Topics tagged with 'Technology'
EDITORIAL: Right road, but the slow road
29 Nov 2019
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | It must be tempting, if you’re in the New Zealand delegation at climate talks in Madrid next week, to rest on your laurels, take the pats on the back, bask in the international limelight.
Toyota tests the water on hydrogen vehicles
27 Nov 2019
Toyota New Zealand says it is testing the New Zealand market for hydrogen vehicles as part of a drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Foresters want pre-1990 trees recognised
26 Nov 2019
Extra carbon stored in pre-1990 forests should be recognised with carbon credits, forest owners say.
Supermarkets, powercos best at sustainability
25 Nov 2019
Supermarkets and electricity retailers are scoring the highest marks with consumers for sustainability, but none is doing well enough, a new study says.
Government can order ACC to quit fossil fuels
22 Nov 2019
The Government has the power to instruct its largest institutional investor, the Accident Compensation Corporation, to pull out of fossil fuel investments, a select committee says.
We're different from them, say pig farmers
19 Nov 2019
Pig farmers say their industry is responsible for only a fraction of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and should be treated differently from other agricultural businesses.
Treasury casts eye over emissions changes
18 Nov 2019
Greenhouse gas emissions from farming will fall 12 per cent by the middle of the century even without a carbon price, Treasury says.
Young campaigners see nation adopt carbon laws
14 Nov 2019
New Zealand’s zero-carbon legislation becomes law today.
Mercury gives green light to country's biggest windfarm
13 Nov 2019
Mercury is going ahead with plans to build the country’s largest windfarm.
New party backs emissions pricing
11 Nov 2019
A new environment-based political party supports emissions pricing, wants the Climate Change Commission to set the methane reduction target, and says it would be reluctant to get rid of a ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration.
Industry sees process heat alternatives
7 Nov 2019
New research shows how everything from wood to ultraviolet light and ultrasound can replace fossil-fuel-intensive heat sources in industrial processes.
NZ scientists back global climate statement
6 Nov 2019
Leading New Zealand climate scientist Professor James Renwick says an 11,000-strong global statement by scientists warning of “untold suffering” as the climate changes should be taken seriously.
Government happy with ZCB direction
5 Nov 2019
The Government intends sticking with the recommendations of the select committee when the zero-carbon bill comes back before Parliament this afternoon.
Staunch Nats vow to change zero-carbon bill
4 Nov 2019
National still hopes to drive through changes to the zero-carbon bill before it is passed this week.
Government wants info on biofuture of wood
1 Nov 2019
Government plans for a report into the potential to use wood to make bioproducts is being hailed by those pushing for a biofutures industry.
EDITORIAL: A Shaw thing
25 Oct 2019
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | Climate minister James Shaw, take a bow - you deserve five minutes in the sun for doing what none of your seven predecessors did.
Forest credits' future unclear as new laws loom
25 Oct 2019
The use of forestry carbon credits to offset agricultural emissions remains unclear as law changes go before Parliament.
Former Greens leader roasts Shaw's carbon bill
23 Oct 2019
Climate minister James Shaw will let the climate commission control carbon prices if he’s serious about cutting emissions, says the man who preceded him as co-leader of the Green Party.
Farmers will find out ETS future on Thursday
22 Oct 2019
Farmers will find out on Thursday whether they will be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Zero-carbon bill report pleases minister
22 Oct 2019
A report by the Environment Select Committee has made the zero-carbon bill even stronger, says climate minister James Shaw.
Select Committe backs methane status quo
21 Oct 2019
The Environment Select Committee has taken a bob each way on methane targets – recommending the Government’s target stay in place but that the Climate Change Commission should be able to change it.
It's official, our marine world is a mess
17 Oct 2019
Climate change and ocean acidification are piling pressure on a marine system already stressed by the impacts of human activities, the latest official state-of-the-environment report says.
Now's the time to go green, bank tells business
16 Oct 2019
Green financial markets will not develop in New Zealand if companies don’t use them, Westpac says.
HEY, JUDE: That's dangerous talk, say 'fanatics'
15 Oct 2019
National MP Judith Collins’ dismissal of the need for urgent action on climate change is being called ill-informed, dangerous and just plain wrong.
Beware of a populist backlash, unions warn
11 Oct 2019
New Zealand risks a Brexit-style populist backlash if it mishandles decarbonisation of the economy, unions are warning.
