Topics tagged with 'Emissions trading'
No done deal on EU carbon market reform
26 May 2022
Lawmakers in the European Parliament’s environment committee voted on a major overhaul of the EU’s carbon market last week, but it’s a long and possibly bumpy road to EU legislators shaking hands on the final deal.
Price of NZUs edging higher
25 May 2022
The price of NZUs on the spot market has edged past the $77 mark this week for the first time since the middle of last month.
Fossil fuel industry loses its grip over Australia’s climate and energy policies
24 May 2022
Australia has a new Labor government and a significant climate-focused cross bench, and it might just mark the beginning of the end of an almost decade-long grip the fossil fuel industry has held over national climate change and energy policy.
Kiwi founded company aiming to shake up global carbon markets
23 May 2022
By Liz Kivi | A Kiwi founded tech company, launched last month, is aiming to revolutionise the global carbon market with new technology that can accurately measure emissions in real-time and is much cheaper than current methods.
MEPs raise ambition on EU carbon market reform
18 May 2022
The European Parliament environment committee on Tuesday (17 May) agreed on reform of the European carbon market — including its expansion to buildings and transport.
ERP: Oppposition politicians respond
17 May 2022
The National Party has condemned much of the first Emissions Reduction Plan, released yesterday, as corporate welfare but welcomed the announcement that $710 million had been earmarked for helping agriculture to lower its emissions.
Berlin pushes for a €60 minimum price on EU carbon markets
17 May 2022
Discounting allegations of speculation on the EU carbon market, Berlin is throwing its weight behind a minimum price of €60 per tonne of CO2, saying it will ensure this through national measures if the EU does not take action.
Australian carbon market splits as buyers pay more for “high integrity” units
17 May 2022
Australia’s carbon offset market is showing signs of splitting in two, analysts say, as buyers show they are willing to pay a premium for “higher integrity” offsets.
$2.9 billion allocated to reducing emission over the next four years
16 May 2022
Critics will dismiss it as little more than a speed bump on the highway to climate catastrophe while its supporters will welcome it as a multi-modal map to a net carbon zero New Zealand in 2050.
California $19Bn carbon market not good enough to curb emissions
16 May 2022
California’s carbon market was supposed to be a model for the US, harnessing the power of capitalism to fight climate change in the world’s fifth-biggest economy.
Big players snaffle up bulk of NZUs at auction
11 May 2022
The top five successful bidders at the last NZ ETS auction snaffled up 78% of the NZUs on offer.
European carbon prices tumble, failing to scale new highs as gas drops
11 May 2022
There may be no fresh risks of an escalation in the Ukraine war and in the standoff between the EU and Russia regarding its fossil fuels, but recession fears spilled over to the carbon market. The price of a ton of CO2 equivalent within the EU ETS fell more than 5% after challenging recent record highs.
ACT proposes blitzkrieg of climate bureaucracy
10 May 2022
The ACT Party says it would scrap the Climate Change Commission and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and ditch all climate change related subsidies and environment-related job schemes, in its alternative budget launched yesterday.
Singapore carbon exchange targets futures trading with German bourse
10 May 2022
A Singapore carbon exchange is teaming up with Germany's main bourse to launch futures trading for carbon offsets as early as this year to meet the growing demand from companies to hedge their risks from greenhouse gas emissions.
Best by the rest...
6 May 2022
In our Weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: Sea levels are rising and Kiwi communities are sinking - who will pay for the damage? And Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick argues for collective responsibility on climate change.
Winner of Australian election must fix carbon market: report
5 May 2022
The next federal government has been urged to review the carbon market as experts question the integrity of credits used by companies to balance their books on emissions.
‘Money time’ for EU carbon market reform in the European Parliament
3 May 2022
The lawmaker overseeing the adoption of a key package of EU climate legislation in the European Parliament has urged colleagues to stop fighting over the proposed reform, saying Europe must rise to the occasion in the current geopolitical context.
The too-invisible hand of the EU emissions market
28 Apr 2022
When European Union policy-makers envisaged the Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2003 as their single tool to drive down greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG), it looked like a win-win approach. Industry, non-governmental organisations and public authorities welcomed the directive with its market-based mechanism, putting a price on greenhouse gases, to reduce emissions in a ‘cost-effective’ way.
