Topics tagged with 'NZ ETS'
Media round-up
28 Nov 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: How the oil and gas industry helped rewrite New Zealand’s drilling rules, confusion reigns as the climate minister appears unaware of his own announcement, and the fierce battle over mining on Denniston Plateau.
Marex invests in methane-busting biotech, hopes to kickstart NZ methane credits
27 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | NASDAQ-listed financial services group Marex has taken a minority stake in Ruminant Biotech, an Auckland-based agritech startup, with a view to kick-starting Marex’s methane-based carbon credits trading business in New Zealand.
Govt must do the work to close gap to NZ’s Paris Agreement goal
27 Nov 2025
OPINION: New Zealand needs to wake up to the fact that under current policies we are not going to meet our international climate target and this comes with commercial and diplomatic consequences: risking our European and UK free trade agreements; risking carbon border charges; and threatening the reputation of our ‘clean and green’ export brand, writes Nigel Brunel.
Elevated volatility continues for carbon market despite govt reassurances
26 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | While carbon prices have recovered somewhat from recent lows, the market is still plagued by low prices and volatility, despite soothing words from the government intended to calm rattled participants.
Cheaper power and lower emissions for Chatham Islands funded by ETS revenue
26 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has hailed the success of a wind turbine project for the Chatham Islands paid for by Emissions Trading Scheme revenue from a fund the Coalition Government has since canned.
Mounting emissions due to Government decisions
20 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Coalition Government’s climate policies have added a whopping 26 million tonnes of emissions out to 2030, according to new analysis of Government projections.
NZ drops in global climate rankings as govt 'propels country backwards'
19 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand has fallen to 44th place in global climate rankings, with the country’s climate policy rated “very low” amid widespread rollbacks of environmental protections.
‘We must keep 1.5 alive’ – Minister’s statement to climate summit
19 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has delivered New Zealand’s National Statement to this year’s United Nations climate summit, affirming the country’s commitment to international climate targets and saying “we must keep 1.5 alive.”
Words fail to calm carbon price jitters
18 Nov 2025
While the Climate Change Minister and the Ministry for the Environment have both tried to quell carbon market volatility with soothing words, participants are viewing government actions as speaking louder, and the market remains volatile.
Ministry won’t investigate pre-announcement price drop
17 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Ministry for the Environment won’t be investigating a drop in the price of NZUs on the secondary market just days before the government announced a policy change causing carbon prices to plummet.
Media round-up
14 Nov 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Simon Watts acknowledges he may face ‘challenging’ conversations with Pacific nations at COP30, New Zealand's climbdown on its methane emissions target is "embarrassing", and corporates are the real winners of the gutting of the Zero Carbon Act this week.
ETS price spike fears drove NDC decoupling
13 Nov 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Fears about the economic and fiscal costs of failure to buy enough offshore carbon credits to meet New Zealand’s Nationally Determined Contribution drove last week’s key climate change policy decision.
NZ’s shameful new role as ‘international climate pariah’
13 Nov 2025
OPINION: New Zealand has ratcheted up its climate backsliding in the past month – losing any shred of climate credibility we once had and showing the world we’re giving up on a net zero future, writes Kayla Kingdon-Bebb.
Carbon price’s dead cat bounce
12 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The carbon price rebounded briefly in what looked like a ‘dead cat bounce’ last week, following the Government’s announcement it was unlinking the Emissions Trading Scheme from international climate targets.
Does NZ's 2035 NDC meet Paris Agreement obligations?
7 Nov 2025
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: New Zealand’s 2035 Paris Agreement Target needs strengthening, with multiple reasons the 51 to 55% emissions reduction target does not meet our obligations under the accord.
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.
Undermining the ETS is poor policy – Mindful Money
7 Nov 2025
Politicising settings for the Emissions Trading Scheme creates uncertainty for investors at a time when we need clear and stable policy, says Mindful Money's Barry Coates.
Carbon market tanks off the back of Govt’s proposed climate law changes
6 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Secondary market prices dropped 20% in early morning compliance carbon trading yesterday, as the market woke up to Tuesday’s late-breaking government announcement of proposed law changes to climate policy.
Is climate law change a first nail in the coffin for Climate Commission?
6 Nov 2025
The Government’s sweeping overhaul of New Zealand’s climate laws has drawn sharp condemnation, with one expert predicting it's another step towards 'the beginning of the end' for the Climate Change Commission.
