Topics tagged with 'Carbon News world'
Climate change isn’t just about emissions. We’re ignoring a huge part of the fight.
17 Oct 2023
Last month, we heard yet again about the need to stop global warming at about 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre industrial levels.
Scientists disagree about drivers of September’s global temperature spike, but it has most of them worried
17 Oct 2023
The month’s shocking surge is likely to make 2023 the hottest year on record and drive extreme impact around the globe. It could also be a harbinger of even higher temperatures next year.
In NZ, increasingly severe crackdowns on environmental protesters fail to deter climate activists
16 Oct 2023
State and federal governments from the U.S. to Australia have enacted legislation punishing disruptive demonstrators, but many have been emboldened by the repression.
WMO report finds human activity disrupting water cycle
16 Oct 2023
According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the planet’s hydrological cycle is “spinning out of balance” due to human activity and climate change.
Doctors aiming to shrink health care's massive carbon footprint
16 Oct 2023
Inside an operating room at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Noe Woods stands in her blue scrubs next to a black operating table.
Extreme heat is taking a toll in this Florida bay
16 Oct 2023
After enduring record summer ocean temperatures, anemones, sponges, and jellyfish throughout the Florida Everglades are showing signs of bleaching.
Shipping food is dirty business. Can sailboats fix it?
16 Oct 2023
Some businesses are betting that bringing back sails could lower the carbon footprint of shipping food around the world.
UK poet laureate on 'life-changing' visit to the Arctic
16 Oct 2023
After a "life-changing" visit to the Arctic, poet laureate Simon Armitage says poets can convey what's happening with climate change in a way that scientists and journalists can't.
World "less likely than ever" to meet Paris Agreement goal: new analysis
13 Oct 2023
New analysis finds that holding temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels — the Paris Agreement's stretch goal — is "less likely than ever" despite rapid low-emissions energy expansion.
Here’s what’s driving the record autumn heat (it’s not just carbon emissions)
13 Oct 2023
Climate scientists have detected a striking jump in global temperatures during 2023. September was 1.75°C above Earth’s pre-industrial average temperature and a whole half-degree celsius warmer than the previous hottest September.
Carbon capture pipeline rendered obsolete by carbon-sucking concrete
13 Oct 2023
The US Department of Energy bets $2 million on a new carbon capture strategy that transforms ordinary buildings into CO2-devouring demons.
World Bank targets dirty subsidies to fund climate action
13 Oct 2023
The World Bank says it will try to get governments to stop spending public money making fossil fuels artificially cheap.
How criminalisation is being used to silence climate activists across the world
13 Oct 2023
An investigation finds a growing number of countries are passing anti-protest laws as a tactic to intimidate people peacefully raising the alarm.
Tree plantations can offset carbon pollution - but there's a problem
13 Oct 2023
Viewing trees as industrial or climate assets isn't the full picture of their value.
Tokyo Stock Exchange begins trade in carbon credits
12 Oct 2023
Japan's Tokyo Stock Exchange started trading carbon credits on Wednesday, as the world's fifth-largest carbon dioxide emitter put in place a key element of its strategy to tackle climate change.
A court among the coconut palms: when justice came to visit the Torres Strait
12 Oct 2023
The world’s first climate change class action has seen Australia’s federal court head north to hear arguments on the frontline.
Climate change main culprit for hot South American winter
12 Oct 2023
A wave of unusually extreme heat at the end of South America's winter was made 100 times more likely by climate change, according to a study published.
Five key extinction risks facing the world’s plants and fungi
12 Oct 2023
Scientists’ understanding of how climate change and habitat loss could drive plant and fungi extinctions is being hamstrung by knowledge gaps in how many species currently exist, a new report warns.
Dense micro-forests are thriving in France
12 Oct 2023
Developed by a Japanese botanist, the Miyawaki method of reforestation has taken root in a wide range of landscapes.
Microplastics pose risk to ocean plankton, climate, other key Earth systems
12 Oct 2023
Small plastic particles are impossible to remove from the oceans with current technology, so stopping pollution is a priority.
Climate crisis costing $16m an hour in extreme weather damage, study estimates
11 Oct 2023
Analysis shows at least $2.8tn in damage from 2000 to 2019 through worsened storms, floods and heatwaves.
