Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
States sue to stop Trump cancellation of $7 billion solar grant program
Today 11:00am
Nearly two dozen states are suing the Trump administration over its cancellation of a $7 billion grant program aimed at expanding solar energy in low-income communities, according to court papers.
Why countries struggle to quit fossil fuels, despite higher costs and 30 years of climate talks and treaties
Today 11:00am
Fossil fuels still power much of the world, even though renewable energy has become cheaper in most places and avoids both pollution and the climate damage caused by burning coal, oil and natural gas.
How one country’s Russian gas crisis became a green energy boom
Today 11:00am
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Moldova quickly empowered its small towns to produce their own renewable energy so no one could push it around.
International coalition joins push for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty
Today 11:00am
The International Union for Conservation of Nature adopted Motion 42 on Thursday, explicitly calling fossil fuel production a threat to nature, and urging its member groups to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
Today 11:00am
The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists.
UK Prime Minister will attend Brazil climate summit
Today 11:00am
Keir Starmer will travel to the Amazon rainforest for the COP30 United Nations climate summit next month, Downing Street has confirmed, after weeks of speculation that he would not.
EU plans support for countries affected by carbon border levy
Mon 20 Oct 2025
The European Union will offer development funding to countries affected by the bloc's carbon border tariff, the European Commission said on Thursday, as it attempts to soothe developing economies' concerns over the policy.
Carbon credits are failing to help with climate change — here’s why
Mon 20 Oct 2025
The idea that emissions can be offset through projects that claim to avoid releases or to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is fatally flawed.
New UN carbon market rules could reshape how investors value nature
Mon 20 Oct 2025
A debate over carbon permanence – how long CO2 must stay stored to count towards offsetting emissions – is reshaping global carbon markets and could determine whether nature remains investable.
'We’re in God’s hands now': A dispatch from Western Alaska
Mon 20 Oct 2025
An immense disaster has wrought deep trauma on Western Alaska’s Indigenous residents and is raising existential questions about the future of their low-lying communities amid a changing climate and a tightening state budget.
Drought, sand storms and evacuations: how Iran’s climate crisis gets ignored
Mon 20 Oct 2025
Iran and Israel fought a 12-day war in June. Although a ceasefire was declared the same month, news coverage of Iran continues to focus on the conflict’s aftermath and the Middle East’s tense political situation. Meanwhile, Tehran – home to more than 10 million people – is facing one of its worst water shortages in decades.
UN agency says CO2 levels hit record high last year, causing more extreme weather
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilisation and “turbo-charging” the Earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather.
Australian rainforests no longer a carbon sink – study
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Australia's tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, scientists said Thursday, linking the "very concerning" trend to climate change.
Climate scientists and republican lawyers are taking aim at Big Tech’s emissions
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Technology companies have long been one of the biggest investors in clean energy, but new accounting rules could upend that.
Judge dismisses suit by young climate activists against Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Plaintiffs had ‘overwhelming evidence’ of climate crisis but a court injunction would be ‘unworkable’, ruling says.
Indonesia restarts international carbon trade after four years
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has issued a new decree to restart international carbon emission trading after a four year hiatus.
For Australia to get moving on electric vehicles, we must ban petrol and diesel cars by 2035
Fri 17 Oct 2025
COMMENT: If nothing is done, transport is projected to be Australia’s largest emissions source by 2030.
Record global renewable energy growth remains short of climate target, report says
Thu 16 Oct 2025
A new report finds that a record amount of global renewable energy capacity was added last year, but that still leaves countries “short of targets towards meeting a UN climate goal to triple capacity by 2030”.
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
Thu 16 Oct 2025
The UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have said.
India calls on COP30 to focus on lack of funds for developing nations
Thu 16 Oct 2025
India has said the United Nations climate conference in Belm, Brazil, should focus on tackling the critical shortage of resources that developing countries need to adapt to climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Uninsurable buildings should focus minds on climate adaptation
Thu 16 Oct 2025
The bleak future faced by one small town offers a cautionary tale about the threat from global heating.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
Thu 16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
Landslides and flooding cut off 300 communities in Mexico with dozens dead and missing
Thu 16 Oct 2025
When a river that winds through the mountains of central Mexico suddenly turned into a crushing wall of water over this past week, it practically wiped the 400-person village of Chapula off the map.
