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Topics tagged with 'Policy development'

More in: Policy development
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Former Climate Change Commission Chair Dr Rod Carr

NZ still lacking coherent energy strategy

Fri 13 Feb 2026

By Rod Carr | COMMENT: The government’s levy-funded foreign gas proposal for an LNG terminal shows New Zealand’s politicians being outmanoeuvred yet again by the multi-trillion dollar energy industry.

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.

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?

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.

Greg Severinsen

Rushed resource management reform bills unworkable: Environmental Defence Society

Wed 11 Feb 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Environmental Defence Society says significant amendments are needed to the government’s Natural Environment and Planning Bills, warning the proposed reforms risk weakening environmental limits, public participation, and regulatory certainty.

Trump set to gut US climate change policy and environmental regulations, White House official says

Wed 11 Feb 2026

The Trump administration is expected this week to revoke a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, according to a White House official.

Ministers celebrate fast-track milestone amid criticism

Tue 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.

Critical minerals talks with US questioned in Waitangi Tribunal climate inquiry

Mon 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.

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

Mon 9 Feb 2026

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

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.

Auckland Council raises flood mitigation limit to avoid costly buyouts

5 Feb 2026

By Taelegalolo'u Mary Afemata, Local Democracy Reporter | As Auckland Council’s storm recovery programme moves into its final phase, councillors have agreed to lift the cap on flood mitigation spending per household in a bid to avoid more expensive property buyouts.

'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.

The politics of risk in 2026

3 Feb 2026

The opening speeches of Parliament’s first sitting days offered little new policy detail, but they repeated the themes likely to define energy and environment politics in 2026 - and the framing each party wants to carry into an election year.

Govt cuts biosecurity levy for international travellers

2 Feb 2026

Media release: New Zealand Government | From today, the biosecurity part of the Border Processing Levy will drop by 30 percent for most arriving travellers, Minister for Biosecurity Andrew Hoggard says.

Ōtara homeowner lays bare cost of flood-proofing as council confirms no private funding

30 Jan 2026

Taelegalolo'u Mary Afemata | A lifelong Ōtara resident is using her family home as a real-world example of what flood resilience looks like in practice.

Media round-up

30 Jan 2026

In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: A climate scientist says it's not too late for people to reduce emissions and slow the effects of climate change, forestry urges Government to remove legal accountability for slash, and which regions lead NZ in rooftop solar – and which ones lag behind?

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.

Kawau Island

New Auckland alliance to accelerate nature regeneration

29 Jan 2026

Auckland Council alongside the Sustainable Business Network have launched the Tāmaki Taiao Alliance, a new collaboration designed to accelerate nature regeneration at scale across Tāmaki Makaurau.

Govt weighs LNG backstop as gas decline accelerates

28 Jan 2026

Liquefied natural gas imports are moving from a back-pocket idea to an active procurement process, with ministers expected to make decisions soon on whether – and how – to add LNG as an emergency backstop for New Zealand’s tightening gas and electricity system.

Govt consulting on further ETS fee cuts for foresters

27 Jan 2026

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government has moved to reduce compliance costs for forest owners, announcing a further cut to ETS registry charges and a new consultation on service fees, a move welcomed by forestry industry groups.

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.

How wrong they were: NZU-holder poll

26 Jan 2026

By Pattrick Smellie | Just 6% of NZU-holders who answered a Ministry for the Environment poll last year anticipated a decrease in the price of a tonne of carbon in the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme.

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.

Hawke’s Bay weather response: What councils changed after Cyclone Gabrielle

26 Jan 2026

By Linda Hall, Local Democracy Reporter |Hawke’s Bay councils say preparation played a key role in responding to the latest devastating weather to strike the country.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Minister Chris Bishop, who holds the RMA Reform, Housing, Transport, and Infrastructure portfolios.

Climate change policy moving to new mega-ministry

17 Dec 2025

By Pattrick Smellie | The Government’s primary adviser on climate change policy, the Ministry for the Environment, is to be folded into a new mega-agency that will also cover urban, transport, local government and housing.

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.

Communities must be central to climate adaptation strategies – 10 insights to guide national policy

17 Dec 2025

Discussions about how New Zealand should adapt to a changing climate have been going on for more than two decades.

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.

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.

Weak carbon policy misses ‘exponential’ NZ growth opportunity: KiC

15 Dec 2025

By Pattrick Smellie | Ambitious climate change policy is a route to a faster-growing New Zealand economy because of the potential for “exponential” growth in decarbonising technologies,” says KiwisinClimate, a global lobby group of New Zealanders working on climate change policy.

Vanuatu Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, speaking at COP28 in Dubai

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 overhaul leaves the door open for coal mining on conservation land

12 Dec 2025

By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s sweeping reclassification of thousands of hectares of publicly-owned conservation land has met with sharp criticism, with environmental groups saying the decision leaves vulnerable ecosystems exposed to mining and development.