Billions could face lethal heat this century if climate change worsens
11 Oct 2023
New research found humid heat will afflict major cities as it's "coming up in places that we didn't think about before", highlighting rising risk in Australia and South America.
How will the next decade of China’s ‘belt and road initiative’ impact climate action?
11 Oct 2023
Later this month, China will mark the 10th anniversary of the “belt and road initiative” (BRI), its global infrastructure project, at a major international conference in Beijing.
How the tiny island city-state of Singapore fights rising sea levels
11 Oct 2023
During a half-century of independence, Singapore has fought to expand its territory, inch by hard-won inch.
Emissions from UK residents and businesses rose by 2% in 2022, figures suggest
11 Oct 2023
Residence-based emissions stood at 512 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022 , according to Office for National Statistics provisional data.
Climate change could soon affect the taste of beer, new study says
11 Oct 2023
Beer lovers beware: Climate change could soon make the world's most popular alcoholic drink much more bitter.
World breaches key 1.5C warming mark for record number of days
10 Oct 2023
The world is breaching a key warming threshold at a rate that has scientists concerned.
‘I wasn’t the obvious choice’: meet the oil man tasked with saving the planet
10 Oct 2023
When COP28 starts next month, Sultan Al Jaber will be front and centre. He is the United Arab Emirates’ choice to head up the climate talks – and he also happens to be head of the national oil company. What’s the problem with that, he asks.
Australia’s compromised climate negotiators
10 Oct 2023
Sitting in a bar in Manhattan recently, there for Climate Week NYC and the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit, I watched as Australians from both government and the private sector worked the room.
How broken are corporate carbon pledges?
10 Oct 2023
Fortune 500 companies are responsible for nearly a third of all greenhouse gas emissions—and many of them would like you to think they’re doing their best to shrink that.
Peace has not stopped Afghanistan’s depopulation
10 Oct 2023
Climate change is bringing about more devastation, forcing more Afghans to flee. Deportations from neighbouring countries will not stop them.
Africa’s first carbon-removal plant stokes questions about responsible climate solutions
10 Oct 2023
A joint venture between Swiss and Kenya-based companies has been billed as a springboard for creating a new, green economy in Africa.
Shortfall in climate change cash grows ahead of COP28
9 Oct 2023
The United Nations' main fund for helping vulnerable countries cope with climate change said on Thursday it had raised $9.3 billion, falling short of a $10 billion target after wealthy nations, including the United States, failed to pay in.
Environmental groups sue energy company over 'devastating' East Africa oil pipeline
9 Oct 2023
Four environmental groups have filed a law suit against the French group TotalEnergies and its EACOP oil project in Tanzania and Uganda.
‘Personal carbon allowances’ could restrict how often you travel
9 Oct 2023
A report by a travel company says the climate crisis is no longer a distant threat, and we need to stop treating it like one.
Attacks on net zero at UK Conservative Party conference alarm green-leaning MPs
9 Oct 2023
Green credentials used to be considered a vote-winner but rhetoric around net zero has changed.
Amphibians are in widespread decline, and climate change is to blame, study says
9 Oct 2023
A major class of vertebrate species is experiencing widespread population declines due to climate change, according to new research.
Looking for hope on the climate? Look here.
9 Oct 2023
After a summer of climate-related disasters, the latest report from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change is a dire warning for the world.
World’s electricity supply close to ‘peak emissions’ due to growth of wind and solar
6 Oct 2023
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the global power sector grew just 0.2% in the first six months of 2023, with rapidly rising wind and solar outpacing sluggish demand growth.
Amazon rainforest at risk of a large-scale dieback
6 Oct 2023
The impacts of global warming, deforestation and intensified land use are pushing the South American monsoon towards a critical destabilisation point.
Pope Francis calls for rapid decarbonization, ‘abandonment of fossil fuels’
6 Oct 2023
The pontiff's latest decree urges Western countries to do more to avert climate disaster.
Glacial lake bursts in India leaving 100 missing and 14 dead
6 Oct 2023
More than 100 people are missing in India’s northeast after heavy rain caused a glacial lake to burst, leading to flash floods which ripped through the Himalayan state of Sikkim.
Ancient carbon in rocks releases as much carbon dioxide as world's volcanoes
6 Oct 2023
A new study has overturned the view that natural rock weathering acts as a CO2 sink, indicating instead that this can also act as a large CO2 source, rivalling that of volcanoes.