Govt climate policy set by vested interests to delay emissions cuts - Carr
6 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Rod Carr, former Climate Change Commission chair, says the Government’s move to unlink the Emissions Trading Scheme from our international climate target to 2030 undermines the credibility of emissions pricing as a tool for climate action – and is yet another Coalition Government policy designed to benefit vested interests rather than ordinary New Zealanders.
Govt weakens climate legislation, strips CCC’s powers
5 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has announced sweeping changes to key climate legislation, including stripping the independent Climate Change Commission of one of its core roles, and removing the requirement that Emissions Trading Scheme settings align with international climate targets.
Another hit to market as Govt uncouples ETS from international climate target
5 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s surprise move to break the connection between the Emissions Trading Scheme and New Zealand’s Paris Agreement climate target is a brutal hit to confidence in an already moribund market.
Boost for voluntary carbon markets in Watts’ surprise package
5 Nov 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Voluntary carbon market development gets a solid push in the package of climate change legislative reforms dropped by Climate Change Minister Simon Watts early last evening.
Govt delays will damage carbon market confidence, experts warn
4 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Emissions Trading Scheme experts have warned the Government that its move to delay decisions on the country’s emissions budgets will further undermine confidence in an already weak carbon market.
Carbon price drops, now trading 30% below auction floor
3 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Secondary carbon market prices took a sharp downward turn last week, with traders blaming a continued lack of interest from buyers.
‘Plain old dull’: NZU market continues to limp sideways
24 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | The NZU market has been “plain old dull” in recent months, with activity driven mainly by credit opportunities or a specific need to raise cash, according to Lizzie Chambers of trading platform Carbon Match.
Govt ‘captured by industry’ on methane – Carr
21 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Former Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr says that recent moves to weaken methane targets and halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing show the Government has been captured by industry.
Methane pledge in question following NZ weakening targets
20 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi New Zealand’s new methane target puts the Global Methane Pledge – and ultimately climate targets – at risk, according to an international expert.
Govt promises ‘earlier action’ in response to Commission’s warning climate targets at risk
17 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government says it will “explore opportunities for earlier action” ahead of the third Emissions Reduction Plan, and has committed to looking at ways to stop the system of free carbon credits for industrial polluters from disincentivising industrial decarbonisation.
Broker predicts all this year’s carbon auctions will fail
10 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Marex New Zealand is forecasting that the government will sell no ‘pollution permits’ at the NZU auctions this year, with a significant gap continuing between secondary market prices and this year’s $68 auction floor price.
New decision-making process for erosion-prone Tairāwhiti
8 Oct 2025
‘Deliberative democracy’ and collaborative decision-making are behind big changes that Gisborne District Council has endorsed to transform Tairāwhiti/Gisborne’s erosion-prone land in the face of worsening climate change.
Emerging biodiversity and carbon markets part of Gisborne plan for land-use change
6 Oct 2025
Gisborne District Council has endorsed a plan to shift up to 100,000 hectares of the region’s most erosion-prone land into permanent vegetation cover and is calling on the Government to make urgent changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme to aid the transition.
Will govt’s light touch approach lead to higher carbon prices?
3 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Carbon market watchers are hoping the government’s plan for the electricity sector will eventually lead to higher carbon prices, with the secondary market still trading sideways for the longest time in its history.
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.
Electricity to remain in ETS
1 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The Government has rejected Frontier Economics' recommendation that electricity should be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme.
AgriZeroNZ puts another $6m towards ‘holy grail’ methane vaccine
29 Sep 2025
By Liz Kivi | AgriZeroNZ is investing a further USD $3.5 million (about NZ$5.9 million) in ArkeaBio to develop a methane vaccine for livestock.
Govt considers cutting Climate Commission’s role
22 Sep 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government is weighing up cutting the Climate Change Commission’s role of advising on emissions reduction plans, a move that legal experts say could increase the risk of litigation.
Govt passes law to limit farm-to-forest conversions
19 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government has passed legislation intended to limit farm-to-forest conversions in the Emissions Trading Scheme, with ministers saying the changes “restore balance,” while opponents call it a band-aid that risks climate targets.
Watts not considering removing electricity from ETS
16 Sep 2025
Energy and Climate Change Minister, Simon Watts, says he is “not currently considering” removing electricity generation from the Emissions Trading Scheme, as proposed by NZ First Minister Shane Jones.
Carbon price steady after failed quarterly auction
16 Sep 2025
By Liz Kivi | The carbon price has continued to trade in its familiar moribund range in the high $50s following last week’s failed quarterly auction, with ample supply still trading on the secondary market at about $10 below this year’s $68 auction floor.
