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Topics tagged with 'Litigation'

More in: Litigation
Previous 1 2 1 of 2 Next
Lawyers for Climate Action executive director Jessica Palairet

Lawyers seek answers on climate impacts of LNG import facility

Fri 13 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action has written to Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts warning that the Government's plan for an LNG import terminal could be in conflict with New Zealand’s climate obligations and emissions reduction targets.

Green Member’s Bill aims to give whales legal ‘personhood’

9 Feb 2026

The Green Party wants to give whales legal rights, including the right to sue.

Greenpeace set to take UK Government to court over deep-sea mining licences

5 Feb 2026

Environmental NGO Greenpeace has kick-started a legal challenge against the UK Government’s decision to approve the transfer of two seabed exploration licences to a newly-formed mining company with US links.

US court says Energy Dept climate group violated law

3 Feb 2026

The Trump administration violated federal law when it secretly formed a climate science advisory group to work on a contentious global warming report, a court has ruled.

Govt updates emissions plan to blow past legislated target

29 Jan 2026

By Liz Kivi | The Government has updated its emissions reduction plan, with agricultural emissions now set to blow past the legislated 2030 target.

Dutch government discriminated against Bonaire islanders over climate adaptation, court rules

29 Jan 2026

The Dutch government discriminated against people in one of its most vulnerable territories by not helping them adapt to climate change, a court has found.

Lawyers for Climate Action executive director Jessica Palairet (right) with Environmental Law Initiative director Matt Hall

Court rejects challenge to Minister and Commission over climate targets

28 Jan 2026

By Liz Kivi | The Supreme Court has rejected Lawyers for Climate Action’s bid to challenge the Climate Change Commission and former Climate Minister James Shaw over climate targets, ending a long-running case which had been working its way through the courts since 2021.

Supreme Court mandates climate consideration in petroleum permitting

26 Jan 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government must consider climate change when offering petroleum exploration permits, according to a recent ruling from the Supreme Court.

Financial sector must account for hard realities of climate change

26 Jan 2026

COMMENT: While the world’s largest asset manager ditching its $2 billion climate tech commitment to New Zealand is part of a greater walkback of climate finance, concerns about climate-related risk continue to shape present-day financial decisions, writes David Hall.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

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.

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.

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.

Shell facing first UK legal claim over climate impacts of fossil fuels

12 Dec 2025

Victims of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines have filed a legal claim against oil and gas company Shell in the UK courts, seeking compensation for what they say is the company's role in making the storm more severe.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment  Simon Upton

Is Govt rushing through changes to climate framework to avoid litigation?

11 Dec 2025

By Liz Kivi | The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says the Government’s motivation for proposed changes to the country’s climate framework law are unclear: “The only reason I can think of is one grounded in potential litigation risk.”

The International Court of Justice delivers its landmark advisory opinion on states’ legal obligations to address climate change.

NZ’s rejection of emission targets fuels risk of international law breach

8 Dec 2025

By Karen Scott, Professor in Law, University of Canterbury | The New Zealand government’s decision this week to reject all of the Climate Change Commission’s emission target recommendations was just the latest in a string of policy statements that weaken the country’s action on climate.

Amy Westervelt: It’s time we stopped treating corporations as people

4 Dec 2025

COMMENT: Treating corporations as people and granting them First Amendment rights has warped US politics and harmed the climate. We need to overturn Citizens United.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts delivering New Zealand's national statement at COP30 last week.

Minister warned over lack of rationale for climate policy

25 Nov 2025

By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ formal explanation of why the Government isn’t going to follow the independent Climate Change Commission’s advice on climate targets is still in the pipeline, the Minister has confirmed.

A landmark court ruling looms over US absence at COP30

20 Nov 2025

The historic climate change advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice suggests the United States is violating international law on climate, legal experts say.

South Korean growers sue state power utility, blaming climate change for crop damage

17 Nov 2025

Five South Korean farmers recently sued the state utility Korea Electric Power Corporation and its power-generating subsidiaries, alleging that their reliance on coal and other fossil fuels has accelerated climate change and damaged their crops.

TotalEnergies loses in Paris court, marking a turning point for fossil fuel truth-in-advertising

5 Nov 2025

TotalEnergies was found to have misled consumers about its role in the energy transition.