Airlines are being hit by anti-greenwashing litigation
6 Oct 2023
A wave of anti-“greenwashing” litigation is seeking to hold major players in the aviation industry to account for sensational claims of being sustainable, low-carbon or contributing to net zero.
Broken zipper? France will pay to get it fixed.
5 Oct 2023
Cheap, disposable clothing is causing an environmental disaster. Now, the home of haute couture is chipping in for its citizens’ garment repairs.
Ivory Coast deforestation rate rises as EU green imports law looms
5 Oct 2023
Deforestation in top cocoa producer Ivory Coast increased last year after declining for several years, a major report has found, raising questions about how the country will comply with a new EU law preventing commodity imports linked to forest loss.
Climate leaders gather in Spain before ‘challenging’ COP28
5 Oct 2023
Energy ministers and climate leaders from around the world gather in Madrid before the next month’s climate summit.
Paris targets need big private climate spending boost: IMF
5 Oct 2023
The International Monetary Fund warned that countries cannot rely exclusively on public funds to cut greenhouse gas emissions, stating the effort needs a big boost from the private sector.
“Why do they punish us?” Uganda charcoal ban ignites transition debate
5 Oct 2023
While welcomed in principle, the abrupt charcoal ban has left both traders and buyers unsure of where to turn.
Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions.
5 Oct 2023
Coffee is a finicky crop — arabica coffee, the most popular variety, in particular. And climate change poses a huge threat to the coffee business and to farmers.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
Fri 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.
Media round-up
Fri 20 Feb 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: 'Every tonne matters': The climate scientist who wants to give you hope; Minister says managed retreat is an option; and climate change is here – is New Zealand ready?
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.
Singapore sets first ever sustainable aviation fuel levy, as Southeast Asia’s fuel industry grows
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Flying in and out of Singapore, home to Southeast Asia’s busiest airport, will get slightly more expensive this year as the city state begins imposing a levy of between 75 cents to $32 per ticket to fund sustainable aviation fuel.
Greens slam move to disband Environment Ministry
Fri 20 Feb 2026
The Green Party has joined climate and health advocates in condemning the Government's decision to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment as part of a multi-ministry merger.
Govt’s own modelling shows LNG leads to higher electricity prices than other solutions
Thu 19 Feb 2026
By Christina Hood | COMMENT: According to modelling conducted by Concept Consulting for MBIE, either developing the Tariki gas storage facility or managing electricity demand would deliver lower wholesale electricity prices than the Government’s preferred solution of an LNG import terminal.
New study looks to nature markets to accelerate climate response
Wed 18 Feb 2026
The Nature Conservancy is teaming up with local groups to study the most affordable and effective ways of restoring native habitats at the top of the South Island, including ways to fund the work using international voluntary carbon markets and biodiversity credits.
Carbon price drops as volatility continues
Tue 17 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The carbon market is still displaying extreme volatility, with prices dropping back to below $40 yesterday, after trading as high as $46.25 last week.
Flawed decision-making around taxing electricity to fund LNG import terminal
Mon 16 Feb 2026
By Simon Orme | COMMENT: The Government's decision to back an LNG import terminal exemplifies an egregious failure in public policy and energy sector governance.
LNG: a rational choice compared to unpalatable alternatives
10 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | COMMENT: By deciding to underwrite the private construction of a liquefied natural gas import facility in Taranaki, the Government has made a rational choice in favour of energy security and affordability.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
Thu 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 market rallies but auction floor still out of reach
13 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The carbon market has rallied, with secondary market prices up more than 25% in the past two weeks, although current prices in the mid-$40s are still far below this year’s $71 auction floor, with the first auction of 2026 less than three weeks away.
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.
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.
Slash for cash turns storm debris into jobs and climate resilience
Thu 19 Feb 2026
A community-led initiative in Tairāwhiti is transforming storm-damaged forestry slash into jobs, soil regeneration and long-term climate resilience.
Calls for action to reduce emissions as extreme weather bites
Tue 17 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Renewable energy advocates and environmental groups are calling for more action to reduce emissions and increase resilience as severe weather wreaks havoc across the country.
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.”
European Central Bank's green supervision grows teeth, but will banks avoid being bitten?
13 Feb 2026
After several years of issuing guidance and repeatedly calling on banks to take climate and environmental risk management seriously, the European Central Bank is moving from guidance and expectations to enforcement.
