Insurers and councils welcome better climate data

Insurers and councils welcome better climate data
Infrastructure damage in Esk Valley caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. (Image: Hawkes Bay Today)
Greg Hurrell
Improved climate projection data is now being used for tasks as mundane as choosing pipe sizes for stormwater drains. New Zealand councils, banks, insurers, and the farming sector have been calling for ever-better projections based on more fine-grained data as the world warms.A two-and-a-half-year project by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) to upgrade NZ’s climate data is a finalist in the 2025 Science NZ awards.It includes new insights on higher future rainfall and predicts Northland, for example, will...

More Climate change

Govt green fund’s BlackRock knockback
Finance

Govt green fund’s BlackRock knockback

The government-backed fund decided against participating last June.

Pattrick Smellie 05 Mar 2025
Reflections on NZ's cleantech
Opinion

Phil Anderson: Reflections on NZ's cleantech

Building a NZ cleantech company from scratch starts with being there.

Phil Anderson 22 Jan 2025
BlackRock gives foreign investment a bad name
Opinion

Pattrick Smellie: BlackRock gives foreign investment a bad name

If it had set out to be disliked in NZ, BlackRock would be succeeding handsomely.

Pattrick Smellie 13 Jan 2025
How an antacid for the ocean could cool the Earth
Climate change

How an antacid for the ocean could cool the Earth

Technique removes atmospheric carbon, prevents ocean acidification.