Is your KiwiSaver invested in porn, weapons and ciggies? Does it have a stake in fossil fuels and palm oil plantations? How would you know? And what can you do? Barry Coates founded Mindful Money to dig into such investment conundrums, reveal where the money flows and provide ethical alternatives. The former Greens MP and Oxfam CEO talked to Vincent about radical transparency, the power of investors, the excitement of ideas and his own Damascus Road conversation to a greener, sustainable world.

About Mindful Money

Mindful Money provides free insights into the investments of KiwiSaver funds. Only 1% of current KiwiSaver funds exclude investments in porn, gambling and animal cruelty. Only 2% exclude fossil fuels. Mindful Money allows you to choose your ethical criteria and recommends the funds that match. It gets paid a small fee when you switch funds. Check it out.

TOP rocketed to fame in the last election off the back of its former leader Gareth Morgan attacking pretty much everything: government, the opposition, the wealthy, the tax system the welfare system and even cats. This time around it’s Geoff Simmons at the helm. The former economist talks to Vincent about prospects for success, climate action, upending the tax system and the future of a value, not volume driven New Zealand. 

Taking a break from interviews this week, Vincent reviews the breakthrough book More From Less, by Andrew McAfee. Describing green growth as ‘Humanity’s Big Surprise’, McAfee argues that we can not only grow our economy through conventional capitalism but that we can simultaneously reduce our impact on the natural world. It’s the miracle of dematerialisation – and it’s happening faster than ever. Is he correct? Can capitalism save the planet? Vincent goes digging.

Amazon reviews of More from Less

Critical review by Foreign Affairs magazine

Andrew McAfee’s Ted Talk about More from Less

Eloise Gibson is New Zealand’s first reporter to be appointed a climate change editor in a mainstream media outlet. The award-winning business journalist joined Stuff.co.nz earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised by the warm reception from the science and business community. But did readers do the same? I spoke to Eloise about her fans and critics, Stuff’s commitment to science and keeping her spirits up on the front line of climate news.

In this episode I had a great chat with EV converter and enthusiast Theo Gibson  (EV Podcast host) about his own car conversion and the direction of  EV transport locally and globally. Enjoy!

EV Podcast: https://evpodcast.com

This Climate Business: https://www.podcasts.nz/this-climate-business/

James Frankham is on a war path. The publisher of New Zealand Geographic and outdoor adventurer is outraged by the decline of the Hauraki Gulf, the so-called jewel in Auckland’s crown. The State of the Gulf 2020 report reveals that overfishing, sedimentation, pollution, political failures and ignorance have combined to push this precious habitat to near collapse. We spoke to James about what can be done, how long the Gulf has got, his work with NZ Geo, virtual reality and his hopes that his children, like he did, will see rays feeding in Waiheke’s rockpools.

About James

James is the publisher of the multi-award-winning New Zealand Geographic, an adventurer and advocate for the great outdoors. In 2019 he was a named a Blake Leader by the Sir Peter Blake Trust for his work in using virtual reality to showcase undersea habitats.

Visit NZ Geo

See the VR work

And read the State of the Gulf report

Noho is a Kiwi furniture start-up taking Kiwi sustainability to the USA. Noho’s chairs are made of recycled fishing nets and the first of a line of products that CEO, Richard Shirtcliffe, says are rethinking what wellbeing means for home and for the planet.  Now based in chilly burbs of Boulder Colorado, the former boss of Tuatara Beer and Coffee Supreme is leading the charge to take Noho to the USA. We spoke to him about riots, rubbish, recycling and reclining his way into success.

About Noho

Noho – meaning to sit or to dwell in te reo – is a Wellington-based sustainable furniture maker with strong connections to Formway Furniture – the company that brought us the amazing Life Chair. 

https://nz.noho.co/

About Richard

Richard Shirtcliffe is the founding CEO of Noho, and former boss of much-loved Kiwi brands Phil&Teds, Tuatara Beer and Coffee Supreme. 

Sir Peter Gluckman says New Zealand is woeful at long-term planning – and the environment suffers as a result. In the latest paper from Koi Tū: The Centre of Informed Futures, Sir Peter and Anne Bardsley argue for a new Sustainability Commissioner to be charged with implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and pressure government, business and councils to factor the biosphere in all decision-making. We ask why, and how, this could happen.

Forests are only part of the answer to dealing with climate change, warns Marty Verry, CEO of Red Stag Timber, NZ’s largest timber mill. He says the government’s One Billion Trees Programme could lead to a dangerous glut unless there’s a wholesale adoption of wood for construction, fuel and other downstream products. Could a ‘Wood First’ policy displace concrete and steel? How reliable are forests for carbon sink? And as a source of credits? And what about all that lost farmland? These questions and more on This Climate Business!

About Marty

Marty Verry is the CEO of Red Stag Timber, NZ’s largest and most advanced timber mill, based in Rotorua. A surfer, dad and convert to climate action, Marty started his sustainability journey after seeing the human impact on the ocean and the opportunity forestry can play in solving our emissions problem – if done right.

How green was the Budget?  Billed as transformational it contains big dollops of cash for the environment, rail, ferries, housing and insulation. So you’d think that climate campaigners would be happy. Errr, nope. The Budget is a missed opportunity to reshape New Zealand to a low-emissions, high-margin economy and leaves us exposed to that other imminent threat, climate change. I spoke to three experts to unpack the good, the bad and tragically missing from this epic spending spree.

Rod Oram is a business journalist specialising in sustainable development, writing for Newsroom.

Amanda Larsson is the Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace NZ and an author of the Green New Deal, a plan to accelerate NZ’s progress to a low-emissions future.

Jenny Cooper QC is the president of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ.