A chemical company and its engineering partner have been named winners of two Government-backed environmental awards for making big energy savings and cutting pollution.

Air quality in New Zealand has continued to improve over the past decade, but winter smoke from wood and coal burners is still seeing safety guidelines breached in some parts of the country.

High pollution readings indicate air at the bottom of Auckland's Queen St valley risks failing World Health Organisation standards designed to prevent respiratory and heart disease.

A damning report on stormwater practices at Auckland Council is being suppressed because some officers do not want to confront home truths, says councillor Chris Darby.

Dame Anne Salmond asks; "Is the headlong pursuit of short-term prosperity at the expense of our waterways a rational choice, or is it a foolish, deluded gamble."

Paris drastically reduced its smog problem by banning half of all private cars and motor-bikes and almost all trucks on Monday.

Aman from China's pollution-choked north has become the first person to attempt to sue the Government for failing to protect its citizens from the effects of toxic smog.

Like so many iconic American products, Los Angeles smog is now being made in China.

The equivalent of the population of the Wellington region dies each year in China because of air pollution, according to the country's former Health Minister.

Veteran New Zealand oilman Rob Jager says he can understand concern over deep water drilling off New Zealand's coast.

NZ rivers and swimming spots will increasingly be polluted by algae and contain fewer fish as the dairy boom continues, an environmental watchdog has warned.

In the last of a three-part series, Young New Zealander of the Year and CEO of the Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust ,Sam Judd, discusses the United Nations Environment Programs’ Global Partnership on Marine Litter.

A Greenpeace-commissioned report shows dramatic blow-out effects of a deep-sea oil spill, but the industry says it's "science fiction".

Every day, millions of tons of inadequately treated sewage, industrial and agricultural waste enters the world's waterways, writes Sam Judd.

Sam Judd writes that perhaps the biggest environmental problem we currently face is the contamination of our waterways by nutrients.

United Future and the Maori Party have teamed up to block the Government’s major reforms of the Resource Management Act.

Scientists are keen to discover what effect the hustle and bustle of downtown Auckland has on those who walk its streets every day.

A petrol company says it should not have to pay clean-up costs for decades of petrochemical pollution on prime waterfront land.

A law change to limit how long companies can discharge pollution into New Zealand's waterways has been shot down by a parliamentary select committee.

The current school holiday-related reduction in traffic demonstrates our roading network works well when we take cars off the road, writes Sudhvir Singh.

Commuters in Auckland and Christchurch are exposed to levels of air pollution similar to those found in other large cities around the world, a new study reveals.

A fast-growing global company which salvages non-recyclable waste items and turns them into new products is about to be launched in New Zealand.

Individually wrapped coffee servings, plastic-wrapped produce in polystyrene trays and the 180 million disposable cups Kiwis use a year are choking our landfills unnecessarily.