Now we know the flaws of carbon offsets, it’s time to get real about climate change
26 Apr 2022
Last month former Australian carbon market watchdog Andrew MacIntosh blew the whistle on Australia’s carbon offset market. He described the scheme as a “rort” with up to 80% of carbon offsets “markedly low in integrity”.
Bahamas preparing to enter global carbon market
21 Apr 2022
Bahamas prime minister Philip “Brave” Davis says the government is preparing to table legislation that will allow the country to participate in the global carbon market.
Cost of carbon on the rise in South Korea
12 Apr 2022
Soaring carbon costs are adding up for companies in Korea as the government is set to tighten environmental rules.
Milking the EU’s carbon market cash cow for industry
7 Apr 2022
Rather than propose amendments to the EU’s Emissions Trading System that would take the heat off the climate and serve society, European parliamentarians are squabbling over the quantity of freebies to offer polluting industries.
ACT takes aim at National's climate policies
4 Apr 2022
The ACT Party is using National's recruitment of the NZ Initiative's former senior economist and leading proponent of the "leave it to the ETS" school of thought, Matt Burgess, to criticise the opposition party's climate policies.
Carbon market for Indonesia
30 Mar 2022
CarbonX, an Indonesian high-impact carbon asset developer, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the world’s first fully digital carbon exchange to develop a carbon marketplace in Indonesia.
Australian carbon traders defend troubled offset market against whistleblower claims
29 Mar 2022
Australia’s biggest carbon traders have sought to defend Australia’s troubled carbon offset regime, following weeks of policy upheaval and claims from one of the scheme’s architects that most of Australia’s government-issued carbon offsets did not represent genuine emissions reductions.
NZ ETS could be a model for the world: Matt Burgess
28 Mar 2022
Last Friday was Matt Burgess’s last day as a senior economist at the NZ Initiative. His final report for the thinktank, Pretence of Necessity, is a strident argument for leaving all of the heavy lifting in reducing New Zealand’s emissions to the ETS.
China's carbon market has a credibility problem: analysts
28 Mar 2022
China’s newly launched national carbon emissions trading system (ETS), the world’s largest, needs to raise its game on fraud prevention by imposing steeper penalties on offending companies to deter cheating, analysts said.
Government slashes Tiwai smelter’s carbon allocation
25 Mar 2022
Cabinet has approved a decision to remove part of the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter’s free allocation of carbon credits – costing the owners at least $60 million a year.
Australia’s carbon market is in crisis
25 Mar 2022
Australia’s carbon market is in a state of crisis.
Designer of China carbon market sees expansion delayed
23 Mar 2022
A researcher who helped design China’s national carbon market said it will expand into new sectors later than expected, a setback for a key tool in President Xi Jinping’s drive to cut the world’s biggest source of emissions.
ETS auction spurs demand on spotmarket
17 Mar 2022
Buyers were out in force following yesterday’s ETS auction, with the CommTrade and Carbon Match platforms trading in excess of 600,000 NZUs before the close of trade.
ETS auction clears at $70.00
16 Mar 2022
THE first NZ ETS auction of the year cleared at $70.00 today.
China slams firms for falsifying carbon data
16 Mar 2022
China's environment ministry has slammed firms for falsifying carbon data, part of the country's efforts to improve data quality as it prepares to expand its national emissions trading scheme into more industrial sectors.
Australian carbon credit price plunges after policy change
15 Mar 2022
Australian carbon credits rose to record highs of more than $55 a tonne earlier this year, but in the past week the price has come crashing down.
Solomon Islands receives first carbon credit as part of conservation work
11 Mar 2022
A tribe in the Solomon Islands has become the first in the country to receive a carbon credit.
Carbon prices in the EU crash despite rising fossil fuel prices
8 Mar 2022
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the price of carbon allowances in the EU has fallen drastically, lowering the cost to emit carbon despite record high fossil fuel prices.
EU carbon permit prices crash after Russian invasion of Ukraine
3 Mar 2022
The price of carbon permits in Europe has crashed dramatically following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, lowering the cost of emitting carbon for the EU’s most polluting companies.
