Topics tagged with 'Green finance'
Big insurance companies launch net-zero climate alliance
12 Jul 2021
Eight of the world's leading insurance and reinsurance companies on Sunday launched an alliance to help speed up a transition to a net zero emissions economy.
Emissions should be treated like financial debt: researchers
9 Jul 2021
Researchers have proposed a scheme that treats carbon emissions like financial debt.
EU to funnel hundreds of billions to sustainable finance
7 Jul 2021
The European Union says it will harness banks and markets to funnel hundreds of billions of euros annually into sustainable investments and create the first “climate-neutral continent” by 2050.
IGCC appoints new CEO
2 Jul 2021
Media Release - The Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) board has today announced the appointment of Rebecca Mikula-Wright as Chief Executive Officer of the organisation.
Winners at the Mindful Money Ethical and Impact Investment awards
1 Jul 2021
Media Release - The inaugural Ethical and Impact Investment awards were held on 29 June at Generator in Wynyard Quarter in an event with over 200 participants.
Climate risk critical to investment decisions: Orr
30 Jun 2021
Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr urged attendees at yesterday’s Mindful Money Awards to incorporate climate risk into how they invest and allocate capital.
90% of institutional investors taking climate change into account
30 Jun 2021
Ninety percent of institutional investors say climate change is the most significant ESG (environmental, social, governance) factor influencing their decisions to invest in a company.
France introduces corporate climate disclosures
23 Jun 2021
France is striving to confirm its position as a global leader in corporate climate disclosures with a new set of binding targets that require investors to declare how green their assets.
India, South Africa could pilot $2bn coal transition scheme
22 Jun 2021
A climate fund is looking for two or three coal-dependent emerging economies to pilot a scheme to accelerate a shift to cleaner industries by mobilising private finance.
Investors holding $41 trillion demand action on climate — now
11 Jun 2021
Investors managing more than $41 trillion in assets are loudly calling on world leaders to immediately step up their climate game if they don't want to miss out on a wave of clean energy investment.
CEOs urge world leaders to take bolder climate action
11 Jun 2021
More than 70 CEOs from some of the world's biggest companies have urged governments to do much more to tackle climate change, including forcing businesses to reduce their carbon emissions.
Reserve Bank to commit puutea to climate change
3 Jun 2021
The Reserve Bank will use part of its $85 billion balance sheet to help deal with the challenges of climate change, the bank’s head of financial markets Vanessa Rayner said in a speech released yesterday.
G7 nations committing billions more to fossil fuel than green energy
3 Jun 2021
The nations that make up the G7 have pumped billions of dollars more into fossil fuels than they have into clean energy since the Covid-19 pandemic, despite their promises of a green recovery.
Lawyers for Climate Action call on Govt to walk the talk
1 Jun 2021
Lawyers for Climate Action have told the Government that exempting government agencies from financial disclosure requirements would be a fundamental failure by government to lead by example.
Big oil faces its reckoning: Fortune
28 May 2021
Fortune Magazine declared yesterday a good day for the planet. "Three of the largest oil and gas companies were forced to make radical changes to curb their carbon emissions as the climate emergency pushed shareholders and a Dutch court to turn their backs on Big Oil."
Fossil fuel divestment is the road to climate justice
25 May 2021
Professor Susie O'Brien argues that oil is the lifeblood of our culture and climate crisis, and divestment is the way to achieve climate justice, in this opinion piece for The Conversation.
Investors jump into the climate risk space
21 May 2021
Big name investors are putting new capital behind "climate intelligence" — the sophisticated analytics that companies and governments will need to uncover and reduce risk in a warming world.
Best by the rest...
14 May 2021
Our weekly roundup of notable climate change stories featured in local media incudes: a compelling case for meatless meat, a survey showing times up for gas guzzlers, and the tipping point looming for business.
Niwa beefing up its climate research capability
4 May 2021
NIWA is on a global hunt for eight new data scientists to join its growing team of AI experts working on climate change related research.
10 YEARS AGO...
3 May 2021
Ten years ago, we were reporting that banks were starting to lend on carbon as forestry companies secured contracts as far forward as 2020.
Ardern touts NZ's climate action at summit
23 Apr 2021
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used her appearance at President Joe Biden’s virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change to extol the virtues of New Zealand’s response to the climate crises.
350 Aotearoa welcomes govt's stance
20 Apr 2021
MEDIA RELEASE - Climate justice organisation 350 Aotearoa is celebrating the direction from the government for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) to accelerate its moves to divest from investments in fossil fuels.
New climate indices launched
14 Apr 2021
MEDIA RELEASE - Scientific Beta launches unique series of pure climate indices that translates companies' climate performance and alignment engagement into portfolio decisions
France's e-bikes for clunkers scheme
13 Apr 2021
France is offering the owners of old, exhaust-belching cars the opportunity to hand over their vehicles for scrap in return for a 2,500 euro grant to buy an electric bicycle.
