Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
This job will take more than a few more cycle lanes
17 Jun 2020
The coronavirus lockdown gave a glimpse of what cleaner cities can look like, but as people turn to private cars for safety from infection, pollution could soar.
Planting non-natives speeds release of carbon
16 Jun 2020
Large-scale reforestation projects such as New Zealand’s One Billion Trees programme are under way in many countries to help to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.
Big Oil all talk about revolution, says report
16 Jun 2020
Fossil-fuel companies might be talking about an energy revolution, but their financial projections show they are largely ignoring it, a new report reveals.
Sea warming spurs marine life to rapid migration
16 Jun 2020
Far from the sunlight and even at the lowest temperatures, ocean warming is making marine life uncomfortable.
Carbon-neutral coffee arrives by schooner
16 Jun 2020
The French schooner De Gallant has docked in Falmouth harbour three months after leaving Santa Marta in Colombia laden with tonnes of sustainably sourced coffee beans.
Climate worst-case scenarios may not go far enough
15 Jun 2020
Worst-case global heating scenarios may need to be revised upwards in light of a better understanding of the role of clouds, scientists have said.
Why carmakers must overhaul production plans
15 Jun 2020
The world’s 14 biggest carmakers are on course to miss globally agreed climate targets, a leading sustainable finance think-tank has said, urging investors to do more to pressure boards to change their production plans.
Fewer blizzards for North America as snow lessens
15 Jun 2020
It could soon be safe to think with nostalgia of the snows of yesteryear. Snowstorms in the future in the US could happen less often, with less intensity. And they would be of a smaller size.
Residents fght to keep compost getting trashed
15 Jun 2020
Just this past March, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson proposed making composting mandatory for city residents to help combat climate change. Now, with the coronavirus taking an immense financial toll on New York, even food waste recycling programs that existed before that proposition have become casualties of covid-19.
Unanswered questions dog new nuclear plans
15 Jun 2020
The French company EDF, a company in a hurry, wants permission to start building two more reactors in the United Kingdom, and it hopes to save money – by arranging for British taxpayers to pay the capital costs of its new nuclear plans.
Post-lockdown carbon emissions bound back
12 Jun 2020
Carbon dioxide emissions have rebounded around the world as lockdown conditions have eased, raising fears that the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could surge higher than ever unless governments take swift action.
LOVE IS BLIND: Germany's affair with the car
12 Jun 2020
A world leader in cutting emissions from electricity production, the German government, in thrall to the auto industry, "overlooked" pollution from cars and trucks.
SHIFTING SANDS: We don't have the full story
12 Jun 2020
Humans see sand as an infinite resource. We are astounded to discover there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on our beaches.
Sponge-tech sucks carbon from the air
12 Jun 2020
Scientists have set a record for carbon capture and storage using new sponge-like technology that can capture carbon directly from the air.
Humanity finished if it fails to adapt, says Goodall
11 Jun 2020
Humanity will be finished if we fail to drastically change our food systems in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis, prominent naturalist Jane Goodall has warned.
‘Final blow’ as EU agrees to weaken aviation rules
11 Jun 2020
The climate plan for aviation is losing its last shred of credibility, after the European Union confirmed it will back an industry proposal to water down the rules.
Minister rejects Queensland wind farm project
11 Jun 2020
Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has rejected a $100m wind farm proposal in central Queensland on the ground it would clear old-growth forest important to vulnerable species, including the koala.
Engineers make syngas out of cement-waste
11 Jun 2020
Chemical engineers have found a new way to turn carbon dioxide emissions from cement-making and other industrial processes into useful products like fuel and plastics.
US backs changes to airline emissions scheme
10 Jun 2020
The US supports changing a landmark aviation emissions scheme now under review by a UN agency, after airlines said the current deal could leave them with higher carbon offsetting costs when air travel recovers from coronavirus.
Forest trees are growing shorter and dying younger
10 Jun 2020
Temperatures could get too high for tropical forests, and forest trees everywhere are changing in response to human action.
Two-faced solar panels follow the sun
10 Jun 2020
Using solar panels with double sides or that can twist to follow the sun can cut the cost of electricity generation.
Climate change threatens mortgage market
9 Jun 2020
US taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in climate-related property losses as the government backs a growing number of mortgages on homes in the path of floods, fires and extreme weather.
Millions of species face extinction emergency
9 Jun 2020
An extinction emergency unparalleled in the history of life on Earth could soon overtake millions of species – thanks to us.
Talks delays deepen uncertainty over carbon markets
9 Jun 2020
Projects to curb greenhouse emissions in developing countries are in limbo amid another delay for nations to design a new global carbon market.
Coronavirus waste ends up in oceans
9 Jun 2020
Conservationists have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution – adding to a glut of plastic waste that already threatens marine life.
Not even pandemic can flatten the Keeling Curve
8 Jun 2020
As graphs go, the Keeling Curve is simple, but it clearly illustrates the planet's vexing global warming challenge.
Germany unveils plans for €40bn climate splurge
8 Jun 2020
The German government has unveiled plans for a massive €130 billion stimulus package that features at least €40 billion climate-related spending.
Siberia dries out as forests burn
8 Jun 2020
A huge swathe of Arctic Russia is changing rapidly as oil leaks, the climate warms and Siberia dries out.
Car industry pushes for scrappage scheme
8 Jun 2020
The UK car industry has been in confidential talks with the government over a possible £1.5 billion scrappage scheme that it insists should encourage the purchase of diesel and petrol cars on an equal footing with cleaner vehicles.
How science shoots down hydrogen cars
5 Jun 2020
Hydrogen cars won’t overtake electric vehicles because they’re hampered by the laws of science.
Our chance to reset global economy, says Charles
5 Jun 2020
The Prince of Wales has unveiled a five-point plan to stimulate sustainable economic growth.
Virus could cause $25tn fossil fuel industry collapse
5 Jun 2020
The coronavirus outbreak could trigger a $25 trillion collapse in the fossil fuel industry by accelerating a terminal decline for the world’s most polluting companies.
Hunt for the superconductors
5 Jun 2020
Physicists are on the lookout for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world’s energy system.
Japan to launch ‘green recovery’ platform
4 Jun 2020
Japan wants to bolster global momentum for climate action by hosting an online platform and high-level political event on greening the post-coronavirus economic recovery.
European Green Deal needs strong methane rules
4 Jun 2020
Oil and gas companies throughout the supply chain need to do much more to bring down methane emissions immediately, says Shell's new-energies director Maarten Wetselaar.
Climate change the most important mission for unis
4 Jun 2020
The future of universities will involve articulating their unique role as embedded, ethical generators of crucial knowledge and skills, well-equipped to handle coming contingencies and helping others to do the same - and that means climate change.
Weeds on march put food on defensive
3 Jun 2020
Climate-change-induced weed invasions threaten food production in many countries, including Europe, the United States and Australia, scientists say.
How the super-rich conquered London
2 Jun 2020
Over cups of tea in his ramshackle London home I chatted with a novelist. Talk inevitably turned to its expanding population of wealthy residents.
Why is there so much furore over China’s Belt and Road?
2 Jun 2020
There were certainly questions asked when Victoria first signed a memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2018, but it wasn’t until the past week that the criticism reached a fever pitch.
'Zombie fires’ are erupting in Alaska
2 Jun 2020
The bitterly cold Arctic winter typically snuffs out the seasonal wildfires that erupt in this region. But every once in a while, a wildfire comes along that refuses to die.
US renewables take the 2019 top spot
2 Jun 2020
Renewable energy consumption in the US topped coal consumption in 2019, the first time this has occurred in more than 130 years.
South Asia’s twin threat: extreme heat and foul air
2 Jun 2020
Climate change means many health risks. Any one of them raises the danger. What happens when extreme heat meets bad air?
Green bailouts will let airlines off the hook
29 May 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has grounded thousands of aircraft, contributing to the largest-ever annual fall in CO2 emissions. But at some point the planes will fly again and with them, global emissions.
How a contrarian scientist helped Trump's EPA
29 May 2020
In March 2017, a scientist named James Enstrom rattled many public health experts by publishing a study concluding that there was no link between fine soot air pollution and premature death.
There's plenty of room for carbon storage underground
29 May 2020
There's plenty of room for more of the main greenhouse gas on this planet – as long as it’s caught and trapped in carbon storage underground.
Clean energy cracker thing in a crisis
29 May 2020
Clean-energy companies are doing better in the covid-19 crisis than their fossil-fuel counterparts, says analytics company GlobalData.
One project exposes Morrison's gas plan as folly
28 May 2020
Every few years, the idea that gas will help Australia transition to a zero-emissions economy seems to re-emerge, as if no one had thought of it before.
EU recovery fund has green strings attached
28 May 2020
It’s now official: the EU’s updated seven-year €1 trillion budget proposal and €750 billion recovery plan will both be geared towards the green and digital transitions.
We're sitting on remains of a giant volcanic plume
28 May 2020
Back in the 1970s, scientists came up with a revolutionary idea about how Earth’s deep interior works.
It’s time to let the ‘fire people’ care for the land
28 May 2020
Since last summer’s bushfire crisis, there’s been a quantum shift in public awareness of Aboriginal fire management.
Fifty years of observations, no reversal of glacier climate damage
31 Mar 2026
Media release: Earth Sciences New Zealand | Fifty years on from the first aerial survey of our Southern Alps glaciers, late snow and variable summer weather delivered a temporary reprieve from rapid ice loss, says Earth Sciences New Zealand.
Fonterra admits ‘100% grass-fed’ claim breached law in greenwashing row
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Fonterra has admitted its “100% New Zealand grass-fed” claims on Anchor butter were misleading and breached the law, settling a case brought by Greenpeace Aotearoa over packaging used between December 2023 and April 2025.
$30m airline fund risks ‘burning public money’ without lasting benefit – expert
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | A $30 million government package to support regional air routes risks delivering poor value for money while increasing emissions, according to transport strategist Tim Adriaansen.
Signs of jet fuel hoarding emerge in Asia on Iran oil shock
26 Mar 2026
Signs are growing that Asian countries are hoarding jet fuel after the Iran war sent oil prices surging, reflecting growing strain on the aviation industry.
New protections for NZ migratory species under UN convention
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New international protections for migratory species, including several found in New Zealand, are a positive step – but global protections won’t halt the decline of migratory species on their own, experts say.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
3 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Economic contraction will impact carbon market
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | While higher fossil fuel prices strengthen the long-run economics of decarbonisation, the current fuel crisis won’t inspire near-term confidence in the carbon market, according to Lizzie Chambers of Carbon Match.
Carbon price: Ups and downs amid geopolitical uncertainty
26 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | After ups and downs in recent weeks, the carbon market again broke above the $40 mark this week, with questions around how the Middle East conflict will play out weighing on market confidence.
Asia ramps up use of dirty fuels to cover energy shortfall triggered by Iran war
Thu 2 Apr 2026
South Korea will delay the shutdown of coal-fired plants, while the Philippines also plans to boost the output of its coal-burning plants
Death toll in Afghanistan flooding increases to 28, authorities say
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Afghan authorities said Monday that the death toll from severe weather that has struck swathes of the country over the past four days has increased to 28, with 49 people injured. Dozens of people have died from extreme weather in the country so far this year.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
19 Feb 2026
Construction is set to begin on a new retail-office development in central Auckland, which is targeting a 40% reduction in embodied carbon and 25% lower energy.
Opposition attacks Govt over fossil fuel phaseout backdown
2 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Revelations that Resources Minister Shane Jones ruled out New Zealand signing up to a 'road map' away from fossil fuels at last year’s global climate summit show the National Party’s minor coalition partners’ undue influence over the Government, according to Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Carbon trading schemes cut more emissions than carbon taxes, according to global study
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Carbon trading schemes are more effective than carbon taxes at reducing emissions, cutting fossil fuel use, and accelerating the shift to renewable energy, a global study has found.
Watts’s last stand: Simeon Brown takes energy portfolio
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Energy Minister Simon Watts has lost the portfolio to Cabinet fixer Simeon Brown in a reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
20 Feb 2026
Several environmental organisations are calling on political parties to make climate and biodiversity central to the 2026 election campaign, with reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme seen as a key priority.
Dairy farmers' lack of climate action 'even bleaker' than water inaction – Upton
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Government projections for cutting agricultural emissions are being undermined by low farmer uptake, with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warning the country is relying on “heroic” assumptions to meet its methane targets.
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.
Wellington planting nears one million trees
30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greater Wellington’s parks restoration programme will hit one million native trees this year, with the first dams to rewet peat wetlands in Queen Elizabeth Park now completed after a years-long effort to bring these ecosystems – and their carbon sequestering superpowers – back to life.
Labour mulls GIDI 2.0 as factory closures mount
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Factory closures across the country could have been prevented if the last Labour-led government’s GIDI fund to assist companies with the cost of electrification hadn't been scrapped, Labour energy spokesperson, Megan Woods, says.
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.”
FMA to ease conditions for green bond issues
31 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Green, social and sustainability-linked bonds will face lower disclosure requirements and regulatory costs under a class exemption newly granted by the Financial Markets Authority.
Five trees can’t offset a car: Lawyers accuse Mazda of greenwashing
9 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action NZ is taking Mazda to the Advertising Standards Authority over its claims that a tree-planting programme will offset vehicle emissions.
Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert
11 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s fixation on eliminating the "dry-year risk margin" as a lever to reduce costs misses a much bigger opportunity to lower electricity prices, according to Christina Hood, head of Compass Climate.
NZ prepares to join ‘gold rush’ for white hydrogen
25 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand may be close to commercialising the capture and use of naturally occurring ‘white’ hydrogen, with investment plans for developments in the Wairarapa region picking up pace in response to spiralling oil prices.
Media round-up
20 Mar 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Crown lawyers agree High Court could quash emissions plan if found unlawful; NZ is locked in 'disaster inertia'; and climate change is notably absent from new development laws.
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.
Lawyers complain to ombudsman over Govt failure to release LNG modelling
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Lawyers for Climate Action has made a formal complaint to the Ombudsman over the Government’s failure to release information about its controversial decision to build a LNG import terminal.
Cleantech expo coming to Auckland
26 Mar 2026
New Zealand’s first national cleantech expo is set to bring together 30 innovators, in what organisers say is the country’s fastest growing area in the tech sector.
NZ First targets regional share of mining royalties
30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand First has proposed returning 50% of mining royalties to regional communities, saying that too much of the value from resource extraction is currently flowing to Wellington.
Tuvalu prioritises climate change in agreement with NZ
27 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand has pledged an additional $20 million to climate resilience work in Tuvalu, more than doubling Aotearoa's aid to the tiny island nation in the current financial year.
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.
Worst in a generation: Environmentalists slam fisheries reform bill
25 Mar 2026
Media release: Greenpeace | The Fisheries Amendment Bill, which will likely have its first reading in parliament this week, is being labelled the worst fisheries policy in a generation by environmental groups who are calling for it to be rejected to protect ocean health.
Govt process to change climate plan ‘fundamentally flawed’, says judge
18 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The government’s 2024 changes to New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan was “as fundamentally flawed a process as I think I have ever seen”, the judge presiding in a case challenging climate change decision-making has said.
Kiwis overly optimistic about state of environment
27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests many New Zealanders believe the environment is in better shape than it really is, with public perceptions often out of step with scientific evidence.
‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics
24 Feb 2026
Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?
Media round-up
Thu 2 Apr 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: The widening political gap is deepening cracks in NZ's climate consensus, Christchurch recorded more than 30,000 extra cycling trips over two weeks, and is the energy crisis a renewable inflection point?
Activists occupy controversial gold drilling site
25 Mar 2026
By Max Frethey, Local Democracy Reporter | Opposition in Golden Bay to a controversial gold mine at Sams Creek has flared up over the weekend after several activists briefly occupied a drilling site.
China has a new competitor? Kazakhstan reveals huge rare Earth deposit that could power the next tech boom
25 Feb 2026
China’s grip on rare earths might finally see some competition, and the world is already taking notice.
Sci-tech prioritisation report is a joke that could cost NZ dearly, says NZ Association of Scientists
Thu 2 Apr 2026
Media release: New Zealand Association of Scientists | The Prioritisation Report released yesterday by the Prime Minister’s Science Innovation and Technology Council makes a poor case for further cuts and changes to our research system.
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.
AI’s arrival complicates Big Tech climate goals, and some worry it’s locking in more fossil fuels
Thu 2 Apr 2026
Six years ago, Google was confident that by 2030 it would power all operations with electricity generated from clean sources, including wind and solar power, and remove as much pollution as it produced. Today it calls those goals a “moonshot.” Microsoft says it’s still aiming to remove more carbon than it creates by 2030 but now describes the effort as “a marathon, not a sprint.”
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.
Momentum speeds up for low-emissions heavy transport
Thu 2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s heavy vehicle sector is starting to move toward lower-emissions alternatives, with electric vehicles now delivering cost savings as well as lower emissions.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
18 Feb 2026
Aotearoa’s first National Infrastructure Plan, introduced to Parliament yesterday, calls for "a predictable approach to electrifying the economy" as one of ten priorities for the next decade.
‘Stop burning fossil fuels’ pleads scientist as extreme rain causes floods yet again
27 Mar 2026
Northland and Auckland have again been lashed by heavy rain, with hundreds of people evacuated last night because of extensive flooding in the Far North, and some areas hit by more than a month's average rainfall in just 24 hours.
AI tool predicts wildfire danger faster than current systems
26 Mar 2026
Media release | A wildfire forecasting system powered by artificial intelligence could help detect dangerous fire conditions earlier and reduce the cost of wildfire response, according to new research from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
Record wind output helps shield the UK from worst of Iran war fallout
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Record output from wind farms has helped boost total clean power supplies in the United Kingdom to new highs so far in 2026, and allowed power firms to pare use of fossil fuels to multi-year lows.
