Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
Disasters "very rarely not a design failure" - expert
9 Nov 2023
The UK's leading disaster expert says the term "natural disaster" conceals the fact that related deaths are often created by human action - or inaction.
Just 4% of top companies meet UN climate target guidelines, study says
9 Nov 2023
Half of the world's 2,000 biggest listed companies have set a target to get to net-zero emissions by mid-century, but just a fraction meet tough United Nations guidelines for what constitutes a quality pledge, a report showed.
Climate change has become a human rights crisis
9 Nov 2023
In a new study, experts have presented evidence that climate change is impeding the human rights of people living in the Pacific.
Rich people are the big barrier to stabilising the climate
9 Nov 2023
Efforts to curb climate change are failing. That’s partly due to the staggering contributions of the global elite.
The low-carbon energy transition will need less mining than fossil fuels, even when adjusted for waste rock
9 Nov 2023
Low-carbon electricity will reduce material requirements, but moving to electric vehicles will increase them.
‘Loss and damage’ deal struck to help countries worst hit by climate crisis
8 Nov 2023
Countries have agreed key measures to supply funds to the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown.
Three major gaps in climate-adaptation finance for developing countries
8 Nov 2023
Developing countries require hundreds of billions of dollars in investment every year to help them adapt to the rising threat of climate change.
We are looking for a transformational roadmap to transform our energy sectors: German envoy
8 Nov 2023
With less than four weeks until the next UN climate conference COP-28, Germany's special envoy for climate diplomacy, Jennifer Morgan, is in Australia for a series of meetings with key climate players.
The world’s boreal forests may be shrinking as climate change pushes them northward
8 Nov 2023
Earth’s boreal forests circle our planet’s far northern reaches, just south of the Arctic’s treeless tundra.
Can the PIF leaders’ meeting break the cycle after another climate fund setback?
8 Nov 2023
The PIF Leaders’ Meeting is an important chance to jolt the world into action on a climate Loss and Damage Fund after decades of fighting for justice.
Young trees are not responding well to climate change
8 Nov 2023
In the depths of verdant forests, where the tranquility is often only disturbed by the sounds of wildlife and rustling leaves, a silent crisis is unfolding amongst young trees.
We can now only stay under 1.5°C target if we achieve net zero by 2034
7 Nov 2023
The amount of carbon dioxide we can still emit to have just a 50 per cent chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C is even smaller than previously thought.
Banks pumped more than $150bn in to companies running ‘carbon bomb’ projects in 2022
7 Nov 2023
Projects that risk 1.5C heating target operated by companies receiving financing from European, Chinese and US banks.
What the ‘underwhelming’ Three Basins Summit means for tropical forests
7 Nov 2023
Rainforest countries from three continents agreed at the Three Basins Summit in Brazzaville to work together to finance and protect their ecosystems – but failed to firm up a unified alliance.
Capturing carbon with seaweed: what we do and don’t know, and what we’re unsure about
7 Nov 2023
Towering underwater kelp forests are often likened to trees, but seaweed carbon sequestration is far more complex than in soil-bound ecosystems.
Pope says he will attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai, a first by a pontiff
7 Nov 2023
Pope Francis said that he will attend the COP28 climate conference starting next month in Dubai, the first time a pontiff will be at the U.N. environmental meeting since they began in 1995.
Why can’t we just quit cows?
7 Nov 2023
Eating less beef, cheese, and ice cream would slash emissions. If only it were that easy.
Global heating is accelerating, warns scientist who sounded climate alarm in the 80s
6 Nov 2023
Study delivers dire warning although rate of increase is debated by some scientists amid a record-breaking year of heat.
Scientists say only transformational change will avoid environmental tipping points
6 Nov 2023
Ahead of COP28, UN-backed scientists warn that to avoid six irreversible climatic and ecological changes, the root causes must be addressed.
Australia’s bid to host climate talks is welcome but its words must be matched with action
6 Nov 2023
The climate minister of Pacific Island Vanuatu says those choosing the Cop31 host should examine Australia’s gas expansion plans.
Pasifika activists say climate inaction is a violation of human rights
6 Nov 2023
The Pacific Islands are on the frontline of climate change, with the future for many living there becoming increasingly uncertain.
As climate threats grow, poor countries still aren't getting enough money to prepare
6 Nov 2023
The world is facing more extreme weather that scientists say is fueled by human-driven climate change.
Climate scientists are working with indigenous tribes
6 Nov 2023
Native peoples have long collected environmental data. Now scientists are cataloguing these observations and learning how they're affecting indigenous communities globally.
COP28 Presidency launches net zero transition charter
3 Nov 2023
Charter launched to drive corporate climate action amid flurry of pre-COP activity, including confirmation that King Charles will attend climate talks.
Levy on aviation and maritime firms should be considered
3 Nov 2023
Ireland’s environment minister made the case for the World Bank to administer any agreed climate loss and damage funding.
