Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
DR Congo approves auction of oil blocks in one of the world’s largest carbon sinks
5 May 2022
Cabinet ministers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have approved the auction of 16 oil blocks, including in one of the world’s largest carbon sinks and most environmentally sensitive areas.
One in 25 Australian homes could become uninsurable
4 May 2022
About one in 25 Australian homes are at high risk of becoming effectively uninsurable by 2030, according to a new Climate Council report based on analysis by a climate risk assessment group.
Tasmania goes net carbon negative by reducing logging
4 May 2022
Tasmania has become one of the first jurisdictions in the world to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and increase removals to become net carbon negative, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU) and Griffith University.
Major Japan railway now powered only by renewable energy
4 May 2022
Tokyo’s Shibuya is famed for its Scramble Crossing, where crowds of people crisscross the intersection in a scene symbolizing urban Japan’s congestion and anonymity. It may have added another boasting right.
West African countries pledge $294 billion to fight climate change
4 May 2022
The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional, political and economic union of west African countries, recently agreed to spend $294 billion over the next 10 years to fight against climate change.
Supreme Court abortion ruling could have climate fallout
4 May 2022
The bombshell draft opinion signaling that the Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade has implications that reach far beyond abortion access and could affect environmental law and climate policy for years to come.
Interruption or incentive: Will the war in Ukraine thwart Europe’s green energy transition?
3 May 2022
By Gregor Thompson | Across Europe, the War in Ukraine is forcing states to reconsider how they source their energy. Some see a rare opportunity to affect meaningful progress on climate change.
Scorching weather forces India to face climate change head on
3 May 2022
New Delhi, India – Construction worker Gujral Singh tears up as he voices his concerns about toiling in India’s searing heat this summer.
In Switzerland, parliamentarians have requested training on global warming
3 May 2022
SEVERAL IPCC experts spoke for three hours at the Swiss Federal Palace yesterday. An event prompted by a hunger-striking dad.
Tree loss in tropics casts doubt over climate goals
3 May 2022
Tropical regions of the world lost 11.1 million hectares of forest cover in 2021, new data shows, calling into question global pledges to end deforestation by 2030.
A mangrove revolution: How Egypt is prioritising climate projects in the run-up to COP27
3 May 2022
Forty-eight-year-old Abu el-Hassan Saleh spent a lot of his childhood in his Red Sea home village of Al-Quweh, exploring the lush strips of mangroves that covered, at the time, swathes of Egypt’s expansive coastline.
‘Money time’ for EU carbon market reform in the European Parliament
3 May 2022
The lawmaker overseeing the adoption of a key package of EU climate legislation in the European Parliament has urged colleagues to stop fighting over the proposed reform, saying Europe must rise to the occasion in the current geopolitical context.
This is what the world’s first floating city will look like
2 May 2022
The world’s first prototype floating city that adapts to sea level rise has just been unveiled at UN headquarters in New York.
Satellites detect cow burps from space
2 May 2022
Satellites have detected methane emissions from belching cows at a California feedlot, marking the first time emissions from livestock - a major component of agricultural methane - could be measured from space.
US postal service sued over purchase of gas guzzling delivery trucks
2 May 2022
The US Postal Service is facing lawsuits from 16 states and several environmental groups challenging its decision to buy tens of thousands of gasoline-powered delivery vehicles instead of electric vehicles.
Pacific community pleads for Australian climate action amid regional tension
2 May 2022
Former Pacific island leaders have called on Australia to take “credible and urgent actions on climate change” and criticised a lack of consultation with the region after Solomon Islands’ shock decision to sign a security pact with China.
German carmakers have an uphill struggle to go green
2 May 2022
As Germany speeds up investment in renewables, the energy consumption of its automakers reveals just how reliant the country's most important industry is on fossil fuels, a Reuters analysis of environmental data shows.
Germany makes push to quit Russian oil by late summer
2 May 2022
Germany says it’s making progress on weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels and expects to be fully independent of Russian crude oil imports by late.
Unchecked global emissions on track to initiate mass extinction of marine life
29 Apr 2022
As greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the world's oceans, marine biodiversity could be on track to plummet within the next few centuries to levels not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs, according to a recent study in the journal Science by Princeton University researchers
German auto association calls for bicycle use to save energy
29 Apr 2022
Europe’s largest motoring association ADAC has called on its members to save fuel and take the bicycle wherever possible to help reduce the reliance on Russian oil imports
Climate change will drive new transmission of 4,000 viruses between mammals by 2070
29 Apr 2022
A new peer-reviewed study published Thursday in the journal Nature found global warming will drive 4,000 viruses to spread between mammals, including potentially between animals and humans, for the first time by 2070.
Climate change is making India’s brutal heat waves worse
29 Apr 2022
Heat waves are scorching India and Pakistan this week, breaking records as the region enters the hottest time of the year.
100 EU cities commit to going climate neutral by 2030
29 Apr 2022
For a city to slash its emissions to zero may seem like a pipe dream, but 100 EU cities have committed to doing just that by the end of the decade.
Is organic food better for the climate?
29 Apr 2022
Organic farming isn’t more climate-friendly than conventional agriculture when looking strictly at emissions. In a comparative analysis of the environmental impacts of different agricultural production systems, Michael Clark and David Tilman at the University of Minnesota found that “organic and conventional systems did not significantly differ in their greenhouse gas emissions.” But that’s not all that matters.
Heat wave in India threatens residents and crucial wheat harvest
28 Apr 2022
A record-breaking heat wave in India exposing hundreds of millions to dangerous temperatures is damaging the country’s wheat harvest, which experts say could hit countries seeking to make up imports of the food staple from conflict-riven Ukraine.
U.S. scraps incandescent bulbs, cuts 222 megatonnes of emissions over 30 years
28 Apr 2022
The Biden administration is scrapping old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, speeding an ongoing trend toward more efficient lighting that officials say will save households, schools, and businesses billions of dollars a year.
Global poll finds concensus on need to ditch fossil fuels
28 Apr 2022
The overwhelming majority of global respondents to a recent survey said it is important to them that their countries shift off fossil fuels, but people in emerging economies were “especially adamant,” the Ipsos organization reports.
Designers of cow face mask that neutralises emissions from belching win £50k Prince Charles prize
28 Apr 2022
A face mask for cows that neutralises the climate-heating gas methane in their belches has won a design award from Prince Charles and designer Sir Jony Ive.
The too-invisible hand of the EU emissions market
28 Apr 2022
When European Union policy-makers envisaged the Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2003 as their single tool to drive down greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG), it looked like a win-win approach. Industry, non-governmental organisations and public authorities welcomed the directive with its market-based mechanism, putting a price on greenhouse gases, to reduce emissions in a ‘cost-effective’ way.
Climate change fuelling rise of Spanish far right
28 Apr 2022
In this small town, and dozens like it across Spain’s vast, hot southern region of Andalusia, climate change is helping sweep the far right toward government.
Too many new coal-fired plants planned for 1.5C climate goal: report
27 Apr 2022
The number of coal-fired power plants under development around the world fell last year, but far too much coal is still being burned and too many new coal-fired power plants are planned for the world to stay within safe temperature limits.
Macron’s win is good news for climate
27 Apr 2022
The French president had to redouble his commitments to fighting climate change as he courted the left-wing vote, but his efforts could be thwarted if he fails to win a parliamentary majority in June.
Rich countries need to decrease meat consumption by 75%: new research
27 Apr 2022
New findings published in the Annual Review of Resource Economics suggest a 75% drop in meat consumption is necessary to meet climate targets.
Credit Suisse investors push for faster climate action
27 Apr 2022
A group of Credit Suisse investors pushing for faster climate action at the Swiss bank has more than doubled in size, raising pressure on its board ahead of its annual shareholder meeting on Friday.
Aussie climate change war erupts as MP declares net zero ‘dead’
27 Apr 2022
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison is facing divisions over climate change with Queensland senator Matt Canavan declaring net zero by 2050 is “dead”.
Canada overestimating hydrogen's potential cut carbon emissions: Auditor General
27 Apr 2022
Canada has overestimated how much using hydrogen could reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, potentially jeopardizing Ottawa's ability to meet climate targets, a report from the Auditor General's office said on Tuesday
Climate activist dies after setting himself on fire outside US Supreme Court
26 Apr 2022
The man who died after setting himself on fire outside the Supreme Court building on Friday sacrificed his life to protest climate change, according to friends posting on social media.
Soaring fuel prices test Biden on climate change
26 Apr 2022
President Joe Biden’s ambitions to finally put the U.S. on the path to confront climate change are crashing into an election-year scramble to lower gas prices and demonstrate tangible economic progress to voters.
Twitter bans ‘misleading’ ads about climate change
26 Apr 2022
Twitter has banned “misleading” advertisements “that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.”
Northern Ireland faces loss of 1 million sheep and cattle to meet climate targets
26 Apr 2022
Northern Ireland will need to lose more than 1 million sheep and cattle to meet its new legally binding climate emissions targets, according to an industry-commissioned analysis seen by the Guardian.
Climate change not limited to national boundaries, it will affect us all: Dalai Lama
26 Apr 2022
“People need to take urgent steps to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and to adopt renewable sources of energy such as those that rely on the power of the Sun and the wind,” the Dalai Lama said.
