Topics tagged with 'Politics'
TRIBUTE: Climate-change pioneer Bernard Forde
16 Oct 2018
By ADELIA HALLETT | Today is the funeral of a man who pushed, to the best of his scientific and political ability, to get action on climate change.
Why our monetary system suits Zero Carbon Act
15 Oct 2018
New Zealand’s monetary policy system is a good model for the Zero Carbon Act, says the country’s stock exchange.
Government backs cuts to reach 1.5deg
9 Oct 2018
The Government backs emissions cuts in line with keeping global warming to no more than 1.5deg, and says negotiations with the National Party for cross-party agreement on climate policy are going well.
Public backs Govt's long-term climate strategy
4 Oct 2018
The Government’s plans to lock climate policy into long-term legislation – and to include all methane – has overwhelming public support.
Regional energy leaders to talk transition
2 Oct 2018
Political and energy sector leaders from across Asia and the Pacific will converge in Wellington later this month to talk about the implications on the region’s energy systems of the low-carbon transition.
PM ticks off leaders over Paris pact inaction
27 Sep 2018
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told world leaders they will have to compromise their country’s positions if the Paris Agreement is to come into force.
OPINION: A dangerous political compromise
17 Sep 2018
By SIR ALAN MARK | After decades of sitting on our hands, the simple the act of commissioning an inquiry into becoming a low-carbon economy has been hugely positive on public perception.
NZ backs Pacific call for UN to do more
6 Sep 2018
New Zealand is backing other Pacific nations calling for the United Nations to up its game over the security threats posed by climate change.
PRODCOM 1: Innovation key to our carbon future
4 Sep 2018
Carbon prices of $200 a tonne, the end of fossil-fuels and agriculture subject to carbon pricing are on the cards if the Government picks up a new report.
Government hears Paris pact means methane cuts
1 Aug 2018
The Paris Agreement cannot be met without cutting methane emissions, the Government has been told.
STATS SHOW: Shaw about to change the story
31 Jul 2018
Green Party co-leader James Shaw might be the climate minister, but it’s in his statistics portfolio that he is about to change everything.
Latest ETS review kicks off next month
18 Jul 2018
Consultation on the next review of the Emissions Trading Scheme will start next month.
We don't want to be like Australia, says Vector
6 Jul 2018
One of the 53 big companies stepping up to publicly support the Zero Carbon Bill says it doesn’t want New Zealand’s climate policy to end up like that of Australia.
Don't bet on the future of our cars being electric
27 Jun 2018
The future of low-emissions transport is not necessarily electric, car makers are telling the Government.
OPINION: Let's charge the high-emitting vehicles
27 Jun 2018
By Toyota NZ chief executive ALASTAIR DAVIS | The Productivity Commission’s draft on the move to a low-carbon emission economy through a Zero Carbon Act is a sound report on what lies ahead.
Government might aim for more carbon cuts
25 Jun 2018
The Government might increase New Zealand’s 2030 emissions reduction target.
History says Bridges and Nats are talking hot air
18 Jun 2018
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | Is Opposition Leader Simon Bridges’ offer to work with the Government on climate change policy worth any more than a dodgy hot-air carbon credit?
SIMON SAYS: We'll work for sensible solutions
15 Jun 2018
The National Party says it will work with the Government to establish a climate change commission.
Shaw invites Nats to work on Zero Carbon Act
12 Jun 2018
Climate minister James Shaw has invited the National Party to help him to draft the Zero Carbon Act.
Kiwis question cow numbers and need for more farms
9 May 2018
Roughly half of the country thinks New Zealand has too many cows and nearly as many want a moratorium on new dairy conversions, a poll suggests.
NZ gets pat on the back in Bonn
7 May 2018
New Zealand’s promise to be carbon-neutral by 2050 has earned it a rare positive mention in dispatches from Climate Action Tracker.
Open up carbon capture rules, says Prod Com
3 May 2018
All carbon capture and storage in New Zealand should qualify for credits under the Emissions Trading Scheme – no matter where the carbon comes from, the Productivity Commission says.
PROD COM REPORT: Nats to take a look
27 Apr 2018
The Productivity Commission’s draft report will be high on the agenda for the National Party’s Bluegreens forum in Christchurch this weekend.
One debate that's now over
27 Apr 2018
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | Debate about whether New Zealand can decarbonise without going bankrupt should now be over.
We're getting more worried about climate change
26 Apr 2018
New Zealanders are more worried about climate change than they have been for six years.
