New Zealand has one of the largest areas of ocean in the world, but the Ministry for the Environment’s report for 2019 has identified four priority issues for the marine environment Te moana, the coast and oceans of Aotearoa New Zealand, are central to our identity and intertwined with our history – we are a maritime nation. Continue →

New Zealand has seen a groundswell in action against climate change as more people come to the realisation the time for talking is over, and the time for doing is now It’s a theme running throughout society and business, with scientific consensus around the problem translating into action at the grassroots. Continue →

Advice to “read the regulations” is not a helpful response to questioners seeking specific compliance options Regulations are necessarily all-encompassing, whereas site conditions often require flexibility in identifying and implementing sensible and cost-effective solutions which achieve the primary regulatory goal of safer workplaces. Continue →

The Ocean Cleanup project has been redesigned and relaunched, as it makes its second attempt to clean up a giant pile of plastic three times the size of continental France concentrated in the Pacific Ocean Dinah Lewis Boucher – The Urban Developer Last September The Ocean Cleanup made the world’s first attempt to clean the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, a smog of the world’s largest zone of ocean plastics located between Hawaii and California. Continue →

New Zealand has the opportunity to be a climate change “innovation lab” for the rest of the world, according to international planning expert and former United States political candidate Sue Minter Minter is speaking ahead of the New Zealand Planning Institute’s (NZPI) annual conference in April, at which she is a keynote speaker. Continue →

Recently, Wintec’s Design Factory NZ took part in The Rat Relay with a team of students, staff and other motivated people who wanted the experience of solving a variety of global challenges The Rat Relay is a Design Factory Global Network annual event, a global design-thinking ‘hackathon’. Continue →

The world will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as early as 2030 That’s the stark conclusion of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which warns serious changes are needed immediately to cut the risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty. Continue →

The Productivity Commission says early action on key policy reforms is needed if New Zealand is to achieve its emissions‑reduction goals and transition to a low-emissions economy Chair of the Productivity Commission, Murray Sherwin, says that the period to 2050 will pass quickly and that delaying action is “likely to make the transition costlier and more abrupt and limit viable and cost-effective mitigation options in the future.” Continue →

Leading industry figures and academics have backed the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s call for the government to clear up the confusion around environmentally-friendly plastics Commissioner Simon Upton has released an online resource to help concerned consumers tackle the complexities of the issue, but he says the government needs to “step in and assume greater responsibility.” Continue →

The public consultation process on the 2050 emissions targets has opened, leading several academics to offer their thoughts and suggestions on how New Zealand can transition to a low-emission economy Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey, Co-Director, Otago Energy Research Centre, University of Otago, notes that while the bill provides context which should allow for the enactment of new climate policies or alterations of existing policy instruments (such as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)), it doesn’t guarantee the policies needed will be enacted. Continue →

Local Government New Zealand has welcomed the release of the Climate Change Adaptation Technical Working Group’s final report on how New Zealand can adapt to the impacts of climate change The Climate Change Adaptation Technical Working Group’s (CCATWG) report recommends that New Zealand needs a national adaptation action plan, a regularly updated national climate change risk assessment, a review of existing legislation and policy to integrate and align climate change adaptation considerations and an investigation into who should bear the costs of climate change adaptation and how it can be funded. Continue →

A draft report from the Productivity Commission has made a series of recommendations for how New Zealand can transition to a low-emissions economy Its recommendations include emissions pricing that includes agriculture, greater forestation, more resources for low-emissions research and development, especially for agriculture, and consideration of a ‘feebate’ scheme for imported vehicles to reward energy-efficiency. Continue →