No bidders front to carbon auction - again
10 Sep 2025
By Liz Kivi | Today’s quarterly carbon auction was a non-event yet again, making it the third consecutive auction this year with no bidders, with the secondary market price still limping along at nearly 20% below the auction floor.
‘Pick up the phone’ on climate change action, Hipkins urges Luxon
9 Sep 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should reach out to the Labour Party if he wants get a political deal on methane reductions and the Paris agreement rather than his two coalition partners, Labour leader Chris Hipkins says.
'Atrocious' and 'bizarre': experts slam Act Party's climate policy
3 Sep 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Act Party is promising to challenge New Zealand’s Paris Agreement climate target, while the coalition Government’s other minor partner, NZ First, also says it wants to reevaluate the country’s commitment to the international treaty.
Carbon market still weak despite govt confirming tighter auction supply
28 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government’s commitment to keeping Emissions Trading Scheme auction volumes tight to 2030 has done little to buoy carbon prices, with an underwhelming response from the market following last week’s announcement.
Toitū extending use of ETS forest carbon credits
25 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | Carbon certifier Toitū Envirocare has walked back plans to stop accepting Emissions Trading Scheme credits for offsetting, because there is still a shortage of local carbon credits meeting international standards.
ETS a ‘broken paradigm’ undercutting biodiversity efforts
25 Aug 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Pure Advantage is calling on the government to reform the Emissions Trading Scheme, with a new policy briefing saying that New Zealand’s offset-heavy approach is a “broken paradigm” undermining biodiversity and shifting risk to communities.
‘Problems looming’ for Govt's key climate tool
22 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | There are serious unresolved issues for the Emissions Trading Scheme which mean it could become unstable and ineffective at driving emissions reductions, according to the Climate Change Commission.
Certainty crucial to emissions cuts – Watts
20 Aug 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says that policy certainty is the Government’s primary lever for unlocking private capital and meeting climate targets, telling a carbon forestry conference that ETS settings are 'locked' through 2030.
Govt opts for status quo for ETS auctions
19 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has chosen not to increase auction volumes in the Emissions Trading Scheme, a decision applauded by carbon market insiders and climate campaigners alike, despite it contradicting the Climate Change Commission’s advice.
Forestry the source of all ETS risk, says top economist
15 Aug 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Forestry is the source of all of the risk in New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme and it's inevitable that the scheme has to be reformed, according to Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment chief economist Geoff Simmons.
New Zealanders losing ambition on climate change: Ipsos
Wed 20 May 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealanders’ belief that their government has a plan to combat climate change has taken another serious hit in the latest poll of 31 countries by global research firm Ipsos.
Six NZ climate solutions up for 2026 Earthshot prize
Today 11:30am
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Six New Zealand climate and sustainability initiatives have been nominated for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, with the shortlist showcasing Kiwi-led solutions tackling emissions, plastic waste and ocean restoration.
$30m airline fund risks ‘burning public money’ without lasting benefit – expert
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | A $30 million government package to support regional air routes risks delivering poor value for money while increasing emissions, according to transport strategist Tim Adriaansen.
Europe has 'maybe six weeks of jet fuel left', energy boss warns
20 Apr 2026
Stocks would reach a tipping point in June if Europe was unable to replace at least half of its imports from the Middle East, the organisation said in a report this week.
Govt unveils long-awaited voluntary carbon market guidance
Fri 15 May 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government has released long-awaited guidance for New Zealand’s voluntary carbon and nature markets, as questions continue for the sector despite ministers signalling support for its growth.
Biomass sector asks: where did the love go?
Mon 18 May 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand has sufficient biomass in its plantation forests to replace natural gas for industrial process heat at lower costs than electrification, but is failing to get the attention it deserves, sector leaders say.
Carbon News updates forward curve
13 May 2026
Carbon News has updated its ten-year NZU forward curve, following a recent rise in spot market prices, with NZUs rallying from about $34 in January to nearly $54 in early May.
UN members reinforce nations' climate change obligations
Today 11:30am
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution reinforcing states' obligations to combat climate change, a long-awaited move toned down under pressure from major greenhouse gas emitters.
Drop in ETS forestry registrations
5 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | ETS forestry registrations have dropped off this year, with the new mandatory emissions return period, new land-use rules, and carbon price volatility all meaning participants aren’t rushing to register forestry in the emissions trading scheme.