Green Member’s Bill aims to give whales legal ‘personhood’
9 Feb 2026
The Green Party wants to give whales legal rights, including the right to sue.
Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing
Wed 18 Feb 2026
Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.
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.
Media round-up
13 Feb 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Senior UK ministers have asked their New Zealand counterparts to explain new climate policies, National’s LNG blunders are a warning ahead of election campaign, and what are the lessons New Zealand should take from another summer of weather disasters?
Wales council to buy and demolish homes prone to flooding
4 Feb 2026
A row of homes in a village in south Wales is to be bought by a local authority and demolished as they can no longer be protected from flooding caused by the climate crisis.
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.
Australian gas producer Santos wins court fight over net zero claims
Wed 18 Feb 2026
An Australian court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit against gas producer Santos that alleged the company misled the public on its plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
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.
Seabed miners quit South Taranaki fast-track bid
Fri 20 Feb 2026
By Craig Ashworth, Local Democracy Reporter | Would-be seabed miners have abandoned their fast-track bid to mine in South Taranaki waters, saying they can’t change the minds of the panel that rejected their application.
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.
Partnership to advance Pacific science and environmental leadership
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Media release | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in Pacific-led science, research and capacity-building, with a strong focus on environmental sustainability and ocean stewardship.
Lawyers seek answers on climate impacts of LNG import facility
13 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action has written to Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts warning that the Government's plan for an LNG import terminal could be in conflict with New Zealand’s climate obligations and emissions reduction targets.
Commentators slam Govt inaction in aftermath of climate change-fuelled storms
30 Jan 2026
By Liz Kivi | Climate action - or inaction - is shaping up to be an election issue, with multiple commentators drawing a line between the Coalition Government’s backsliding on climate targets and the deadly extreme weather events of the past week.
Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution
12 Feb 2026
A New Zealand startup is launching what it says is the world’s first plastic-free effervescent drink tablet, with the ambitious aim of eliminating bottled beverages to reduce global plastic pollution.
78% of NZers want bottom trawling banned as Govt pushes to catch more coral in South Pacific
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Media release | New polling shows overwhelming support from New Zealanders for a ban on bottom trawling in the South Pacific high seas, says Greenpeace.
Critical minerals talks with US questioned in Waitangi Tribunal climate inquiry
9 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand and the United States' negotiations over critical minerals have raised questions for the Waitangi Tribunal’s long-running inquiry into climate change.
IEA Declaration strengthens international co-operation on critical minerals
Fri 20 Feb 2026
Media release – NZ Government | New Zealand has joined international leaders at the 2026 International Energy Agency Ministerial meeting in committing to strengthen global co-operation on critical minerals to strengthen long‑term energy security.
Antarctic sediment core reveals past ice sheet retreat during warmer climates
Wed 18 Feb 2026
A record-breaking sediment core drilled from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is giving scientists new insight into how the ice sheet responded to warmer climates in the past — and what that could mean for future sea-level rise.
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.
NZ-UAE partnership boosts advanced tech
9 Feb 2026
Media release | A new Antarctic science partnership with a leading UAE university will grow New Zealand’s advanced engineering and modelling capability, supporting high-value jobs, encouraging economic growth, and enabling smarter climate risk management, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti says.
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.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
Wed 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.
Climate ambassador moves on
13 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government is on the hunt for a new top climate diplomat, with previous climate ambassador Stu Horne moving on to a posting in Honolulu as New Zealand’s Consul General to Hawai’i.
EU to ban destruction of unsold clothes and shoes
12 Feb 2026
The European Commission has adopted new measures that will require medium and large companies to stop discarding unsold clothing and footwear, in the bloc’s latest move to target textile waste.
New research on climate adaptation as severe weather hits
Mon 16 Feb 2026
As extreme weather batters the country yet again, researchers have published the first ever empirical study of climate adaptation justice in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Study finds warming world increases days when weather is prone to fires around the globe
Fri 20 Feb 2026
The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy — ideal to spark extreme wildfires — has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.
Hydrogen plant to start construction
10 Feb 2026
Construction is set to start this month on Hiringa Energy’s long delayed green hydrogen project in South Taranaki, after years of consenting fights that culminated in the Court of Appeal rejecting Greenpeace’s challenge in late 2023.
