Topics tagged with 'COP'
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.
Al Gore's case for optimism
8 Dec 2025
This year’s United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil had everything: A literal flood, a literal fire, a record-breaking 1,600+ fossil fuel lobbyists, and delegates from oil-producing nations working overtime.
COP30: What now on food and agriculture?
8 Dec 2025
COMMENT: Building on the small wins from COP30 can bring us closer to a more resilient and sustainable food system.
Analysis: Why COP30’s ‘tripling adaptation finance’ target is less ambitious than it seems
5 Dec 2025
One of the headline outcomes to emerge from COP30 was a new target to “at least triple” finance for climate adaptation in developing countries by 2035.
From COP30 to net zero by 2070: India insists on not billions but trillions to lead the global south
3 Dec 2025
At COP30 in Belém this November, New Delhi demanded that wealthy nations provide climate finance on the scale of not billions but trillions, while pressing for technology access that does not tether developing economies to costly licensing regimes.
Lessons for climate advocates from the Bill Gates ‘climate hack’
1 Dec 2025
OPINION: Many were frustrated, justifiably, by Bill Gates’ ability to steal headlines ahead of this year’s just-concluded round of U.N. climate talks, COP30.
COP30’s biofuel gamble could cost the global food supply – and the planet
28 Nov 2025
What was once considered a climate holy grail comes with serious tradeoffs. The world wants more of it anyway.
Another COP wrecked by fossil fuel interests and our leaders’ cowardice – but there is another way
27 Nov 2025
COMMENT: The fingerprints of Russia and Saudi Arabia are all over the decision text in Brazil. But a group of nations led by Colombia and the Netherlands offer hope.
10 years after the Paris Agreement, world leaders are letting go of its most famous goal
27 Nov 2025
This year's U.N. climate negotiations crashed out on a hard truth: It’s all about the money.
This year’s climate talks saw real progress – just not on fossil fuels
26 Nov 2025
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva dubbed it the “COP of Truth”. Delegates did not shy away from the urgency of the moment as climate change intensifies and emissions continue to climb.
Experts dismiss coalition claims Chris Bowen cannot remain minister while leading COP31 negotiations
26 Nov 2025
Experts have dismissed claims Chris Bowen cannot remain a senior minister while playing a leading role in international climate negotiations, with one describing the argument as evidence of an Australian “culture cringe”.
Here’s what’s next in the fight to curb climate change, now that talks in Brazil have ended
26 Nov 2025
After an agreement from U.N. climate talks in the Amazon that fell short of many nations’ expectations, experts found some bright spots alongside weighty reasons for worry in the fight against global warming.
Minister warned over lack of rationale for climate policy
25 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ formal explanation of why the Government isn’t going to follow the independent Climate Change Commission’s advice on climate targets is still in the pipeline, the Minister has confirmed.
COP30: Summary and what it means for New Zealand
25 Nov 2025
Media release: Lawyers for Climate Action NZ | COP30 wrapped up over the weekend - the first COP since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) released its landmark Advisory Opinion on states’ obligations on climate change.
Simon Watts was right about Pacific climate support at COP30, now we must deliver
25 Nov 2025
Media release: Oxfam Aotearoa | At COP30 in Brazil, New Zealand has joined other higher-income countries in reaffirming their pledge to triple climate funding for lower-income countries by 2035.
UN warns world losing climate battle but fragile COP30 deal keeps up the fight
25 Nov 2025
Reaching agreement in divisive political landscape shows ‘climate cooperation is alive and kicking’, says UN climate chief.
There can be no information integrity without scientific and political integrity
25 Nov 2025
Opinion: I'm just back from COP30 in Belém and it is making me feel crazy to watch so many climate advocates and reporters declare the final text coming out of it a victory.
India, China step into leadership vacuum at climate meet as the West retreats
25 Nov 2025
With the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and Europe distracted by war-driven pressures, India and China have emerged as anchors at the Brazil climate summit by shaping climate finance and trade negotiations through coordinated positions.
COP30 in a multipolar world
24 Nov 2025
COMMENT: As the gavel comes down on the final negotiations at COP30, New Zealand seems to be heading for the sidelines of global transitions, increasing our dependency on imported solutions and neglecting the economic opportunities in generating our own, writes David Hall.
COP30 fails to land deal on fossil fuel transition but triples finance for climate adaptation
24 Nov 2025
Instead of a global agreement to create roadmaps to shift away from fossil fuels and end deforestation, Brazil announces voluntary initiatives.
Article 6 wraps up with progress in hand and challenges ahead
24 Nov 2025
At COP30 in Belém, negotiators made a delicate balancing act in the evolving world of global carbon markets. Amid the buzz of side meetings and plenary sessions, key decisions on Articles 6.2 and 6.4 revealed both progress and caution.
Five key takeaways from a deeply divisive climate summit
24 Nov 2025
In three decades of these meetings aimed at forging global consensus on how to prevent and deal with global warming, this will go down as among the most divisive.
Trump, war, absent media: five threats to climate progress that dogged COP30
24 Nov 2025
Did the talks succeed or fail? The verdict must take account of the geopolitical minefield they took place in.
Govt’s rejection of CCC’s advice on climate targets undermines independent watchdog’s role, says opposition
21 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s latest dismissal of Climate Change Commission advice shows they have their heads in the sand about the reality of meeting climate targets, according to the Labour Party, while the Greens say Government decisions were an embarrassment on the world stage at COP30 this week.
COP30 climate talks evacuated after fire breaks out
21 Nov 2025
The UN climate talks COP30 have been evacuated due to a fire breaking out inside the venue in Belém, Brazil.
Turkey set to host COP31 after reaching compromise with Australia
21 Nov 2025
The COP31 climate meeting is now expected to be held in Turkey after Australia dropped its bid to host the annual event.