California's carbon markets getting in the way of climate targets: report
1 Mar 2022
CALIFORNIA'S carbon market could be hurting the state’s chances of meeting its ambitious climate goals, while at the same time exacerbating pollution in already overburdened communities, two new reports warn.
Carbon correction
28 Feb 2022
After reaching a high of $86.25 on the spot market earlier this month, NZUs closed at $80.75 on Friday.
Lead EU lawmaker proposes carbon market rules to respond to price spikes
17 Feb 2022
The European Parliament's lead lawmaker on reforms to the EU carbon market on Wednesday proposed rules to make it easier for policymakers to intervene in the scheme if prices rise too fast.
Poland calls on EU to remove 'speculators' from its carbon market
16 Feb 2022
Poland has urged the European Union to introduce "control mechanisms" to the bloc's carbon market and curb financial speculators' participation in the scheme, the Polish government said on Tuesday.
NZX listed carbon fund now worth nearly $100 million
14 Feb 2022
The NZX traded SALT Carbon Fund has shot up in value from just $9.39 million in January of last year to $98.45 million at the end of last week.
Aboriginal group launches new carbon farming body
11 Feb 2022
A new Indigenous carbon farming body has today been launched, with the aim of assisting native title groups and Aboriginal leaseholders to enter carbon markets.
Australia's carbon price dips following last year's 210% gain
10 Feb 2022
Australia’s carbon price has fallen 4.7 per cent to $54.50 a tonne over the past fortnight yet trading volumes of carbon units have surged, indicating the market is stabilising after a massive bull run last year pushed the price up by 210%.
ANZ economist warns of price volatility in carbon market
8 Feb 2022
ANZ agricultural economist Susan Kilsby has warned that the price of carbon "could move sharply in either direction" in an in-depth backgrounder on New Zealand's carbon market.
European carbon price climbs to new high
4 Feb 2022
The cost of polluting in the European Union jumped to a fresh record, with utilities looking to burn more coal just as the supply of permits dries up.
Global carbon markets value surged to record US$851 billion last year
1 Feb 2022
The value of traded global markets for carbon dioxide (CO2) permits grew by 164% to a record 760 billion euros ($851 billion) last year, analysts at Refinitiv said on Monday.
10 YEARS AGO...
31 Jan 2022
Ten years ago, the government said it was considering reducing the number of carbon credits allowed into the NZ ETS, as carbon prices continued to drop in Europe.
Number of NZUs entering ETS could be cut
26 Jan 2022
The number of NZUs on offer could be reduced in the future to take account of the extra units entering the system through the cost containment reserve mechanism, climate change minister James Shaw says.
China's national carbon market records brisk trading
25 Jan 2022
China's national carbon market has wrapped up its first compliance period with a steady rise in market activity, said the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Monday.
Emerging biodiversity and carbon markets part of Gisborne plan for land-use change
Mon 6 Oct 2025
Gisborne District Council has endorsed a plan to shift up to 100,000 hectares of the region’s most erosion-prone land into permanent vegetation cover and is calling on the Government to make urgent changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme to aid the transition.
Media round-up
Fri 3 Oct 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Leaving the Paris Agreement won’t fix NZ’s farming frustrations, what Pacific Island leaders told the UN General Assembly about climate, and Hawke's Bay Regional Council faces class action legal challenge over flooding.
NZ needs to be part of a regional SAF strategy: Z, Air NZ
9 Sep 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand needs to be part of a regional strategic approach to sourcing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with domestic production less the aim than ensuring access to the fuel from one of a number of strategically positioned bio-refineries around the world.
Travellers bothered by their flight’s pollution can pay to reduce it elsewhere. Do offsets work?
Thu 2 Oct 2025
So you’re booking your flight, and just when you’re about to check out, the airline asks if you’d like to pay a little something to offset your share of the flight’s pollution. Or, maybe you’re an environmentally minded person, and you’ve heard you can buy these things called carbon offsets.
Solar farm gets fast-track treatment
Mon 6 Oct 2025
Lodestone Energy’s proposed 220 MW solar farm at Haldon Station in the Mackenzie Basin has become the first solar project to be referred to an expert panel under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024.
