Topics tagged with 'Forestry'
Carbon budget essential, says council
9 Aug 2013
The Sustainability Council is launching a new push to get New Zealand into carbon budgeting.
Climate action long overdue, says Labour
2 Aug 2013
The Labour Party says that a report by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, must surely trigger some Government action to try to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Biofuel brokers welcome Beehive backing
2 Aug 2013
The bioenergy industry is welcoming Government support of a wood-waste-to-biofuel pilot.
Foresters cool on wood fuel project support
26 Jul 2013
The Government’s decision to back the initial stages of a wood-to-biofuel plant is welcome - but it’s not the game-changer that the industry needs.
Beehive backs Stump to Pump project
26 Jul 2013
A private project to investigate the commercial viability of turning wood waste into biofuel has won Government backing.
Renewable energy alone can do it, says report
26 Jul 2013
Britain can reduce carbon emissions with existing technology, says a new report.
CO2 aids desert greening, say scientists
5 Jul 2013
Increased levels of carbon dioxide have helped to boost green growth across the world’s arid regions over the past 30 years through a process called CO2 fertilisation, according Australian scientists.
What the power industry players think
28 Jun 2013
United States power industry interest groups were quick to give their assessment this week on President Obama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation.
Prices force rethink of forestry carbon rules
21 Jun 2013
Forest owners exploiting low carbon prices to convert forest land to dairy farms have forced government officials to rethink this country’s net forestry carbon position.
Yes, we can make steel without coal
21 Jun 2013
Our ancestors made steel without coal, so why don't we? Former Green Party co-leader JEANETTE FITZSIMONS examines the feasibility of coal-less steel:
People come first, say UN leaders
21 Jun 2013
Governments should that land and mineral wealth are managed wisely, transparently and yield benefits for the people, senior United Nations officials said this week
Woodies want large-scale biofuel plant
14 Jun 2013
A massive wood-processing plant with a substantial biofuel plant add-on could be viable, the sector says.
Industry sees bioenergy as key to jobs
14 Jun 2013
Legislation supporting bioenergy production of electricity will provide employment and economic growth in rural areas, says the Bioenergy Association.
Is there something we haven't been told?
14 Jun 2013
Carbon Market Solutions asks as to consider a situation now confronting many forest owners who opted into the Emissions Trading Scheme:
Govt vow ‘huge news’ for foresters
24 May 2013
The Government says it is committed to the Permanent Forest Sinks Initiative.
Govt banks on low, low carbon price
24 May 2013
The Government is budgeting on a carbon price of just 24 cents a tonne for the foreseeable future.
Biofuels + Food = farming winner
24 May 2013
Farmers should be thinking about growing feedstocks for biofuels, says Federated Farmers.
Bring back natives, says tree scientist
24 May 2013
Plantation forests could prove a valuable site for native forest regeneration.
Farm couple finds Asia an eye-opener
17 May 2013
An industry-backed trip to Asia has given Norh Otago farmers Blair and Jane Smith a deeper understanding of the challenges facing marketers of New Zealand meat and dairy products.
Europe embraces green infrastructure
10 May 2013
A strategy aimed at promoting green infrastructure and putting natural processes at the heart of its spatial planning has been adopted by the European Union.
Worries deepen over future of ETS
26 Apr 2013
Deep uncertainty remains over the future of the Emissions Trading Scheme, according to a revealing survey of ETS participants.
No word yet on tree-planting plans
26 Apr 2013
Details of new Government plans to encourage forestry planting are unlikely to be unveiled for several weeks.
Co-operate or crash, warns forests expert
26 Apr 2013
A forestry expert is calling for co-operation between farmers, conservation interests, scientists and officials to avoid a “biodiversity train-wreck” in New Zealand.
IT’S OFFICIAL: Forests make way for dairying
19 Apr 2013
Government figures have confirmed what the carbon market has known for months – forests are being cleared and converted to dairy farms on the back of rock-bottom carbon prices.
Australia cuts emissions … slightly
19 Apr 2013
The Australian Government is facing calls to strengthen its carbon tax, as new figures show the country’s emissions fell only slightly last year.
Private sector looms as key funder of forests
19 Apr 2013
The private sector is emerging as a key source of financing the sustainable management of forests that, if tapped properly, could result in benefits for the environment and for businesses.
Think bionergy, farmers will be told
12 Apr 2013
Farmers are being urged to think about how they can boost farm income by turning shelter belts and other bits of forestry into biofuels.
