Energy Sector – Ara Ake backs 13 projects to unlock New Zealand’s energy flexibility

September 8, 2025

Source: Ara Ake

Ara Ake has approved over $600,000 in funding from the National Flex Discovery Fund for 13 flexibility service providers (FSPs). The Fund is designed to accelerate the commercialisation of emerging energy solutions by providing targeted grants.

“Flexible energy resources, like batteries and electric vehicles, can help the electricity grid during peak demand, reduce the need for new infrastructure, and lower costs for consumers. However, much of New Zealand’s flexibility remains untapped because it is not visible, measurable or accessible,” says Rob Campbell, Ara Ake Board Chair.

“The Fund was set up to address this issue. As it was 160% oversubscribed for the $1 million grant funding pool available, we can see there is clear appetite from New Zealand innovators and industry to deliver flexibility services.”

The Fund is aimed at two areas:

Helping flexibility providers become discoverable to potential buyers on an open-access flexibility platform.
Supporting providers already visible on these platforms to grow and enhance capacity or improve reliability.

Allocated funding was split into two tracks: approximately $200,000 for Track 1 and $400,000 for Track 2. Of the 20 applicants, 13 were successful. The projects were selected based on the Fund criteria that emphasised value-for-money and connected the greatest number of new providers to open-access flexibility platforms.

“This will help provide visibility to potential buyers and ensure a diverse supply of flexibility services across Aotearoa with the potential to scale up as the New Zealand flexibility market evolves in the years to come,” says Rob Campbell.

By the end of 2025, the funding will result in multiple new connections across Flexviz, FlexPoint™, Localflex and GrideX flexibility platforms.

“By next winter, the recipients of Track 2 funds will deliver five projects across diverse technologies: hot water controls, home energy management systems, remote, smart and fast EV charging, and commercial and industrial load. This represents significant potential new flexible load made accessible to the electricity system in time to provide support through the colder winter months in 2026,” says Briony Bennett, Senior Energy Innovation Manager, Ara Ake.

The successful recipients are:

1. Supa Energy

2. Octopus Energy

3. Flex-Able

4. PowerHub

5. Gridsmart, Rinnai NZ

6. Ecotricity

7. EWI Energy

8. Daikin New Zealand

10. Lastmyle

11. Cortexo

12. Counties Energy

13. Simply Energy

“We’ve been preparing for a flexible future for a while now, and this funding will help us turn our trials and pilots into a scalable solution. We’re looking forward to supporting the grid as New Zealand’s vehicle fleet continues to electrify,” says Tom Rose, Product Owner, Evnex.

“PowerHub appreciates this grant, which enables us to connect to a flexibility platform,” says Sophia Bristow, Startup Strategist, PowerHub Group. “As a growing small business in the New Zealand market, being part of the Flex Fund cohort is an important step forward for us.”

Find out more about the National Flex Discovery Fund here.

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Sustainable Business – SBC launches new framework for national system to help reduce freight emissions at Climate Change & Business Conference

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September 8, 2025

Source: Sustainable Business Council

The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) has successfully completed the second phase of its Low Emission Freight Certificate (LEFC) collaboration, marking a major step in the development of a new national system to help reduce emissions from Aotearoa New Zealand’s heavy freight sector.

SBC collaborated with a number of its members, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency (EECA) and DETA to design a market-based mechanism to facilitate decarbonisation, launching the framework of the system at the Climate Change and Business Conference today. This is the final piece in a multi-year SBC project to help members and businesses move the needle on heavy freight emissions.

The LEFC system is designed to reward freight companies that invest in low-emission vehicles and to give businesses a clear and credible way to decarbonise their freight emissions. If implemented this would be a world-leading initiative, allowing New Zealand businesses to demonstrate their efforts to reduce emissions.

The system works by allowing freight operators using cleaner vehicle technologies, such as hydrogen and electric, to generate certificates. These certificates can then be purchased by businesses wanting to reduce their Scope 3 emissions – indirect emissions which come from a company’s supply chain like the transport of goods and services.

The design follows international best practices to ensure transparency and accuracy, and avoids double counting of emissions reductions. If implemented, it will support both freight providers investing in low-emission trucks, as well as businesses looking to reduce their environmental impact.

Now the design of the framework is complete, SBC is looking for a provider to bring the system to life, including setting up and running a central registry, managing the certificates, and ensuring the operation is verified and audited each year.

