Topics tagged with 'Politics'
The winding road to decarbonising transport
17 May 2021
With yesterday’s pre-budget announcement of $41.8 million for the state sector to lease low emissions vehicles, and last week’s release of a Ministry of Transport green paper on transitioning to net zero by 2050 a map of how New Zealand could decarbonise its transport sector is emerging.
Capital a step closer to fossil-fuel free CBD
14 May 2021
The Wellington City Council yesterday voted to direct staff to investigate the Wellington Fossil-Fuel Free Central City 2025 proposal put forward by councillor Tamatha Paul.
Climate change takes centre stage in infrastructure proposals
13 May 2021
Cheaper public transport, congestion charges, centralising the waste and recycling sectors, off-shore wind farms and up to a 10-fold increase in the price of carbon used to calculate the cost-benefit ratio of new projects are some of the ideas put forward in the infrastructure Commission’s 30 year draft strategy released yesterday.
Investor Group on Climate Change outgoing CEO optimistic about the future
10 May 2021
The outgoing CEO of the Investor Group on Climate Change, Emma Herd, says she’s never felt more optimistic about the likelihood of the world successfully dealing with climate change.
OPINION: NZ needs financial strategies to deal with climate crises
29 Apr 2021
By DAVID HALL | When it comes to climate change, money talks. Climate finance is critical for enabling a low-emissions transition. This involves investment and expenditure — public, private, domestic and transnational — that demonstrably contributes to climate mitigation, adaptation or both.
Climate Change photo competition winners announced
29 Apr 2021
MEDIA RELEASE - 1854 & British Journal of Photography announce the winners of the inaugural Decade of Change award
Lest we forget: the carbon footprint of war
27 Apr 2021
With global spending on the military just shy of US$2 trillion in 2020, it’s hardly a surprise that the world’s armies are a major contributor to climate change.
Extinction Rebellion protesters cleared by jury
27 Apr 2021
Six Extinction Rebellion protesters have been cleared of causing criminal damage to Shell’s London headquarters despite the judge directing jurors they had no defence in law.
Ardern touts NZ's climate action at summit
23 Apr 2021
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used her appearance at President Joe Biden’s virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change to extol the virtues of New Zealand’s response to the climate crises.
101 Nobel Prize winners call for fossil fuel ban
23 Apr 2021
As the world's most powerful leaders prepare to come together for the President Joe Biden's virtual climate summit, the Dalai Lama and 100 other Nobel Prize winners have a clear message for them: Keep fossil fuels in the ground.
A call to climate arms from two former Aussie PMs
21 Apr 2021
Two former prime ministers, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, write the world shouldn’t give up hope on Australia just yet
10 YEARS AGO...
20 Apr 2021
Ten years ago, the then climate change minister, Tim Groser was telling us progress on climate change will come through “boring detail” and not political rhetoric.
Bursting the climate bubble
19 Apr 2021
The government missed an opportunity to transition to a more sustainable future with the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble today, according to two academics.
Best by the rest...
16 Apr 2021
The New Zealand Herald has published a series of articles in recent days as its contribution to Covering Climate Now's "Living Through the Climate Emergency" week of coverage in the lead up to Earth Day.
Fed's focus on climate change defended
16 Apr 2021
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday defended the Fed’s increasing scrutiny of the threat that climate change could pose to the health of the United States’ banks.
Agriculture and energy sector account for 90 per cent of emissions
13 Apr 2021
Agriculture and the energy sector accounted for 90 per cent of New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, according to the Ministry of the Environment’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 – 2019 released today.
Aboriginals fight new coal mine
13 Apr 2021
With support from the Australian government, the Adani corporation is pushing ahead with an environmentally destructive coal mine in Queensland. But the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, the Wangan and Jagalingou nation, are waging a determined fight to stop them.
10 YEARS AGO...
8 Apr 2021
Ten years ago, the Government issued more than nine million carbon credits to the owners of post-1989 forests.
Call for finance sector regulation
7 Apr 2021
New regulations requiring the financial sector to disclose the greenhouse gas emission of their investment portfolios are needed, the Sustainable Business Network says in its submission to the Climate Change Commission.
Protest will be "ginormous"
7 Apr 2021
Veteran protester Ken Findlay was standing in front of the Beehive this morning with a message for the thousands of commuters passing by: support the school climate strike on Friday.
NZ Initiative: leave it to the ETS
6 Apr 2021
An NZU price of $50 is all that’s needed to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the NZ Initiative.
Big methane cut and free public transport needed, expert tells ClimCom
29 Mar 2021
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change author Bronwyn Hayward has told the Climate Change Commission its draft recommendations are not ambitious enough and larger cuts need to be made in biogenic methane emissions.
Farage...from Ukip leader to green finance spokesman
29 Mar 2021
He has criticised Greta Thunberg for “alarmism” and wind power as “economic insanity”.
Hydrogen losing its lustre - survey
18 Mar 2021
New Zealand business and political leaders are going cool on the idea that hydrogen has a significant role to play in the country’s transition to a carbon-neutral economy.
