The Environmental Defence Society has launched a series of investigative pieces into how environmental laws are being made in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Government has introduced legislation to Parliament to establish the new Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT), a key step in delivering its ambitious reform agenda across housing, transport, urban development and the environment.

An assessment of the Whangamarino Wetland in north Waikato confirms decades of ecological decline and offers a clear roadmap for collaborative action to restore this internationally significant site.

The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has lodged its final submission on the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill with Parliament’s Environment Select Committee, including detailed tracked-change drafting to address significant weaknesses in the legislation.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has submitted on the Government’s Simplifying Local Government proposals.

The National Infrastructure Plan was published this week. It sets out a practical, affordable pathway to deliver the infrastructure New Zealanders need to thrive over the next 30 years.

At a high level, RMLA supports reform of New Zealand’s resource management system and considers the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill introduce a number of positive concepts and processes. However, as currently drafted, the Bills contain structural, procedural, and substantive issues that risk undermining certainty, efficiency, and the achievement of high-quality land use planning, development and environmental outcomes. Our submission therefore recommends targeted and, in some cases, material amendments to ensure the new system is legally robust, workable, and enduring.

Construction is starting on a sustainable green hydrogen facility in South Taranaki, supported by a $19.9 million government investment.

The Government will establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility to strengthen New Zealand’s energy security and support economic growth.

Environmental Defence Society Chief Executive Gary Taylor says, “The fear has been that the Fast-track Approvals Act would approve every application regardless of its environmental impacts. The draft decision on the Trans-Tasman Resources offshore mining project shows that’s not the case.”

EDS has released its draft submission on the two Resource Management Act replacement Bills ahead of the closing date.

The Ministry for the Environment publishes annual projections estimating New Zealand’s future greenhouse gas emissions to 2050. These projections were last published in October 2025.