Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
US officials absent from global climate forums during Trump 2.0
28 Feb 2025
US officials have missed recent international climate forums sparking concerns about a potentially significant shift from Donald Trump's first term.
Countries use more land for golf courses than for solar or wind energy: study
28 Feb 2025
The amount of land needed for renewable energy projects is sometimes criticised, but a new study points out that, in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, much more land gets allocated for golf courses than renewable energy facilities.
China aims to eliminate severe air pollution this year
28 Feb 2025
China aims to effectively eliminate severe air pollution by the end of 2025, a senior environment official said, as authorities ramp up efforts in pollution control and emissions reduction in the "battle for blue skies."
Kerala's early heat surge signals climate shift
28 Feb 2025
Kerala, known for its clear skies and balmy weather during the early part of the year, which attracts tourists, has been grappling with an early start of unusually hot weather this season. Scientists attribute this to a mix of local weather conditions and long-term climate change impacts.
America's "first car-free neighborhood" is going pretty good, actually?
28 Feb 2025
Since breaking ground in 2021, Culdesac Tempe has had its share of detractors and skeptics. But none of them live there.
Companies urged to pay into new UN fund to help protect nature
27 Feb 2025
Companies who use the genetic coding of the natural world to design products ranging from weight-loss drugs to cosmetics faced renewed calls on Tuesday to help pay to protect it as a dedicated fund was launched at a U.N. conference in Rome.
Nauru sells citizenship to help fund relocations as sea levels rise
27 Feb 2025
A new 'golden passport' scheme aims to raise funds to relocate people inland as climate change raises sea levels.
How much do rich nations owe Africa for climate damage?
27 Feb 2025
Wealthy nations owe African countries some 50 times more for climate damage than the debt Africa owes them, ActionAid report says.
RFK Jr., onetime environmentalist, kills climate change programs
27 Feb 2025
In 1999, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an environmental lawyer, was named by Time magazine as a "hero of the planet" for his pioneering work to clean up America's waterways. On February 14 of this year, his second day as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he ended HHS funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health, a move that will likely terminate this work.
Coffee grounds and mushroom spores can be 3D printed into a compostable plastic alternative, researchers say
27 Feb 2025
In a new study, researchers have made a promising discovery: a compostable material that can serve as an alternative to plastic. The material is made from a combination of used coffee grounds and spores from Reishi mushrooms that are made into a paste, then 3D printed.
EU to make most companies exempt from carbon border levy, draft shows
26 Feb 2025
The European Commission will propose exemptions for "the vast majority" of companies covered by the European Union's carbon border levy on the grounds that they produce only 1% of emissions in the scheme, a draft proposal showed.
In Rome, talks to protect Earth's biodiversity resume with money topping the agenda
26 Feb 2025
An annual United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year will resume its work Tuesday in Rome with money at the top of the agenda.
After US retreat, countries clash over who should make up Green Climate Fund shortfall
26 Feb 2025
At this week's board meeting, Germany and Sweden encouraged wealthier developing nations to step up - an idea rejected by Saudi Arabia.
Greenpeace risks bankruptcy at US pipeline trial
26 Feb 2025
Greenpeace has said that a lawsuit brought by an energy company over the Dakota Access Pipeline could wipe it out.
In Trump's shadow, IPCC set to make key decision on timing of climate science review
26 Feb 2025
With the US not expected to show up at the IPCC meeting, countries have a final chance to agree whether assessment reports could inform the next UN scorecard of climate action.
BP to ditch renewables goals and return focus to fossil fuels
26 Feb 2025
BP's chief executive will scrap a target to increase renewable generation 20-fold by 2030, returning the focus to fossil fuels, as part of a strategy shift announced on Wednesday to tackle investor concerns over earnings, two sources told Reuters.
Countries warn against delaying global climate assessment after US exit
25 Feb 2025
The European Union, Britain and climate-vulnerable developing countries have raised concerns about delays to the next global assessment of climate change, by the U.N.'s climate science panel, after the U.S. administration withdrew from the process.
Conservative election victory set to narrow climate policy focus in Germany
25 Feb 2025
Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz' conservatives have won Germany's snap election, while the current government parties booked significant losses, indicating a reduced focus on climate policies in a future government.
More than half of nations fail to protect 30% of land and sea in UN nature plans
25 Feb 2025
More than half of countries have not committed to protecting 30% of their land and sea for nature by 2030 in plans submitted to the UN - despite signing a global agreement to do so less than three years ago.
Nuclear path would blow out Australia's emissions targets, new modelling shows
25 Feb 2025
Australia's peak climate body has published new modelling showing the Coalition's proposed nuclear pathway would result in an additional 2 billion tonnes of emissions in the atmosphere.
How Trump gutted climate policy in 30 days
25 Feb 2025
President Donald Trump's promised assault on federal climate policies is sweeping across Washington, state capitals and private industry with a speed that's surprising even some of his supporters and critics -- and could leave an impact on the planet's future well after his presidency.
Britain's net zero economy 'booming'
25 Feb 2025
Green sector growing at triple the rate of the UK economy, providing high-wage jobs and increasing energy security.
South African leader urges unity to tackle global challenges
24 Feb 2025
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has told G20 foreign ministers that a commitment to multilateralism and international law is vital to solving global crises.
Renewable energy is a less costly, more efficient climate solution than carbon capture, study finds
24 Feb 2025
The benefits of investing in clean energy, including solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower, make renewables a more cost-effective option compared to carbon capture technology, according to a new study.
