Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
China is producing too much stuff and the West is worried
10 Apr 2024
China's economy just can't shake off its COVID gloom, with GDP faltering and an imploded property market.
Hundreds rescued from flooding in Australia's natural disaster
10 Apr 2024
Australian authorities have rescued hundreds of people stranded due to flooding in New South Wales after the region was lashed by nearly a month’s worth of rainfall within 24 hours.
Scientists confirm record highs for three most important heat-trapping gases
9 Apr 2024
Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide climbed to unseen levels in 2023, underlining the climate crisis.
How three European human rights cases could shape climate litigation
9 Apr 2024
That is the question the European Court of Human Rights will for the first time seek to answer in Strasbourg, France, as it rules this week on three separate climate cases.
Help us build wind farms to beat Russian bombs, Ukraine tells EU
9 Apr 2024
Ukraine’s largest private energy firm told POLITICO it wants to build a disparate energy network to better survive Russian attacks — but can’t get capital.
Forest carbon accounting lets Guyana remain net zero with oil pumping
9 Apr 2024
Experts said UN rules around forest and oil are open to abuse, so that countries like Guyana can claim net zero without cutting emissions.
GHGs thousands of times more damaging than CO2 are being smuggled into Europe
9 Apr 2024
The impact of hydrofluorocarbons on global warming can be up to thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide.
Degrowth: Five things I wish everyone knew
9 Apr 2024
OPINION: As we approach Earth Overshoot Day, climate change is only one of six planetary boundaries we are transgressing.
Africa's carbon sink capacity is shrinking
8 Apr 2024
The population of Africa, the second-largest continent in the world, currently sits at about 1.4 billion, but is set to exceed 2 billion by 2040.
Handful of producers churn out 80% of post-Paris emissions
8 Apr 2024
Just 57 fossil fuel and cement producers are linked to 80% of global fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, a new report finds.
US carbon emissions reduction rate doubles after passing the Inflation Reduction Act
8 Apr 2024
The rate of carbon emissions cuts has doubled since the passage of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to a new report by Clean Investment Monitor.
Do carbon prizes work?
8 Apr 2024
On Earth Day next year, expert judges will decide who should get the biggest incentive prize in history—$80 million for removing at least 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Big oil is racing to scale up carbon capture but the challenges are immense
8 Apr 2024
A paper mill in a small Mississippi town could help demonstrate whether capturing carbon dioxide emissions and storing it deep underground is a viable path to fight climate change.
Clouds look different these days. It's not suspicious — it's climate change
8 Apr 2024
Have you noticed that clouds are looking a bit different than you remember them when you were younger? Less fluffy and more wispy?
The plastics industry’s carbon footprint has doubled in the past few decades
5 Apr 2024
Plastics production contributes to 4.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Renewables growth still lags climate targets, think tank says
5 Apr 2024
The world added less than half of the new renewable energy capacity needed to meet its climate goals last year, a leading think tank said.
Scientists warn Australians to prepare for megadroughts lasting more than 20 years
5 Apr 2024
New research shows megadroughts lasting up to 20 years or more have occurred in Australia in the past and could happen again.
Climate NGO claims major shippers profit from EU ETS
5 Apr 2024
Shipping giants make profit from the EU’s carbon market (EU ETS), a new Transport & Environment (T&E) study claims.
Meet the Nigerian women spearheading solar projects
5 Apr 2024
The African country has the lowest access to electricity in the world. Women and girls are bearing the brunt of energy poverty.
A guide to electric car misinformation
5 Apr 2024
The truth is, when it comes to the environment, there really is no such thing as a “good” car.
‘Nature has rights’: Aruba could become second country to recognise nature in constitution
4 Apr 2024
Aruba has drafted a constitutional amendment that would make it the second country in the world to recognise that nature has inherent rights.
Germany's national postal carrier stops using domestic flights to send letters
4 Apr 2024
Deutsche Post says it will no longer use domestic flights to transport letters, in a bid to improve its climate footprint.
A first step toward a global price on carbon
4 Apr 2024
A tax on ship emissions could have an impact on almost everything we buy.
Why some countries are aiming for ‘net-negative’ emissions
4 Apr 2024
Last month, Germany became the first major economy to announce that it intends to introduce a target to reach “net-negative” emissions later this century.
Stop saying climate change will destroy the world: The truth is far scarier
4 Apr 2024
OPINION: Climate activists tend to use apocalyptic language when describing the future. But they’re getting the framing all wrong.
Commonwealth carbon tax model law aims to help nations price pollution
4 Apr 2024
Despite examples of political opposition, carbon pricing is an increasing global trend.
