Topics tagged with 'Emissions trading'
EU climate talks enter decisive phase
20 Aug 2020
The European Commission will table proposals next month to raise the EU’s climate target for 2030, amid warnings from Eastern countries to safeguard jobs and growth from the coronavirus fallout.
Helping Chile cut emissions could help us
18 Aug 2020
New Zealand and Switzerland are helping Chile develop an emissions reduction programme that could pay dividends for this country.
Where the Redd went wrong
18 Aug 2020
International conservation is known for its pursuit of global, ‘win-win’ solutions that seek to simultaneously address multiple environmental and social issues. But few proposed solutions have offered as much hope, and been so energetically embraced, as REDD+.
Synethic gases net taxpayers $12 million
17 Aug 2020
The Government has collected nearly $12 million in levies for synthetic greenhouse gases imported into the country over the past year.
Has our 2030 carbon debt just got bigger?
14 Aug 2020
More than a fifth of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions last year were covered by the fixed-price option, potentially increasing the size of the country’s 2030 carbon liability.
SHAW: Next government all about emissions cuts
12 Aug 2020
Climate policy in the next government will focus on tangible ways to cut emissions, Green Party co-leader James Shaw says.
TEN YEARS AGO ...
10 Aug 2020
Ten years ago, the recent application of the Emissions Trading Scheme to the transport sector was having little impact on fuel prices.
FRIDAY POLITICS: It's a choice of slow or slower
7 Aug 2020
Young protesters are targeting both Labour and National with sit-ins in Dunedin today, saying both have failed to address the climate crisis.
EMISSIONS DOWNER: We must make them lower
5 Aug 2020
New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions could be about a fifth lower this year than last year because of covid-19, an international science consortium says.
Wood cheaper than electricity for emissions cuts, says Fonterra
5 Aug 2020
Fonterra favours wood over electricity for reducing emissions from its South Island plants.
Country's climate change costs are climbing
30 Jul 2020
Climate change is now swallowing the lion’s share of the Government’s environmental spending, prompting suggestions we should have a dedicated Climate Change Ministry.
New law needed for managed retreat, says review
29 Jul 2020
Authorities could have the power to seize land threatened by climate change under a proposed new Public Works Act-type law.
Big Hydro not the only way, says energy expert
27 Jul 2020
Paying industry not to use electricity during peak demand should be considered as an alternative to a multi-billion-dollar new hydro scheme, an energy expert says.
FRIDAY POLITICS: Ready and willing
24 Jul 2020
In a week that saw the end of the political careers of a Cabinet minister and yet another Opposition MP, a political drama of a climate sort has been playing out in suburban Auckland.
Carbon prices climb to new high
22 Jul 2020
New Zealand carbon prices continue their record run and are set to go higher, if Europe is anything to go by.
Covid crisis delays climate NES
22 Jul 2020
National guidelines on dealing with greenhouse gas emissions might be delayed because of the covid-19 crisis.
Carbon falls on smelter news
10 Jul 2020
Carbon prices have reacted to yesterday’s news that one of the country’s biggest electricity users and emitters of greenhouses gases is shutting up shop.
CARBON CUTS: Smelter signals end of aluminium emissions
9 Jul 2020
One of New Zealand’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters is closing operations in New Zealand, potentially cutting the country’s missions by more than 1.5 million tonnes a year.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ...
9 Jul 2020
Applications to remove tree-weeds without incurring a carbon liability are now open.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ...
8 Jul 2020
Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee today considers proposals to tighten up regulation of financial markets.
Abandoned waste lands smelter company in court
6 Jul 2020
The Environmental Defence Society is taking the operator of the Bluff aluminium smelter – one of the country’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases - to court over waste dumped in the old paper mill at Mataura.
Let's feed the people first, say ag leaders
2 Jul 2020
Agricultural industry leaders say they need to feed New Zealanders before the rest of the world.
Pundits predict carbon is going higher
2 Jul 2020
New Zealand carbon prices are at record levels, but how high are they going?
Carbon prices heading for a new record
1 Jul 2020
Carbon prices are back in record-price territory, with spot NZUs trading above $32 on CommTrade and Carbon Match.
Parker whips home third leg of climate trifecta
26 Jun 2020
The third leg of the Government’s climate change legislation trifecta came home this week.
Good job and well done, says ClimCom
24 Jun 2020
The Government’s determination to overhaul the Emissions Trading Scheme despite the covid-19 pandemic has won praise from the Climate Change Commission.