Hipkins pans LNG plan as ‘massive step backwards’
Tue 19 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | Labour leader Chris Hipkins has told a Queenstown audience that a Government he leads would not proceed with a planned LNG import terminal, if elected at November’s election.
Tairāwhiti deserves better than weakened forestry rules
5 May 2026
OPINION: The government's proposed amendments to forestry standards, released yesterday, ignore the hard lessons learned in our region and ignore the voices that have fought hardest to protect it, writes Manu Caddie.
Green building council calls for clean energy policies
Mon 18 May 2026
The New Zealand Green Building Council has released its 2026 election manifesto calling for policies to reduce energy waste in buildings, lower household and business energy costs, and improve New Zealand’s energy security.
What Magyar’s defeat of Orbán in Hungary means for climate and energy
21 Apr 2026
Hungary has played a disproportionate role in EU climate and energy policy in recent years, by repeatedly vetoing climate action and by delaying the phaseout of Russian fossil-fuel imports.
Conservation land open for voluntary carbon market schemes
12 May 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The government is to open up the Crown-owned conservation estate to private investment in voluntary carbon market projects.
New solar farm to boost West Coast energy security
Today 11:30am
Construction has begun on a new 13.5MW solar farm in Reefton, with developer Lightyears saying the project will help strengthen electricity security on the West Coast and support future regional growth.
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.
Are hailstones getting bigger due to climate change?
Today 11:30am
Scientific studies suggest that a warmer climate does not necessarily lead to more frequent hail, but rather to more severe hailstorms with larger hailstones.
EDS urges MPs to scrap the Fisheries Amendment Bill
5 May 2026
Media release | The Environmental Defence Society today lodged a substantive submission on the Fisheries Amendment Bill.
Govt presses ahead with forestry rule changes despite opposition
14 May 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government is pushing ahead with changes to commercial forestry rules despite most submitters opposing the proposals, with critics warning the reforms will weaken councils’ ability to manage erosion and forestry slash risks in vulnerable regions such as Tairāwhiti.
Iran war pushes Portugal to halve fossil fuel use over next 10 years
Wed 20 May 2026
Lisbon fast-tracks plans after the Iran war caused oil and gas costs to soar, Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho tells POLITICO.
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.”
New funding for low methane farming uptake
29 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The government will co-fund projects under an Early Adoption Accelerator scheme announced today to accelerate the uptake of low emissions farming technologies emerging from the AgriZero public-private partnership.
NZ Govt’s move to halt climate litigation under international scrutiny
Tue 19 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | Local and international NGOs have signed an open letter calling on the Government to reconsider its decision to shield major emitters from legal liability for climate-related harm.
Why ‘greenhushing’ signals deeper issues with NZ’s climate risk reporting regime
Fri 15 May 2026
By Hang Pham, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington | Most of us are familiar with the concept of greenwashing: organisations exaggerating or overstating their environmental credentials. But in New Zealand, there are signs the country’s climate disclosure regime may inadvertently be driving a very different trend: not saying much at all.
‘Formidable’ El Niño expected this winter
29 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Meteorologists are anticipating a significant El Niño influence on weather patterns across the country from winter onwards, with predicted lower rainfall for some areas and heavier rain for others likely to impact multiple sectors of the economy as well as the carbon market.
Victorian Hydrogen announces Southland urea fertiliser project using coal
22 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Australian-based Victorian Hydrogen has announced it is developing a new 1.5 million-tonne-a-year urea fertiliser operation in Southland, which it will apply for under fast-track legislation.
Media round-up
24 Apr 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: What is the real cost of storm-hit infrastructure? Urgency is needed over climate adaptation funding; and a community conservation group has won a legal victory against multinational mining company OceanaGold.
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.
Labour condemns Govt plan to stop climate litigation
Fri 15 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Labour Party has slammed the Government’s move to block climate lawsuits against big emitters but won’t say if they would repeal the legislation if elected in November.
GIDI-style help cheaper than LNG: MBIE
11 May 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Officials advised ministers last July that the lowest-cost way to free up gas for use during dry winters was to assist industrial gas users to switch to electricity.
Govt missing tricks to save fuel in crisis
30 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government is being urged to shift its response to the fuel crisis away from short-term relief and towards measures that reduce demand, with public health experts warning it is missing an opportunity to boost energy security and lower household costs.
Climate risks could reshape business finances, new guidance warns
15 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New guidance warns climate change is set to fundamentally reshape financial outcomes for businesses, including difficult-to-model climate “tipping points” – irreversible changes such as ice sheet collapse or ocean circulation shifts – which threaten severe and sudden financial impacts.