Can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis?
3 Apr 2024
An international team of engineers and executives is powering up an innovative machine designed to alter the very composition of Earth’s atmosphere.
New electrochemical technology could de-acidify the oceans – and even remove carbon dioxide
3 Apr 2024
We must accelerate carbon emissions reduction efforts and rapidly scale strategies to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and the oceans.
How the the African Forest Restoration Initiative threatens savannas and grasslands
3 Apr 2024
A recent paper published in Science warns that “Across Africa, vast areas of nonforest are threatened by inappropriate restoration in the form of tree planting.”
British Columbia's carbon tax goes up
3 Apr 2024
British Columbia's carbon tax is meant to encourage companies and consumers to shift from fossil fuels to greener forms of energy, and is intended to be returned to taxpayers in the form of a rebate.
Cancellation of UN climate weeks removes platform for worst-hit communities
3 Apr 2024
The UNFCCC has said it will not hold regional climate weeks in 2024 due to a funding shortfall – which means less inclusion for developing-country voices.
Indigenous peoples’ climate labor benefits everyone. Should it be paid?
3 Apr 2024
“I don’t think money is going to solve it. But I also feel like we do have a responsibility to ensure that we are taking care of the people who are working for all of us.”
International court issues first-ever decision enforcing the right to a healthy environment
2 Apr 2024
The landmark ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will have far reaching implications for communities affected by extreme pollution.
Specialised paint coatings help cities feel as much as 1.5°c cooler, study finds
2 Apr 2024
A new study by researchers at NTU Singapore has demonstrated that the use of particular paint coatings in urban settings can help city dwellers feel as much as 1.5 degrees Celsius cooler.
Scientists are sweating over freakishly high marine heat
2 Apr 2024
While some experts believe global temperature anomalies adhere to climate crisis predictions, others are alarmed by the speed of change.
Macron and Lula launch green investment plan for Amazon
2 Apr 2024
The plan is part of an international roadmap the two leaders intend to promote in the run-up to the COP30 environmental summit which will be held in Belem in northern Brazil in 2025.
A major European nature protection plan stumbles at the final hurdle
2 Apr 2024
A major EU plan to better protect nature and fight climate change was indefinitely postponed, underscoring how farmers’ protests sweeping the continent have had a deep influence on politics.
The complex climate truth about home-grown tomatoes
2 Apr 2024
A recent study suggests urban agriculture in the US and Europe is on average six times as polluting in terms of carbon emissions as conventional commercial agriculture - but it's complicated.
Australia’s carbon credits system a failure on global scale, study finds
28 Mar 2024
Researchers find carbon offsets approach, which is supposed to regenerate scrubby outback forests, was not reducing emissions as promised.
Coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, prepares for a long goodbye
28 Mar 2024
More than two years after climate negotiators first attempted to consign coal to history, the dirtiest fossil fuel is having a moment.
A coal billionaire is building the world’s biggest clean energy plant
28 Mar 2024
Five times the size of Paris. Visible from space. The world’s biggest energy plant. Enough electricity to power Switzerland.
How a novel X-ray could help farmers lock up more soil carbon
28 Mar 2024
Matching chemical traces in crop leaves and soil can determine the extent of a plant's roots—with exciting consequences for plant breeding and climate change.
Trudeau pledges $8.4 million to study 'democratic decline'
28 Mar 2024
Initiative will research how climate change 'interacts with democratic decline' and help protect the human rights of environmental defenders.
How AI is improving climate forecasts
28 Mar 2024
Researchers are using various machine-learning strategies to speed up climate modelling, reduce its energy costs and hopefully improve accuracy.
EU climate envoys plan joint trip to China
27 Mar 2024
The EU’s efforts to broaden its discussions with the world’s biggest polluter come as US-China climate talks face uncertainty.
The era of "climateflation" is here
27 Mar 2024
It may be time to add human-caused climate change to the list of factors likely to worsen inflation, a new study finds.
Expectations mount as loss and damage fund staggers to its feet
27 Mar 2024
Demand for finance to pay for the aftermath of climate impacts is rocketing – but progress on getting a new UN loss and damage fund up and running is slow.
At COP29, Azerbaijan must be the anchor for 1.5ºC
27 Mar 2024
OPINION: This week, representatives of Azerbaijan, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates will gather in Copenhagen for the first key meeting of climate ministers since Cop28 in Dubai.
