Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
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.
Ecological overshoot is a ‘behavioural crisis’ and marketing is a solution: Study
26 Mar 2024
The current ecological crises facing our planet are extensively the result of a human behavioral crisis, according to a 2023 paper appearing in the journal Science Progress.
The cost of climate change: why saving our planet now is cheaper
26 Mar 2024
At a time when the consequences of climate change are increasingly impossible to ignore, an important question is often asked in the media: What is the cost of averting the climate crisis?
Challenges to US climate rules sent to conservative-leaning appeals court
26 Mar 2024
A US judicial panel consolidated at least nine lawsuits challenging the US Securities and Exchange Commission's new rules requiring public companies to report climate-related risks in a venue favoured by Republican-led states and a business group.
What do Schwarzenegger, Fonda and Newsom have in common? They’re fighting oil drilling
26 Mar 2024
As the oil industry wages a multimillion-dollar campaign to repeal California drilling restrictions, the campaign to defend the state’s environmental protections is starting to resemble a Hollywood blockbuster.
"The water is eating the island"
26 Mar 2024
Villagers hang onto the last patch of Sierra Leone’s Nyangai Island, knowing that their home may soon disappear.
Climate-conscious investors put nuclear dead last on list of desirable Australian ventures
26 Mar 2024
Nuclear energy ranks last on the list of climate technologies that big institutional investors want exposure to, according to a survey of climate conscious investors with $37tn under management.
More than 100 NGOs urge US special envoy to oppose carbon offsetting under Article 6
25 Mar 2024
More than 100 environmental, human rights, and frontline organisations have written to Joe Biden’s new special envoy for climate, John Podesta.
Industrial carbon pricing the top driver of Canada's emissions reductions
25 Mar 2024
Between now and 2030, industrial carbon pricing will do more than any other policy to cut Canada’s emissions.
Tipping point for low-carbon buildings demand in sight
25 Mar 2024
Demand for environmentally friendly buildings is set to increase strongly over the next two years as companies with emissions reduction commitments see their leases come up for renewal and seek a greener alternative.
New report shows cancer organisation shares lobbyists with fossil fuel companies
25 Mar 2024
An American Cancer Society advocacy group’s links to firms that promote carcinogen producers called “shameful” and undermining to public health.
"There were no good options"
25 Mar 2024
OPINION: A real estate story in the New York Times might be one of the most telling pieces of climate journalism I’ve seen recently.
Global sea level jumped due to El Niño and climate change, says NASA
25 Mar 2024
Global average sea level rose by about 0.76cm from 2022 to 2023 – nearly four times the increase of the previous year – NASA said, attributing the "significant jump" to a strong El Niño and a warming climate.
Dutch court finds KLM ads were misleading in 'greenwashing' case
22 Mar 2024
A Dutch court ruled that KLM had misled customers with an advertising campaign aimed at improving the company's environmental image, in a case of so-called "greenwashing"
This concrete can eat carbon emissions
22 Mar 2024
Concrete is responsible for more than 4% of all global CO2 emissions. In the race to find alternatives, some companies are using it to sequester CO2 instead.
What's the deal with "Scope 3" emissions?
22 Mar 2024
“Scope 3” greenhouse gas emissions — those that companies are indirectly responsible for, via supply chain, product disposal and investments — are an imprecisely measured but significant source of impact.
The Danish city reimagining reuse
22 Mar 2024
In Aarhus, material exchange centres are preventing everything from dishes to electronic devices from going to waste.
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.
Climate experts say spring is coming earlier. How will that affect agriculture and ecosystems?
Tue 7 Apr 2026
An earlier spring affects when migratory birds arrive, leaves emerge, and fruit ripens — among plants and animals that determine ecosystem health.
$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.
Environmental groups launch legal action over Govt's 'tick-box approach' to conservation land
Wed 8 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Forest & Bird and the Environmental Defence Society are taking the Government to court over decisions about the future of publicly-owned land on Te Tai Poutini/the West Coast.
New alliance wants renewable-led energy – and Govt to press pause on LNG
Thu 9 Apr 2026
A newly formed coalition of business, consumer and energy organisations has unveiled a renewable-led strategy it says will strengthen the country’s energy security, and it’s calling on the Government to pause its plan for an LNG import terminal.
Supply-side pressures and political uncertainty ahead for carbon market
Tue 7 Apr 2026
By Kristen Green | ANALYSIS: With failed auctions, a surge of new forestry registrations, and an election a few months away, the NZ ETS in 2026 will be subject to a mix of supply-side pressures and political uncertainty.
Economic contraction will impact carbon market
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.
Genesis fires up pellet study with Nature’s Flame
Wed 8 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Genesis Energy is extending its quest for locally produced torrefied wood pellets to supplement coal and gas to fuel its Huntly power station, announcing it is investigating plant construction with established local solid fuels player Nature’s Flame.
Death toll in Afghanistan flooding increases to 28, authorities say
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 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.
EA entrenches 10kW export limit for residential solar
Wed 8 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The Electricity Authority intends to require all electricity networks to offer at least a 10 kilowatt (kW) export capacity for residential rooftop and other small-scale distributed generation.
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.
Severe tropical cyclones Maila And Vaianu threaten communities in Solomon Islands, PNG and Fiji
Wed 8 Apr 2026
Media release: 350.org |Two Category 3 Tropical Cyclones are currently moving through the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, while experts watch a third system potentially developing in the North Pacific.
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.
Renewable build-out runs into grid and firming limits
Wed 8 Apr 2026
New Zealand's electricity market entered 2026 with renewable generation at record levels and a substantial build pipeline finally moving from paper to construction. The harder question is whether the wider system can absorb and firm that capacity fast enough.
A matter of strategy
Tue 7 Apr 2026
COMMENT: Even on the brink of a global commodities crisis, the possibilities for climate action aren't hopelessly foreclosed. Strategy can turn our fortunes around, writes David Hall.
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.
New protections for NZ migratory species under UN convention
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.
Fonterra admits ‘100% grass-fed’ claim breached law in greenwashing row
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.
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
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.
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.
Free fares call as fuel crisis impacts school attendance
Wed 8 Apr 2026
An open letter is urging the Government to make public transport free for all school children and subsidised for students under 25, as rising fuel costs begin to impact attendance and access to education across the country.
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?
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.
Solar energy, cheap battery storage can meet 90% of India’s power demand at affordable costs: Ember report
Thu 9 Apr 2026
Battery storage is now cheap enough in India that solar power can meet 90% of the country’s power demand at lower lifetime costs than current average purchase rates in most states, a new study has found, a finding that could potentially point to a future buffer against global energy shocks.
Sci-tech prioritisation report is a joke that could cost NZ dearly, says NZ Association of Scientists
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.
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.
AI’s arrival complicates Big Tech climate goals, and some worry it’s locking in more fossil fuels
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.
Fuel crisis powers surge in EV interest in Asia-Pacific region
Tue 7 Apr 2026
Motorists across the Asia-Pacific region are switching to electric vehicles at a rapid pace, as rising fuel costs due to the Middle East war force consumers and companies to reconsider their reliance on petrol and diesel vehicles.
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.
Dairy farmers' lack of climate action 'even bleaker' than water inaction – Upton
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.
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.
Fast-track approved project could deliver NZ’s largest wind farm
Tue 7 Apr 2026
Media release: New Zealand Government |Fast-track approval has been granted for New Zealand’s largest wind farm project.
