It’s an understatement to say that 2020 had its challenges - even Prime Minister Ardern referred to 2020 as "frankly terrible", and you only have to see the world news today to see that many of those challenges are not over yet.

But there was good climate news in 2020, too – not least that, thanks to Covid-19, global emissions dropped by 2.4 billion tonnes according to experts with the University of East Anglia, University of Exeter, and the Global Carbon Project. To sustain that kind of reduction, big changes are needed, so it was awesome to see other big leaps being taken.

Our top good climate news stories of 2020

  1. The International Energy Agency(external link) reported that worldwide, nearly 90% of new electricity infrastructure installed in 2020 was renewable, increasing global renewable capacity by 7%.
  2. It was the year of the carbon-zero commitment. By the end of 2020, 126 countries(external link) had announced, implemented or were considering carbon-zero pledges, up from 65 in 2019. China was one of those to commit in 2020, pledging to cut emissions to net zero by 2060. With China responsible for around 28% of global greenhouse emissions, that’s a huge, positive promise.
  3. Worldwide, electric vehicles have boomed, with several countries announcing they’ll ban petrol and diesel cars in the next couple of decades, and a handful of manufacturers planning to go electric-only in the future. As electricity continues to become greener worldwide, the rise in EVs will be even better news.

Kiwis are making great individual choices, too, that add up to big impact.

  1. All around the country, cycling has taken off. According to Statistics NZ, the number of e-bikes and e-scooters is increasing year-on-year, and biking is now the fastest growing form of transport in several cities and towns, including Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. Learn more about choosing lower energy transport options
  2. More of our car fleet went electric. According to Waka Kotahi NZTA data, in 2020 we had 5,392 new EV registrations (including plug-in hybrids), around a 29% increase of the EV fleet.
  3. EECA(external link) (the government agency that backs Gen Less) co-funded 114 new public chargers in 2020 – continuing to build the infrastructure to support a growing electric fleet. There’s at least one charger for every 75km of highway now, including more 300Kw super-chargers, and increasing density in urban areas.

And speaking of EECA, we were proud to continue our work with some of New Zealand’s biggest emitters to keep decarbonising the economy.

  1. We had a record 20 sign-ups to the Energy Transition Accelerator, and began rolling out the $200m State Sector Decarbonisation Fund, with a focus on getting coal boilers out of DHBs, schools and tertiary institutions.
  2. We signed innovative Technology Demonstration projects, allowing some of our largest energy users to test and prove the case for tech that will get them off fossil fuels. We’ll be sharing the results of those projects in the coming months.