“This is a pivotal moment for the freight sector and a huge opportunity for New Zealand,” says SBC Head of Climate and Nature Antonia Burbidge.

“If implemented this would be a world first scheme. SBC and our participating members have worked closely with industry leaders, government agencies, and technical experts to co-design a system that is practical, credible, and scalable. Now we need a provider to turn this into action to drive real emissions reductions across the supply chain.”

DETA Consulting is the project’s design partner.

Principal Consultant David Taylor says, “Setting up a system like the LEFC is essential to unlocking scalable, transparent decarbonisation in freight. It creates a way to recognise and reward low-emission freight activity, while giving businesses a credible way to report reductions in their supply chain emissions.”

“This is a real and innovative opportunity to turn ambition into action.”

The LEFC initiative has been developed as an SBC-led collaboration. Contributing member businesses include NZ Post, Lyttelton Port Company, Hiringa, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and CHEP. Additional participating organisations and technical experts who have worked on developing the framework design and legal considerations include the Ministry of Transport (MoT), and Chapman Tripp, New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and Retyna. The Smart Freight Centre (SFC) and Toitu Envirocare were engaged as part of the process.

NZ Post Head of Sustainability Maddie Spence says, “Industry collaboration on innovative solutions is essential to helping decarbonise heavy freight. We’re excited to see the Low Emissions Freight Certificate system move from concept to reality.”

SBC is now inviting expressions of interest from any organisations interested in knowing more about implementing the system and supporting New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions and climate resilient economy.

Background

Member-led collaborations in hard to abate sectors form a critical part of SBC’s work programme.

The transport sector is New Zealand’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, with heavy vehicles accounting for approximately 5% of New Zealand’s emissions.

Copies of the full LEFC Project Summary and LEFC Demand Report project summary detailing the design and framework of the LEFC system can be accessed here.

This work has been part funded by SBC, EECA and participating member organisations.

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Weather News – Spring swings: Calm skies give way to stormy change – MetService

LiveNews Publisher

September 8, 2025

Source: MetService

Covering period of Monday 8 – Thursday 11 September
The cooler temperatures, clear skies, and calm conditions that kick off the beginning of the second week of spring will be in stark contrast to the end of the week, with MetService forecasting wet and windy weather to move up the country from the early hours of Tuesday.

A clear and bright Monday morning came with an extra treat of a lunar eclipse, glimpsed as the moon set. With a ridge of high pressure extending over most of the country, cloud-free skies allowed a vast swathe of the population to view the astronomical phenomenon.

While Tuesday will also start off frosty and fresh, the impending change in the weather will not be far away. The first signs will be an increase in cloud and a switch in the wind: fresh southerly winds give way to gusty northwesterly winds about the southern South Island on Tuesday. Rain accompanies this change in weather, heaviest in the west and possibly thundery there also.

MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor says, “The front tracking northward up the country has a lot going on: heavy rain and thunderstorms right along the entire western coast; the chance of severe gale northwesterly winds for Canterbury High Country and the lower North Island; and potentially a fresh dump of spring snow for the southern ski fields. This week is really embodying what we think of as spring conditions.”

Later in the week, another shift in weather is expected. As the first front moves off to the east, a new one sinks down from the north. While still a few days away, it is already expected to pack a punch across the upper North Island.

O’Connor adds, “The northern North Island will escape the worst of the weather earlier in the week, but that will change come Thursday. Again, we are expecting heavy rain, potentially gale westerly winds, and maybe even some thunderstorms to have an impact over this area.”

With changeable weather prevailing this week, keeping up to date with the weather at metservice.com will be paramount, especially when deciding whether to take your raincoat or sunglasses – or maybe even both.

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Health and Employment – Senior doctors to strike for 48 hours in September

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September 8, 2025

Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists

Senior doctors and dentists working for Health New Zealand have voted to strike for 48 hours over stalled pay talks with their employer.

The strike will see the complete withdrawal of labour of Association of Salaried Medical Specialists members from 12:01am on 23 September 2025 until 11:59pm on 24 September 2025.

ASMS members will maintain life preserving services during the strike. These plans will be negotiated over the next five days.

A total of 85% of members who cast a vote were in favour of the two-day strike.

The strike ballot was issued after members almost unanimously rejected Health New Zealand’s latest pay offer, which would have seen a real pay cut for most members. For 90% of senior doctors and dentists covered by our collective agreement, this offer would have represented an annualised pay increase of just 1.16% per year.

