Topics tagged with 'Politics'
Uncertainty eroding confidence in forestry sector
Fri 5 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Warnings are mounting that tree planting is set to plunge to “very close to zero”, as new Ministry for Primary Industries data shows ETS registration applications falling sharply as confidence in forestry declines.
NZ's ‘missed opportunity’ on aviation and shipping emissions
Fri 5 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s refusal to include international aviation and shipping in New Zealand’s 2050 climate target has been met with disappointment from climate experts, who say the decision undermines accountability for a transport-reliant nation, and misses a critical opportunity to strengthen New Zealand’s climate leadership.
‘The effects are already here’: Northland communities face the realities of a changed climate
Fri 5 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Te Taitokerau Northland is facing more intense storms, rising temperatures and shifting seasons – pressures that are reshaping communities, ecosystems, infrastructure and livelihoods across the region, according to a new case study from the Climate Change Commission.
Media round-up
Fri 5 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Labour’s chronic evasiveness as the Government reneges on climate change; newly released documents reveal the country's new methane target is associated with 'perilous' 2.7C of warming; and New Zealand's 'pitiful' decision on emissions targets comes with costs.
Rare win for renewable energy: Trump administration funds geothermal network expansion
Fri 5 Dec 2025
A first-in-the-nation heating and cooling network in Massachusetts is set to double in size.
Govt rejects advice on international aviation and shipping emissions
Thu 4 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has rejected all the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations to strengthen emissions targets.
Treasury to offer first stab at climate liabilities pre-election
Thu 4 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The Treasury will make a first attempt at accounting for Crown liabilities arising from New Zealand’s international climate change commitments in next year’s pre-election economic and fiscal update.
Open letter urges govt to abandon plans to subsidise LNG terminal
Thu 4 Dec 2025
Climate and renewable energy advocates have joined forces calling on the Government to ditch its plan to subsidise an LNG import terminal.
Greens slams govt over climate targets
Thu 4 Dec 2025
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has accused the Government of knowingly breaching the Paris Agreement, after Cabinet papers released under the Official Information Act reveal the Government was warned its policy on biogenic methane would breach the 1.5C Paris target.
Climate comments ‘outrageous’ – former top climate negotiator
Wed 3 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand’s former climate ambassador, Kay Harrison, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ recent statements that the Government had ruled out buying offshore climate mitigation are “outrageous”.
Tribunal warns govt geothermal strategy risks Treaty breach
Tue 2 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government's geothermal development strategy risks breaching the Treaty of Waitangi, according to a report from the Waitangi Tribunal released last week.
Carbon auction tipped to be a non-event
Tue 2 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Tomorrow’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction is all but certain to fail, with participants blaming the government for destroying confidence as NZUs continue to change hands on the secondary market at a 40% discount on the $68 auction floor.
NZ backs climate-resilient horticulture project for Cambodia
Tue 2 Dec 2025
New Zealand has launched a major climate-resilient horticulture initiative in Cambodia, investing NZD$12 million in a multi-year project designed to boost rural incomes, strengthen food security and reduce child labour as communities face increasing climate pressures.
In blow to Lula, Brazil Congress revives controversial environmental bill
Tue 2 Dec 2025
Brazil's conservative-led Congress on Thursday reinstated much of a bill that makes it easier for companies to secure environmental permits, infuriating the leftist government and green groups.
Swiss reject compulsory civic duty, climate tax for super-rich
Tue 2 Dec 2025
Swiss voters on Sunday resoundingly rejected a proposal to replace the current men-only military conscription with a compulsory civic duty for all and another on taxing the super-rich to fund the climate fight.
Australia finally acknowledges environment underpins all else. That’s no small thing
Mon 1 Dec 2025
COMMENT: In what are dangerous times for democracies around the world, parliament’s overhaul of nature laws in the EPBC Act shows ambitious reform remains possible.
Canada rolls back climate rules in energy deal with Alberta
Mon 1 Dec 2025
Under the agreement, the federal government will scrap a planned emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and drop rules on clean electricity.
Pollution from coal plants was dropping. Then came Trump and AI.
Mon 1 Dec 2025
Data centres’ hunger for electricity is prompting some states to keep their coal-burning power plants from closing – while DC relaxes air pollution limits.
Govt's emissions ‘buffer’ an illusion with all NZ's carbon budgets off track
28 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Dr Christina Hood, head of consultancy Compass Climate, says the Government’s claim that New Zealand has a comfortable emissions “buffer” to absorb higher agricultural pollution is misleading, with projections showing emissions budgets are actually set to be missed in real terms.
Investors must support positive climate-tech
28 Nov 2025
OPINION: We need better leadership than the current ‘climate opportunism’ that is rife in the Beehive, and we need to back a marketplace that will make it happen, writes Rob Campbell.
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.
Local council shakeup will weaken environmental protection, say critics
26 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s sweeping overhaul of local councils threatens to erode hard-won environmental protections, warning that stripping regional councils of directly elected governance will weaken oversight of freshwater, biodiversity and land-use decisions.
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.
Councils call for action on sweltering new homes
26 Nov 2025
Media release | The New Zealand Green Building Council and Auckland Council are calling for Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk to take steps to address the problem of new homes overheating.