Z Energy settles greenwashing case over ‘quitting petrol’ claims

4 Nov 2025

By Shannon Morris-Williams | Z Energy has settled a landmark greenwashing case over claims it misled the public about moving away from petrol – a result Lawyers for Climate Action NZ says delivers long-overdue accountability.

Judge says Greenpeace must pay $345 million in pipeline lawsuit, cutting jury amount nearly in half

31 Oct 2025

A North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay damages of $345 million, reducing an earlier jury award after it found the environmental group and related entities liable for defamation and other claims in connection with protests of an oil pipeline nearly a decade ago.

Norway faces European Court climate ruling over oil licences

29 Oct 2025

The European Court of Human Rights will decide on Tuesday if Norway breached its climate obligations when it awarded Arctic oil exploration licenses in 2016.

Media round-up

24 Oct 2025

In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: The Government planned to gut New Zealand's world-leading climate disclosure law - even as it bragged about it on the world stage; a new Indigenous climate adaptation network launches; and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts admits that the new methane target might breach the global 1.5C goal.

Judge dismisses suit by young climate activists against Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies

17 Oct 2025

Plaintiffs had ‘overwhelming evidence’ of climate crisis but a court injunction would be ‘unworkable’, ruling says.

In China, climate litigation starts with the state

16 Oct 2025

With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.

Dr Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s Minister for Climate Change, speaking at the Adaptation Futures 2025 Conference in Christchurch on Monday.

‘Weird and sad’ – Tuvalu Climate Minister condemns NZ halving methane target

15 Oct 2025

By Liz Kivi | Dr Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change, and Environment, says he’s surprised at New Zealand’s decision to weaken its target for reducing methane emissions – and is planning to take up the issue with his counterpart Climate Minister Simon Watts this week.

NZ’s biggest ever climate meeting kicks off

14 Oct 2025

By Liz Kivi | The world's largest climate adaptation conference kicked off in Christchurch yesterday, with nearly 2000 attendees expected, making it potentially the biggest international climate meeting Aotearoa New Zealand will ever host.

Bonaire residents take Netherlands to court over climate

9 Oct 2025

The trial is a first for Europe and follows an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which provides a legal interpretation of international climate law.

Groups sue E.P.A. over cancelled $7 billion for solar energy

8 Oct 2025

The lawsuit accused the Environmental Protection Agency of illegally revoking the money without congressional approval.

While many other countries sent leaders and ministers to the event, Carolyn Schwalger, New Zealand's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, spoke on the Government's behalf.

NZ quiet on climate target at UN meeting

2 Oct 2025

By Liz Kivi | New Zealand didn't mention its recently minted – but widely criticised – climate target for 2035 at a major multilateral climate meeting in New York last week, at an event which was ostensibly billed as a platform for leaders to present their new targets.

Can the courtroom save the climate?

2 Oct 2025

It was in early 2017 when it seemed like nearly every person I knew from home was asking me the same question: Should they be worried about what was about to happen in Washington, D.C.?

Wildervank Station at the Groningen gas field.

Exxon and Shell sue the Netherlands in secret tribunals for closing Europe’s biggest gas field

19 Sep 2025

Following billions in profits and over a thousand gas extraction-related earthquakes, the oil and gas giants filed claims against the Dutch state in four separate investor-state disputes concerning compensation for home damages and the permanent closure of the Groningen gas field.

Young activists won a landmark state climate trial. Now they’re challenging Trump’s orders

18 Sep 2025

Young climate activists and their attorneys who won a landmark global warming trial against the state of Montana are trying to convince a federal judge to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders promoting fossil fuels.

Apple Watch not a 'CO2-neutral product,' German court finds

28 Aug 2025

Apple can no longer advertise its Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany, following a court ruling on Tuesday that upheld a complaint from environmentalists, finding that the U.S. tech company had misled consumers.

Forestry sector could take legal action over ETS changes

14 Aug 2025

By Liz Kivi | The forestry sector is threatening legal action against the Government over changes to legislation intended to limit whole farm-to-forest conversions in the Emissions Trading Scheme.

First-of-a-kind US class-action lawsuit would force EPA to reinstate $3bn climate program

7 Aug 2025

Coalition of non-profits, tribes and local governments sued EPA chief for halting climate justice grants.

Oil well pumper, Texas

BlackRock, other fund managers lose bid to dismiss Texas climate collusion lawsuit

5 Aug 2025

A U.S. judge on Friday largely rejected a request by top asset managers including BlackRock, to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Texas and 12 other Republican-led states that said the companies violated antitrust law through climate activism that reduced coal production and boosted energy prices.