No carbon-zero without new forests
23 Jun 2020
Government suggestions that it will limit forestry conversions to 40,000 hectares a year could prevent the country being carbon-neutral by 2050, forest owners says.
Lobby group has work for $2b from ETS
22 Jun 2020
A powerful public-private lobby group – including the head of the Ministry for the Environment – wants money generated by the Emissions Trading Scheme put into a $2 billion fund to help companies to cut their energy emissions.
Parliament does major job on ETS
17 Jun 2020
Parliament has passed major changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme, bringing agricultural emissions into the scheme and, for the first time, setting a cap on emissions.
Nats should have done more, admits Muller
15 Jun 2020
New National Party leader Todd Muller has admitted his party should have done more about climate change when it was in power.
EDITORIAL: Into the red
15 Jun 2020
By ADELIA HALLETT | A rapid rise in the price of carbon could leave some of us facing winter without fresh tomatoes. But that’s as it should be.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ...
15 Jun 2020
The overhaul of the Emissions Trading Scheme is due to have its third reading in Parliament this week.
Coal companies want carbon price slashed
12 Jun 2020
Government decisions that have pushed carbon prices up 28 per cent in eight days of trading must be reversed, says the minerals industry.
Carbon forward units pass $35 price cap
11 Jun 2020
Carbon hit new record prices yesterday, with forward units now more expensive than the unofficial $35 price cap.
Carbon prices stick to the upward trail
10 Jun 2020
Carbon prices are pushing on towards $31 today as the New Zealand market continues a bull run.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ...
10 Jun 2020
Transport and urban development minister Phil Twyford discusses low-carbon transport networks for our cities in an online session for the Sustainable Business Network today.
NEWSFLASH: Carbon hits historic high
9 Jun 2020
New Zealand's carbon market has broken the $30 barrier.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ...
9 Jun 2020
Wellington’s regional transport plan is scheduled for debate at a meeting of the Greater Wellington transport committee today.
Forest owners stay with carbon wait-and-see
8 Jun 2020
Forest owners are adopting a wait-and-see approach to selling units as carbon prices head into record territory.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ...
8 Jun 2020
The Sustainable Business Network holds a host of events this week – from a discussion on urban transport with transport minister Phil Twyford, to sessions on how the textiles sector is embracing the circular economy and on flexiworking and making sustainable business the new normal.
POLITICS: Caution and confusion rules
5 Jun 2020
By ADELIA HALLETT | This week’s political action has seen carbon prices surging forward again.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW >
5 Jun 2020
Today, the Bioenergy Association holds a webinar on switching heating in schools from boilers burning fossil fuels to wood pellets, while the Sustainable Business Council has a session on preparing for the “new normal”.
Carbon prices continue the good-news climb
4 Jun 2020
Carbon prices jumped another $2 yesterday as the market continued to react to Tuesday’s announcements about the Emissions Trading Scheme.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW >>
4 Jun 2020
Parliament takes a break today from discussing climate change, with the third reading of the Emissions Trading Scheme reform bill and the committee stage of the Resource Management Act reform too low on the order paper to get an airing.
Shaw sings songs of praise for trading scheme
3 Jun 2020
Climate minister James Shaw – who three years ago was calling for the Emissions Trading Scheme to be scrapped – was singing its praises in Parliament yesterday.
Prices jump a dollar on fixed-price news
3 Jun 2020
Carbon prices jumped a dollar yesterday on the back of confirmation the fixed-price option will move to $35 this year.
Govt opposed ClimCom in cash-or-credits case
3 Jun 2020
The Government went against the advice of its own Climate Change Commission in allowing companies to continue to pay money instead of surrendering carbon credits to atone for their greenhouse gas emissions.
WHAT YOU NEEED TO KNOW >
3 Jun 2020
Parliament sits today and tomorrow, with the Resource Management Amendment Bill due for its second reading and reforms to the Emissions Trading Scheme about to go through the committee of the House stage before having their third reading.
Effective carbon price-cap will hit $35 this year
2 Jun 2020
The effective price cap on carbon prices in New Zealand will go to $35 this year.
Biofuel could pull trucks into line, say officials
2 Jun 2020
New Zealand could cut its greenhouse gas emissions immediately by using more biofuels in trucks, officials say.
NZ urged to grab a slice of burgeoning $35 billion market for nature credits
Fri 13 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand could unlock strong domestic and international demand for high-integrity nature-based credits, if government, investors and restoration groups work together to scale supply, a new report says.