Climate change could make us a better wine producer
28 Mar 2013
New Zealand is one of a handful of countries that could benefit as the Earth's warming phase drives a wave of change through the world of wine, according to climate change experts.
Power plant gas emissions show rise
22 Mar 2013
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation last year were up more than 20 per cent on the previous year.
Wood industry report shows the way
8 Mar 2013
The wood industry’s investigation of future economic opportunities – including biofuels and biochemicals – is finished.
Nations make stand on illegal timber
8 Mar 2013
European rules to combat the trade of illegal timber have come into force, but critics doubt the readiness of EU countries to carry out the legislation.
Expense puts farmers off, says expert
8 Mar 2013
Many current livestock emission reduction technologies would not be adopted by farmers at the current price for carbon without a significant reduction in their cost, an Australian conference has been told.
Meet the ETS winners ... and losers
1 Mar 2013
Depressed, depressed, and depressed sounds like a state of mind, and for some it could well be, but indications are that the erosion of the Emission Trading Scheme as a cost effective mechanism for reducing and abating greenhouse gas emissions is real and spreading across the planet.
Land laps up third of Aussie fuel emissions
22 Feb 2013
The Australian landscape soaked up one third of the carbon emitted by fossil fuels in Australia over the past 20 years, according to a new CSIRO study.
Forest safety record could hurt industry
22 Feb 2013
New Zealand's forest exports are being put risk as the industry continues to drag the chain on a key aspect of its certification, a union for workers in the wood industries says.
Can't get NZUs 'for love nor money'
22 Feb 2013
As it sits right now, you can surrender CP1 UN offsets for the next three emission years counting 2012, 2013 and 2014.
NZ carbon in race to the bottom
15 Feb 2013
As the prices of UN carbon offsets fall to new lows, the New Zealand ETS is increasingly struggling for relevance, writes Carbon Match founder Lizzie Chambers.
Companies link to build fuel demo plant
15 Feb 2013
Development of a large-scale wood-to-biofuel plant in New Zealand came a step closer this week with the announcement that Z Energy and Norske Skog want to build a demonstration plant.
Kenya eyes millions from carbon trade
15 Feb 2013
Kenya is eyeing millions of dollars from carbon trade derived from its government forests.
Wood-waste plant idea excites biofuel pioneer
8 Feb 2013
Ground-breaking biofuel company LanzaTech is interested in building a woody-waste gasification plant in New Zealand.
We've become small-scale and stand-alone
8 Feb 2013
A mere 12-to-24 months ago, many in the carbon business in New Zealand believed the chances of synergising the New Zealand carbon markets with other markets, such as the emerging Australian carbon market, were good, Carbon Market Solutions says.
Low prices way out for pre-90 foresters
25 Jan 2013
Record-low carbon prices could see hundreds of thousands of hectares of pre-1990 plantation forest cleared or converted to post-1989 forest.
Profit-rich foresters might quit ETS
18 Jan 2013
Forest owners who have made a tidy profit by selling carbon high and buying low are now looking to quit the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Emitters turn backs on local credits
18 Jan 2013
Domestic carbon credits are no longer the unit of choice in the New Zealand carbon market.
Forest returns dragging the chain
18 Jan 2013
The sluggishness of the carbon market appears to be reflected in this year’s post-1989 forest carbon returns.
Black carbon looms as much bigger problem
18 Jan 2013
Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is a more potent atmospheric pollutant than previously thought, according to a four-year international study just released.
Forest owners to vote on industry voice
18 Jan 2013
Forest owners will vote in March on a plan that aims to give all commercial forest and woodlot owners a say in the future of their industry.
Dull year behind us, flat year ahead
18 Jan 2013
The past 12 months have seen little domestic activity in terms of NZU purchasing to meet obligations under the ETS.
What's our market worth?
14 Dec 2012
Carbon Match founder Lizzie Chambers reflects on the fallout from the COP18 meeting
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
Thu 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.
State-owned farmer drives profit growth with emissions reductions
Fri 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.
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.
‘Cali Fund’ aiming to raise billions for nature receives first donation – of just $1,000
Tue 16 Dec 2025
A major biodiversity fund – which could, in theory, generate billions of dollars annually for conservation – received its first donation of just $1,000 in November.
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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Thu 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
Thu 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
Wed 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
Thu 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Wed 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
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.
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
Wed 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
Fri 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
Tue 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
Fri 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
Tue 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?
Thu 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
Tue 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
Fri 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'.