Escalating strike action is a last resort, but Health New Zealand must make ASMS members an offer that ensures that specialist salary rates remain competitive and allows Health New Zealand to recruit the medical workforce Aotearoa needs.

The ASMS is ready to resume pay talks and is expecting to meet with the employer before the strike.

ASMS encourages Health New Zealand to return to bargaining with a better offer.

Full details of the ballot results are here.

Details of Health New Zealand’s last pay offer is here, and ASMS’ analysis of it is here.

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Nurses Organisation files first Pay Equity claims under new regime

LiveNews Publisher

September 8, 2025

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

The first two Pay Equity claims under the Coalition Government’s new stricter regime have been filed today by Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).

NZNO today filed the claims on behalf of its Hospice and Plunket members, covering about 750 and 800 people respectively. Hospice and Plunket were the most advanced of NZNO’s 12 previous claims which were scrapped overnight with the Government’s changes on 6 May.

NZNO spokesperson and Hospice nurse Fiona McDougal says almost 95% of NZNO nurses and support staff working for Hospice are female.

“Our work involves supporting, counselling, and caring for people of all ages needing end-of-life and holistic palliative care in hospice, their homes and the community. We also support their whānau.

“It is skilled and difficult work that not everyone is cut out for. Our work is a crucial part of a caring society. Yet it is work that has long been considered that of women. For that reason, we continue to be underpaid,” Fiona McDougal says.

NZNO delegate and Plunket nurse Hannah Cook says it is estimated that around 98% of Plunket nurses are female.

“About 80% of all newborn babies in Aotearoa New Zealand are seen by skilled and experienced Whānau Āwhina Plunket nurses like me.

“Yet because care work has been historically and systemically devalued in homes and communities, the work we do has been undervalued and underpaid.

“For my colleagues and I, today is an important day. Our mahi is important and we deserve to be paid at the same level for our skills and experience as those in a comparable male dominated occupation,” Hannah Cook says.

NZNO Pay Equity spokesperson Glenda Alexander says NZNO will now meet with each employer separately to progress the respective claims as set out under the new law.

“The employers will now be required to confirm the claims have met the merit and other thresholds required under the new regime. A process to assess the claims will then be set up.

“We know all parties to the two claims are keen to see a positive outcome for these nurses,” Glenda Alexander says.

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Greenpeace calls for Cantabrians to bring polluted drinking water to ECan

LiveNews Publisher

September 8, 2025

Source: Greenpeace

Greenpeace is holding a rally outside Environment Canterbury on the council’s final sitting day before elections, to bring nitrate-contaminated drinking water directly to the regional council.

The rally will take place on September 17th at 9:30am outside Environment Canterbury’s Christchurch headquarters. Greenpeace is asking participants to bring a jar of their drinking water with them.

Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe says “Environment Canterbury are burying their heads in the sand and expecting that Canterbury’s drinking water crisis will magically resolve itself – but the reality is, fixing water pollution is Environment Canterbury’s responsibility.

“That’s why on September 17th, we’ll be delivering nitrate contaminated drinking water from homes across the region to the people responsible for enabling that contamination.

“At a time when lakes and rivers are unswimmable, and rural people can’t even drink the water coming out of their kitchen tap without worrying about getting sick, Environment Canterbury has greenlit more than 16,000 extra dairy cattle onto the Canterbury plains in just the last eight months.”

Appelbe says, “Intensive dairying is the main source of nitrate pollution in Canterbury, and Environment Canterbury knows this. Ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away – so we’re bringing the issue to the council’s doorstep.”

“The people of Canterbury want clean drinking water now, and they’re willing to vote for it. Our challenge to ECan candidates is: who’s willing to stand up to defend Canterbury’s fresh water by ending dairy expansion and phasing out the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser?”

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Health – Urgent relief for Christchurch kura battling unhealthy buildings

LiveNews Publisher

September 8, 2025

Source: Asthma and Respiratory Foundation

Ten heavy-duty air purifiers are being gifted to a Christchurch kura ā iwi to help protect tamariki from the increased risk of respiratory issues caused by potential exposure to cold, damp, and mouldy classrooms.

The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ, with support from Friends of the Foundation partner AHI Carrier Toshiba, is donating the air scrubbers to Te Pā o Rākaihautū, where staff and students are ensuring equitable property provision to ensure safe, warm and dry learning spaces.