PARKER POWER: The key is bringing it all together
3 Apr 2018
Environment minister David Parker says if you want to get his measure, look at the America’s Cup deal he’s just done.
Minister quiet on talks with big emitters
27 Mar 2018
Climate minister James Shaw is meeting with some of the country’s biggest industrial emitters – but isn’t saying what they’re discussing.
Ten years on, we're back where we began
19 Mar 2018
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | When it comes to action on climate change, we’re pretty much back to where we were 10 years ago, when Carbon News started publishing.
OPINION: Why natural gas won't do the job
19 Mar 2018
Climate and energy expert Professor RALPH SIMS explains why natural gas is not a “bridging” fuel between dirtier fossil fuels and low-carbon energy. Searching for it and using it, he says, will delay New Zealand reaching its Paris Agreement emissions reduction target.
Business leaders like the look of minister Shaw
16 Mar 2018
Climate minister James Shaw appears to be convincing business he knows what he’s doing.
Climate commission's job to advise, says Upton
7 Mar 2018
The climate commission should make recommendations on the Emissions Trading Scheme and the number of international credits used to meet New Zealand’s targets, but control should stay firmly in the hands of the Government, says new Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton.
Climate change passion rides a bike
2 Mar 2018
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | Yesterday, a young woman told an audience that included two Cabinet ministers that she was suffering from depression because of climate change.
NZ still sets the pace in world of trading schemes
1 Mar 2018
Fifteen per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are now covered by trading schemes.
Z aims for A-plus in transition to new energy
28 Feb 2018
Mike Bennetts is determined his company, Z Energy, will not have a Kodak moment.
Climate change and storms our greatest threats
14 Feb 2018
Climate change and related impacts like intense storms are now the greatest threats the world faces.
Neoliberalism not way, says environment report
12 Feb 2018
Neoliberalism is failing to protect New Zealand’s environment, warns a new paper on the future of environmental law.
'We don't want green finance, but for finance to be green'
9 Feb 2018
Industry and regulators should be given until 2020 to boost climate risk disclosure or face government intervention, Britain’s Commons Environmental Audit Committee has been told.
'It’s good to hear a government finally talking sense'
2 Feb 2018
What kind of reception is climate minister James Shaw likely to be getting from the Iwi Leaders Group as they meet at Waitangi today?
Poll shows we're divided over carbon-neutral aim
1 Feb 2018
The country is split over the Government’s plans to make New Zealand carbon neutral – despite most New Zealanders now realising it is the world’s biggest problem.
LETTERS: Food in plastic
24 Jan 2018
In recent months, our local supermarket has been purchasing silver beet wrapped in plastic.
Revealed: the cost of climate change
15 Dec 2017
Lack of government leadership means New Zealand business, society, infrastructure and the land itself are exposed to billions of dollars worth of potential damage from the impacts of climate change, the Government has been told.
This time, climate officials hope for a bit more action
13 Dec 2017
In late 2015, officials gave new climate minister Paula Bennett as list of five things they thought should be done over the next two years.
SHAW THING: Business needs to get into gear
4 Dec 2017
New climate minister James Shaw has a clear message for business: get your house in order because New Zealand is decarbonising ... fast.
Dairying sees green as the new colour of business
22 Nov 2017
Climate change and other environmental risks now rank higher than economic issues in the minds of business and political leaders, according to a new report by New Zealand’s dairy industry.
Shaw commits NZ to leading on climate challenge
17 Nov 2017
New Zealand has just committed itself on the world stage to being carbon-neutral by 2050 and being a Pacific leader on climate change.
UN climate summit means business
6 Nov 2017
This year’s annual UN climate summit, the twenty-third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (https://cop23.unfccc.int/) in UN jargon (or COP23 for short), starts on 6 November – and for once it may have an unusual spring in its step.
Dockless bikes and the tragedy of the commons
6 Nov 2017
WASHING DC has become the latest testing ground for what happens when technology and good intentions meet the real world.
How Bennett toyed with cross-party climate move
1 Nov 2017
Former climate minister Paula Bennett sought advice on forming a cross-party agreement on climate change.
Shaw vows better climate deal for Pacific
1 Nov 2017
The new government says it will pull climate policy into line with Pacific aspirations.
Get ETS working, say superfund guardians
30 Oct 2017
New Zealand cannot afford an Emissions Trading Scheme that doesn’t work, say the guardians of the $36.4 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund - and that means bringing the agricultural sector into the scheme.
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.