World falling far behind deforestation goals with farms and fires driving loss, report says
Wed 15 Oct 2025
The report said the world permanently lost 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) of forest, an area about the size of England, in 2024 alone.
Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century, while growth fuelled by fossil fuels is futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction, the economist Nicholas Stern has said.
What the least developed countries need from COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Evans Njewa, chair, Least Developed Countries Group on Climate Change, details his hopes for the Belem climate talks, fears on 1.5C and red lines on finance.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
MPs across Latin America unite to stop fossil fuels in the Amazon
14 Oct 2025
A network of more than 900 lawmakers presented the results of a parliamentary investigation into the phaseout of fossil fuels in the Amazon at the Brazilian National Congress in Brasília.
Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’
14 Oct 2025
Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns.
How Caribbean states are shifting climate legislation
14 Oct 2025
The Caribbean region is among the most vulnerable to climate change, despite historically contributing less than half of one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
China carbon prices hit two-year low as market faces oversupply pressures
14 Oct 2025
Carbon credit prices in China have fallen to their lowest point since mid-2023, pressured by an excess of supply and tepid demand amid ongoing adjustments to the national emissions trading system.
Angola lowers climate ambition in blow to spirit of Paris Agreement
14 Oct 2025
Angola has scaled back its targets for reducing emissions in its new national climate plan, saying it chose “realism and implementability” over the Paris Agreement's calls for governments to set progressively more ambitious goals.
Why Trump is not a death knell for global climate action
14 Oct 2025
In his rambling speech to the United Nations last month, United States President Donald Trump described climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”.
US threatens visa restrictions, sanctions against UN members that back IMO emissions plan
13 Oct 2025
The United States threatened to use visa restrictions and sanctions to retaliate against nations that vote in favour of a plan put forward by a United Nations agency to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from ocean shipping.
More than 40 Trump administration picks tied directly to oil, gas and coal, analysis shows
13 Oct 2025
Report looks at White House nominees and appointees and agencies dictating energy, environment and climate policy.
Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking disasters to global warming
13 Oct 2025
Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.
'Not up for discussion': Brussels rejects Washington's pressure on climate rules
13 Oct 2025
In response to US demands to roll back the EU's environmental legislation, the European Commission defended its autonomous power to adopt laws.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Researchers compare the footprint of meat vs. plant-based dog foods. The differences were staggering.
13 Oct 2025
Global pet food emissions rival those of a small country. A new UK study reveals that switching dogs to plant-based foods could slash emissions tenfold—without sacrificing nutrition.
Nestle leaves climate alliance for dairy emission reductions
10 Oct 2025
The Swiss consumer goods company previously said its overall greenhouse gas emissions declined 20% in 2024.
Overshoot: Exploring the implications of meeting 1.5C climate goal ‘from above’
10 Oct 2025
The first-ever international conference on the contentious topic of “overshoot” was held last week in a palace in the small town of Laxenburg in Austria.
Pakistan's catastrophic floods show why we need just and effective climate finance
10 Oct 2025
Images of catastrophe flicker across our screens with alarming regularity: parched lands cracking under relentless heatwaves in the Sahel, coastal communities swallowed by rising tides in the Pacific and, now, devastating torrential floods in Pakistan.
National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn
10 Oct 2025
The UK’s national security is under severe threat from the climate crisis and the looming collapse of vital natural ecosystems, with food shortages and economic disaster potentially just years away, a powerful report by the UK’s intelligence chiefs is due to warn.
Solar panel efficiency record broken in big boost for renewable energy
10 Oct 2025
Scientists in Sydney have smashed the efficiency record for a new type of solar panel.
