Thirdly, there is the $2m Fuel Efficient Tyres Initiative, which involves an information campaign to get New Zealanders to transition to fuel efficient tyres, which the government hopes will save 2.5 million litres of fuel per year.
And, at the opening of the Bioenergy Association conference in Rotorua recently, Energy minister Simon Bridges announced a $1.5m grant to develop a wood fuel supply hub in Southland.
Greens propose green investment bank
If elected, the Green Party has said it will establish a green investment bank as a first step in accelerating New Zealand's transition to a smarter greener economy.
The Greens' co-leader Russell Norman has said that the bank will be a government-owned, for-profit bank partnering with the private sector to fund new projects ranging from renewable energy and biofuel production to new clean technologies.
"Considerable new investment opportunities lie in renewable energy plants, solar panel installations, energy efficiency retrofits, the development and production of significant volumes of biofuels, and new clean technologies," he said.
"The bank will mirror the success of green banks overseas. There are successful precedents throughout Europe, Japan, and the USA with two of the newest green banks started in the UK and Australia."
Generation Zero releases policy report
Youth movement Generation Zero launched a report this month calling upon the New Zealand government to phase out fossil fuels for all energy and transport needs by 2050.
Generation Zero says that showed New Zealand would need to start reducing CO2 emissions immediately towards zero before 2050 to stay within a per capita share of the remaining global carbon budget.
In a foreword, Victoria University climate scientist Dr James Renwick said many of the technologies needed for the transition were at hand.
"What's required is political will and the courage and vision to seize the myriad of opportunities before us," said Dr Renwick.
"New Zealand could be at the forefront of the new energy technologies needed in the 21st century, or we could continue drilling for oil and pumping up the dairy herd. The choice is ours."
Building a sustainable KiwiSaver fund
Do you know where your savings in KiwiSaver are being invested? At present Kiwisaver funds have little to no sustainability criteria, which means that when fund managers select companies to invest in on your behalf, they don't include environmental or social factors as part of their investment criteria.
The Sustainable Business Network (SBN) has initiated a project to identify demand and create a sustainable Kiwisaver fund for New Zealand.
The SBN is currently running a five-minute survey on the proposal - and hoping for 5000 responses to show that the investment community New Zealanders care.
Dunedin Council drops fossil fuels
Dunedin City Council has followed the lead of the Anglican church by divesting itself of all fossil fuel investments.
The council voted to remove existing fossil fuel extraction investments of close to $2 million and prevent future investments by its $75 million Waripori fund.
The move sees Dunedin City become the first New Zealand city to divest from fossil fuels for ethical and climate change reasons. The divestment movement, begun by climate change action organization 350.org is spreading around the world.
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