Now we know the flaws of carbon offsets, it’s time to get real about climate change
26 Apr 2022
Last month former Australian carbon market watchdog Andrew MacIntosh blew the whistle on Australia’s carbon offset market. He described the scheme as a “rort” with up to 80% of carbon offsets “markedly low in integrity”.
Giant global asset managers have $82 billion in coal projects, $468 billion in oil and gas
22 Apr 2022
Giant global asset managers are still dumping tens of billions of dollars into new coal projects and hundreds of billions of dollars into major oil and gas companies.
Damage to Ukraine’s renewable energy sector could surpass $1 billion
22 Apr 2022
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has leveled schools, businesses, hospitals, and homes, causing up to $63 billion in damages to Ukraine’s infrastructure by the end of March, according to estimates by the Kyiv School of Economics
Florida company wants to use your dead body to fight climate change
22 Apr 2022
A nonprofit in Florida has a unique, eco-friendly way to restore coral reefs while simultaneously providing an eternal resting place to those whose final wish is to use their remains to benefit marine habitats impacted by climate change.
African economies risk suffocation by 'shock' carbon tax
22 Apr 2022
The climate is surely one area where the European Union and African Union should be in step with one another. Curbing global warming and agreeing how to produce clean power would help keep more of the world habitable and prosperous.
Transport emissions rose 12% in three months in Australia
22 Apr 2022
Transport emissions rose more than 12 per cent in the last three months of 2021 as lockdown restrictions eased across the country, while Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased as renewable electricity generation continued to grow.
IIGCC launches framework to ‘raise bar for investor climate stewardship’
22 Apr 2022
The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has launched a ‘Net Zero Stewardship Toolkit’, described as aiming to “raise the bar for investor climate stewardship”.
Climate change linked to fewer bugs: study
21 Apr 2022
The insects that keep the world running by pollinating plants and supporting food chains face grave risks, a new study has found.
To fight climate change, and now Russia, too, Zurich turns off natural gas
21 Apr 2022
European officials are debating whether they can stop buying natural gas imports from Russia. Many say it can't be done. But the biggest city in Switzerland — Zurich — is already taking ambitious steps to wean itself off gas. It's shutting down the flow of gas to whole parts of the city.
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Progress to slash farming emissions is being blocked by limited farmer confidence in mitigation tools, inconsistent engagement, misinformation and a lack of clear policy signals, according to a new report.
State-owned farmer drives profit growth with emissions reductions
19 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Government-owned Landcorp, trading as Pāmu, is one-third of the way to meeting its 2031 emissions reduction targets, with five years left to run to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30.3% against 2021 emissions.
NZ’s government wants tourism to drive economic growth – but how will it deal with aviation emissions?
22 Oct 2025
By Robert McLachlan, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University | Following a brief dip during the COVID pandemic, aviation is back in a growth phase.
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.
‘Cali Fund’ aiming to raise billions for nature receives first donation – of just $1,000
16 Dec 2025
A major biodiversity fund – which could, in theory, generate billions of dollars annually for conservation – received its first donation of just $1,000 in November.
Govt launches strategy backing wood-based heat sector
23 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Forestry biomass could replace as much as 40% of fossil fuel-generated process heat by 2050, but access to supply, regulatory settings and business cases for converting to wood-based heat sources are required, the Government says in a series of documents released yesterday.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Govt unveils plans for carbon storage regulations – and ETS rewards
18 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has released plans to regulate carbon capture and storage in natural geological formations, which include Emissions Trading Scheme incentives, with the aim of introducing related legislation in 2026.
Global coal demand hit record high this year but is set to decline by 2030
18 Dec 2025
Global coal demand reached a record high in 2025 but is expected to decline by 2030 as renewables, nuclear power and abundant natural gas squeeze its dominance in power generation.
Investors must support positive climate-tech
28 Nov 2025
OPINION: We need better leadership than the current ‘climate opportunism’ that is rife in the Beehive, and we need to back a marketplace that will make it happen, writes Rob Campbell.
RMA’s successors hinge on two untested bets
17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
11 Dec 2025
Despite India’s attempt to anoint itself as the leader of the developing world, at the COP30 summit, New Delhi’s track record remains contradictory.
Govt warned that scrapping ag emission pricing comes with risks
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s move to halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing without replacing it with any other action will leave New Zealand facing a bigger gap to meet its third emissions budget, Environment ministry officials have warned.
NZ hydrogen regulation to catch up with the world
18 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The government has announced a regulatory reset for New Zealand’s emerging clean tech hydrogen sector.
DOC trims costs and winds down jobs for nature
10 Nov 2025
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is entering a new phase of tighter budgets and structural change as it winds down the pandemic-era Jobs for Nature programme and reshapes its operations to absorb long-term cost pressures.
