Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
Australia's green energy push, Pacific ties face setback from COP31 impasse
14 Nov 2025
Australia risks undermining efforts to establish itself as a leader in the green energy transition and letting down its vulnerable Pacific island neighbours if its bid to host next year's biggest climate summit fails, diplomats and analysts say.
World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds
14 Nov 2025
Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating.
COP30: Brazil tries to find a home for tricky issues
14 Nov 2025
Brazil is trying to craft a compromise package on several contentious issues and has dismissed the idea of a roadmap away from fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel emissions rise again – but renewables boom offers hope for climate
14 Nov 2025
The world's burning of fossil fuels is set to release more planet-warming carbon dioxide than ever before this year, new figures show.
Liberal Party formally abandons net zero by 2050 climate target
14 Nov 2025
The Liberal Party has agreed to scrap its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, which was first set under the Morrison government.
Trump is said to propose opening California coast to oil drilling
14 Nov 2025
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief critic of the president and an opponent of oil exploration in the Pacific, called the proposal “dead on arrival.”
IEA: Fossil-fuel use will peak before 2030 – unless ‘stated policies’ are abandoned
13 Nov 2025
The world’s fossil-fuel use is still on track to peak before 2030, despite a surge in political support for coal, oil and gas, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Ethiopia set to host UN's 2027 climate summit, 2026 undecided
13 Nov 2025
Uncertainty still surrounds which country will host next year's UN climate conference: Australia or Turkey. But for 2027, there's little mystery: it will almost certainly be Ethiopia, an African diplomatic powerhouse.
Protesters and UN security clash at climate summit in Brazil
13 Nov 2025
Activist groups and United Nations security clashed in chaotic scenes late Tuesday after protesters appeared to force their way into the COP30 climate conference venue, in the most serious act of unrest seen in years inside one of the annual gatherings.
Carbon market supporters risk cheating the nature they wish to protect
13 Nov 2025
COMMENT: Efforts to dilute Article 6 rules risk turning the new UN carbon market mechanism into a false climate solution that harms both nature and global climate action.
EV and hybrid sales soar in Australia as internal combustion cars fall below 70% market share for first time
13 Nov 2025
Data from peak motoring body shows battery-electric vehicles accounted for 9.7% of new cars sold in September quarter, the highest proportion on record.
EU countries seek another year-long deforestation law delay
13 Nov 2025
European Union member states are seeking to postpone the implementation of the bloc's anti-deforestation law by another year, an EU negotiating draft dated November 10 shows.
Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months
12 Nov 2025
China’s carbon dioxide emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, extending a flat or falling trend that started in March 2024.
COP 30 could be the ‘People’s COP’
12 Nov 2025
This year’s conference is an opportunity to be remembered not just for new pledges or targets but for rebooting the relationship between citizens and the climate regime.
Will EU's carbon border tax crash climate summit party?
12 Nov 2025
A flagship European environmental policy – dubbed a "carbon tax" on imports – is raising hackles abroad and is becoming a flashpoint at the UN's COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
Climate disasters displaced 250 million people in past 10 years, UN report finds
12 Nov 2025
Floods, storms and droughts have uprooted people across the globe as rising temperatures intensify conflict and hunger.
Big tech and big carbon fueling COP30 misinformation, groups claim
12 Nov 2025
With the COP30 climate conference kicking off in Brazil this week, misinformation and disinformation are swirling.
Clean energy could become a huge political winner
12 Nov 2025
Rising power bills quietly shaped this year’s races – and gave Democrats a new attack line on climate.
It’s been a dangerous decade since the Paris Climate Agreement, but there’s still reason for hope
11 Nov 2025
A decade ago, the world got together and decided to fix the climate crisis by adopting the Paris Agreement.
Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for tackling climate crisis, says COP30 chief
11 Nov 2025
Brazil’s André Corrêa do Lago says countries should follow China’s lead on clean energy as conference begins.
Forty per cent of Australian women without kids hesitant to have children because of climate change, survey finds
11 Nov 2025
The survey, on attitudes about the impacts of global heating, also found that half of Australians were very or extremely concerned about climate change and two in five believed the climate would be “much hotter” in 2050.
Scotland's first wind farm 'supercharged' after upgrade
11 Nov 2025
Scotland's first commercial wind farm will be able to deliver five times more clean power than before after being upgraded.
What do African countries want from COP30?
11 Nov 2025
At the UN climate summit, African negotiators are seeking more “debt-free” financing that would allow them to implement climate solutions – from adaptation to just transition.
We have more renewable energy than ever before. Why are we switching it off?
11 Nov 2025
Experts say until more storage is installed to soak up the waves of renewable energy flooding the grid, much of that power will occasionally have to be curtailed.
Leaders of world’s biggest polluters are no-shows as heads of state gather for UN climate summit
10 Nov 2025
World leaders descending on the United Nations annual climate summit in Brazil on Thursday will not need to see much more than the view from their airplane window to sense the unfathomable stakes.
Canada’s new budget has billions in fossil subsidies disguised as climate action
10 Nov 2025
Ottawa's new CCS and hydrogen credits extend to 2035, but most of the billions go to oil sands and refining, not clean industry.