A Spanish energy is suing another energy company for alleged greenwashing
27 Mar 2024
Spanish utility Iberdrola has filed a lawsuit against energy company Repsol for alleged greenwashing and unfair competition practices.
Australia's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard weakened
27 Mar 2024
The Australian government will loosen fuel economy standards for utes and vans in its proposed climate laws for cars.
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Progress to slash farming emissions is being blocked by limited farmer confidence in mitigation tools, inconsistent engagement, misinformation and a lack of clear policy signals, according to a new report.
State-owned farmer drives profit growth with emissions reductions
19 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Government-owned Landcorp, trading as Pāmu, is one-third of the way to meeting its 2031 emissions reduction targets, with five years left to run to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30.3% against 2021 emissions.
NZ’s government wants tourism to drive economic growth – but how will it deal with aviation emissions?
22 Oct 2025
By Robert McLachlan, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University | Following a brief dip during the COVID pandemic, aviation is back in a growth phase.
Air NZ inks deal for its first internationally verified carbon credits
9 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Air New Zealand has committed to buying 8000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030, in partnership with local native forest investment platform My Native Forest.
‘Cali Fund’ aiming to raise billions for nature receives first donation – of just $1,000
16 Dec 2025
A major biodiversity fund – which could, in theory, generate billions of dollars annually for conservation – received its first donation of just $1,000 in November.
Govt launches strategy backing wood-based heat sector
23 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Forestry biomass could replace as much as 40% of fossil fuel-generated process heat by 2050, but access to supply, regulatory settings and business cases for converting to wood-based heat sources are required, the Government says in a series of documents released yesterday.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Govt unveils plans for carbon storage regulations – and ETS rewards
18 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has released plans to regulate carbon capture and storage in natural geological formations, which include Emissions Trading Scheme incentives, with the aim of introducing related legislation in 2026.
Global coal demand hit record high this year but is set to decline by 2030
18 Dec 2025
Global coal demand reached a record high in 2025 but is expected to decline by 2030 as renewables, nuclear power and abundant natural gas squeeze its dominance in power generation.
Investors must support positive climate-tech
28 Nov 2025
OPINION: We need better leadership than the current ‘climate opportunism’ that is rife in the Beehive, and we need to back a marketplace that will make it happen, writes Rob Campbell.
RMA’s successors hinge on two untested bets
17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
11 Dec 2025
Despite India’s attempt to anoint itself as the leader of the developing world, at the COP30 summit, New Delhi’s track record remains contradictory.
Govt warned that scrapping ag emission pricing comes with risks
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s move to halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing without replacing it with any other action will leave New Zealand facing a bigger gap to meet its third emissions budget, Environment ministry officials have warned.
NZ hydrogen regulation to catch up with the world
18 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The government has announced a regulatory reset for New Zealand’s emerging clean tech hydrogen sector.
DOC trims costs and winds down jobs for nature
10 Nov 2025
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is entering a new phase of tighter budgets and structural change as it winds down the pandemic-era Jobs for Nature programme and reshapes its operations to absorb long-term cost pressures.
Pacific climate response in question as NZ finance remains unclear
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | With New Zealand's $1.3 billion international climate finance commitment set to end with no clarity on what follows, the Auditor-General says oversight of that funding remains patchy and long-term outcomes are unclear.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Transport pollution was the biggest contributor to an increase in New Zealand’s consumption-based emissions in 2023, with emissions from household travel up 12%, and consumption-based emissions totalling 58.3 million tonnes – up 1.6% from the previous year.
Hydrogen emissions are ‘supercharging’ the warming impact of methane
19 Dec 2025
The warming impact of hydrogen has been “overlooked” in projections of climate change, according to authors of the latest “global hydrogen budget”.
RMA to speed up fossil fuel consents
18 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | An energy lobby group has welcomed a last-minute amendment to the RMA that puts fossil fuels on the same footing as renewables, however a sustainable energy expert says the move “beggars belief.”
Westpac NZ announces partnership to form Blue Economy hub in Nelson
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Westpac NZ has announced a new three-year partnership with the Nelson Regional Development Agency and Kernohan Engineering to help accelerate the development of a sustainable marine economy – also known as the blue economy.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
12 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, says New Zealand restarting fossil fuel exploration and subsidies is an obvious breach of international law, exposing the country to international and domestic litigation.
Govt slammed for weakening methane target
15 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams The Government has pushed through legislation under urgency to almost halve New Zealand’s 2050 methane target – a move Opposition parties say disregards scientific advice, breaks the country’s hard-won political consensus on climate action, and shifts the burden of higher warming and higher future costs onto the next generation.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
15 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Despite ‘intransigent’ states blocking multilateralism and a disappointing official outcome, Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says he left the COP30 climate summit feeling more positive than after previous UN climate conferences.