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.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts at this year's EU-NZ Business Summit

Minister not concerned about potential economic impacts of ruling out offshore mitigation

11 Dec 2025

By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts isn’t worried that ruling out using offshore mitigation is effectively reneging from the Paris Agreement with potential to damage New Zealand’s economy and access to export markets.

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.”

Neighbours fume over plans to axe trees for solar farm

11 Dec 2025

Diane McCarthy, Local Democracy Reporter | Whakatāne District Council has thrown its support behind residents of a country lane distressed about Genesis Energy’s plans to axe their trees.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts

Govt rushes to pass climate law changes under urgency

10 Dec 2025

By Liz Kivi | Legislation to amend the Climate Change Response Act was introduced to Parliament on Monday, and the government intends to rush the changes through under urgency in the next two weeks, avoiding the usual public consultation.

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.

RMA replacement bills introduced – fixes are needed

10 Dec 2025

Media release: Environmental Defence Society | In a massive shakeup of our core environmental and planning laws, the Government has introduced legislation to Parliament to replace the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).

Dr Rod Carr working in his previous role as Climate Change Commission chair

Ticking time-bomb in Govt’s failure of leadership on climate – Carr

9 Dec 2025

By Liz Kivi | The coalition Government’s failure to slash emissions is like pulling the pin on a grenade, handing it to a kid, and saying “hold on tight, she’ll be right”, says former Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr.

Trans-Tasman ministers push climate cooperation amid NZ retreat from climate commitments

8 Dec 2025

By Shannon Morris-Williams | Last week's 2+2 Climate and Finance Ministers’ Dialogue in Auckland urged deeper trans-Tasman climate cooperation, despite New Zealand’s recent moves to weaken climate policies.

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop (left)

Govt to unveil RMA replacement as summer looms

8 Dec 2025

The last session of Parliament for the year begins this week, and the Government is expected to introduce the legislation that will replace the Resource Management Act.

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.

More Aucklanders than ever taking climate action

8 Dec 2025

Media release: Auckland Council | Aucklanders are embracing climate action in record numbers, with more people getting involved each year and the momentum is building.

Adaptation
More >
Karma Barnes

NZ art focussing on climate on display at Beijing Biennale

Thu 12 Feb 2026

An artist responding to the consequences of climate disruption is the first New Zealander in six years to feature at the prestigious Beijing Art Biennale.

Agriculture
More >

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.

Airlines
More >

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
More >

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
More >

World fight against invasive species comes to Auckland

Tue 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
More >

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
More >

EU weighing options to support industry in carbon market overhaul

Mon 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.

Carbon News world
More >

Point of no return: a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, scientists say

Fri 13 Feb 2026

The world is closer than thought to a “point of no return” after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped, scientists have said.

Carbon prices
More >
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
More >
Former Climate Change Commission Chair Dr Rod Carr

NZ still lacking coherent energy strategy

Fri 13 Feb 2026

By Rod Carr | COMMENT: The government’s levy-funded foreign gas proposal for an LNG terminal shows New Zealand’s politicians being outmanoeuvred yet again by the multi-trillion dollar energy industry.

Comment
More >

LNG: a rational choice compared to unpalatable alternatives

Tue 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
More >

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
More >
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.

Energy
More >
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.

Extinction
More >
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
More >

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
More >

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
More >

'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
More >
Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts, left, with Resources Minister Shane Jones, centre, at a breakfast event yesterday hosted by fossil fuel lobby group Energy Resources Aotearoa

LNG plan risks fossil fuel dependency: Environment Commissioner

Wed 11 Feb 2026

By Pattrick Smellie | Importing liquefied natural gas risks creating a “new path dependency on fossil fuel” unless LNG is ring-fenced for use only in the electricity system and only during extended periods of hydro-electricity water shortages, says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton.

Geothermal
More >

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
More >

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
More >

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

Mon 9 Feb 2026

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

Greenwashing
More >

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.

Hydro power
More >
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
More >

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
More >

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
More >
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.

Litigation
More >

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.

Low carbon
More >

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
More >

Ministers celebrate fast-track milestone amid criticism

Tue 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
More >
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
More >

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
More >

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
More >
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.

Planetary boundaries
More >

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
More >

Major health risks linked to plastics emissions set to soar by 2040

28 Jan 2026

The adverse health consequences stemming from the global plastics system are projected to more than double by 2040, driven by greenhouse gases, air pollutants and toxic chemicals released throughout its lifecycle.

Protest
More >

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.

Rare earth minerals
More >

Critical minerals talks with US questioned in Waitangi Tribunal climate inquiry

Mon 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.

Science
More >

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.

Tax
More >

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
More >
Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti (centre)

NZ-UAE partnership boosts advanced tech

Mon 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
More >

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
More >

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.

Waste
More >

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
More >

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.

Wildfires
More >

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

Tue 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: Policy development
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