Rod Carr is ‘over’ climate change defeatism
Fri 13 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | If there’s one thing former Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr is “over”, it’s people saying there’s nothing they can personally do to address climate change.
Auckland Airport switches on giant heat pump system to cut gas use
6 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | While Auckland Airport’s switch from gas to heat pumps is welcome, the emissions savings are dwarfed by ongoing aircraft emissions, which are set to rise, according to a sustainable transport expert.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
3 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Carbon markets risk penalising Indigenous stewardship, researchers warn
5 Mar 2026
Carbon markets designed to reward environmental restoration may be unintentionally disadvantaging Indigenous communities who have long protected intact ecosystems, according to new research.
Govt’s own modelling shows LNG leads to higher electricity prices than other solutions
19 Feb 2026
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: According to modelling conducted by Concept Consulting for MBIE, either developing the Tariki gas storage facility or managing electricity demand would deliver lower wholesale electricity prices than the Government’s preferred solution of an LNG import terminal.
Kenya’s latest carbon credit crackdown reveals questionable practices
Wed 11 Mar 2026
Some players use sophisticated tactics to inflate the value of credits that may not represent genuine, permanent emissions reductions.
Countries agree to record release of emergency oil reserves as prices surge
Fri 13 Mar 2026
Dozens of countries have agreed to release a record amount of oil from their emergency reserves to try to tackle supply shortages and soaring prices.
Bidders no-show at carbon auction – again
3 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | As predicted, today’s carbon auction yet again failed to attract any bidders, with NZUs currently trading hands on the secondary market at a 35% discount on this year’s auction floor price.
3,600 times faster: China is shaking up the steel industry
25 Feb 2026
For over a century, making steel meant coal, heat, and hours of waiting. A Chinese research team now reports collapsing that process into just three to six seconds; no coal, near zero emissions, and a vortex lance already moving toward commercial production. The technology is called flash ironmaking, and in February 2026, its implications are still unfolding.
Hormuz crisis critical to New Zealand
Tue 10 Mar 2026
By Nathan Surendran | COMMENT: Why the Hormuz crisis is a symptom, not the disease – and what it means for New Zealand.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
19 Feb 2026
Construction is set to begin on a new retail-office development in central Auckland, which is targeting a 40% reduction in embodied carbon and 25% lower energy.
Opposition attacks Govt over fossil fuel phaseout backdown
2 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Revelations that Resources Minister Shane Jones ruled out New Zealand signing up to a 'road map' away from fossil fuels at last year’s global climate summit show the National Party’s minor coalition partners’ undue influence over the Government, according to Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Renewables surge cuts power emissions, but oil dominates fossil fuel use
Fri 13 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s fossil fuel emissions fell in 2025 as strong renewable electricity generation reduced the need for gas-fired power, but oil consumption is rising and now accounts for a record share of fossil emissions.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
20 Feb 2026
Several environmental organisations are calling on political parties to make climate and biodiversity central to the 2026 election campaign, with reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme seen as a key priority.
Climate Commission called to Waitangi inquiry over alleged breaches
Tue 10 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Climate Change Commission is being called to front up to the Waitangi Tribunal and give evidence over alleged legal breaches of its obligations to Māori.
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.
From forest to flatpack, IKEA faces timber traceability test
Wed 11 Mar 2026
As the EU’s Deforestation Regulation nears implementation this year, furniture giant IKEA may need stronger traceability systems to prove its timber isn’t linked to post-2020 deforestation.
Greenpeace slams Govt climate policies amid rising petrol prices
Thu 12 Mar 2026
As petrol prices climb to $3 a litre, Greenpeace is blaming Government decisions for leaving Kiwis harder hit by the oil price spike.
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.”
Gaps in adaptation taxonomies hinder climate finance in Asia: report
5 Mar 2026
Without clearer criteria and metrics in adaptation taxonomies, Asia risks widening its climate financing gap, warns a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
Russia gets export boost from Iran war as price of oil to India surges
Tue 10 Mar 2026
The war in Iran has fuelled a significant bump in demand for Russian oil and gas, the Kremlin said on Friday, boosting exports which have been battered by sanctions linked to Russia's war in Ukraine.
Five trees can’t offset a car: Lawyers accuse Mazda of greenwashing
Mon 9 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action NZ is taking Mazda to the Advertising Standards Authority over its claims that a tree-planting programme will offset vehicle emissions.
Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert
11 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s fixation on eliminating the "dry-year risk margin" as a lever to reduce costs misses a much bigger opportunity to lower electricity prices, according to Christina Hood, head of Compass Climate.
Japan eyes New Zealand as green hydrogen export hub
Thu 12 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | A new partnership between major Japanese companies aims to explore exporting green hydrogen from New Zealand – but the economics of producing the energy-hungry fuel remain the biggest hurdle.
Wales council to buy and demolish homes prone to flooding
4 Feb 2026
A row of homes in a village in south Wales is to be bought by a local authority and demolished as they can no longer be protected from flooding caused by the climate crisis.
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.
EDS puts environmental lawmaking under the spotlight
26 Feb 2026
Media Release |The Environmental Defence Society has launched the first in a series of investigative pieces into how environmental laws are being made in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Climate 'dream team' launches foundation targeting 100 million tonnes in emissions cuts
25 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The New Zealand Climate Foundation, which has the ambitious aim of cutting 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, had its official launch on Monday.
Expert Panel invites EDS to comment on Bendigo goldmine
Fri 13 Mar 2026
Media release | The Environmental Defence Society has been invited to provide comment on the Bendigo-Ophir gold mine by the expert Panel tasked with deciding the fast-track project.
If the government is set on an LNG terminal, gas users, not electricity users, should pay
Wed 11 Mar 2026
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: It's increasingly clear that the government's narrative of LNG as ‘dry year electricity insurance’ really doesn't stack up.
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.
Tiny, lost and constipated: what a baby turtle told Australian scientists about warming seas
6 Mar 2026
The arrival of loggerheads in New South Wales shows these ‘sentinels of climate change’ are being forced into unknown territory.
The world’s largest climate finance deal was built to flounder: why funding fails to reach the front‑line
6 Mar 2026
Adopted in December 2015, the Paris Agreement commits countries to keeping global temperature rise below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Kiwis overly optimistic about state of environment
27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests many New Zealanders believe the environment is in better shape than it really is, with public perceptions often out of step with scientific evidence.
‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics
24 Feb 2026
Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?
Todd gets nod to drill first super-critical geothermal well
Thu 12 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Todd Energy is to make its sole oil drilling rig available to drill the first exploration well under the government’s $60 million super-critical geothermal resource exploration programme under a ‘preferred supplier’ agreement announced yesterday.
Media round-up
20 Feb 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: 'Every tonne matters': The climate scientist who wants to give you hope; Minister says managed retreat is an option; and climate change is here – is New Zealand ready?
China has a new competitor? Kazakhstan reveals huge rare Earth deposit that could power the next tech boom
25 Feb 2026
China’s grip on rare earths might finally see some competition, and the world is already taking notice.
How falling battery costs are igniting race for round-the-clock solar power
Fri 13 Mar 2026
By combining the solar array with a massive amount of battery capacity, the aim is to store enough power generated during daylight hours so that a minimum of 1 GW of electricity – enough to power between 500,000 and one million homes – is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Native plant shows promise for tackling `forever chemicals’
Wed 11 Mar 2026
Media release: University of Auckland | One of Aotearoa New Zealand’s taonga plants, harakeke, shows promise as a treatment for removing “forever chemicals” from drinking water.
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.
Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing
18 Feb 2026
Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.
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 EV owners sticking with electric – survey
Wed 11 Mar 2026
Nearly all New Zealand EV owners say they would buy another electric vehicle, according to new research from Consumer NZ.
Summit aims to revive stalled UN talks on phasing out fossil fuels
Wed 11 Mar 2026
Colombia and the Netherlands have set out three priorities for a conference on phasing out fossil fuels they will co-host in Colombia in April.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
18 Feb 2026
Aotearoa’s first National Infrastructure Plan, introduced to Parliament yesterday, calls for "a predictable approach to electrifying the economy" as one of ten priorities for the next decade.
Global coastal sea-level risks may be underestimated, say scientists
5 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Coastal communities across the Pacific and Southeast Asia could be facing greater sea-level rise risks than previously estimated, researchers say.
Study finds warming world increases days when weather is prone to fires around the globe
20 Feb 2026
The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy — ideal to spark extreme wildfires — has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.
Western Australian communities want mandatory payments from new renewable developments
6 Mar 2026
The West Australian government wants to make new wind and solar farms pay into community funds, but host towns say more work needs to be done to make sure the payments actually happen.
