When it comes to aviation emissions, New Zealand is far from clean and green. Economist Dr Paul Callister tells Ross Inglis that we are the world’s sixth highest per-capita aviation polluter, emissions are tracking the wrong way, and the sector’s plans to cut emissions offer little real hope.By Podcasts NZ / Vincent Heeringa

You’d be hiding under a rock if you haven’t noticed that there’s fierce disagreement about the growth of pine plantations on rural New Zealand. On the one hand, we need fast growing permanent forests to act as carbon sinks. Lots and lots if we’re meet our net zero goals. If grown on marginal these forests make welcome additional income for farmers …

So businesses love parking and hate cycleways. Or do they? Bike Auckland chair Karen Hormann tells Ross Inglis about a new campaign that tackles a lopsided narrative about commerce and cycling.By Podcasts NZ / Vincent Heeringa

We know that about a third of food is wasted. If global food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind only China and the USA. No one believes it’s a good idea. So why does it keep happening? And who’s in charge of this madness? It’s turns out, it’s no one. Those numbers are mere guesses and gaps in the s…

There’s a fast-growing thicket of regulations and trade agreements standing between corporate New Zealand and its overseas markets. This emerging landscape has been mapped out by law firm Chapman Tripp in Protecting New Zealand’s Competitive Advantage, a report for the Aotearoa Circle. Co-authors Nicola Swan and Alana Lampitt told Ross Inglis what …

David Williams is a journalist with Newsroom. He recently interviewed Extinction Rebellion protesters, Nick Hanafin and Siana Fitzjohn who climbed aboard the oil rig COSL Prospector in the Cook Strait in 2020 and were subsequently prosecuted. The interview piqued my interest, as it got into the minds and hearts of two incredibly brave and yet, surp…

Is another plastic bottle the way to disrupt the plastic bottle business? Jayden Klinac of Anew believes so. The Anew system builds on years of trying to find a sustainable, commercially viable plant-based, recyclable, compostable, cradle-to-cradle plastic packaging solution. Brave man. Vincent spoke to Jayden ahead of his talk at the Spark Future …

Two years ago Unilever Australia-NZ became a B Corp. It was the first really large corporate, with household brands Surf and Persil, to join a scheme that’s been home to environmental hero brands such as EcoStore. Why did Unilever join? What did they discover in the process? And what impact has a major corporate had on such a spirited brand as B La…

Climate change activism is everywhere: in politics, in business, on the streets and, increasingly, in the courts. Simpson Grierson’s Nick Chapman tells Ross Inglis what’s driving the movement towards climate change litigation and just where might it take us.By Podcasts NZ / Vincent Heeringa

Mike Casey is the CEO of Rewiring Aoteraoa, part of an international movement to accelerate the shift to a renewable, electric-powered economy. Rewiring’s first report is all about the electric home - think rooftop solar, heat pumps, EVs and so on. But Mike is also a horticulturist and a passionate advocate for decarbonising the primary sector. He …

Whether it’s swallowing bleach to treat Covid or casting climate change as a Chinese conspiracy, disinformation takes nutty ideas from fringes and mainstreams them into our popular discourse. At best, it's hilarious - seen how windmills kill dolphins anyone? But mostly it's just sad and sometimes tragic. What is disinformation? How is it different …

If you’ve wanted to get yourself a discounted bicycle or scooter under something like the UK’s Cycle to Work Scheme, here’s the good news: you can. Ōtautahi Christchurch-based WorkRide now offers a national ride-to-work scheme that uses a Fringe Benefit Tax exemption to slice up to 63 percent off the cost of your next commuter toy. Ross Inglis aske…

The conscious consumer movement has an impact but it’s still small - a minority of people choose to change their behaviour. Imagine if you could make your carbon footprint your bank's problem. Imagine these large institutions, with millions of customers and insights into their spending, worry about their customers’ carbon footprint. That’s the geni…

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) closed last week with a notable first: an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. Not quite the phase out most countries had wanted, and reflective perhaps of the influence of petrostates, including the host Dubai. Indeed, the chair is a head of an oil company, and the next COP is due to …

Heard of Scope 4? Us neither. If you thought Scope 3 emissions are hard to count and reduce then Scope 4 lifts the ambition yet again. Scope 4 or so-called avoided emissions ask businesses to create products that replace dirty ones and thereby avoid emissions – think renewables replacing gas or bioplastic replacing PETs. To explain Scope 4, Vincent…

Climate-related disclosures are on their way. Auckland-based ClimateTracker has cloud-based software that eases the compliance overhead and makes sense of the data. Co-founder and data architecture heavyweight Dougal Watt backgrounds the new era of climate disclosure and tells Ross Inglis it’s as much about opportunity as it is about risk.…

Armed with its own IP, Hamilton-based car charging innovator Hikotron is rolling out a national network of charge points. Ross Inglis asked co-founder Stephanie Smits O’Callaghan how Hikotron tackles the chicken-or-the-egg dilemma of building a network for a small but fast-growing market, how to make sense of all those charging standards, and what …

The Climate Leaders Coalition turned five years old. Its signatories, which include some of NZ’s largest polluters, are a group of 88 companies that have committed to climate agenda and they’ve notched up some impressive achievements. Collectively they’ve reduced emissions by 3.6 million tonnes, that’s a nearly 30% percent reduction since 2018. And…

Every 35 minutes solarZero installs a new residential solar system. It plans to invest $1 billion in new solar and battery systems over the next decade and already has 12,000 installations. It made headlines this time last year when it was acquired by Blackrock, the world’s largest investors. And in September just gone, the government-owned NZ Gree…

Ian Parry is the Environmental Fiscal Policy Expert at the International Monetary Fund. He came to speak at a series of events in New Zealand about tax. It doesn’t get more exciting than that. But there’s more. Ian is a specialist in carbon pricing, emission trading schemes, and the role of fiscal policy in climate mitigation. The timing couldn’t b…

How is the Council progressing with Te Tāruke ā Tāwhiri, Auckland’s Climate Plan? In the three years since it was ratified, we’ve had Covid, a change in council, and now a change of government. Will it survive and how much progress has been made? We check in with its architects, councillor Richard Hills, chair of the Planning, Environment and Parks…

Sustainability’s elevation into corporate strategy suggests it’s on its way to becoming integral to New Zealand businesses. But why are businesses writing sustainability strategies? What do they look like? And how often do they translate into real action? For answers, Ross Inglis talked with Vanessa Thompson from Auckland-based sustainability strat…

In June this year, a new piece of equipment was anchored 37km off the coast of Pātea in the South Taranaki Bight. Called the Floating Light Detecting and Ranging device, FLiDAR will measure wind speeds at heights of up to 300m as a well as waves and currents to provide data critical for assessing the feasibility of a proposed offshore wind farm. Th…

The future of farming may be indoors. With eroding coastlines, droughts and unpredictable downpours, farming may be better done in controlled, indoor environments. Better for GHGs emissions too. We know that’s already happening for tomatoes and leafy greens – but what about large scale crops like wheat or fruits or sheep and dairy? Darryn Keiller i…

How does change happen? And what can we learn from political and community leaders? Vincent hosted a live event during the Auckland Climate Festival to learn how three experienced climate leaders crossed the chasm from intention to action: ● Sophie Hansford - School Strike 4 Climate founder and Kapiti Coast District Councillor ● James Shaw - Minist…

What does climate change mean for investing - is it a disaster, creating havoc due to storms and ecosystem collapse and ultimately stranded assets? Or is there an upside, as companies discover new tech, new markets and new ways of working? It's probably both! Vincent spoke with Shannen Barns (Mindful Money), Rohan MacMahon (Climate VC Fund) and Dar…

Commercial property is more polluting that you might imagine. Twenty percent of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the property sector. What will it take to reduce those emissions? Scott McKenzie, CEO of Tauranga-based property investment firm PMG Funds, has a plan.By Podcasts NZ / Vincent Heeringa

Andrew Caseley is outgoing CEO of EECA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. He arrived in 2017 to launch a refreshed strategy and resigns as that piece of work concludes. Back then Judith Collins was Minster of Energy, there were 6000 EVs on the road and Bruno Mars was top of the pops. What’s changed since then, how is New Zealand pro…

Cornell Tukiri is the senior Māori advisor for Tataki Auckland United and also for Climate Connect Aotearoa – a climate action accelerator by Tataki Auckland Unlimited. Cornell recently launched He Kete Mātauranga, a resource for climate and community leaders to learn more about Māori approaches to climate change and regenerative practices. A photo…

Next month is the biggest event on the corporate climate calendar, the Climate Change + Business conference by Environmental Defence Society, the Sustainable Business Council and Climate Leaders Coalition. You could say it’s the CCBC by the EDS and SBC and the CLC. On the agenda are the ETS, the TCFD and of course IPCC by UNFCCC. To explain all tho…

In Aotearoa New Zealand, we throw away a staggering ​97 million single-use plastic drinks containers each year, with less than 7% of those ever getting recycled. Seems dumb especially when most of that drink is water. Brianne West is the founder of Ethique, the eco-beauty products business that took water out of cosmetics and saved millions of tons…

Back in May, the government injected another $300m into NZ Green Investment Finance – or NZGIF – taking the green bank’s investment pool to $700m. Starting in 2019 the bank has committed about $300m in 16 transactions to-date. Given the scale of the transition, why is it such a small sum and why is it taking so long to spend it? What impact is it h…

Emily King is the author of Re-food, a challenge to reimagine and reconstruct the food system in Aotearoa. It’s a timely book, with farmers and growers hit by extreme weather, food prices at record highs and a predominance of highly processed food at the expense of ingredients and wholefoods. But what is Re-fooding and how do we know Emily’s cure w…