Why the Science Based Targets initiative should not allow carbon offsets
24 Feb 2025
The Science Based Targets initiative is currently reviewing its Corporate Net-Zero Standard. In April 2024, SBTi's Board of Trustees announced that carbon offsets "could function as an additional tool to tackle climate change".
The Tories set the UK net zero target. Now they are dumping it
24 Feb 2025
The 2050 goal "leaves us economically worse off," Conservative energy chief Andrew Bowie said.
US to pull delegation from UN climate science meeting
24 Feb 2025
State Department officials won't participate in next week's meeting of the top UN climate science panel, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.
How 'digital sequence information' can generate funds for biodiversity
24 Feb 2025
Public and private databases - headquartered mainly in the global north - often source this genetic information from plants, animals, bacteria and fungi found in biodiversity-rich, global-south countries.
World's glaciers melting faster than ever recorded
21 Feb 2025
The world's glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded under the impact of climate change, according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date.
EU eyes funding foreign LNG projects to lower prices
21 Feb 2025
Brussels is exploring whether to back overseas fossil fuel infrastructure amid trade talks with the U.S.
'I'm not a scientist': Net Zero opponent Nigel Farage admits climate ignorance
21 Feb 2025
The Reform UK leader reiterated false climate claims at Jordan Peterson's Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event in London.
The vicious cycle pushing Bangladeshi climate migrants into modern slavery
21 Feb 2025
More than nine in 10 migrants who left some of Bangladesh's most climate-affected areas to find work experienced forms of forced labour, researchers have found.
The climate crisis is a cost-of-living issue for Australia. My generation will be the first to pay for it
21 Feb 2025
OPINION: Politicians have divorced the issue of global heating from soaring prices - Australians must take bold action at the ballot box.
Bison are bringing back biodiversity to Britain
21 Feb 2025
In just a few years, the only free-roaming bison herd in the U.K. has already made a tangible difference in the surrounding ecosystem.
How Trump's 'drill, baby, drill' pledge is affecting other countries
20 Feb 2025
The UN climate summit in the United Arab Emirates in 2023 ended with a call to "transition away from fossil fuels". It was applauded as a historic milestone in global climate action.
China's clean energy investments nearing scale of global fossil investments
20 Feb 2025
China's clean energy investments in 2024 amounted to 6.8tn yuan ($940bn), nearing the scale of $1.12tn global investment in fossil fuels, according to a new analysis by UK-based Carbon Brief.
Brazil will join OPEC+, group of oil-exporting nations, months before hosting UN climate summit
20 Feb 2025
Brazil's government on Tuesday approved joining OPEC+, a group of major oil-exporting nations, signalling the country's evolution into a major oil state just nine months ahead of hosting the United Nations' annual climate summit.
US: Senior Department of Justice prosecutor quit after being told to investigate Biden climate spending
20 Feb 2025
The top criminal prosecutor in the Washington, DC, US Attorney's Office, Denise Cheung, resigned Tuesday after declining a request from her Trump-appointed superiors to open a grand jury investigation she viewed as premature.
Conserving land in wealthy countries may be making things worse somewhere else: research
20 Feb 2025
Researchers provide a detailed account of how "biodiversity leakage" happens--and how to tackle the often overlooked problem.
There are many ways Trump could trigger a global collapse. Here's how to survive if that happens
20 Feb 2025
OPINION: It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers - the rest of us will have to fend for ourselves.
Was the world's most influential climate target doomed from the start?
19 Feb 2025
As the world passes 1.5 degrees C of warming, a Cambridge scholar argues that putting a deadline on climate action was the wrong way to frame it.
Brazil asks UN to ditch proposed levy on global shipping
19 Feb 2025
Brazil has asked the UN to throw out plans for a new levy on global shipping that would raise funds to fight the climate crisis, despite playing host to the next UN climate summit.
US Energy Secretary backs coal and attacks 'sinister' climate targets
19 Feb 2025
The Trump appointee and fossil fuel executive called the transition to renewable energy "lunacy" at an event packed with climate science deniers.
How to find climate data and science the Trump administration doesn't want you to see
19 Feb 2025
Information on the internet might seem like it's there forever, but it's only as permanent as people choose to make it. That's apparent as the second Trump administration "floods the zone" with efforts to dismantle science agencies and the data and websites they use to communicate with the public. The targets range from public health and demographics to climate science.
Canada's carbon tax targeted by deepfake misinformation
19 Feb 2025
Canada's carbon tax faces intense scrutiny, but a video circulating on social media purportedly showing a news report suggesting the levy is insufficient has been altered.
Are Elon Musk's politics costing Tesla sales?
19 Feb 2025
Tesla sales are in an unprecedented slide. Competitors are rapidly gaining ground. There's a lot of bad news for Tesla lately - but it's unclear if the politics of its polarising CEO, Elon Musk, are to blame.
US: Former EPA officials blast effort to rescind climate funds
18 Feb 2025
Former EPA officials are condemning the agency's new leadership for trying to claw back billions from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, calling waste claims from current administrator, Lee Zeldin, a 'smokescreen' to justify dismantling climate programs the Trump administration opposes.
Tens of thousands of climate activists protest across Germany ahead of upcoming federal election
18 Feb 2025
Thousands of activists demonstrated in Germany on Friday in a bid to raise awareness to climate issues ahead of the upcoming federal elections scheduled for 23 February.
Macron's U-turn against EU green rules triggers internal revolt
18 Feb 2025
The French president's anti-regulation push has thrown his environmental legacy into doubt and angered many in his own party.
World's sea-ice falls to record low
18 Feb 2025
The world's frozen oceans, which help to keep the planet cool, currently have less ice than ever previously recorded, satellite data shows.
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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Fri 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'.
