This Climate Business

Could a water spout almost a kilometre high be harnessed to create electricity from waste industrial heat? Yes, says tech investor Brent Ogilvie. Brent is a rare type: a venture investor with a passion for sustainability. A former trade commissioner to New York, Brent was a trustee of the Urban Ecoliving Trust, founded a biodiesel company (sold to Z) and is a founding director of Pacific Channel,...

The Auckland Climate Action Plan sets out a bold agenda to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The changes required are profound. If you think fixing the harbour bridge is messy, wait till you try converting the majority of our cars to EVs and getting out of the gas heating business. Richard Hills is chair of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee. The youngest sitting councill...

Jez Weston and Rohan MacMahon are technologists scouring New Zealand to find the best and brightest projects to address climate change. Or more specifically, to find technologies that offer the greatest emissions reductions, for the lowest cost, in the least amount of time. They have identified 70 projects that fit the bill – from renewable energy and carbon capture to electric bikes and algae. Vi...

Last week, the Labour Party unveiled an election promise to bring forward by five years the goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation to 2030. It means NZ would join nations such as Iceland and Norway in leading the world in renewables and reinforce Jacinda Adern’s commitment to addressing climate change. It is after all, her generation’s nuclear free moment. But not everyone is impress...

Should native forests be harvested? Can they compete with pine as carbon sinks? And is biodiversity a better measure than carbon? Adele is the CEO of Trees that Count, an ambitious programme to plant 200 million native trees across NZ in the next decade. With 32 million planted since 2016, it has still got a long way to go but momentum is building with the business, community and government increa...

What if I told you that former head of BMW in NZ now wants gas-guzzling, polluting cars off the road and replaced with low-emissions electric vehicles like the mild-mannered Nissan Leaf? A few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it myself but Mark is now the chairman of Drive Electric, a consortium of interests from across the transport sector. They say electrifying the vehicle fleet is one of the...

Hydrogen is a fantastic energy source: abundant, clean, light and highly flammable. But can it overcome its biggest hurdle: cost of production? Andrew Clennett, founder of Hiringa Energy, says an emphatic yes . Hiringa already has a green-hydrogen pilot plant in Taranaki (a JV with Balance Agri-Nutrients) and is rolling out truck fuelling sites across the country. And with trucking firms, vehicle...

The sun is the greatest source of free energy for the Earth – so why don’t we tap into it more? The team at Sunergise are changing that on an industrial scale. Sunergise is a Kiwi solar energy company that got its start in 2012 by building the world’s largest solar installation for a marina at Port Denarau in Fiji. Since then it has expanded across the Pacific and NZ and has just welcomed a major...

The Republic of Ireland just passed the most ambitious climate change plan of any developed country. With a commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and be net neutral by 2050, the home of River Dancing makes New Zealand look positively flat-footed, says Professor Robert McLachlan. The Massey University mathematician and author of climate change blog Planetary Ecology says Ireland is one the few coun...

In the second of our meet-your-next-prospective6-climate-minister series we are joined by Scott Simpson, National Party’s spokesperson on Environment, Climate Change and RMA reform. The Nats have not been natural bedfellows with climate change action, but Scott has been an effective voice, especially as co-chair of the internal ginger group, the Blue Greens. But under the new leadership of Judith...

Last week Auckland City passed the Auckland Climate Action plan – a bold commitment to halve emissions by 2030. The plan puts into action Auckland’s City’s declaration of a climate emergency and sets it on a path to zero emissions by 2050. So how will it get there? What’s got to start? And stop? And what does it mean for business and the citizens? For answers, Vincent was joined Dr David Hall co-c...

Is your KiwiSaver invested in porn, weapons and ciggies? Does it have a stake in fossil fuels and palm oil plantations? How would you know? And what can you do? Barry Coates founded Mindful Money to dig into such investment conundrums, reveal where the money flows and provide ethical alternatives. The former Greens MP and Oxfam CEO talked to Vincent about radical transparency, the power of investo...

TOP rocketed to fame in the last election off the back of its former leader Gareth Morgan attacking pretty much everything: government, the opposition, the wealthy, the tax system the welfare system and even cats. This time around it’s Geoff Simmons at the helm. The former economist talks to Vincent about prospects for success, climate action, upending the tax system and the future of a value, not...