Multi-day protest continues at coal mine

30 Jul 2025

Bathurst Resources has been forced to truck coal from its Stockton mine as climate activists occupy coal buckets at the mine for a third day.

Newcastle is one of the largest coal export ports in Australis

The ICJ’s ruling means Australia and other major polluters face a new era of climate reparations

25 Jul 2025

By Harj Narulla | OPINION: Australia has found itself on the wrong side of history.

The landmark advisory, which significantly transforms the obligation of states regarding climate change, being delivered at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

NZ govt’s fossil fuel plans could break international law

24 Jul 2025

By Liz Kivi | The government could be breaching international law with its plans to subsidise and expand fossil fuel extraction, following a ruling overnight from the world’s highest court.

Torres Strait leaders lost their landmark case. How can governments be held to account on climate?

21 Jul 2025

Experts and advocates say it’s time for the law to change after judge says matters based on climate policy cannot be decided by courts.

Local government and climate minister Simon Watts (left) and transport minister Chris Bishop at the Local Government NZ conference this week

Local govt bill 'completely misses the point,' passes first reading

18 Jul 2025

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government’s bill making changes to the Local Government Act to "refocus" councils on their core functions passed its first reading in Parliament last night, with critics saying it will set back climate resilience.

Activists sue US development bank over $4.6bn loan to massive Mozambique gas project

18 Jul 2025

Environmental groups claim loan is ‘unlawful’ in legal filing.

Paul Kabai and Pabai Pabai on the boardwalk in Boigu.

Does Aussie court ruling hold lessons for NZ?

17 Jul 2025

By Liz Kivi | A recent Australian court ruling should serve as a warning to New Zealand's decision-makers on how important it is to align climate targets and climate policies with the best available science, according to a climate litigation expert.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon greets schoolchildren

‘Ideological sludge’: How NZ is quiet quitting climate action

17 Jul 2025

New Zealand once stood out as a world leader on climate change. In June it became the first country in the world to abandon a commitment to phase out oil, gas and coal.

Indigenous elders lose landmark climate battle against Australian government

16 Jul 2025

The Australian government has won a landmark climate case against residents of islands under siege from the impacts of climate change.

New Zealand First MP Andy Foster

Debanking bill 'financially dangerous'

15 Jul 2025

By Shannon Morris-Williams | A private member’s bill aiming to stop financial institutions from considering ESG factors has been slammed by leading investment groups, legal experts, and climate finance advocates as misguided, financially dangerous, and legislative overreach.

In Latin America, the energy transition stirs a rise in human rights lawsuits

8 Jul 2025

A new report shows that more than half of the 95 energy transition-related lawsuits recorded globally since 2009 took place in Latin America and the Caribbean.

High Court agrees with Environmental Defence Society - law must be followed as it stands now

7 Jul 2025

Media release – Environmental Defence Society | The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) welcomes the High Court’s finding in Box Property Investments Ltd v The Expert Consenting Panel that decisions must be made based on the law as it currently stands, not on potential future legislative changes.

Adaptation
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Flooding in Motueka, July 2021

New research on climate adaptation as severe weather hits

Mon 16 Feb 2026

As extreme weather batters the country yet again, researchers have published the first ever empirical study of climate adaptation justice in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Agriculture
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Outdated land-use system unfit for modern environmental regulation, commissioner warns

Mon 16 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s long-standing Land Use Capability (LUC) system is no longer fit for regulatory decision-making, according to a new review from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Airlines
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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.

Aviation
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Why Trump might be onboard with a UN carbon-offset programme for airlines

Thu 12 Feb 2026

The president’s team has backed the rollout of an initiative that calls for the use of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon credits, even as Trump has pulled back from other international emissions-reduction efforts.

Biodiversity
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World fight against invasive species comes to Auckland

10 Feb 2026

Media release: University of Auckland | From countering invasive pink salmon in Norway to controlling feral cats in the Cayman Islands, knowledge on eradicating invasive species will be shared by international experts in New Zealand.

Biofuels
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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.

Carbon Credits
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Carbon market rallies but auction floor still out of reach

Fri 13 Feb 2026

By Liz Kivi | The carbon market has rallied, with secondary market prices up more than 25% in the past two weeks, although current prices in the mid-$40s are still far below this year’s $71 auction floor, with the first auction of 2026 less than three weeks away.

Carbon News world
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US pressures Vanuatu at UN over ICJ’s landmark climate change ruling

Mon 16 Feb 2026

The United States is urging governments to pressure Vanuatu to withdraw a United Nations draft resolution supporting a landmark International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that countries have a legal obligation to act on climate change.

Carbon prices
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Climate Change Commission chair Dame Patsy Reddy with Climate Change Minister Simon Watts

Minister’s letters: Mildly positive or just virtue signalling?

5 Feb 2026

By Liz Kivi | The carbon market was buoyed slightly yesterday, after letters between the Government and the Climate Change Commission were proactively released.

Coal
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Flawed decision-making around taxing electricity to fund LNG import terminal

Mon 16 Feb 2026

By Simon Orme | COMMENT: The Government's decision to back an LNG import terminal exemplifies an egregious failure in public policy and energy sector governance.

Comment
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LNG: a rational choice compared to unpalatable alternatives

10 Feb 2026

By Pattrick Smellie | COMMENT: By deciding to underwrite the private construction of a liquefied natural gas import facility in Taranaki, the Government has made a rational choice in favour of energy security and affordability.

Construction
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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.

COP
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Resources Minister Shane Jones and New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones

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.

Emissions trading
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EU weighing options to support industry in carbon market overhaul

9 Feb 2026

The European Commission is looking at various ways to support industries in an upcoming overhaul of the EU carbon market to prevent them moving to areas with lower pollution standards, the head of the Commission’s climate department said late on Wednesday.

Energy
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France bets on nuclear in new plan to cut fossil fuel imports

Mon 16 Feb 2026

The French government unveiled a 10-year energy strategy that leans heavily on nuclear power and offshore wind farms to curb fossil fuel dependence. Environmental groups criticised a 'stubborn insistence on believing in the nuclear myth'.

Extinction
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Conservation Minister Tama Potaka

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.

Extreme weather
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Media round-up

Fri 13 Feb 2026

In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Senior UK ministers have asked their New Zealand counterparts to explain new climate policies, National’s LNG blunders are a warning ahead of election campaign, and what are the lessons New Zealand should take from another summer of weather disasters?

Fishing
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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.

Forestry
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'Damning' report challenges forestry’s role in Tairāwhiti as sector rejects conclusions

4 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | New independent analysis commissioned by Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti challenges long-standing claims that industrial forestry underpins the Tairāwhiti economy.

Gas
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The port's industrial area has long focused on petrochemicals, with the tank farm and the former Dow agrichemical plant features of the neighbourhood.

Explosive risk brings caution call on LNG

Mon 16 Feb 2026

By Craig Ashworth, Local Democracy Reporter | Community energy lobbyists say a Liquified Natural Gas terminal in Taranaki must be built far from homes to protect locals from the risk of catastrophic explosions.

Geothermal
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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.”

Green finance
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European Central Bank's green supervision grows teeth, but will banks avoid being bitten?

Fri 13 Feb 2026

After several years of issuing guidance and repeatedly calling on banks to take climate and environmental risk management seriously, the European Central Bank is moving from guidance and expectations to enforcement.

Greenhouse Effect
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Green Member’s Bill aims to give whales legal ‘personhood’

9 Feb 2026

The Green Party wants to give whales legal rights, including the right to sue.

Greenwashing
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No such thing as 'clean gas': if advertisers can act, why can’t politicians?

Mon 16 Feb 2026

COMMENT: In the rankings of least trusted professionals, advertising executives usually sit at the bottom along with politicians and real estate agents. But there’s one area where the advertising industry can now justifiably hold itself above politicians – stopping greenwashing by the gas industry.

Hydro power
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Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts

Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert

Wed 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.

Hydrogen
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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”.

Insurance
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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.

Kyoto
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Waitangi Treaty Grounds

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.

Low carbon
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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.

Mining
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Ministers celebrate fast-track milestone amid criticism

10 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government is marking the first anniversary of its fast-track approvals regime, saying it is helping “build New Zealand’s future”, despite continued criticism from environmental groups, opposition parties, and industry voices following several controversial project decisions.

NZ ETS
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Climate Change Minister Simon Watts

Govt looks to Commission for ways to shore up carbon price

4 Feb 2026

By Liz Kivi | The Government has asked the Climate Change Commission to look at lower auction volumes and an increase in the auction floor price as options to revive the Emissions Trading Scheme, as carbon prices remain weak.