Researchers say sealing old oil wells with bio-oil from crop waste is a dual carbon-removal solution
19 Sep 2025
A new analysis shows that oil made from corn husks, wood chips, and other waste could plug greenhouse gas-belching abandoned oil wells while sequestering carbon for about $152 per ton.
Will govt’s light touch approach lead to higher carbon prices?
Fri 3 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Carbon market watchers are hoping the government’s plan for the electricity sector will eventually lead to higher carbon prices, with the secondary market still trading sideways for the longest time in its history.
EAT-Lancet report: Three key takeaways on climate and diet change
Mon 6 Oct 2025
A global shift towards “healthier” diets could cut non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane, from agriculture by 15% by 2050, according to a new report.
Climate credibility gap widening for Aussie firms
Wed 1 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Australian public companies’ climate change commitments are in retreat, reflecting difficulty in achieving stated targets and increased fossil use, but not because of any pressure to make less effort, according to a study of major companies’ ESG reporting.
Electricity to remain in ETS
Wed 1 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The Government has rejected Frontier Economics' recommendation that electricity should be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme.
The merchants of doubt are back
3 Sep 2025
OPINION: If you don’t follow climate policy closely, you might not know that the Trump administration is launching an effort to overturn one of the most fundamental pillars of American climate policy.
Milestone for NZ Steel electrification
10 Sep 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | NZ Steel has passed an installation milestone for its new electric arc furnace, which will reduce emissions from the Glenbrook steel mill site by as much as one megatonne (1Mt) a year.
UN limits staff at COP30 climate summit over accommodation concerns
19 Sep 2025
High hotel prices for Brazil's COP30 climate summit in November have prompted the United Nations to urge its staff to limit attendance, while government delegations are still scrambling to find rooms within their budgets.
NZ quiet on climate target at UN meeting
Thu 2 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand didn't mention its recently minted – but widely criticised – climate target for 2035 at a major multilateral climate meeting in New York last week, at an event which was ostensibly billed as a platform for leaders to present their new targets.
From nuisance to crisis: New report on pest wasps In Aotearoa
24 Sep 2025
Media release: Moths and Butterflies NZ Trust | Just published is the Final Report of the Pest Wasps Survey carried out by the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (MBNZT) offering a comprehensive look at New Zealanders’ awareness, experiences, and attitudes toward wasps and the growing ecological, health, and social issues associated with them.
Declining sea-ice is altering Antarctic food webs
11 Sep 2025
A new study shows a significant change in Antarctic phytoplankton over time that could cascade through the marine food web and affect the ocean’s capacity as a carbon sink.
Consultation open on second draft of Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
29 Sep 2025
Public consultation has opened on the second draft of the Aotearoa New Zealand Sustainable Finance Taxonomy.
‘Damp squib’ – Govt energy plan slammed for locking in fossil fuels
Thu 2 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Critics across business, climate groups and the opposition say the Government’s electricity reforms duck structural change, double down on LNG and gas, and offer little relief for soaring power prices – warning of an “expensive white elephant", deeper energy poverty and a missed chance to scale renewables.
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.”
$1.5m for climate action
Mon 6 Oct 2025
The Wilding Pine Network, Rewiring Aotearoa, Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust, 800 Trust and 350 Aotearoa, have received grants from a total pool of more than $1.5m over two years from of Climate Action Aotearoa's Kaupapa of National Significance Climate Action Fund.
UC wins top international award for civics education
Mon 6 Oct 2025
Media release | A University of Canterbury research group has received international recognition at the highest level of political science.
FMA consults on clearer ethical investment claims to curb greenwashing
29 Sep 2025
The Financial Markets Authority – Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko – has released updated draft guidance for financial products marketed with ethical or sustainability features.
Coal imports up 650%
12 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams and Liz Kivi | Coal imports are up 650% as generators stockpile the most polluting fossil fuel ahead of next winter.
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.
Study warns climate leadership falling short in NZ
Wed 1 Oct 2025
Media release - Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Research suggests New Zealand’s climate leadership is falling short, with current adaptation efforts focused on property and cost-cutting rather than protecting communities.