EU’s new climate target lines up multibillion dollar boost for carbon markets
10 Nov 2025
Analysts estimate the EU will buy at least 50 billion euros worth of carbon credits in the 2030s to help meet its emissions-cutting goals.
Central bankers still fail to account for climate tipping points, experts say
10 Nov 2025
Experts say that while some financial regulators might be aware of the risk of tipping points, beyond which changes become irreversible, most climate economists are not adequately accounting for these risks.
‘There is no money’: As carbon markets collapse, what happens to the forests they promised to protect?
10 Nov 2025
After it was found most offsets did not represent real carbon reductions, the money dried up. But successful schemes such as Kasigau in Kenya now face a stark future.
Net zero is an insidious loophole that distracts from the scientific imperative to eliminate fossil fuels
10 Nov 2025
OPINION: History tells us that polite incrementalism and political kowtowing will prevail at Cop30 – even as catastrophe unfolds around us.
EU ministers agree to 90% emissions reduction target
7 Nov 2025
European environment ministers have reached an agreement on a contentious plan to cut the bloc's greenhouse gas emissions but with caveats.
The media is complicit in the climate confusion
7 Nov 2025
The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action – but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.
New York climate advocates celebrate Mamdani’s victory, prepare to hold him accountable
7 Nov 2025
For the first time in years, New York’s environmental justice advocates say they’ll be working with the city’s government – rather than against it.
UN chief scolds nations for failing climate goals ahead of COP30 summit
7 Nov 2025
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tore into nations for their failure to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as Brazil hosted world leaders for a summit ahead of the COP30 climate conference in the rainforest city of Belem.
COP30: What does the ‘Baku to Belém roadmap’ mean for climate finance?
7 Nov 2025
The Brazilian COP30 presidency has published a “Baku to Belém roadmap” on how climate finance could be scaled up to “at least $1.3tn” a year by 2035.
Solar geoengineering in wrong hands could wreak climate havoc, scientists warn
6 Nov 2025
Blocking the sun may reduce global heating – but ‘rogue actor’ could cause drought or more hurricanes, report finds.
“Dirty and expensive:” City of Sydney bans gas as it votes to electrify all new big buildings
6 Nov 2025
The City of Sydney has followed the example of the ACT and Victoria governments and voted unanimously to require all newly built residential buildings, medium to large commercial buildings, hotels, and serviced apartment buildings, to be all-electric.
How climate change worsens heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods
6 Nov 2025
Many extreme weather events are becoming more common and more intense around the world, fuelled by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.
From mapping high-risk areas to building ‘sponge cities’: How Vietnam is adapting to climate extremes
6 Nov 2025
Vietnam is rethinking how it copes with floods after a year of relentless storms has collapsed hillsides and turned streets into rivers.
Canada could eliminate oil and gas emissions cap, budget plan says
6 Nov 2025
Canada could scrap a cap on oil and gas emissions in favor of other measures like strengthened industrial carbon pricing and the deployment of carbon capture and storage technology, the government said in a budget plan unveiled on Tuesday.
How the US could shape the COP30 climate summit without even being there
6 Nov 2025
The Trump administration has recently taken aggressive stances to try to influence other countries’ climate policies, mainly by threatening hostile trade measures.
UNEP: New country climate plans ‘barely move needle’ on expected warming
5 Nov 2025
Executive director Inger Anderson made the comments as UNEP published its 16th annual assessment of the global “emissions gap”.
Revealed: Prince William’s climate prize hired PR firm tied to Brazilian fossil fuel industry
5 Nov 2025
The agency – LLYC Brasil – promoted the upcoming Earthshot Prize ceremony in Rio de Janeiro while under contract to oil giant Petrobras.
TotalEnergies loses in Paris court, marking a turning point for fossil fuel truth-in-advertising
5 Nov 2025
TotalEnergies was found to have misled consumers about its role in the energy transition.
‘How did we get here?’: Documentary explores how Republicans changed course on the climate
5 Nov 2025
In The White House Effect, now available on Netflix, archival footage is used to show how the US right moved from believing to disputing the climate crisis.
Orcas feasting on great whites another tell-tale of climate change?
5 Nov 2025
Researchers suspect that recent ocean-warming events, including El Niño, may have altered white shark nursery zones, bringing more juveniles into the Gulf of California… and into orcas’ hunting grounds.
Big banks’ lending to coal backers undermines Indonesia’s green plans
5 Nov 2025
Foreign banks involved in Indonesia’s $20-billion Just Energy Transition Partnership have also funded companies working on coal power expansion.
Brazil opens three weeks of COP30-linked climate events
4 Nov 2025
Brazil on Monday opens three weeks of events linked to the COP30 climate summit, hoping to showcase a world still determined to tackle global warming
Can cows and solar power coexist? We’re about to find out
4 Nov 2025
Solar companies have figured out how to mix sheep grazing and power production. This company is about to make a push to do it with cows, with huge growth potential.
Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America, documents reveal
4 Nov 2025
Texas-based fossil fuel company financed Atlas Network in attempt to derail UN-led climate treaty process.
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'.