Experts dismiss coalition claims Chris Bowen cannot remain minister while leading COP31 negotiations
26 Nov 2025
Experts have dismissed claims Chris Bowen cannot remain a senior minister while playing a leading role in international climate negotiations, with one describing the argument as evidence of an Australian “culture cringe”.
Govt slashes environmental funding by $1 billion
25 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Central government funding for the environment is set to fall by a quarter in 2025/26, prompting warnings that hard-won environmental improvements may now stall or reverse.
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.
COP30: Summary and what it means for New Zealand
25 Nov 2025
Media release: Lawyers for Climate Action NZ | COP30 wrapped up over the weekend - the first COP since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) released its landmark Advisory Opinion on states’ obligations on climate change.
Simon Watts was right about Pacific climate support at COP30, now we must deliver
25 Nov 2025
Media release: Oxfam Aotearoa | At COP30 in Brazil, New Zealand has joined other higher-income countries in reaffirming their pledge to triple climate funding for lower-income countries by 2035.
There can be no information integrity without scientific and political integrity
25 Nov 2025
Opinion: I'm just back from COP30 in Belém and it is making me feel crazy to watch so many climate advocates and reporters declare the final text coming out of it a victory.
G20 summit declaration stresses seriousness of climate change in snub to Trump
25 Nov 2025
The Leaders' Declaration from a Group of 20 summit in South Africa on Saturday stressed the seriousness of climate change, in a snub to U.S. President Donald Trump, who boycotted the gathering and doubts the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by human activities.
NZ fails to back ‘roadmap’ to phase out fossil fuels at COP
24 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Eighty-six countries including Australia, the UK, Germany, and Ireland backed a proposal at COP30 for national plans on how to quit oil, gas and coal – but New Zealand wasn’t one of them.
COP30 in a multipolar world
24 Nov 2025
COMMENT: As the gavel comes down on the final negotiations at COP30, New Zealand seems to be heading for the sidelines of global transitions, increasing our dependency on imported solutions and neglecting the economic opportunities in generating our own, writes David Hall.
Greenpeace slams Govt climate and environment policy rollbacks
24 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greenpeace is 'celebrating' the current Government reaching the two-year mark with an updated timeline of what it calls the Luxon Government’s “war on nature,” saying the week-by-week record shows the scale of environmental rollbacks – and the growing public pushback against them.
Trump, war, absent media: five threats to climate progress that dogged COP30
24 Nov 2025
Did the talks succeed or fail? The verdict must take account of the geopolitical minefield they took place in.
Govt’s rejection of CCC’s advice on climate targets undermines independent watchdog’s role, says opposition
21 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s latest dismissal of Climate Change Commission advice shows they have their heads in the sand about the reality of meeting climate targets, according to the Labour Party, while the Greens say Government decisions were an embarrassment on the world stage at COP30 this week.
Trump’s anti-climate agenda could result in 1.3m more deaths globally, analysis finds
21 Nov 2025
Fallout from increased emissions linked to president’s ‘America First’ policies expected to most affect those in poor, hot countries.
Govt rejects CCC’s advice on net-negative 2050 but makes no official announcement
20 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has rejected the Climate Change Commission’s advice to strengthen the country’s net zero 2050 target, but appears to have buried the news with its announcement about methane targets last month.
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 and Iceland collaborate on geothermal energy
20 Nov 2025
Media release: New Zealand Government | New Zealand and Iceland today signed an agreement to deepen cooperation on geothermal energy development.
China’s top envoy blasts EU climate goals and Trump’s ‘bad example’
20 Nov 2025
The European Union’s new pollution-cutting targets are insufficient, China’s climate envoy told POLITICO on the sidelines of this year’s COP30 conference while also condemning the “bad example” set by the absent United States.
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.”
Fast-track rewrite triggers procedural clash in Parliament
19 Nov 2025
The Government has entangled itself in a procedural dispute as it tries to push amendments to its fast-track regime through Parliament before Christmas.
Ecuador’s voters protect rights of nature, reject proposal to rewrite constitution
19 Nov 2025
Ecuadorians handed their Trump-allied president a resounding defeat, choosing to maintain their “ecological constitution” and rejecting an attempt to allow foreign military bases in the country.
Methane U-turn earns NZ ‘Fossil of the Day’ at COP30
18 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand has been handed an unwanted ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at COP30 in Brazil after the Government weakened its methane-reduction targets, drawing international criticism for backtracking on climate commitments and undermining global efforts to curb the potent greenhouse gas.
Greens put miners ‘on notice’, pledge to revoke fast-track approvals
18 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Greens have pledged to revoke fast-track consents for coal, hard-rock gold, and seabed mining projects if elected to government next year.
Foresters warn ETS reforms could fell innovation
17 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Elizabeth Heeg, chief executive officer for the Forest Owners Association, says forestry must not be stripped from the Emissions Trading Scheme, arguing that carbon income underpins forest management and rural resilience.
Rural Wairarapa communities on climate change frontline
17 Nov 2025
By Sue Teodoro, Local Democracy Reporter | Droughts, long hot days, more pests and invasive plants and increasingly severe weather are all risks faced by the Wairarapa rural community, leaders heard this week.