A recent workplace health and safety report, commissioned by the school’s board in May, identified “critical issues” in the 70-year-old repurposed buildings, including rotting walls, mould growth, and ongoing leaks over areas where food is prepared.

The report noted that evidence had emerged of health deterioration among staff and students, including “increased asthma symptoms reported among staff. Breathing difficulties and respiratory illness reported in students not previously affected”.

Foundation Chief Executive Ms Letitia Harding says the air scrubbers are an urgent measure to reduce harm, but fall far short of what the kura really needs.

“Every breath matters, especially for our tamariki.

“When we heard that these children were learning in freezing, damp classrooms where mould and illness are potentially spreading, we knew we had to step in,” she says.

“These scrubbers will help filter the air and provide some relief, but what this kura really needs are safe, healthy, permanent buildings – no child should have to learn in conditions that harm their health.”

Te Pā o Rākaihautū Kaiurungi (Principal) Terina Tahau says staff and students are incredibly grateful for the support.

“We are thankful to the Foundation and AHI Carrier Toshiba for recognising the urgency of our situation, but it should never fall on charities to step in where the system has failed.”

The pā wananga has been operating out of temporary, inadequate buildings (that were closed following the Christchurch earthquakes) for over a decade, she says.

“The reality is our pononga are expected to continue to learn in temporary, aged facilities that are not fit for purpose.

“While we always ensure our pononga are safe and we have the heat pumps operating 24/7 when it is cold, the number of ongoing property emergencies is unacceptable,” she says.

“Far too much time, and money, is spent on putting plasters (temporary fixes) on these property concerns.

“However, despite all of this our pononga thrive and achieve well above the National norms.”

AHI Carrier Toshiba Marketing Manager Shirli Talbot says the company was keen to act quickly once it learned of the kura’s situation.

“Supplying air scrubbers is something practical we could do straight away to help improve the air they’re breathing every day, while longer-term solutions are still being worked through.”

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Well overdue for Minister Van Velden to apologise for outrageous attack on judicial independence – PSA

LiveNews Publisher

September 8, 2025

Source: PSA

It has now been 17 days since Minister of Workplace Relations Brooke Van Velden made extraordinary and unprecedented comments about new and existing members of the Employment Relations Authority, yet these damaging remarks remain uncorrected on the public record.

“This defiance shows a concerning pattern where ideology and politics override cabinet rules and longstanding constitutional principles,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.

“For Minister Van Velden, political point-scoring appears more important than respecting the separation of powers that underpins our democracy.”

Minister Van Velden’s statements that she hopes new Authority members will ‘lend a more sympathetic ear to business,’ that she expects ‘smaller awards against business,’ and her dismissive claim that current members ‘believe money grows on trees’ represent a fundamental breach of constitutional norms.

The seriousness of these comments was acknowledged by the Prime Minister, who asked the Attorney General to warn Cabinet of the ‘need for careful use of language’ and remind Cabinet members that the Employment Relations Authority is independent.

“Despite this clear rebuke, Minister Van Velden has offered neither clarification nor apology, allowing her inappropriate interference to stand.

“It’s also alarming that the Minister’s stance was echoed by ACT Party leader David Seymour, who celebrated these comments in a LinkedIn post that he has also failed to withdraw despite the Prime Minister’s intervention.

“This is not an isolated incident. Minister Van Velden previously dismantled pay equity laws and cancelled claims under urgency, denying natural justice to thousands of workers whose cases were shredded without warning or recourse. These actions demonstrate a pattern of disregard for both workers’ rights and proper democratic processes.

“When judicial independence is undermined, it affects every worker’s ability to seek fair treatment and protection.

“This goes to the heart of separation of powers – an independent judiciary and basic standards of democratic accountability for cabinet ministers. How can these comments remain on the public record while she remains a Cabinet Minister?”

With Parliament sitting this week, the PSA is calling for answers to critical questions:

Did the Attorney General speak to Minister Van Velden before she told media she stood by her comments?
Why has David Seymour left his endorsement of these comments on LinkedIn after the Attorney General’s warning?
Will the National Party reconsider giving ACT the Workplace Relations portfolio and take leadership to halt current plans to gut personal grievance protections?

“New Zealand workers deserve a government that respects both their rights and the constitutional principles that protect those rights,” said Fitzsimons. “17 days of silence is 17 days too long. It’s time for accountability.”