Cancelled artwork in Belém generates 57,765 Cultural Degrowth Credits
10 Oct 2025
The figures represented the anonymous decision-makers behind the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis.
Bonaire residents take Netherlands to court over climate
9 Oct 2025
The trial is a first for Europe and follows an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which provides a legal interpretation of international climate law.
Media and political attacks on Australia’s emissions targets ‘straight out of the climate obstruction playbook’
9 Oct 2025
Recent political and media attacks on renewable energy and climate action in Australia have come “out of the climate obstruction playbook” that has been honed over decades around the world by fossil fuel interests, according to professor Christian Downie.
China accelerates oil reserve site build amid stockpiling drive
9 Oct 2025
China is building oil reserve sites at a rapid clip as part of a campaign to boost crude stockpiles that increased in urgency after Russia's Ukraine invasion upended global energy flows and has accelerated this year.
US Energy Department to slash nearly $24 billion in green project funding
9 Oct 2025
The US Energy Department is slashing nearly $24 billion of funding for climate projects, as the Trump administration moves to further unwind Biden-era climate policies during the government shutdown.
India to become second-largest renewable market as global growth doubles: IEA
9 Oct 2025
India is set to become the second-largest growth market as global renewables will expand 2.5 times by 2030; however, grid and financing gaps threaten momentum, according to a new report.
‘Pathetic': experts slam govt’s approach to adaptation
Mon 20 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has signalled it will step back from full property buyouts if assets are hit by climate disasters, a move adaptation experts say will condemn hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders to a “dismal” future.
Govt ‘captured by industry’ on methane – Carr
Today 11:00am
By Liz Kivi | Former Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr says that recent moves to weaken methane targets and halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing show the Government has been captured by industry.
NZ needs to be part of a regional SAF strategy: Z, Air NZ
9 Sep 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand needs to be part of a regional strategic approach to sourcing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with domestic production less the aim than ensuring access to the fuel from one of a number of strategically positioned bio-refineries around the world.
Air NZ inks deal for its first internationally verified carbon credits
9 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Air New Zealand has committed to buying 8000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030, in partnership with local native forest investment platform My Native Forest.
NZ not 'holding the line' on wilding pine management – experts
Wed 15 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand is no longer “holding the line” against invasive threats, with the country’s scale, remoteness and rugged terrain making control costly and complex, one expert has said ahead of this week's Wilding Pines Conference.
Researchers say sealing old oil wells with bio-oil from crop waste is a dual carbon-removal solution
19 Sep 2025
A new analysis shows that oil made from corn husks, wood chips, and other waste could plug greenhouse gas-belching abandoned oil wells while sequestering carbon for about $152 per ton.
Broker predicts all this year’s carbon auctions will fail
10 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Marex New Zealand is forecasting that the government will sell no ‘pollution permits’ at the NZU auctions this year, with a significant gap continuing between secondary market prices and this year’s $68 auction floor price.
Will govt’s light touch approach lead to higher carbon prices?
3 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Carbon market watchers are hoping the government’s plan for the electricity sector will eventually lead to higher carbon prices, with the secondary market still trading sideways for the longest time in its history.
Electricity to remain in ETS
1 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The Government has rejected Frontier Economics' recommendation that electricity should be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme.
The merchants of doubt are back
3 Sep 2025
OPINION: If you don’t follow climate policy closely, you might not know that the Trump administration is launching an effort to overturn one of the most fundamental pillars of American climate policy.
Milestone for NZ Steel electrification
10 Sep 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | NZ Steel has passed an installation milestone for its new electric arc furnace, which will reduce emissions from the Glenbrook steel mill site by as much as one megatonne (1Mt) a year.
UN limits staff at COP30 climate summit over accommodation concerns
19 Sep 2025
High hotel prices for Brazil's COP30 climate summit in November have prompted the United Nations to urge its staff to limit attendance, while government delegations are still scrambling to find rooms within their budgets.
All carrot, no stick for farmers on methane
Fri 17 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | COMMENT: The abandonment of methane emissions pricing and the adoption of a weaker target is effectively the last nail in the coffin of the historic cross-parliamentary consensus embedded in the Zero Carbon Act 2019.
Electricity Authority proposes doubling solar export limits to 10 kW
Mon 20 Oct 2025
The Electricity Authority is proposing a default 10kW export limit for small-scale generation, saying new inverter standards and voltage settings allow homes and businesses to feed more power into local networks without compromising safety.
From nuisance to crisis: New report on pest wasps In Aotearoa
24 Sep 2025
Media release: Moths and Butterflies NZ Trust | Just published is the Final Report of the Pest Wasps Survey carried out by the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (MBNZT) offering a comprehensive look at New Zealanders’ awareness, experiences, and attitudes toward wasps and the growing ecological, health, and social issues associated with them.
Adaptation plan at odds with public sentiment: survey
Today 11:00am
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s position on climate adaptation buyouts shows a disconnect with public opinion, according to survey findings from insurer Suncorp NZ.
NZ marine heatwaves could double in intensity under high-emissions pathway
Thu 16 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New projections show marine heatwaves will grow more intense around the North Island and more frequent around the South Island as the climate warms – raising risks for fisheries, aquaculture, coastal ecosystems and tourism.
World falling far behind deforestation goals with farms and fires driving loss, report says
Wed 15 Oct 2025
The report said the world permanently lost 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) of forest, an area about the size of England, in 2024 alone.
‘Damp squib’ – Govt energy plan slammed for locking in fossil fuels
2 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Critics across business, climate groups and the opposition say the Government’s electricity reforms duck structural change, double down on LNG and gas, and offer little relief for soaring power prices – warning of an “expensive white elephant", deeper energy poverty and a missed chance to scale renewables.
RMA to speed up fossil fuel consents
18 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | An energy lobby group has welcomed a last-minute amendment to the RMA that puts fossil fuels on the same footing as renewables, however a sustainable energy expert says the move “beggars belief.”
Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century, while growth fuelled by fossil fuels is futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction, the economist Nicholas Stern has said.
Difficult trade-offs ahead for climate adaptation
Fri 17 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | While climate impacts are already here, bringing the urgent need to accelerate effective adaptation now, the Government's newly minted adaptation framework still leaves important questions unanswered about who will pay.
Climate credibility gap widening for Aussie firms
1 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Australian public companies’ climate change commitments are in retreat, reflecting difficulty in achieving stated targets and increased fossil use, but not because of any pressure to make less effort, according to a study of major companies’ ESG reporting.
Coal imports up 650%
12 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams and Liz Kivi | Coal imports are up 650% as generators stockpile the most polluting fossil fuel ahead of next winter.
Hiringa eyes green methanol plant near Whanganui
29 Jul 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Green hydrogen pioneer Hiringa Energy is deep in planning to develop an “eight-to-nine figure” methanol plant near Whanganui, using a combination of biomass and hydrogen produced using renewable energy.
Will NZ walk away from the Paris Agreement?
20 Dec 2024
By Geoff Bertram | COMMENT: Unless the government can find very cheap offshore mitigation, the temptation to walk away from its Paris Agreement obligations may well be too strong to resist for a coalition government focused on fiscal austerity.
Judge dismisses suit by young climate activists against Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Plaintiffs had ‘overwhelming evidence’ of climate crisis but a court injunction would be ‘unworkable’, ruling says.
'Non-negotiable' – EU carbon pricing to hit Kiwi exporters, expert warns
11 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | High carbon exports will inevitably face a high carbon tax at the EU border, possibly in the next five years, and high methane agricultural products might not be exempt, an international expert told a local audience yesterday.
Deep sea mining threatens sharks, rays and ghost sharks
6 Oct 2025
Mining the world’s deep seas for metals will likely threaten many species of sharks, rays and chimaeras (ghost sharks), according to researchers.
Methane pledge in question following NZ weakening targets
Mon 20 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi New Zealand’s new methane target puts the Global Methane Pledge – and ultimately climate targets – at risk, according to an international expert.
