Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
OPINION: Coconut oil production threatens five times more species than palm oil
9 Jul 2020
By ERIK MEIJAARD | Born in the Netherlands and brought up in Germany, it wasn’t until I was 21 that I met my first coconut.
Rare night clouds may be warning sign of climate crisis
9 Jul 2020
Something magical appeared at night over London and other parts of Britain last month: ripples of electric blue clouds shimmered in the twilight sky after sunset.
Sun has a secret plan to become a lithium factory
8 Jul 2020
Lithium is used in everything from medication to mobile phone batteries, but where does it come from?
Marseille turns green with election of first woman mayor
8 Jul 2020
Marseille has become the latest French municipality to elect a green mayor in a wave that has swept the country since local elections at the end of last month.
Tesla top on back of tech boost and China sales
7 Jul 2020
Electric motor manufacturer Tesla became the world's most valuable carmaker last week, overtaking Toyota, despite never having made an annual profit.
‘Million-mile’ batteries are coming
7 Jul 2020
Electric vehicles have a clear environmental advantage over their gas-guzzling counterparts, but when it comes to longevity, the two are in a dead heat.
Nuclear plans flounder through muddy dispute
7 Jul 2020
Vast quantities of mud, which campaigners say might contain radioactive particles, are the latest problem to confront the UK’s nuclear plans for two new reactors under construction in the West of England.
Aussies score on covid but limp on climate change
7 Jul 2020
Australia has been ranked third behind South Korea and Latvia in a global report on the effectiveness of its response to the covid-19 pandemic -- but 37th in in the fight against climate change.
What an ocean hidden under Antarctica reveals about our future climate
6 Jul 2020
Jules Verne sent his fictional submarine, the Nautilus, to the South Pole through a hidden ocean beneath a thick ice cap. Written 40 years before any explorer had reached the pole, his story was nevertheless only half fiction.
$10b of precious metals dumped each year in e-waste
6 Jul 2020
At least $10 billion worth of gold, platinum and other precious metals are dumped every year in the growing mountain of electronic waste that is polluting the planet, according to a new UN report.
Proud California dairy farmer takes it on the chin
6 Jul 2020
Californian dairyman Scott Magneson just keeps on farming, despite the economic fallout from a pandemic and the extreme weather — floods, drought, wildfires — linked to climate change.
Air pollution likely to make coronavirus worse
3 Jul 2020
Air pollution is probably increasing the number and severity of covid-19 cases and could be important to managing the pandemic, experts say.
Ocean sensitivity might lower carbon emissions cuts
3 Jul 2020
As greenhouse gas emissions soar, ocean sensitivity has quietly helped humanity to slow global heating: the seas have responded by absorbing more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Airlines granted huge emissions reprieve by UN compromise
3 Jul 2020
The United Nations' aviation emissions offsetting scheme will not take 2020 into account when calculating how much airlines have to pay to neutralise their carbon dioxide output - a move environmental groups say makes a mockery of climate policy.
Australia claims climate success
2 Jul 2020
Despite three decades of relative inaction on climate change and stalling from successive Australian Governments, the Morrison Government has claimed success in meeting Australia’s targets under the Kyoto Protocol, which came to an end on Wednesday.
We've 'reached peak emissions and oil demand'
2 Jul 2020
Global oil demand and carbon dioxide emissions probably peaked in 2019 as the Covid-19 pandemic will have a lasting impact on both, says energy consultancy DNV GL.
UK heading for the heat
2 Jul 2020
The likelihood of the UK experiencing deadly 40deg temperatures for the first time is “rapidly accelerating” due to the climate crisis, scientists have found.
Storing electricity under ground...
2 Jul 2020
A Texas company has plans to store surplus electricity under ground - in pressurised water.
...and in tall brick towers
2 Jul 2020
Welcome to the Energy Vault - a giant tower with a crane at its centre and thousands of massive stackable bricks, each weighing more than a fully loaded school bus.
AGL links exec bonuses to emissions cutbacks
1 Jul 2020
Australia’s largest domestic emitter of greenhouse gases, the energy provider AGL, is the first major company in the country to link managers’ bonuses to lowering emissions.
Spain to close half its coal-fired power stations
1 Jul 2020
Spain is on track to become a coal-free country in record time. All of its remaining coal-fired thermal power plants started shutting down yesterday, a year-and-a-half after the closure of the coal mines.
How Pacific nations can survive climate change
1 Jul 2020
They contribute only 0.03 per cent of global carbon emissions, but small island developing states, particularly in the Pacific, are at extreme risk to the threats of climate change.
Beavers new threat as Arctic lakes thaw
1 Jul 2020
Beavers are creating lakes that accelerate the thawing of frozen soils and potentially increase greenhouse gas emissions, a study finds.
Burning coal caused mass extinctions
30 Jun 2020
Geologists have linked one of the planet’s most devastating events to the burning of fossil fuels, as ancient coal fires set in train a global extinction wave.
Microplastics are in the soils of even the remotest places
30 Jun 2020
If microplastics can enter the food web on King George Island, they can probably do so almost anywhere on earth.
How Europe can be carbon-neutral by 2040
30 Jun 2020
The European Union can reach climate neutrality as early as 2040, according to a group of environmental NGOs which have mapped out a scenario to move the bloc towards a 100 per cent renewable energy system by then.
Ireland latest country to set net-zero target
30 Jun 2020
Ireland’s new coalition government has set itself a goal to deliver steep greenhouse gas emissions cuts every year to reach neutrality by 2050.
World's biggest renewables companies abysmal on human rights
30 Jun 2020
Renewable energy companies are falling short on efforts to safeguard the rights of workers and communities in their operations and throughout mineral supply chains, placing the sector’s legitimacy and the global clean energy switch at risk, a new analysis says.
ASB owner faces Permian project questions
29 Jun 2020
ASB Bank owner the Commonwealth Bank of Australia faces questions from shareholders over its lending for gas projects, including the $3 billion Permian Gas highway pipeline in the United States.
KENYA CALL: My land is now owned by lions
29 Jun 2020
PARSOLOI KUPAI'S home, situated on the edge of Ol Kinyei conservancy near the Maasai Mara game reserve, is no different from any other Maasai homestead – oval-shaped huts with an almost flat roof and walls plastered with a mixture of water, mud and cow dung.
Trump plan would open huge area of Alaska to drilling
29 Jun 2020
Some of most ecologically sensitive lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a few hundred miles west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, might soon be open for business to the oil industry.
Extremists exploit rural nostalgia and farmers’ anger
29 Jun 2020
The poster advertising an evening of debate and organic canapés looked familiar to environmentally conscious Germans - a rugged pair of hands, cupping fertile brown soil, underneath the slogan “Farms instead of agricultural factories”, written in a font mimicking that of a popular biodynamic food brand.
Shipping needs to clean up act - and do it now
26 Jun 2020
The shipping industry is in urgent need of a makeover: while limited attempts are being made to lessen polluting emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases in the road transport and aviation sectors, shipping lags even further behind in the clean-up stakes.
Why we need the opposite of a carbon tax
26 Jun 2020
For the past few decades, the consensus among leading economists has been that putting a price on carbon is the most efficient way to reduce emissions.
THAT'S RICH: Affluence is killing the planet
26 Jun 2020
iN SOCIETIES where money can buy almost everything, being rich is generally perceived as something good. But there's a catch: affluence trashes our planetary life support systems.
Border villagers prepare to dethrone the duke
26 Jun 2020
The 2300 villagers of Langholm, a Scottish settlement a few miles north of the English border, hope to buy one of the UK’s most famous grouse moors, owned by one of the Britain's most-powerful hereditary landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch.
Is sea-steading a vanity project for the rich?
25 Jun 2020
Beloved by Silicon Valley tycoons and tyranny-fearing libertarians, are cities atop the waves Earth’s next frontier?
Green recovery was the great hope of 2009
25 Jun 2020
When the Obama administration entered the White House in January 2009, the first hope was to put people back to work and also accelerate transition to a clean-energy economy.
Why Americans can't afford to turn on the taps
25 Jun 2020
Millions of ordinary Americans are facing rising and unaffordable bills for running water, and risk being disconnected or losing their homes if they cannot pay, a landmark Guardian investigation has found.
Glacier gets the tarp treatment
25 Jun 2020
Workers lay out huge geotextile sheets on the Presena glacier in northern Italy A vast tarpaulin unravels, gathering speed as it bounces down the glacier over glinting snow. Summer is here and the alpine ice is being protected from global warming.
Nature’s accounts show what the world does for us
25 Jun 2020
People go on getting richer, and the planet pays a mounting price. There’s a better way to balance nature’s accounts.
Zero-carbon homes must lead the green recovery
24 Jun 2020
Living in a house that doesn’t fully meet your needs might have been tolerable when you spent more of your time elsewhere, but a third of the world has been stuck indoors at one time during the pandemic.
Denmark’s e-ferry passes sea trials in style
24 Jun 2020
The world’s largest all-electric ferry completed 10 months of trials last week, as the EU-funded project revealed that battery-powered boats will save operators money compared to their diesel counterparts during their decades of service.
What will it be - clean clothes or clean oceans?
24 Jun 2020
Everyone knows the basics of keeping pollution out of the environment: reduce, reuse, recycle. But recent research on the way people do their laundry adds a new wrinkle to that decades-old mantra.
Come on England, time to seize the day
24 Jun 2020
England must “seize the day” and create a national nature service to restore wildlife and habitats, says a coalition of the country’s biggest green groups.
Five communities go in search of green justice
24 Jun 2020
From New York to Los Angeles, Minneapolis to the Gulf Coast, people of colour suffer disproportionately from climate change, pollution and callous government.
EU puts onus on ‘renewable hydrogen’
23 Jun 2020
An updated version of the European Commission’s draft hydrogen strategy confirms the EU’s “priority focus” on clean hydrogen produced from renewable electricity, but also recognises the role played by “fossil-based hydrogen” in the transition.
Grass keeps cities cool when heat goes on
23 Jun 2020
Keeping suburban parks green year-round can lower city temperatures by up to 12 deg during summer heatwaves, researchers say.
Why sport is bad news for the climate
23 Jun 2020
The carbon footprint of sport is causing is worldwide damage. And global heating is itself penalising players and fans alike.
Why world has six months to divert climate crisis
22 Jun 2020
The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.
Governments must vote in favour of moratorium on deep sea mining
Tue 29 Jul 2025
Media release - Greenpeace | The 30th session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has ended with Greenpeace saying governments are continuing to fall short in protecting the deep sea.
Does NZ need a national incentive scheme for wetlands?
Fri 25 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | An expert is calling for a national incentive programme to restore New Zealand’s wetlands and wants to stop schemes to drain these vital carbon-sequestering ecosystems.
NZ Post drops science-based climate target
8 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | NZ Post has dropped its science-based emissions reduction target of 42% by 2030 with no plans to replace it.
Airlines risk legal challenges by advertising jet fuel as “sustainable”, NGO warns
18 Jul 2025
Amid suspected fraud in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a new report says the airline industry should stop calling all alternatives to kerosene “sustainable”.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
Tue 29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
Sustainability claims questioned as renewable diesel surges
14 May 2025
Critics are sceptical about industry claims of renewable diesel life-cycle greenhouse gas emission cuts and warn renewable diesel carbon releases will surge if sourcing is scaled up, triggering tropical deforestation as producers convert forests to energy crops, such as oil palm and soy.
Is extending Huntly power station to 2035 in consumers’ best interest?
22 Jul 2025
By Simon Orme | COMMENT: Genesis Energy is proposing a cartel to keep high-emitting Huntly Power Station in business to 2035. If extending Huntly has economic benefits, is a cartel necessary?
Bearish sentiment lingers for carbon market
11 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The compliance carbon market could be set for a gradual upward trajectory, however unsold volume from the quarterly Emissions Trading Scheme auctions continues to act as ‘a price ceiling,’ according to an expert.
Multi-day protest continues at coal mine
Wed 30 Jul 2025
Bathurst Resources has been forced to truck coal from its Stockton mine as climate activists occupy coal buckets at the mine for a third day.
Forestry can be a big plus for sheep and beef farmers – but there are caveats
22 Jul 2025
By Keith Woodford | OPINION: These are good times for sheep and beef farmers with record product prices for meat, which is precisely why now is the time for sheep and beef farmers to be looking again at farm forestry.
Common low-grade clay strengthens low-carbon concrete
5 Jun 2025
Media release | Engineers at RMIT University have converted low-grade clay into a high-performance cement supplement, opening a potential new market in sustainable construction materials.
Cuts to climate finance put exports in jeopardy: Lawyers
23 May 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has halved international climate finance, a move aid organisations describe as “devastating,” and which lawyers say could put our Paris Agreement commitments and export market access at risk.
NZ voluntary carbon market’s sad state
14 Jul 2025
By John O’Brien | OPINION: A combination of scandals, challenging economic times, and cheaper offshore carbon credits, mean that the domestic voluntary carbon market in New Zealand remains absolutely tiny.
A modest geothermal strategy
Today 10:45am
By Pattrick Smellie | The Government has unveiled a far more modest geothermal energy strategy than its primary backer, Resources Minister Shane Jones, had sought.
Key orange roughy population on verge of collapse, govt considers closure
9 Jul 2025
Media release - Deep Sea Conservation Coalition | New data reveals that New Zealand’s main orange roughy fishery, accounting for half of the country’s total catch, is on the brink of collapse, with one model showing it may have reached that point already, and the government’s considering closing it.
2025 on track to be second or third warmest year on record
Today 10:45am
As it passes its midway point, 2025 is on track to be the second or third warmest year on record. However, it is very unlikely to beat 2024 as the hottest year.
Latest trawl bycatch numbers 'a grim wake-up call'
24 Jun 2025
Media release – Greenpeace | The latest fisheries bycatch data paints a grim picture, with trawlers hauling up thousands of kilograms of coral and killing hundreds of fur seals and seabirds over a 12 month period.
Wilding pines threaten Molesworth Station
Mon 28 Jul 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Without increased support, the unchecked spread of wilding pines will continue to creep across Marlborough’s high country – putting iconic landscapes and one of New Zealand’s top five biodiversity hotspots at serious risk, according to an expert.
Last minute change to oil and gas legislation over cleanup costs
Today 10:45am
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.
Watts talks big on energy reform, but barriers persist
29 May 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Energy and Climate Change minister Simon Watts says the government is doubling down on efforts to boost renewable energy generation, streamline regulation, and drive private sector investment as New Zealand faces mounting energy security and affordability challenges.
European Central Bank to consider 'climate factor' when lending to banks
Today 10:45am
The European Central Bank will add climate change considerations to its lending operations from late 2026, raising pressure on banks to channel financing towards greener sectors as the euro zone seeks to reduce its carbon footprint.
NZ part of hidden global deep-sea network beneath the waves
Fri 25 Jul 2025
Media release - Earth Sciences New Zealand | A world-first study of marine life, including sea creatures found in New Zealand's dark, cold, pressurised ocean depths, has revealed that deep-sea life is surprisingly more connected than previously thought.
‘Ideological sludge’: How NZ is quiet quitting climate action
17 Jul 2025
New Zealand once stood out as a world leader on climate change. In June it became the first country in the world to abandon a commitment to phase out oil, gas and coal.
Methanex closure comes early this year
14 May 2025
The almost-now-annual closure of Methanex has come earlier this year, giving more confidence that the electricity system will get through the winter without a fuel shortfall.
Hiringa eyes green methanol plant near Whanganui
Tue 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.
Climate catastrophes are creating a ‘new market reality’ for insurance carriers
23 Jul 2025
Raging wildfires and severe storms contributed to record-high global insurance losses — totalling an estimated US$84 billion — for the first six months of the year.
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.
The ICJ’s ruling means Australia and other major polluters face a new era of climate reparations
Fri 25 Jul 2025
By Harj Narulla | OPINION: Australia has found itself on the wrong side of history.
Fund for low emissions transport winds up
Today 10:45am
New Zealand’s Low Emission Transport Fund has officially wrapped up, ending a nine-year programme that put hundreds of millions of dollars towards accelerating the country’s shift to cleaner transport.
Urgent action needed to get on track for climate goals - commission
Fri 25 Jul 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand is making progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but more work is needed – urgently – to set up for future reductions, according to the latest report from the Climate Change Commission.
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.
Toxic algae are turning South Australia’s coral reefs into underwater graveyards
Tue 29 Jul 2025
Since March, a harmful algal bloom, fueled by a marine heat wave, has been choking South Australia’s coastline.
NZ govt’s fossil fuel plans could break international law
24 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government could be breaching international law with its plans to subsidise and expand fossil fuel extraction, following a ruling overnight from the world’s highest court.
Tipping points: Window to avoid irreversible climate impacts is ‘rapidly closing’
11 Jul 2025
In the midst of a record-breaking heatwave in Europe, the UK city of Exeter recently played host to the second international conference on “tipping points”.
‘Total infiltration’: How plastics industry swamped vital global treaty talks
Mon 28 Jul 2025
Petrostates and well-funded lobbyists at UN-hosted talks are derailing a deal to cut plastic production and protect people and the planet.
Media round-up
Fri 25 Jul 2025
In our round-up of the climate coverage in local media: Dairy conversions surge; Gore is hit with a drinking water crisis; meanwhile farming lobby groups Groundswell and Federated Farmers are up in arms about a plan to classify environmental impacts in the agriculture and forestry sector.
The EU’s ‘fantasy’ $750B energy promise to Trump
Today 10:45am
The EU has narrowly avoided a full-blown trade war with Donald Trump by pledging to buy $750 billion of U.S. oil and gas by the end of his term. But achieving that will be almost impossible.
Activists sue US development bank over $4.6bn loan to massive Mozambique gas project
18 Jul 2025
Environmental groups claim loan is ‘unlawful’ in legal filing.
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.
Tilting at windmills? Trump’s claims about turbines fact-checked
Today 10:45am
The US president has taken a swipe at wind power as the blades visible from his Turnberry golf course turn.
Ocean heatwaves may signal climate tipping point
Fri 25 Jul 2025
A recent study that tapped into satellite data has revealed that 2023 marked an unprecedented year for marine heatwaves, with record-breaking levels of duration, reach and intensity across the world's oceans.
Climate groups want UK wealth tax to make super-rich fund sustainable economy
17 Jul 2025
Growing number of campaigners urge government to ensure green investment is not done ‘on backs of the poor’.
Can robot taxis solve NZ's transport woes?
23 Jul 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Ministry of Transport has tested the idea of driverless taxis as a futuristic fix. But while new modelling explores how "robotaxis" could ease congestion and reduce car ownership, critics say it misses a crucial point – the country’s worsening transport emissions.
United Nations carbon market rules agreed but concerns remain
25 Nov 2024
New carbon market rules agreed at the fractious UN climate summit will be a relief to New Zealand and Singapore, who were leading the negotiations, but concerns about greenwashing and disadvantaging nature-based solutions remain.
EV sales fall, but it’s complicated
Tue 29 Jul 2025
Imports of fully electric vehicles fell over 50% in value during the 12 months to June 2025, compared with the year ended June 2024, according to Stats NZ.
Waste Levy risks becoming ‘slush fund’ under proposed changes – Commissioner
5 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Proposed changes to New Zealand's waste legislation risk undermining public trust in the waste levy scheme, according to Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton.
The struggle for control of the Arctic is accelerating - and it's riskier than ever
11 Jul 2025
As the battle for one of the world’s coldest places heats up, an increasingly fragile security balance may be breaking down, leading to an escalating arms race.
UN University report warns against carbon credits from REDD, tree planting, and improved forest management
13 Jun 2025
But the report stops short of recommending banning the trade in carbon temporarily stored in trees.
For the first time, China invests more in wind and solar than coal overseas
29 May 2025
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, long derided for its heavy carbon footprint, was dominated by wind and solar power projects for the first time from 2022 to 2023, according to a new analysis. But coal plants financed in earlier years are still coming online.