What happens to all that silage baling wrap you see when you’re whizzing around the countryside? Until recently, nearly all New Zealand farmers burned or buried it. That’s changing, largely due to a company called Plasback. Neal Shaw, Plasback’s Commercial Manager, stepped Ross Inglis through the fast-evolving business of recycling farm plastics.…

Taranaki-based scaffolding and rigging company Cunningham Construction has deep roots in the petrochemical sector. It’s also on a journey towards sustainability. Managing Director Paul Cunningham talked to Ross Inglis through the why and the how of doing business differently.By Podcasts NZ / Vincent Heeringa

It’s hard running a small business. It’s harder running a small business that takes it’s environmental and social responsibility serisously. And it’s suepr hard then auditing that effort and publishing it for all to see. Kōkako Coffee recently published its fourth sustainbility report – presenting a warts ‘n all analysis of its performance. As a sm…

You will know about cling film. Perhaps you wrapped your lunch in it this morning. Or you’ve seen swaths of it used to wrap suitcases at the airport. It’s ubiquitous and it’s pernicious. Jon Reed certainly thinks so and has created Compostic, a plant-based alternative that as the label says decomposes faster than an orange peel. He was joined by Vi…

Comvita is a publicly listed mānuka honey specialist – the OG of mānuka money if you like. For a moment it was a sharemarket darling peaking in 2015 but since then languishing as it posted losses and a stockpile of product it couldn’t shift. Enter David Banfield in 2020. A spectacular financial result in February this year signal perhaps a reversal…

Finn Ross is a young guy on a mission. He’s completing a PhD on seaweed carbon sequestration, he’s also co-founder of CarbonZ, a company offering voluntary carbon credits based on the restoration and planting of native trees on New Zealand farmland. He’s the son of entrepreneurs Geoff and Justine Ross, owners of Lake Hawea Station, New Zealand’s fi…

A framework for any corporate, anywhere, to divert anything from landfill. That’s the promise from Auckland-based social enterprise All Heart NZ. Ross Inglis asked the irrepressible Joe Youssef, the company’s founder and Chief Encourager, how it does it.By Podcasts NZ / Vincent Heeringa

What happens to all those acres of white plastic wrap that protect building sites? Ross Inglis talks with two people who know: Too much of it goes to landfill, and they’re doing something about it. In this episode: Tina Wieczorek (right) is the CEO of the industry organisation Scaffolding, Access and Rigging New Zealand, or SARNZ, and Penny Thomson…

Conventional plastics recycling is fussy: it can handle only four of the 24 types of plastic, and even those have to be clean. Here’s the story of Auckland-based social enterprise Critical, which uses proprietary technology to turn a wide range of waste plastics, including more contaminated ones, into construction boards and countertops.…

New Zealanders on average throw out textiles equivalent to 200 t-shirts every year. Finding a new home for all those garments is the mission of Australasian textiles recycler Upparel. Jeff Vollebregt, director of Upparel’s New Zealand operation talked Ross Inglis through the business of circular clothing.…

The transport sector has experienced its share of drama this year, starting with Cyclone Gabrielle wiping out so many roads and bridges across the north island. The cyclone was blamed for a sudden change in the direction in government policy. Back in February, Minister Michael Woods announced a climate-friendly plan, in its three-year transport pla…

Last week the quarterly auction for carbon credits hit a remarkable snag: it failed to meet the clearing price. This means none of the 4.5 million carbon permits on offer were sold. The failed auction was attributed to Cabinet’s decision to allow more credits to be issued, in an attempt to keep the carbon cost low. And it worked! The carbon price s…

It's 10 years since the first companies were certified as B-Corp in New Zealand and since then the movement of ethical and environmentally responsible businesses has grown to over 500 in NZ and Australia and more than 6000 worldwide. But growing pains are emerging as the movement shifts from cutting-edge to mainstream. Last year a group of 30 B-Cor…

If the rain that deluged the North Island is the ‘new normal’, how are hard-hit growers meant to think about the future – and growing anything in the ‘normal’ way? Vincent Heeringa spoke to Brent Clothier, chief scientist with Plant & Food, about four ways to think about growing food in a warmer and (ironically) drier New Zealand. Note: this was re…

How can we make sense of the Biblical deluge that soaked Auckland, Northland, and the Coromandel in late January – and by the time this is being recorded is about to happen again. If only there was an articulate, slow-talking climate scientist who could explain what hell just happened. Oh, wait! Vincent just spoke with Kevin Trenberth a Distinguish…

Building a new house in New Zealand produces on average two skips of construction debris. If a demolition is involved, added another 13 skips. As a nation, we’re really bad at diverting all that waste from landfill. Ross Inglis spoke with two people with a solution: property developer Nigel Benton and Doctor Terri-Ann Berry from Unitec Institute of…

Part Three: Rohan MacMahon on investment and technology Is 2023 the year that New Zealand seizes the nettle on climate action? Or is it another year of incrementalism? And what effect will the election, with a potential change of government, have on the direction and speed of climate policy? To shed some light Vincent dusted off the crystal ball an…