Taking a break from interviews this week, Vincent reviews the breakthrough book More From Less, by Andrew McAfee. Describing green growth as ‘Humanity’s Big Surprise’, McAfee argues that we can not only grow our economy through conventional capitalism but that we can simultaneously reduce our impact on the natural world. It’s the miracle of dematerialisation – and it’s happening faster than ever....

Eloise Gibson is New Zealand’s first reporter to be appointed a climate change editor in a mainstream media outlet. The award-winning business journalist joined Stuff.co.nz earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised by the warm reception from the science and business community. But did readers do the same? I spoke to Eloise about her fans and critics, Stuff’s commitment to science and keeping...

In this episode I had a great chat with EV converter and enthusiast Theo Gibson  (EV Podcast host) about his own car conversion and the direction of  EV transport locally and globally. Enjoy!   EV Podcast: https://evpodcast.com This Climate Business: https://www.podcasts.nz/this-climate-business/

James Frankham is on a war path. The publisher of New Zealand Geographic and outdoor adventurer is outraged by the decline of the Hauraki Gulf, the so-called jewel in Auckland’s crown. The State of the Gulf 2020 report reveals that overfishing, sedimentation, pollution, political failures and ignorance have combined to push this precious habitat to near collapse. We spoke to James about what can b...

Noho is a Kiwi furniture start-up taking Kiwi sustainability to the USA. Noho’s chairs are made of recycled fishing nets and the first of a line of products that CEO, Richard Shirtcliffe, says are rethinking what wellbeing means for home and for the planet.  Now based in chilly burbs of Boulder Colorado, the former boss of Tuatara Beer and Coffee Supreme is leading the charge to take Noho to the U...

Sir Peter Gluckman says New Zealand is woeful at long-term planning – and the environment suffers as a result. In the latest paper from Koi Tū: The Centre of Informed Futures, Sir Peter and Anne Bardsley argue for a new Sustainability Commissioner to be charged with implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and pressure government, business and councils to factor the biosphere in all decis...

Forests are only part of the answer to dealing with climate change, warns Marty Verry, CEO of Red Stag Timber, NZ’s largest timber mill. He says the government’s One Billion Trees Programme could lead to a dangerous glut unless there’s a wholesale adoption of wood for construction, fuel and other downstream products. Could a ‘Wood First’ policy displace concrete and steel? How reliable are forests...

How green was the Budget?  Billed as transformational it contains big dollops of cash for the environment, rail, ferries, housing and insulation. So you’d think that climate campaigners would be happy. Errr, nope. The Budget is a missed opportunity to reshape New Zealand to a low-emissions, high-margin economy and leaves us exposed to that other imminent threat, climate change. I spoke to three ex...

Vaughan Fergusson (formerly Rowsell) is the founder of Vend, the Kiwi tech success. Last year he started the Institute of Awesome, based on a rambling 100-acre section and lodge overlooking the Tasman sea in Raglan. From here, Vaughan and partner Zoe Timbrell planned to run school camps that combine tech with sustainability and outdoor adventures. Covid has put all that on ice for now. But we know...

The Covid-19 ‘rebound’ is the perfect opportunity to create a low-emissions transport system, right? Julie Anne Genter thinks so. The Green MP and Associate Minister of Transport has high hopes for extending bikes lanes, revamping the feebate scheme, introducing high-speed rail and (politely) putting a rocket up Auckland Transport. I caught up with her in her Wellington bubble.  

What if there was a plan for a post-Covid-19 recovery – and not just a plan but an ambition? Rod Drury and Roger Dennis want to create a cross-sector, bi-partisan group to use this moment to achieve some big wins, such as 100% renewable energy, nationwide 5G roll-out and an immigration scheme that lures the rich and powerful down under. The pair have had success before. They convinced the governme...

What future does sheep and beef farming have in a climate changed world? Serial entrepreneur and relentless optimist, Melissa Clark-Reynolds sits on the board of Beef&Lamb and sees a bright future for New Zealand farmers if the sector and government can get the settings right. Hint: it doesn’t involve pine trees. In a wide-ranging interview covering turtles, synthetic meat, Al Gore and of course C...