Previous statement

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Advocacy – International Literacy Day – 8 September: A Call for Justice in Palestine

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September 8, 2025

Source: Palestine Forum of New Zealand

Every year on 8 September, the world observes International Literacy Day, a reminder of the power of education to break cycles of poverty, open opportunities, and build just, peaceful societies. Literacy is not only about the ability to read and write, but also about dignity, empowerment, and the right to a future.

For Palestinians, however, this right is under constant threat. Decades of occupation, siege, and violence have devastated schools, universities, and libraries. In Gaza, entire educational institutions have been reduced to rubble. Teachers and students have been displaced, arrested, and even killed. What should be safe spaces for learning have been transformed into places of mourning.

Despite these hardships, the Palestinian people have always valued education as a form of resistance and resilience. Palestinian literacy rates remain among the highest in the Arab world, a testament to their deep commitment to knowledge and the belief that education is a pathway to freedom. Parents still encourage their children to read, to study, and to dream, even under bombardment. Books are shared, lessons continue in tents and ruins, and stories are passed down as acts of survival.

On this International Literacy Day, we must not only celebrate the global progress in education but also recognize the injustice faced by millions of Palestinian children who are denied their basic right to learn. Literacy should never be a privilege; it is a human right.

To stand in solidarity with Palestine on this day is to affirm that every child deserves a classroom, every teacher deserves safety, and every community deserves the chance to learn and thrive without fear.

Education is resistance. Literacy is freedom. Palestine deserves both.

Palestine Forum of New Zealand

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Investments Sector – NZ SUPER FUND BEATS PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS TO CONTINUE RUN OF STRONG RESULTS

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September 8, 2025

Source: New Zealand Superannuation Fund

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has beaten its key performance benchmarks, generating a pre-tax return of 11.84 percent after costs for the year ended 30 June 2025.

Total fund size was up $8.4 billion from a year earlier, ending the 2025 financial year at $85.1 billion.

Jo Townsend, CEO of fund manager the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, said that while much of the result was down to the continuing strength of global equity markets, the Guardians’ active investment strategies had also had a positive impact on the Fund’s performance.

“Two numbers are of particular importance to us,” Ms Townsend said.

“The first is net return, or the return over and above the government’s cost of capital.

“For the past year, the 90-Day Treasury bill rate was 4.61 percent, making our net return 7.24 percent – to put it another way, maintaining the Fund this year has made the Crown $5.5 billion better off,” said Ms Townsend.

Ms Townsend said the Fund’s other key benchmark was value add, which expresses how successful the Guardians’ active investment strategies have been.

“We derive that by comparing our Actual Returns with the benchmark returns generated by our Reference Portfolio, which is a notional, passively-managed portfolio of bonds and shares that we believe would meet our mandate,” Ms Townsend said.

“For FY25, our value-added was 0.98 percent. In other words, we added $745 million to the earnings we would have achieved by following a passive, index-tracking strategy.”

Ms Townsend said that while short-term results were a useful check on the portfolio, the Guardians’ mandate and purpose – Sustainable Investment Delivering Strong Returns for All New Zealanders – meant the Fund’s long-term results told a more important story.

“Over the past 20 years, we have consistently outperformed our long-run expectations, generating an average annual return of 9.92%,” Ms Townsend said.

“Certainly, part of that is down to some well-thought-out and well-implemented active investment strategies: during that time, those strategies have generated close on $20 billion more than a passive strategy with the same level of market risk would have returned.

“However, we must also recognise that much of the Fund’s success is due to the exceptionally strong performance of global markets over the past 20 years – despite two once-in-a-generation crises in the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19.”

Earlier this year, international sovereign wealth fund experts GlobalSWF named the Super Fund the world’s best-performing sovereign wealth fund over the past 10 and 20 years.

Ms Townsend said while it was satisfying to have the Fund’s results recognised internationally, it was important to remember that different funds operated in different contexts.

“Over the last 20 years our long term investment horizon has allowed us to pursue growth-oriented investment strategies through market ups and downs and to take advantage of short-term volatility and uncertainty,” Ms Townsend said.

Ms Townsend said the clarity of the Guardians’ mandate was also a significant advantage for the NZ Super Fund.

“We operate with a clear legislative mandate and independence from the government of the day, which allows us to remain focused on the long term and make investment decisions on a purely commercial basis. That has been central to the success we have had.”

Fund Performance as at 30 June 2025 (unaudited)
Totals may not equal the sum of underlying components due to rounding. Returns for periods longer than one year are annualised. Table excludes provisions for New Zealand tax.

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