Pacific climate response in question as NZ finance remains unclear
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | With New Zealand's $1.3 billion international climate finance commitment set to end with no clarity on what follows, the Auditor-General says oversight of that funding remains patchy and long-term outcomes are unclear.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Transport pollution was the biggest contributor to an increase in New Zealand’s consumption-based emissions in 2023, with emissions from household travel up 12%, and consumption-based emissions totalling 58.3 million tonnes – up 1.6% from the previous year.
Hydrogen emissions are ‘supercharging’ the warming impact of methane
19 Dec 2025
The warming impact of hydrogen has been “overlooked” in projections of climate change, according to authors of the latest “global hydrogen budget”.
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.”
Westpac NZ announces partnership to form Blue Economy hub in Nelson
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Westpac NZ has announced a new three-year partnership with the Nelson Regional Development Agency and Kernohan Engineering to help accelerate the development of a sustainable marine economy – also known as the blue economy.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
12 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, says New Zealand restarting fossil fuel exploration and subsidies is an obvious breach of international law, exposing the country to international and domestic litigation.
Govt slammed for weakening methane target
15 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams The Government has pushed through legislation under urgency to almost halve New Zealand’s 2050 methane target – a move Opposition parties say disregards scientific advice, breaks the country’s hard-won political consensus on climate action, and shifts the burden of higher warming and higher future costs onto the next generation.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
15 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Despite ‘intransigent’ states blocking multilateralism and a disappointing official outcome, Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says he left the COP30 climate summit feeling more positive than after previous UN climate conferences.
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.
Insurers welcome govt decision to keep NHC levy unchanged
21 Nov 2025
Media release |The Insurance Council of New Zealand | Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) has welcomed the Government’s decision to leave the Natural Hazards Commission levy unchanged, amid ongoing concerns around the cost-of-living.
Why I’m not outraged at the Govt’s latest climate backsliding
7 Nov 2025
COMMENT: The Government’s latest climate rollbacks underline New Zealand’s long history of a lack of genuine desire to cut emissions, writes Geoff Bertram.
Three Greenpeace activists removed by police from Fonterra
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Three Greenpeace activists were removed by police from Fonterra’s downtown Auckland offices, following a protest on Monday at the Shareholders’ Fund meeting over the corporation’s role in the contamination of rural communities’ drinking water.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
11 Dec 2025
Media release | Ten of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would create significantly more shareholder value by ending exploration and sharply curtailing upstream development, according to new analysis released today by ACCR.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greenpeace says Government changes to national direction instruments under the RMA paves the way for mining in wetlands and biodiversity hotspots and will expose some of Aotearoa’s most fragile ecosystems to irreversible damage.
NZ could become ‘dumping ground’ for dirty vehicles: Commissioner
16 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has warned the Government that its changes to the clean car standard could turn the country into a dumping ground for high emitting cars, making future emissions budgets harder to achieve.
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.
Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life
19 Dec 2025
Media release | A study conducted by researchers from Murdoch University in Australia and Dalian Ocean University in China has found that offshore windfarms can improve marine ecosystems and diversify aquatic food chains.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
16 Dec 2025
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
12 Dec 2025
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is calling for submissions on its international treaty examination of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
KiwiRail pauses coal trains amid rising climate protests
9 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate activists are ramping up actions this week, with a Christchurch protest leading to KiwiRail pausing some coal train operations on Saturday, and another protest against the Fast-Track Amendment Bill planned for parliament today.
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.
Could tidal energy one day power NZ?
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests Aotearoa holds some of the world’s strongest tidal-stream energy potential – enough to generate up to 93% of today’s electricity use – but one expert cautions that extracting energy at such a scale could have significant impacts and remains highly uncertain.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
16 Dec 2025
New Zealand could see 97% of its glaciers vanish by 2100, with new international modelling projecting a rapid acceleration in glacier extinction from the 2030s onward – even under lower-warming scenarios.
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.
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.
The surprisingly convincing case against cars
19 Dec 2025
Life After Cars dares to imagine how different, and enriching, a car-free world could be.
Kaicycle celebrates ten years of collective climate action in Pōneke
14 Nov 2025
Media release: Kaicycle | Since 2015, Kaicycle has grown from a humble pilot project growing kai and collecting compost on bicycles into the thriving urban farm and composting hub that Wellingtonians know and love.
Heatwaves, downpours and droughts – Auckland on track for more extreme weather
1 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New projections show Auckland will face more heatwaves, heavier downpours, worsening droughts and growing coastal threats as climate extremes intensify, according to a new report from Earth Sciences New Zealand.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | This year New Zealand had its hottest spring since records began, with widespread heat, rainfall extremes and destructive wind driven by sudden stratospheric warming.
Media round-up
12 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Another offshore wind firm exits New Zealand over a clash with seabed mining; Fonterra falls behind on its climate goals as farm emissions remain flat; and the businesses trapped by the gas 'death spiral'.