TRANSPORT 1: High carbon prices and behaviour change
16 Mar 2021
New Zealand is failing to get transport emissions under control, as latest data shows. Energy expert and IPCC lead author Emeritus Professor Ralph Sims says there is lots we can do, including pushing carbon prices higher.
EU border carbon levy could help poor countries
10 Mar 2021
Europe's future carbon border adjustment mechanism is part of the “new own resources” for the EU budget and must be used to combat global warming across the world, says MEP leading the project.
Aussie says as OECD boss he would be climate ambitious
10 Mar 2021
The former Australian finance minister vying to become the new head of the OECD said he would pursue an "ambitious" and "global" approach to help nations become carbon-neutral by 2050.
GENESIS: Reserve price will distort the market
9 Mar 2021
Including a confidential reserve price in next week’s Government auction of carbon credits could distort the carbon market, says one of the country’s largest emitters.
NZUs should be more than $100, MPs told
8 Mar 2021
An umbrella group representing more than 50 environmental organisations says NZUs would trading at more than $100 if the Government set more environmentally realistic limits on the number of units available.
ClimCom in the hotseat over cost models
25 Feb 2021
The Climate Change Commission’s failure to release all aspects of the models underlying its draft budget dominated Parliament’s Environment Committee this morning.
OPINION: Carbon tariffs are not about Australia
24 Feb 2021
Reports that Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, is considering calling for carbon border levies at the G7 summit to be held in London in June have produced a predictable reaction from the Australian government.
Deadline set for auction collateral
16 Feb 2021
If you are planning on taking part in the country's first carbon auction, you have until March 10 to hand over your collateral.
Carbon-free future is in reach for US by 2050
12 Feb 2021
The United States − per head of population perhaps the world’s most prodigal emitter of greenhouse gases − can reverse that and have a carbon-free future within three decades, at a cost of no more than $1 per person per day.
Action on auction bill
11 Feb 2021
Carbon market participants have 10 days to have a say on plans to include a confidential price reserve in the country’s new auctioning regime.
Nats to Shaw: Why the late change, Minister?
10 Feb 2021
The National Party says it will support sending a law to stop gaming of the carbon markets to a select committee, but wants to know how the Government got itself in such a pickle.
Technical reserve law before Parliament
5 Feb 2021
A law change to stop carbon credits being sold in Government auctions at well below secondary-market prices has made it into Parliament.
Let's think about what's possible
4 Feb 2021
We need more than electric cars to save us - it's time to think about a whole new transport system, says applied mathematician Professor Robert McLachlan.
$50 is not a price cap, says NZX
29 Jan 2021
Domestic carbon prices could go above $50 a tonne even if the new cost-containment reserve is triggered.
Govt moves on transport ahead of ClimCom report
28 Jan 2021
The Government is pre-empting likely criticism from the Climate Change Commission by today announcing a suite of policies tackling greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
COLLINS: climate change not in top 5
27 Jan 2021
National Party leader Judith Collins says climate change is important, but it’s not in her list of top-five priorities.
EDITORIAL: It's about to get real
26 Jan 2021
Welcome to 2021 – the year in which we will get our first hard look at the size of the job in front of us.
US return boosts chances of COP26 success
22 Jan 2021
The United States' return to the Paris Agreement is vital to the next round of negotiations, says former New Zealand climate ambassador Dr Adrian Macey.
Govt reverses decision on technical reserve
21 Dec 2020
The first Government auction of carbon credits, scheduled for March 17, will take place with a technical reserve price in place after all.
EDITORIAL: 202O - the year we got serious?
14 Dec 2020
Believe it or not, a 54 per cent rise in the price of NZUs this year does not make 2020 the year of the biggest gains.
WELLINGTON: Should we hold 'em?
8 Dec 2020
Greater Wellington Regional Council will debate today whether it should sell millions of dollars worth of carbon credits or hold them and wait for prices to go higher.
OPINION: Time to 'fess-up on our climate record
2 Dec 2020
Following today's planned climate emergency declaration, New Zealand will have to face up to the fact it has one of the worst climate records of industrialised nations.
UK scrambles to decide first post-Brexit climate pledge
1 Dec 2020
Britain is preparing to announce its first solo carbon-cutting pledge to the Paris climate agreement, in a tight political manoeuvre ahead of an ambition summit on December 12.
Don't be too quick to dismiss the 'emergency'
30 Nov 2020
By PATTRICK SMELLIE | There was an outburst of skeptical tongue-clicking last Thursday when Climate Change Minister James Shaw announced New Zealand will this week declare a state of ‘climate emergency’.
FRIDAY POLITICS: Tough-talking Shaw
27 Nov 2020
Climate minister James Shaw appears to be sticking with the new bullish approach he’s adopted since the election.
Western Europe cools on plans for nuclear power
27 Nov 2020
News that two more reactors in the United Kingdom are to shut down on safety grounds earlier than planned has capped a depressing month for nuclear power in Europe.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
Fri 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.