History shows we can handle it, says CCC chief
11 Oct 2019
Cutting carbon out of the economy should not cause the “collateral damage” seen in New Zealand’s other economic transformations, says the first head of the Climate Change Commission.
How Chia Sisters took their business green
9 Oct 2019
Student climate activist Florence van Dyke has taken the fight to a new arena – business. And it’s working.
Govt poised to reveal farm emissions decision
8 Oct 2019
An announcement on how the agricultural sector will be charged for greenhouse gas emissions is imminent, the Government says.
It's time to 'pull finger', EDS tells politicians
7 Oct 2019
The organisers of a high-powered business and climate change conference in Auckland this week say it is way past time for politicians to come together.
EDITORIAL: Uncomfortable is coming, ready or not
7 Oct 2019
By ADELIA HALLETT | Protests like the one that has closed off some Wellington streets today and is preventing staff from a major government department from getting to work make some people uncomfortable.
NZ bankrolls Scottish search for clean green sheep
4 Oct 2019
New Zealand is putting money and science behind Scottish research into farming climate-friendly sheep.
NZ scientists use algae to improve Japanese cars
3 Oct 2019
New Zealand scientists are working with the Japanese motor industry to find a low-carbon replacement for fuels, plastics and a host of other substances.
Business slow to take up offsetting airline travel
30 Sep 2019
Most New Zealand businesses are not offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from flights, Air New Zealand says.
Ardern sets up climate-change trade deal
26 Sep 2019
New Zealand is one of five countries bringing climate change into a trade deal.
Farmers fret over green demands, says bank
26 Sep 2019
Fonterra’s economic woes are not the only thing worrying farmers – they’re also becoming increasingly anxious about the Government’s plans to make them clean up their environmental performance and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Emissions spotlight on land use and transport
25 Sep 2019
The committee of experts advising the Government on emissions budgeting has its sights set on our two biggest climate-polluting sectors – land use and transport.
ARDERN'S GLOBAL INVITE: Let's trade strengths
24 Sep 2019
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told the world New Zealand wants climate change included in trade deals and global co-operation on carbon pricing.
Smarts and skills keys to the future, says Govt
23 Sep 2019
Deeper pools of capital, a smart, skilled and motivated workforce and plentiful clean energy are behind the Government’s plans for the future of the economy.
At last, we're getting a look at climate risks
19 Sep 2019
Progress is being made at last on assessing the risk climate change poses to New Zealand.
Local businesses given emissions know-how
19 Sep 2019
The Government has released new advice for local businesses wanting to voluntarily offset their emissions.
Govt puts faith (and $10m) into smart cows
17 Sep 2019
The Government is putting $10 million into breeding cows that produce more milk and fewer greenhouse gases and can withstand heat.
OUR ETS: What goes around, comes around
16 Sep 2019
New Zealand had the opportunity a decade ago to adopt the type of agricultural emissions pricing regime for which farmers are now fighting.
Farming is losing ground, says Sir Lockwood
13 Sep 2019
New Zealand agriculture can be carbon-neutral but it is slipping behind developments in Ireland, former Speaker, UK ambassador and agricultural scientist Sir Lockwood Smith says.
Welcome to Welly ... the Paris of the southern hemisphere
13 Sep 2019
Wellington is the new Paris of the South, according to the latest cities’ liveability index.
Let new commission be the arbiter, says Upton
12 Sep 2019
ANYTHING in the zero-carbon bill that MPs can’t agree on should be referred to the new climate commission, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton has told MPs.
Electricity planning is vital, politicians hear
12 Sep 2019
Extra demand for electricity as the country’s economy decarbonises needs to be co-ordinated if the system is to cope, MPs have heard.
Big Hydro might sidestep new water rules
10 Sep 2019
Because of climate change, the country’s six largest hydro power schemes should be exempt from rules requiring minimum water levels in rivers, the Government says.
Green taxes make business sense, says study
9 Sep 2019
Environmental taxes such as carbon pricing don’t necessarily slow economic development, researchers say.
METHANE MEASURE: It's all a matter of GWPs
6 Sep 2019
A new way of accounting for methane proposed by New Zealand researchers ignores the damage this country has already done to the climate and locks in its “right to emit”, Parliament has been told.
EDITORIAL: It's a long way from Montreal to Paris
4 Sep 2019
By ADELIA HALLETT | The Montreal Protocol – an international treaty to save the protective ozone layer that covers the Earth – has worked.
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'.