Hiringa eyes green methanol plant near Whanganui
29 Jul 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Green hydrogen pioneer Hiringa Energy is deep in planning to develop an “eight-to-nine figure” methanol plant near Whanganui, using a combination of biomass and hydrogen produced using renewable energy.
Insurers welcome govt decision to keep NHC levy unchanged
21 Nov 2025
Media release |The Insurance Council of New Zealand | Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) has welcomed the Government’s decision to leave the Natural Hazards Commission levy unchanged, amid ongoing concerns around the cost-of-living.
Why I’m not outraged at the Govt’s latest climate backsliding
7 Nov 2025
COMMENT: The Government’s latest climate rollbacks underline New Zealand’s long history of a lack of genuine desire to cut emissions, writes Geoff Bertram.
Three Greenpeace activists removed by police from Fonterra
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Three Greenpeace activists were removed by police from Fonterra’s downtown Auckland offices, following a protest on Monday at the Shareholders’ Fund meeting over the corporation’s role in the contamination of rural communities’ drinking water.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
11 Dec 2025
Media release | Ten of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would create significantly more shareholder value by ending exploration and sharply curtailing upstream development, according to new analysis released today by ACCR.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greenpeace says Government changes to national direction instruments under the RMA paves the way for mining in wetlands and biodiversity hotspots and will expose some of Aotearoa’s most fragile ecosystems to irreversible damage.
NZ could become ‘dumping ground’ for dirty vehicles: Commissioner
16 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has warned the Government that its changes to the clean car standard could turn the country into a dumping ground for high emitting cars, making future emissions budgets harder to achieve.
NZ's latest climate target 'weak' – Climate Action Tracker
24 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand's new international climate target to 2035 is weak, and could even allow for higher emissions than the 2030 target, according to a global scientific project that tracks government climate action.
Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life
19 Dec 2025
Media release | A study conducted by researchers from Murdoch University in Australia and Dalian Ocean University in China has found that offshore windfarms can improve marine ecosystems and diversify aquatic food chains.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
16 Dec 2025
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
12 Dec 2025
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is calling for submissions on its international treaty examination of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
KiwiRail pauses coal trains amid rising climate protests
9 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate activists are ramping up actions this week, with a Christchurch protest leading to KiwiRail pausing some coal train operations on Saturday, and another protest against the Fast-Track Amendment Bill planned for parliament today.
Straterra has a new name: the New Zealand Minerals Council
16 Apr 2025
Media release | Straterra has been renamed as New Zealand Minerals Council, says chief executive Josie Vidal.
Could tidal energy one day power NZ?
18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests Aotearoa holds some of the world’s strongest tidal-stream energy potential – enough to generate up to 93% of today’s electricity use – but one expert cautions that extracting energy at such a scale could have significant impacts and remains highly uncertain.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
16 Dec 2025
New Zealand could see 97% of its glaciers vanish by 2100, with new international modelling projecting a rapid acceleration in glacier extinction from the 2030s onward – even under lower-warming scenarios.
Solar households to get little-noticed tax break
23 Sep 2025
A provision in the government’s latest tax bill would exempt households from paying tax on income they earn by selling excess electricity back to the grid.
Last minute change to oil and gas legislation over cleanup costs
31 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government is expected to repeal the oil and gas ban today, with a last-minute amendment handing discretionary power to two ministers over the controversial issue of decommissioning.
The surprisingly convincing case against cars
19 Dec 2025
Life After Cars dares to imagine how different, and enriching, a car-free world could be.
Kaicycle celebrates ten years of collective climate action in Pōneke
14 Nov 2025
Media release: Kaicycle | Since 2015, Kaicycle has grown from a humble pilot project growing kai and collecting compost on bicycles into the thriving urban farm and composting hub that Wellingtonians know and love.
Heatwaves, downpours and droughts – Auckland on track for more extreme weather
1 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New projections show Auckland will face more heatwaves, heavier downpours, worsening droughts and growing coastal threats as climate extremes intensify, according to a new report from Earth Sciences New Zealand.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | This year New Zealand had its hottest spring since records began, with widespread heat, rainfall extremes and destructive wind driven by sudden stratospheric warming.
Media round-up
12 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Another offshore wind firm exits New Zealand over a clash with seabed mining; Fonterra falls behind on its climate goals as farm emissions remain flat; and the businesses trapped by the gas 'death spiral'.