Farage...from Ukip leader to green finance spokesman
29 Mar 2021
He has criticised Greta Thunberg for “alarmism” and wind power as “economic insanity”.
Oil pipeline tests the climate commitment of international banks
24 Mar 2021
Plans by Total to exploit and export Ugandan oil through a 1443 kilometre pipeline traversing east Africa to the Tanzanian coast are hanging in the balance as investors are under growing pressure to move away from fossil fuels.
Nature left alone offers more than if we exploit it
24 Mar 2021
Save nature, save money. It’s a simple argument. Wilderness cleared and ploughed offers us less than nature left alone.
Why Wall St says it's going green
17 Mar 2021
America's finance industry has backed polluters for decades. Now, amid growing pressure, Wall Street says it is going green.
Japanese bank bids for Green Climate Fund partnership
16 Mar 2021
This week’s Green Climate Fund board meeting is set for a showdown over whether to partner with a coal-backing Japanese bank.
HSBC latest bank to tackle coal financing
15 Mar 2021
HSBC says it plans to ramp up its climate change policies and stop financing coal projects by 2040, as long as shareholders back the move.
'I didn't want Bank of England job' - Carney
15 Mar 2021
Mark Carney earned a fortune at Goldman Sachs, but now the banker wants the financial sector to reassess its values and tackle the climate emergency
Green Climate Fund a 'toxic' environment, insiders say
15 Mar 2021
As John Kerry promises to “make good” on a $2 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund, the UN’s flagship fund faces critically low confidence in its senior management
Paying for ecosystem services to save the planet
12 Mar 2021
The idea that ecosystems have monetary value now has global support — and creates a route to protecting Earth’s endangered regions.
Hall of shame: Missing the green recovery
11 Mar 2021
The world’s governments are failing to “build back better” from the covid-19 economic slump, the UN Environment Programme warns in a new report.
Central bank turns eye to carbon in investments
4 Mar 2021
The Reserve Bank is reviewing the carbon footprint of its sovereign investments.
Bank of England gets green remit
4 Mar 2021
The Bank of England’s remit has been changed to include a duty to support the country's net-zero carbon ambition.
Banks should publish green yardstick, says authority
2 Mar 2021
European banks should publish a “green-asset ratio” as a core measure of their climate-friendly business activities, says the European Union's banking watchdog.
IMF and World Bank will push G20 over climate
1 Mar 2021
The leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are vowing to step up efforts to combat climate change by looking more closely at climate-related financial stability risk and using other tools at their disposal.
Carbon tax would be popular with UK voters, poll suggests
25 Feb 2021
Taxing carbon dioxide emissions would be popular with British voters, polling suggests, as the government moots ways to put a price on carbon that could help tackle the climate crisis and fund a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Questions over Samoa flood defence project
22 Feb 2021
Flood walls in Samoa financed by the UN’s flagship climate fund are inadequate and could put people in danger, experts warn.
IMF looks at climate credit-scores
22 Feb 2021
Vulnerability to climate change is bad for sovereign credit ratings, says the International Monetary Fund.
Tax aviation to raise funds for poor countries
19 Feb 2021
Taxes on international transport could provide finance to help developing countries cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, a group of climate finance experts say.
Amundi to quiz companies over climate action
19 Feb 2021
Amundi, Europe's biggest asset manager, say it will seek more specifics from companies at upcoming shareholder meetings about their plans to reduce emissions.
Vote against directors failing the climate, says ISS
16 Feb 2021
Major financial investors are to be urged by the world’s largest shareholder advisory firm to vote against company board members if they fail to address global heating in their roles.
Ditch GDP and value nature, says report
3 Feb 2021
Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history, says a report calling for a new economic framework recognising the importance of ecology.
BlackRock threatens to sell shares in worst climate polluters
27 Jan 2021
BlackRock, the world’s biggest investment fund manager, has threatened to sell shares in the worst corporate polluters in a bid to support the goal of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
FTSE giants fail to disclose their carbon footprint
14 Dec 2020
BP, Glencore and Rolls-Royce are among eight FTSE 100 companies who have refused to comply with investor demands to disclose their carbon dioxide emissions, as the UK government prepares to compel firms to report their climate impact.
UN chief calls for more climate finance for poor nations as 2020 goal slips
14 Dec 2020
Rich nations are "lagging badly" on a longstanding pledge to channel $100 billion a year in funding, from 2020 onwards, to help poorer countries develop cleanly and adapt to the worsening impacts of climate change, the U.N. chief said on Saturday.
Bank links bosses' pay to sustainability performance
8 Dec 2020
Deutsche Bank says it will join a small number of financial institutions that link management pay to environmental, social and governance-related criteria.
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.
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.
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
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
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.”
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'.
