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Climate Change

Scenes from Cop (Photos: Francisco Hernandez; supplied)
Opinion

A day in the life of a New Zealand MP attending Cop30 in Brazil

Francisco Hernandez shares his diary from Belém, featuring plenary sessions, Pringles, fire evacuations and bus blunders.
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By Francisco Hernandez | 22nd November, 2025
Guest writer
Image: The Spinoff

The updates to climate law, explained

Making sense of the latest changes the government has proposed to the way emissions are reduced in New Zealand. 
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By Shanti Mathias | 7th November, 2025
Contributing writer
Climate experts have reacted with dismay to the latest changes to the landmark Zero Carbon Act. (Image: Tina Tiller)

Zero Carbon Act overhaul signals end of political consensus on climate change

Experts warn the latest changes to the act strip away accountability and fatally weaken New Zealand’s climate commitments.
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By Catherine McGregor | 7th November, 2025
Contributing writer
Important message for Labour.
Opinion

Labour’s desperate, doomed, decades-long effort to get farmers to like them

The party's decision to exclude farms from its proposed CGT is just the latest overture in parliament’s most one-sided love affair.
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By Hayden Donnell | 30th October, 2025
Senior writer
Legislation is expected to be passed next year.

Why many big businesses will no longer have to disclose their climate-related risks

Some call the regime 'prohibitive', but others say exempting the majority of the companies currently subject to it is a 'backwards step'.
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By Lyric Waiwiri-Smith | 28th October, 2025
Politics reporter
Metservice has issued a rare red weather warning as dangerous winds sweep the country. (Image: The Spinoff)

The strong winds hitting Aotearoa, explained

Deadly, gale-force gusts have wiped out electricity for thousands – here’s what you need to know
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By Shanti Mathias | 23rd October, 2025
Contributing writer
What’s on the road ahead? (Image: The Spinoff)

What’s in NZ's long-awaited climate adaptation plan? And what was left out?

It's good news that New Zealand finally has a plan – even if it doesn't say who should pay for the costs ahead.
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By Shanti Mathias | 20th October, 2025
Contributing writer
The agriculture industry is the primary source of methane; methane is the primary contributor to New Zealand’s heating (Image: The Spinoff)

The new, lowered methane targets, explained

The weakened targets are 'practical and fair', says the government. What do others think?
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By Shanti Mathias | 14th October, 2025
Contributing writer
Image: The Spinoff
Opinion

Can late-stage capitalism survive without insurance?

If dire warnings from scientists haven’t been enough to shift governments into meaningful action, perhaps the stark reality of uninsurability will.
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By Gareth Hughes | 28th August, 2025
Guest writer
Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change, and judges at the International Court of Justice, delivering their ‘advisory opinion” (Image: Supplied/Getty/AFP)

What do you do after your student project has gone to the ICJ?

A group of Pacific law students took a climate change case all the way to the International Court of Justice – and won.
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By Shanti Mathias | 28th August, 2025
Contributing writer
Linda Webb, left, a current councillor, and Jamie Cleine, right, the current mayor, have both put their names forward

A massive district with many challenges – and a main town that might need to move

Keeping people in Buller – and keeping them safe from flooding and coastal erosion – will be big tasks for the next mayor.
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By Shanti Mathias | 20th August, 2025
Contributing writer
(Image: Getty Images; design by The Spinoff)

What Canterbury can teach the rest of the country about insurance stress

Worsening climate change means more New Zealanders may have this emotional and financial toll ahead of them.
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By Shanti Mathias | 28th July, 2025
Contributing writer
To prevent fire, you need trees (Image: Shanti Mathias; fire image via Getty)

How reforesting the Port Hills could help prevent another devastating fire

As the climate warms, restoring native bush to Christchurch's vulnerable Port Hills becomes ever more crucial.
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By Shanti Mathias | 17th July, 2025
Contributing writer
The aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke’s Bay (Photo: Supplied; image design by The Spinoff)
Opinion

Where do I send conservatives the bill for climate change?

After all, if there's one thing they love, it's personal responsibility.
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By Max Rashbrooke | 17th July, 2025
Contributing writer
Deep South Challenge climate change wānanga with Māori researchers, Pikitū in Waikato. (Photo: Maximillian Scott-Murray)

Make it make sense: A climate change glossary for the overwhelmed

'Climate change does not start with degrees of warming or ticking clock analogies or a fear of the apocalypse. It begins with whakapapa.'
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By Nadine Hura | 14th June, 2025
Contributing writer
The beef and dairy sector is keen to promote a different way to count methane emissions (Image: The Spinoff/Shanti Mathias)

Changing our methane standards could set a ‘dangerous precedent’, scientists warn

Why a new way of counting methane could put New Zealand's climate targets at risk.
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By Shanti Mathias | 5th June, 2025
Contributing writer
The Niwa game is many people’s reality as flooding around Aotearoa is exacerbated by climate change. (Image: Shanti Mathias/screenshot)

Ever wondered what you would do if your town flooded? There’s a game for that

The ‘serious game’ that reflects New Zealand’s flooded future.
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By Shanti Mathias | 22nd May, 2025
Contributing writer
Stormwater retention basins at the base of the Adventure Park filled with water, as intended (Image: Shanti Mathias)

Lessons from a very wet day in Christchurch

Sometimes flood management is about letting flooding happen, but in the places where it will do the least damage.
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By Shanti Mathias | 12th May, 2025
Contributing writer
A group of activists display a banner opposing the mine expansion. (Image: Neil Silverwood/supplied)

Why protesters spent Easter week suspended in coal carts

Climate activists say this is only the first step in resisting the fast-tracked mining expansion.
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By Shanti Mathias | 24th April, 2025
Contributing writer
Flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near Napier (Photo: Getty Images / Design: Archi Banal)

Without a database to track losses from weather disasters, we’re planning in the dark

How can we talk about disaster risk management and risk reduction when we have no idea what's going on?
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By Ilan Noy | 20th March, 2025
Guest writer

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