NZ's latest climate target 'weak' – Climate Action Tracker
24 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand's new international climate target to 2035 is weak, and could even allow for higher emissions than the 2030 target, according to a global scientific project that tracks government climate action.
Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
Today 11:00am
The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists.
‘Weird and sad’ – Tuvalu Climate Minister condemns NZ halving methane target
Wed 15 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Dr Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change, and Environment, says he’s surprised at New Zealand’s decision to weaken its target for reducing methane emissions – and is planning to take up the issue with his counterpart Climate Minister Simon Watts this week.
Bottom trawling a triple threat to marine environments - new report
9 Oct 2025
Media release | Greenpeace is calling for urgent action to restrict bottom trawling after a new government report highlights the compounding effects this destructive fishing method has on climate change, habitat degradation and biodiversity loss.
Lobby group launches ‘blueprint’ for ocean management reform
18 Sep 2025
The Environmental Defence Society yesterday released its plan to tackle widespread ecological decline in our oceans.
Council buys dairy farm to help clean up Lake Rotorua
Today 11:00am
Bay of Plenty Regional Council has bought a 266-hectare dairy farm in the Lake Rotorua catchment and plans to retire it from production to reduce nitrogen entering the lake.
States sue to stop Trump cancellation of $7 billion solar grant program
Today 11:00am
Nearly two dozen states are suing the Trump administration over its cancellation of a $7 billion grant program aimed at expanding solar energy in low-income communities, according to court papers.
Students repeat request for Victoria University to divest from fossil fuel investments
24 Sep 2025
Media release | A group of students campaigning for climate action at Victoria University of Wellington have dropped a banner protesting against the university’s lack of action on its 2014 commitment to divest from fossil fuels.
Straterra has a new name: the New Zealand Minerals Council
16 Apr 2025
Media release | Straterra has been renamed as New Zealand Minerals Council, says chief executive Josie Vidal.
How one country’s Russian gas crisis became a green energy boom
Today 11:00am
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Moldova quickly empowered its small towns to produce their own renewable energy so no one could push it around.
Solar households to get little-noticed tax break
23 Sep 2025
A provision in the government’s latest tax bill would exempt households from paying tax on income they earn by selling excess electricity back to the grid.
Climate scientists and republican lawyers are taking aim at Big Tech’s emissions
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Technology companies have long been one of the biggest investors in clean energy, but new accounting rules could upend that.
Last minute change to oil and gas legislation over cleanup costs
31 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government is expected to repeal the oil and gas ban today, with a last-minute amendment handing discretionary power to two ministers over the controversial issue of decommissioning.
Landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions in tatters after US pressure
Mon 20 Oct 2025
A landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions has been abandoned after Saudi Arabia and the US succeeded in ending the talks.
Where’s Watts? Climate Minister no-show at climate conference
Thu 16 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Opposition parties have slammed the Climate Change Minister’s failure to front up to a major international conference in Christchurch, saying it shows that climate adaptation is a low priority for the National Party.
Fix it, don't ditch it: University of Auckland hosts first Repair Cafe
9 Oct 2025
Media release - Auckland University | The University's first-ever Repair Cafe is bringing students and staff together to give broken items a new lease on life, while promoting a culture of repair and reuse.
Farmers face heightened solvency risks as climate changes: research
10 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Increasingly volatile weather patterns, higher insurance costs driven by climate change risk and global financial volatility represent risks to New Zealand farmers’ capacity to service debt and remain solvent, according to new research by Christchurch-based research firm Kōmanawa Solutions.
‘Con,’ ‘scam,’ ‘hoax’: Trump’s UN speech on climate
24 Sep 2025
The president used a large chunk of his hour-long speech to world leaders to condemn climate science and clean energy policies.
Trump administration moves to revoke permit for Massachusetts offshore wind project
24 Sep 2025
The Trump administration has moved to block a Massachusetts offshore wind farm, its latest effort to hobble an industry and technology that President Donald Trump has attacked as “ugly” and unreliable compared to fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