NZ Market Report
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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.

Oceans
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Climate change linked to decline in southern right whale

Thu 12 Feb 2026

Scientists in Australia are warning southern right whales are showing signs of climate-related stress, just days after a Green Party Member’s Bill was introduced in New Zealand proposing legal personhood for whales.

Paris Agreement
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Lawyers for Climate Action executive director Jessica Palairet

Lawyers seek answers on climate impacts of LNG import facility

Fri 13 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action has written to Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts warning that the Government's plan for an LNG import terminal could be in conflict with New Zealand’s climate obligations and emissions reduction targets.

Planetary boundaries
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Commentators slam Govt inaction in aftermath of climate change-fuelled storms

30 Jan 2026

By Liz Kivi | Climate action - or inaction - is shaping up to be an election issue, with multiple commentators drawing a line between the Coalition Government’s backsliding on climate targets and the deadly extreme weather events of the past week.

Plastics
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Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution

Thu 12 Feb 2026

A New Zealand startup is launching what it says is the world’s first plastic-free effervescent drink tablet, with the ambitious aim of eliminating bottled beverages to reduce global plastic pollution.

Policy development
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Space growth plan sparks climate and ozone warnings

Mon 16 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s decision to increase the number of New Zealand's permitted space launches tenfold – from 100 to 1000 – has prompted warnings from scientists about potential impacts on the ozone layer and Southern Hemisphere climate systems.

Politics
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Australia's Liberals elect net zero opponent as new leader

Mon 16 Feb 2026

Australia's opposition Liberal Party elected as leader on Friday a conservative who lobbied to drop its commitment to net zero emissions, as it seeks to counter an insurgent populist right and rebuild support after a disastrous election loss last year.

Protest
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Greenpeace set to take UK Government to court over deep-sea mining licences

5 Feb 2026

Environmental NGO Greenpeace has kick-started a legal challenge against the UK Government’s decision to approve the transfer of two seabed exploration licences to a newly-formed mining company with US links.

Rare earth minerals
More >

Critical minerals talks with US questioned in Waitangi Tribunal climate inquiry

9 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand and the United States' negotiations over critical minerals have raised questions for the Waitangi Tribunal’s long-running inquiry into climate change.

Renewable energy
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Africa leads growth in solar energy as demand spreads beyond traditional markets, report says

Mon 16 Feb 2026

A report shows that Africa has emerged as the world's fastest-growing solar market even as global growth slowed last year, driven by a 60% surge in imports of solar panels from China.

Tax
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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.

Technology
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Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti (centre)

NZ-UAE partnership boosts advanced tech

9 Feb 2026

Media release | A new Antarctic science partnership with a leading UAE university will grow New Zealand’s advanced engineering and modelling capability, supporting high-value jobs, encouraging economic growth, and enabling smarter climate risk management, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti says.

The House
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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
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China maximises battery recycling to shore up critical mineral supplies

Wed 11 Feb 2026

Beijing is bracing for a tsunami of spent EV batteries by taking steps to boost recycling – a strategy that could also cut its reliance on imports of clean energy minerals.

United Nations
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Waikiki beach, Honolulu

Climate ambassador moves on

Fri 13 Feb 2026

By Liz Kivi | The Government is on the hunt for a new top climate diplomat, with previous climate ambassador Stu Horne moving on to a posting in Honolulu as New Zealand’s Consul General to Hawai’i.

Waste
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EU to ban destruction of unsold clothes and shoes

Thu 12 Feb 2026

The European Commission has adopted new measures that will require medium and large companies to stop discarding unsold clothing and footwear, in the bloc’s latest move to target textile waste.

Water
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January floods driven by tropical systems and La Niña conditions

Thu 12 Feb 2026

Record-breaking rainfall across parts of Aotearoa in January was fuelled by tropical moisture and persistent low-pressure systems, with some regions recording more than five times their normal monthly rainfall, Earth Sciences New Zealand says.

Wildfires
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Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity

4 Feb 2026

The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.

Wind energy
More >
Kapuni Project wind turbines in South Taranaki (visual simulation)

Hydrogen plant to start construction

10 Feb 2026

Construction is set to start this month on Hiringa Energy’s long delayed green hydrogen project in South Taranaki, after years of consenting fights that culminated in the Court of Appeal rejecting Greenpeace’s challenge in late 2023.

More in: Litigation
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