Pacific Islands rue lost chance to host COP climate summit
21 Nov 2025
Pacific islanders decried on Thursday a wasted chance to draw eyes to their climate troubles, after their bid to co-host next year's COP climate summit was brushed aside.
Early COP30 climate deal eludes Brazil, but Lula remains upbeat
21 Nov 2025
Brazil failed to land an early COP30 climate deal on Wednesday, though President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remained upbeat about the prospects of progress in the last two days of the summit despite differences between nations on key issues.
Mounting emissions due to Government decisions
20 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Coalition Government’s climate policies have added a whopping 26 million tonnes of emissions out to 2030, according to new analysis of Government projections.
NZ and Iceland collaborate on geothermal energy
20 Nov 2025
Media release: New Zealand Government | New Zealand and Iceland today signed an agreement to deepen cooperation on geothermal energy development.
Climate Leaders Coalition launches next chapter
20 Nov 2025
Media release: Sustainable Business Council | The Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) is this morning unveiling a new Statement of Ambition and refreshed Strategy, marking the next step in business-led climate action in New Zealand – just as COP30 concludes in Belém.
COP-and-trade? Tariffs, carbon tax weigh on climate talks
20 Nov 2025
Trade-restrictive measures loom large over this year's UN climate summit, with China pushing for wider market access for its green technologies and major developing economies challenging Europe over its new carbon border tax.
At COP30, focus on wildfire prevention amid record destruction
20 Nov 2025
With wildfires causing unprecedented damage, countries and organisations at COP30 agree to boost community-based prevention.
Artificial intelligence sparks debate at COP30 climate talks in Brazil
20 Nov 2025
At the U.N. climate talks in Brazil, artificial intelligence is being cast as both a hero worthy of praise and a villain that needs policing.
A landmark court ruling looms over US absence at COP30
20 Nov 2025
The historic climate change advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice suggests the United States is violating international law on climate, legal experts say.
China’s top envoy blasts EU climate goals and Trump’s ‘bad example’
20 Nov 2025
The European Union’s new pollution-cutting targets are insufficient, China’s climate envoy told POLITICO on the sidelines of this year’s COP30 conference while also condemning the “bad example” set by the absent United States.
It’s crunch time for the Forest COP – will we let them burn?
20 Nov 2025
We must sustain the momentum on forest finance and a roadmap to secure their future at COP30.
NZ drops in global climate rankings as govt 'propels country backwards'
19 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand has fallen to 44th place in global climate rankings, with the country’s climate policy rated “very low” amid widespread rollbacks of environmental protections.
‘We must keep 1.5 alive’ – Minister’s statement to climate summit
19 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has delivered New Zealand’s National Statement to this year’s United Nations climate summit, affirming the country’s commitment to international climate targets and saying “we must keep 1.5 alive.”
Ministers urge decisive methane action as global report shows progress, warns of gaps
19 Nov 2025
Media release: UN Environment Programme | The Global Methane Status Report, launched on the sidelines of COP30 in Belém, shows that while considerable progress has been made since the launch of the Global Methane Pledge in 2021, more work is required to align with the level of ambition and action needed to meet the Pledge.
Brazil releases draft text and letter to accelerate COP30 climate negotiations
19 Nov 2025
With a direct letter sent to nations and a draft text released Tuesday, host country Brazil is shifting the U.N. climate conference into a higher gear.
Clamour for change inside the world's COP30 climate negotiations
19 Nov 2025
An existential question hangs over this year's COP30 summit in Brazil: what are the annual U.N. climate negotiations really for?
Methane U-turn earns NZ ‘Fossil of the Day’ at COP30
18 Nov 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand has been handed an unwanted ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at COP30 in Brazil after the Government weakened its methane-reduction targets, drawing international criticism for backtracking on climate commitments and undermining global efforts to curb the potent greenhouse gas.
Nations hit by natural disasters tell ministers at climate talks to act
18 Nov 2025
Battered by last month’s ferocious climate-fueled hurricane, Jamaica joined other small island nations and impoverished countries at Monday’s United Nations climate talks to implore the rest of the world to stop talking and start acting. Their message: Our lives are on the line.
Thousands march outside COP30 summit in call for action
18 Nov 2025
Marching to the beat of pounding sound systems, thousands of climate protesters have been bringing their message to the gates of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.
Australia rejects offer to co-host UN climate summit with Turkey
18 Nov 2025
Australia rejected on Monday Turkey's offer to co-host next year's UN climate summit, which Canberra is pushing to take place in the city of Adelaide.
Brazilian lawmakers seek to decimate green laws one week after hosting climate summit
18 Nov 2025
Changes would damage President Lula’s efforts to cast Brazil as an environmental leader.
Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber all COP30 delegations except Brazil, report says
17 Nov 2025
One in every 25 participants at 2025 UN climate summit is a fossil fuel lobbyist, according to Kick Big Polluters Out.
A fossil fuel fight brews at COP30 as delegates draft road map
17 Nov 2025
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva surprised many at the opening ceremony of the COP30 leaders summit in Belém last week when he called for world leaders to prepare a road map to “overcome dependence on fossil fuels.”
Despite record turnout, only 14% of Indigenous Brazilians are expected to access decision-making spaces at Cop30
17 Nov 2025
The Coalition of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) estimates 2,500 Indigenous people from across Brazil have gathered in Belém. Leaders are demanding a bigger role in the negotiations and the inclusion of land demarcation as climate policy.
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.
Seven quiet wins for climate and nature in 2025
19 Dec 2025
This year's environmental backdrop is familiar: emissions are rising and nature is continuing to decline. But there have nevertheless been bright spots in 2025.
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.
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'.