Move to block lawsuits could strengthen climate case against Govt
14 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s plan to block climate lawsuits – while potentially fatal for one groundbreaking climate case – could actually bolster claims in another live climate case underway against the Government.
‘Utterly elated’ – controversial Sams Creek gold mine application declined
Today 11:30am
By Max Frethey, Local Democracy Reporter | Campaigners are elated after the controversial gold mining application for Sams Creek in Golden Bay was declined.
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.
Pacific voice on climate at the UN
Wed 20 May 2026
A New Zealand-based researcher has told a United Nations forum that rising sea levels are already reshaping life across the Pacific and climate change is causing irreversible impacts on water supplies, food security and cultural identity.
Environmental groups sue Trump administration over approval of new ultra deep-water drilling project
23 Apr 2026
Environmental groups sued the Trump administration on Monday over its approval last month of oil company BP’s ultra deep-water drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.
Opposition slams environment ministry merger
13 May 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Opposition MPs accused the Government of downgrading climate and environmental protections as legislation to abolish the Ministry for the Environment and merge it into a new mega-ministry passed its second reading in Parliament.
A real ‘intergenerational equity’ budget would address Australia’s unceasing environmental decline
Fri 15 May 2026
Labor has unveiled a budget designed to tackle intergenerational equity in Australia through bold tax reform.
ESG funds include petrochemical companies, report finds
5 May 2026
Global banks have invested US$133bn into US petrochemical expansion, even as the industry is linked to climate change.
NZTA rejects covering $145m of Wellington public transport projects
Wed 20 May 2026
By Justin Wong, Local Democracy Reporter | More than $145 million of Wellington public transport projects - including new bus spines along the harbour quays and the redevelopment of ageing Waterloo station - never made it into the Government’s $32.9 billion national land transport plan.
Thousands protest in Germany urging faster shift to renewable energy, amid Iran war
20 Apr 2026
Thousands of people demonstrated across Germany on April 18, urging a faster shift to renewable energy and accusing conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition of putting the brakes on the transition.
Green Party calls for national electrification plan
20 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Green Party is calling for a national plan to electrify homes, transport and industry using renewable energy, to reduce fossil fuel dependence in response to the Middle East crisis.
China widens its clean energy lead
Mon 18 May 2026
Chinese companies account for more than half of global investments in clean energy manufacturing since 2019, while new U.S. investments declined last year.
‘Landmark’ conservation reform bill – boost or bust for nature?
8 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government has announced an overhaul of the country’s conservation system, which environmental organisation Forest & Bird says will undo the work of many generations of Kiwis to protect public conservation land.
Combined climate extremes may prompt carbon budget rethink
14 May 2026
Media release: Springer Nature | Combined extreme climate events are likely to become more common in the future if carbon emissions continue to rise, a paper in Nature suggests.
Media round-up
Fri 15 May 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: The government's move to change climate law removes a key protection for NZ citizens, farmers should be paid to use methane-busting tools, and it's one step forward, three steps back on environment policy.
Carbon trading schemes cut more emissions than carbon taxes, according to global study
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Carbon trading schemes are more effective than carbon taxes at reducing emissions, cutting fossil fuel use, and accelerating the shift to renewable energy, a global study has found.
Why both trees and technology are important in the race to mitigate carbon emissions
4 May 2026
Different carbon‑removal approaches solve different problems, and pitting these technologies against each other could slow progress.
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.
UN members prepare for pivotal vote on landmark ICJ climate justice ruling
Fri 15 May 2026
If the resolution is passed, governments will recognise their legal responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
NZ First moves to revive container return scheme
4 May 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | NZ First is aiming to launch a national container return scheme, which could recycle over a billion wasted containers each year, reviving a policy shelved by the previous Labour-led Government in 2023.
Commission urges Govt action on climate risks
7 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | Climate change currently poses major risks to our water infrastructure with “significant gaps” in readiness to manage risks and increasing hazards, according to the Climate Change Commission.
Why is Northern Ireland facing a growing threat from wildfires?
7 May 2026
Figures show that spring drought events are happening more often while there has been a sharp rise in "fire weather" - a mix of warmth, dryness, and wind that allows fires to ignite and spread rapidly. Experts warn this combination, along with climate change, is creating a longer and more volatile wildfire season.
Human health appears unaffected by living near wind turbines
Today 11:30am
Media release: PNAS | High-resolution data collected across the United States show negligible evidence of adverse health outcomes tied to wind turbine exposure, a study finds.