Will NZ walk away from the Paris Agreement?
20 Dec 2024
By Geoff Bertram | COMMENT: Unless the government can find very cheap offshore mitigation, the temptation to walk away from its Paris Agreement obligations may well be too strong to resist for a coalition government focused on fiscal austerity.
Can the courtroom save the climate?
Thu 2 Oct 2025
It was in early 2017 when it seemed like nearly every person I knew from home was asking me the same question: Should they be worried about what was about to happen in Washington, D.C.?
'Non-negotiable' – EU carbon pricing to hit Kiwi exporters, expert warns
11 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | High carbon exports will inevitably face a high carbon tax at the EU border, possibly in the next five years, and high methane agricultural products might not be exempt, an international expert told a local audience yesterday.
Deep sea mining threatens sharks, rays and ghost sharks
Mon 6 Oct 2025
Mining the world’s deep seas for metals will likely threaten many species of sharks, rays and chimaeras (ghost sharks), according to researchers.
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.
Warming oceans prompt major overhaul of how scientists monitor El Niño and La Niña
Wed 1 Oct 2025
Global warming is interfering with how Earth Sciences New Zealand monitors one of the world’s biggest climate drivers.
China calls EU hypocritical over criticism of climate goal
Wed 1 Oct 2025
The EU climate chief's criticism of China's new climate pledges shows "double standards and selective blindness," China's foreign ministry said on Friday, accusing the bloc of being slow to act on its own climate targets.
Lobby group launches ‘blueprint’ for ocean management reform
18 Sep 2025
The Environmental Defence Society yesterday released its plan to tackle widespread ecological decline in our oceans.
Fast-track changes coming before end of year
Fri 3 Oct 2025
The Government is already preparing to amend its fast-track approvals law, even as the first projects consented under the regime begin construction.
Students repeat request for Victoria University to divest from fossil fuel investments
24 Sep 2025
Media release | A group of students campaigning for climate action at Victoria University of Wellington have dropped a banner protesting against the university’s lack of action on its 2014 commitment to divest from fossil fuels.
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.
Countering the Trump administration’s attack on climate science
Fri 3 Oct 2025
The Trump Administration is attempting to remove the legal basis for U.S. action on greenhouse gas emissions by attacking the climate science that underpins it.
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.
Auckland Transport and Kinetic charging ahead for sustainability
30 Sep 2025
Media release | Auckland Transport (AT) and bus operator Kinetic and have taken another step in their decarbonisation journeys with major upgrades completed at Kinetic’s Glenfield bus depot to support a growing zero emissions fleet.
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.
End of EV tax subsidy sparks worries of collapse in US electric car sales
Mon 6 Oct 2025
Automotive executives are bracing for a freefall in U.S. electric-vehicle sales following the disappearance of a critical $7,500 tax break for buyers.
‘Beyond embarrassing’ – Peters’ Paris remarks draw fire for talking down Pacific climate diplomacy
26 Sep 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Foreign Minister and NZ first leader Winston Peters says he wants to revisit the Paris Agreement with Pacific leaders because some may be unaware of how it’s structured.
Day of action against incinerators
29 Sep 2025
Media release | Zero Waste Aotearoa will call on the Ministry for the Environment to embrace real solutions to waste and climate change, not toxic pollution from incineration as part of an international day of action on Tuesday 30 September.
Environment Minister abusing role to put freshwater at risk – Greens
Fri 3 Oct 2025
Media release – Green Party | Documents obtained under the Official Information Act have revealed the Minister for the Environment is pressuring local councils to allow ‘water take’ consents for a group of farmers that includes her party colleague, in a catchment already showing signs of serious decline.
‘Con,’ ‘scam,’ ‘hoax’: Trump’s UN speech on climate
24 Sep 2025
The president used a large chunk of his hour-long speech to world leaders to condemn climate science and clean energy policies.
Trump administration moves to revoke permit for Massachusetts offshore wind project
24 Sep 2025
The Trump administration has moved to block a Massachusetts offshore wind farm, its latest effort to hobble an industry and technology that President Donald Trump has attacked as “ugly” and unreliable compared to fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