Cigarette-style climate warnings on food could cut meat consumption, study suggests
3 Nov 2023
Durham University research found warnings of environmental or health impacts reduced choice of meals containing meat by 7-10%.
Philanthropic giving to climate change stayed flat in 2022
3 Nov 2023
Despite increased urgency of reducing emissions, a new analysis shows that total philanthropic giving by foundations and individuals remained essentially flat from 2021 through 2022.
California startup to 'sponge' CO2 from atmosphere
3 Nov 2023
Scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air is imperative if humanity is to limit global warming, experts say, and a California startup says it can do just that, using limestone as a carbon-sucking sponge.
New approach: save tropical forests by restoring faith in carbon credits
3 Nov 2023
Valuing the carbon storage potential of natural habitats aims to help restore faith in offset schemes, by enabling investors to directly compare carbon credit pricing across projects.
This California desert oasis has lessons for climate change
2 Nov 2023
Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is so green right now it’s hard to believe it’s in the middle of the desert.
Engineers create cool water patches to protect fish from climate change
2 Nov 2023
Cold-loving fishes, like Atlantic salmon, may get their own version of air conditioning to cope with high summer water temperatures.
A new hope for concentrating solar power
2 Nov 2023
Concentrating solar power systems are getting an energy efficiency makeover and a new job: producing solar fuels.
A critical meeting before the big COP28 summit will tackle thorny issues
1 Nov 2023
Set against the backdrop of heightened Middle Eastern tensions, the United Arab Emirates is hosting a series of key meetings this week to prepare for the upcoming UN Climate Summit in Dubai.
US pushes to ensure nuclear “is not forgotten” in COP renewables pledge
1 Nov 2023
The United States is working behind the scenes to ensure nuclear power is not excluded from an expected global pledge to boost renewables at the upcoming climate summit in Dubai.
Why many scientists are now saying climate change is an all-out ‘emergency’
1 Nov 2023
Escalating rhetoric comes as new study shows there’s just six years left to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius at current CO2 emissions rate.
The Beetaloo gas field is a climate bomb. How did CSIRO modelling make it look otherwise?
1 Nov 2023
As Australia braces for a summer of projected extreme heatwaves and bushfires, the fossil gas industry is gearing up for a truly enormous new fracking project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.
Who were the worst of the worst climate polluters in 2022?
1 Nov 2023
US Environmental Protection Agency’s annual greenhouse gas report for large emitters show some facilities slashed their emissions while others polluted more than ever.
Caterpillars struggle to survive climate changes: study
1 Nov 2023
Research on nature reserves and at an allotment has revealed how susceptible caterpillars are to climate change.
Window to avoid 1.5°C of warming will close before 2030 if emissions are not reduced
31 Oct 2023
Without rapid carbon dioxide emission reductions, the world has a 50% chance of locking in 1.5°C of warming before 2030, according to a study led by Imperial College London researchers.
Inside the campaign that put an oil boss in charge of a climate summit
31 Oct 2023
Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the UAE’s national oil company, secured the COP28 presidency despite questions over his green credentials.
Calling this "climate change" is not enough
31 Oct 2023
Journalists and meteorologists must go further, and call rapid hurricane intensification a symptom of fossil fuels.
The climate and nature crisis: one indivisible global health emergency
31 Oct 2023
Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations, political leaders, and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe.
Leaders convene to protect tropical forests
31 Oct 2023
Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, had the privilege of hosting the summit of the three major tropical forest basins on the planet.
Shipping contributes heavily to climate change. Are green ships the solution?
31 Oct 2023
On a bright September day on the harbour in Copenhagen, several hundred people gathered to welcome the official arrival of Laura Maersk.
The carbon-offset market’s broken promises
30 Oct 2023
As businesses come under pressure to meet net-zero targets, they are increasingly investing in forest-protection projects to cancel out their carbon emissions.
Texas bets big on undersea carbon storage
30 Oct 2023
Over the last century, the State of Texas has reaped billions of dollars by allowing companies to burrow into the floor of the Gulf of Mexico to extract oil and gas.
How Hurricane Otis shocked forecasters in a "nightmare scenario"
30 Oct 2023
Hurricane Otis' extremely rapid intensification — so close to the Mexican coast — was one of the biggest, most high-stakes hurricane forecasting failures in years.
World far off track on pledges to end deforestation by 2030 - report
30 Oct 2023
The world is moving too slowly to meet pledges to end deforestation by 2030, with the destruction worsening in 2022, according to a report by a coalition of environmental organizations.
Bolivia forest fires shutter thousands of schools
30 Oct 2023
Tens of thousands of Bolivian pupils had their classes suspended as schools closed their doors due to air pollution caused by massive forest fires, the education minister.
The world solved acid rain. We can also solve climate change.
30 Oct 2023
The world feels like it’s being set alight; wildfires in Canada and Europe, floods in China, and a never-ending stream of recording-breaking heat waves have garnered numerous headlines.
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'.
