internationally verified carbon credits
9 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Air New Zealand has committed to buying 8000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030, in partnership with local native forest investment platform My Native Forest.
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.
Govt launches strategy backing wood-based heat sector
23 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Forestry biomass could replace as much as 40% of fossil fuel-generated process heat by 2050, but access to supply, regulatory settings and business cases for converting to wood-based heat sources are required, the Government says in a series of documents released yesterday.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Seven quiet wins for climate and nature in 2025
19 Dec 2025
This year's environmental backdrop is familiar: emissions are rising and nature is continuing to decline. But there have nevertheless been bright spots in 2025.
Govt unveils plans for carbon storage regulations – and ETS rewards
18 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has released plans to regulate carbon capture and storage in natural geological formations, which include Emissions Trading Scheme incentives, with the aim of introducing related legislation in 2026.
Global coal demand hit record high this year but is set to decline by 2030
18 Dec 2025
Global coal demand reached a record high in 2025 but is expected to decline by 2030 as renewables, nuclear power and abundant natural gas squeeze its dominance in power generation.
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.
RMA’s successors hinge on two untested bets
17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
11 Dec 2025
Despite India’s attempt to anoint itself as the leader of the developing world, at the COP30 summit, New Delhi’s track record remains contradictory.
Govt warned that scrapping ag emission pricing comes with risks
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s move to halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing without replacing it with any other action will leave New Zealand facing a bigger gap to meet its third emissions budget, Environment ministry officials have warned.
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.
DOC trims costs and winds down jobs for nature
10 Nov 2025
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is entering a new phase of tighter budgets and structural change as it winds down the pandemic-era Jobs for Nature programme and reshapes its operations to absorb long-term cost pressures.
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.
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.
Hydrogen emissions are ‘supercharging’ the warming impact of methane
19 Dec 2025
The warming impact of hydrogen has been “overlooked” in projections of climate change, according to authors of the latest “global hydrogen budget”.
RMA to speed up fossil fuel consents
18 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | An energy lobby group has welcomed a last-minute amendment to the RMA that puts fossil fuels on the same footing as renewables, however a sustainable energy expert says the move “beggars belief.”
Westpac NZ announces partnership to form Blue Economy hub in Nelson
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Westpac NZ has announced a new three-year partnership with the Nelson Regional Development Agency and Kernohan Engineering to help accelerate the development of a sustainable marine economy – also known as the blue economy.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
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 slammed for weakening methane target
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
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.
Hiringa eyes green methanol plant near Whanganui
29 Jul 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Green hydrogen pioneer Hiringa Energy is deep in planning to develop an “eight-to-nine figure” methanol plant near Whanganui, using a combination of biomass and hydrogen produced using renewable energy.
Insurers welcome govt decision to keep NHC levy unchanged
21 Nov 2025
Media release |The Insurance Council of New Zealand | Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) has welcomed the Government’s decision to leave the Natural Hazards Commission levy unchanged, amid ongoing concerns around the cost-of-living.
Why I’m not outraged at the Govt’s latest climate backsliding
7 Nov 2025
COMMENT: The Government’s latest climate rollbacks underline New Zealand’s long history of a lack of genuine desire to cut emissions, writes Geoff Bertram.
Three Greenpeace activists removed by police from Fonterra
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Three Greenpeace activists were removed by police from Fonterra’s downtown Auckland offices, following a protest on Monday at the Shareholders’ Fund meeting over the corporation’s role in the contamination of rural communities’ drinking water.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
11 Dec 2025
Media release | Ten of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would create significantly more shareholder value by ending exploration and sharply curtailing upstream development, according to new analysis released today by ACCR.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greenpeace says Government changes to national direction instruments under the RMA paves the way for mining in wetlands and biodiversity hotspots and will expose some of Aotearoa’s most fragile ecosystems to irreversible damage.
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.
NZ's latest climate target 'weak' – Climate Action Tracker
24 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand's new international climate target to 2035 is weak, and could even allow for higher emissions than the 2030 target, according to a global scientific project that tracks government climate action.
Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life
19 Dec 2025
Media release | A study conducted by researchers from Murdoch University in Australia and Dalian Ocean University in China has found that offshore windfarms can improve marine ecosystems and diversify aquatic food chains.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
16 Dec 2025
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
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.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
KiwiRail pauses coal trains amid rising climate protests
9 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate activists are ramping up actions this week, with a Christchurch protest leading to KiwiRail pausing some coal train operations on Saturday, and another protest against the Fast-Track Amendment Bill planned for parliament today.
Straterra has a new name: the New Zealand Minerals Council
16 Apr 2025
Media release | Straterra has been renamed as New Zealand Minerals Council, says chief executive Josie Vidal.
Could tidal energy one day power NZ?
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests Aotearoa holds some of the world’s strongest tidal-stream energy potential – enough to generate up to 93% of today’s electricity use – but one expert cautions that extracting energy at such a scale could have significant impacts and remains highly uncertain.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
16 Dec 2025
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.
Solar households to get little-noticed tax break
23 Sep 2025
A provision in the government’s latest tax bill would exempt households from paying tax on income they earn by selling excess electricity back to the grid.
Last minute change to oil and gas legislation over cleanup costs
31 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government is expected to repeal the oil and gas ban today, with a last-minute amendment handing discretionary power to two ministers over the controversial issue of decommissioning.
The surprisingly convincing case against cars
19 Dec 2025
Life After Cars dares to imagine how different, and enriching, a car-free world could be.
Kaicycle celebrates ten years of collective climate action in Pōneke
14 Nov 2025
Media release: Kaicycle | Since 2015, Kaicycle has grown from a humble pilot project growing kai and collecting compost on bicycles into the thriving urban farm and composting hub that Wellingtonians know and love.
Heatwaves, downpours and droughts – Auckland on track for more extreme weather
1 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New projections show Auckland will face more heatwaves, heavier downpours, worsening droughts and growing coastal threats as climate extremes intensify, according to a new report from Earth Sciences New Zealand.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | This year New Zealand had its hottest spring since records began, with widespread heat, rainfall extremes and destructive wind driven by sudden stratospheric warming.
Media round-up
12 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Another offshore wind firm exits New Zealand over a clash with seabed mining; Fonterra falls behind on its climate goals as farm emissions remain flat; and the businesses trapped by the gas 'death spiral'.