Media round-up
Fri 20 Feb 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: 'Every tonne matters': The climate scientist who wants to give you hope; Minister says managed retreat is an option; and climate change is here – is New Zealand ready?
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.
Singapore sets first ever sustainable aviation fuel levy, as Southeast Asia’s fuel industry grows
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Flying in and out of Singapore, home to Southeast Asia’s busiest airport, will get slightly more expensive this year as the city state begins imposing a levy of between 75 cents to $32 per ticket to fund sustainable aviation fuel.
Greens slam move to disband Environment Ministry
Fri 20 Feb 2026
The Green Party has joined climate and health advocates in condemning the Government's decision to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment as part of a multi-ministry merger.
Govt’s own modelling shows LNG leads to higher electricity prices than other solutions
Thu 19 Feb 2026
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: According to modelling conducted by Concept Consulting for MBIE, either developing the Tariki gas storage facility or managing electricity demand would deliver lower wholesale electricity prices than the Government’s preferred solution of an LNG import terminal.
New study looks to nature markets to accelerate climate response
Wed 18 Feb 2026
The Nature Conservancy is teaming up with local groups to study the most affordable and effective ways of restoring native habitats at the top of the South Island, including ways to fund the work using international voluntary carbon markets and biodiversity credits.
US succeeds in erasing climate from global energy body’s priorities
Today 11:45am
Trump’s energy chief had threatened to leave the International Energy Agency if it continued to focus on climate.
Carbon price drops as volatility continues
Tue 17 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The carbon market is still displaying extreme volatility, with prices dropping back to below $40 yesterday, after trading as high as $46.25 last week.
Government invests $200m towards Genesis Energy's $400m capital raise
Today 11:45am
The Government has confirmed it will buy up to $200 million of new Genesis Energy shares as part of a capital raise announced by the company this morning.
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.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Construction is set to begin on a new retail-office development in central Auckland, which is targeting a 40% reduction in embodied carbon and 25% lower energy.
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.
Carbon market rallies but auction floor still out of reach
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.
Mining permits surge as Jones touts revival – gold prices loom large
Today 11:45am
Resources Minister Shane Jones is claiming early signs of success in his bid to boost the mining sector, citing new NZ Petroleum & Minerals data showing a rise in mineral permit applications and decisions in 2025. Though how much is driven by policy change and how much by very high prices for gold and other minerals is difficult to decipher.
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.
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.
Slash for cash turns storm debris into jobs and climate resilience
Thu 19 Feb 2026
A community-led initiative in Tairāwhiti is transforming storm-damaged forestry slash into jobs, soil regeneration and long-term climate resilience.
Calls for action to reduce emissions as extreme weather bites
Tue 17 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Renewable energy advocates and environmental groups are calling for more action to reduce emissions and increase resilience as severe weather wreaks havoc across the country.
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.”
European Central Bank's green supervision grows teeth, but will banks avoid being bitten?
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.
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.
Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing
Wed 18 Feb 2026
Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.
Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert
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.
Media round-up
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?
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.
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.
Australian gas producer Santos wins court fight over net zero claims
Wed 18 Feb 2026
An Australian court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit against gas producer Santos that alleged the company misled the public on its plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
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.
Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow mining company to clear threatened indigenous forest
Today 11:45am
The Australian government’s decision to allow the US mining giant Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of Western Australian jarrah forest despite past illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.
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.
Partnership to advance Pacific science and environmental leadership
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Media release | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in Pacific-led science, research and capacity-building, with a strong focus on environmental sustainability and ocean stewardship.
Lawyers seek answers on climate impacts of LNG import facility
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.
Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution
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.
78% of NZers want bottom trawling banned as Govt pushes to catch more coral in South Pacific
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Media release | New polling shows overwhelming support from New Zealanders for a ban on bottom trawling in the South Pacific high seas, says Greenpeace.
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.
Antarctic sediment core reveals past ice sheet retreat during warmer climates
Wed 18 Feb 2026
A record-breaking sediment core drilled from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is giving scientists new insight into how the ice sheet responded to warmer climates in the past — and what that could mean for future sea-level rise.
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.
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.
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.
NZ’s EV uptake decelerates
Today 11:45am
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand’s EV uptake is lagging behind other countries, with a huge drop in EV sales since 2023 bucking international trends, at the same time the Government contemplates abolishing its standard for clean cars entirely.
Climate ambassador moves on
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.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
Wed 18 Feb 2026
Aotearoa’s first National Infrastructure Plan, introduced to Parliament yesterday, calls for "a predictable approach to electrifying the economy" as one of ten priorities for the next decade.
New research on climate adaptation as severe weather hits
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.
Study finds warming world increases days when weather is prone to fires around the globe
Fri 20 Feb 2026
The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy — ideal to spark extreme wildfires — has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.
India and UK launch offshore wind taskforce
Today 11:45am
Constituted under Vision 2035 and the Fourth India-UK Energy Dialogue, the Taskforce is designed to provide strategic leadership and coordination for India’s nascent offshore wind ecosystem.