State-owned farmer drives profit growth with emissions reductions
19 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Government-owned Landcorp, trading as Pāmu, is one-third of the way to meeting its 2031 emissions reduction targets, with five years left to run to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30.3% against 2021 emissions.
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.
Air NZ inks deal for its first internationally verified carbon credits
9 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Air New Zealand has committed to buying 8000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030, in partnership with local native forest investment platform My Native Forest.
‘Cali Fund’ aiming to raise billions for nature receives first donation – of just $1,000
16 Dec 2025
A major biodiversity fund – which could, in theory, generate billions of dollars annually for conservation – received its first donation of just $1,000 in November.
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.
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.
Seven quiet wins for climate and nature in 2025
19 Dec 2025
This year's environmental backdrop is familiar: emissions are rising and nature is continuing to decline. But there have nevertheless been bright spots in 2025.
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.
Global coal demand hit record high this year but is set to decline by 2030
18 Dec 2025
Global coal demand reached a record high in 2025 but is expected to decline by 2030 as renewables, nuclear power and abundant natural gas squeeze its dominance in power generation.
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.
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.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
11 Dec 2025
Despite India’s attempt to anoint itself as the leader of the developing world, at the COP30 summit, New Delhi’s track record remains contradictory.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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”.
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.”
Westpac NZ announces partnership to form Blue Economy hub in Nelson
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Westpac NZ has announced a new three-year partnership with the Nelson Regional Development Agency and Kernohan Engineering to help accelerate the development of a sustainable marine economy – also known as the blue economy.
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 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.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
15 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Despite ‘intransigent’ states blocking multilateralism and a disappointing official outcome, Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says he left the COP30 climate summit feeling more positive than after previous UN climate conferences.
Hiringa eyes green methanol plant near Whanganui
29 Jul 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Green hydrogen pioneer Hiringa Energy is deep in planning to develop an “eight-to-nine figure” methanol plant near Whanganui, using a combination of biomass and hydrogen produced using renewable energy.
Insurers welcome govt decision to keep NHC levy unchanged
21 Nov 2025
Media release |The Insurance Council of New Zealand | Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) has welcomed the Government’s decision to leave the Natural Hazards Commission levy unchanged, amid ongoing concerns around the cost-of-living.
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.
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.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
11 Dec 2025
Media release | Ten of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would create significantly more shareholder value by ending exploration and sharply curtailing upstream development, according to new analysis released today by ACCR.
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.
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.
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.
Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life
19 Dec 2025
Media release | A study conducted by researchers from Murdoch University in Australia and Dalian Ocean University in China has found that offshore windfarms can improve marine ecosystems and diversify aquatic food chains.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
16 Dec 2025
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
12 Dec 2025
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is calling for submissions on its international treaty examination of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
KiwiRail pauses coal trains amid rising climate protests
9 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate activists are ramping up actions this week, with a Christchurch protest leading to KiwiRail pausing some coal train operations on Saturday, and another protest against the Fast-Track Amendment Bill planned for parliament today.
Straterra has a new name: the New Zealand Minerals Council
16 Apr 2025
Media release | Straterra has been renamed as New Zealand Minerals Council, says chief executive Josie Vidal.
Could tidal energy one day power NZ?
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests Aotearoa holds some of the world’s strongest tidal-stream energy potential – enough to generate up to 93% of today’s electricity use – but one expert cautions that extracting energy at such a scale could have significant impacts and remains highly uncertain.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
16 Dec 2025
New Zealand could see 97% of its glaciers vanish by 2100, with new international modelling projecting a rapid acceleration in glacier extinction from the 2030s onward – even under lower-warming scenarios.
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.
Last minute change to oil and gas legislation over cleanup costs
31 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government is expected to repeal the oil and gas ban today, with a last-minute amendment handing discretionary power to two ministers over the controversial issue of decommissioning.
The surprisingly convincing case against cars
19 Dec 2025
Life After Cars dares to imagine how different, and enriching, a car-free world could be.
Kaicycle celebrates ten years of collective climate action in Pōneke
14 Nov 2025
Media release: Kaicycle | Since 2015, Kaicycle has grown from a humble pilot project growing kai and collecting compost on bicycles into the thriving urban farm and composting hub that Wellingtonians know and love.
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.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | This year New Zealand had its hottest spring since records began, with widespread heat, rainfall extremes and destructive wind driven by sudden stratospheric warming.
Media round-up
12 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Another offshore wind firm exits New Zealand over a clash with seabed mining; Fonterra falls behind on its climate goals as farm emissions remain flat; and the businesses trapped by the gas 'death spiral'.
