Topics tagged with 'Forestry'
How one woman protected millions of acres
28 Oct 2021
The first thing Kristine McDivitt Tompkins had to do when she arrived in Chile more than three decades ago was tear down fences. Demolishing 700 kilometers of barbed wire in the rough terrain that she and her husband bought was back-breaking work, but overcoming barriers in the minds of the locals was much harder. “
Strong business support for mandatory climate change risk reporting
21 Oct 2021
Eighty-six per cent of businesses that made submissions on the Climate Related Disclosures Bill supported mandatory disclosure, climate change minister James Shaw told a briefing on a governance and risk management consultation document released yesterday.
Mozambique first country to receive World Bank forestry emission reducation payment
18 Oct 2021
Mozambique has become the first country to receive payments from a World Bank trust fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation—commonly known as REDD+.
NZ ranks 9th in KPMG Net Zero Readiness Survey
15 Oct 2021
NEW ZEALAND'S agri-food sector is ranked first for decarbonisation in KPMG’s Net Zero Readiness Survey – a result that will be welcomed by the farming industry and raise eyebrows among environmentalists.
Cash injection For ‘pine to natives’ forest conversion project
14 Oct 2021
The country’s largest ‘pine to natives’ forest conversion project has been given a $15,000 cash injection by a leading producer of radiata pine products.
10 YEARS AGO...
13 Oct 2021
Ten years ago, an Australian forestry investors predicted there would be growing interest in our forest as carbon sinks from across the Tasman.
NZ tops list of highest CO2 emissions per capita since 1850
6 Oct 2021
New Zealand is arguably responsible for the highest per capita emissions of carbon dioxide emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution, according to a just released report by Carbon Brief.
Hawke's Bay partners with the Nature Conservancy
6 Oct 2021
Media Release - Hawke's Bay Regional Council partnering with global environmental organisation The Nature Conservancy.
Carbon offset market will grow 50 times to meet 2050 net-zero emissions goals: Bank of America
28 Sep 2021
The carbon offset market may grow by as much as 50 times if companies are going to meet their 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions goals, according to the Bank of America.
First credits sold under Queensland's carbon scheme
22 Sep 2021
A central Queensland couple has become the first to sell carbon credits under the state government's Land Restoration Fund (LRF).
Deadwood releasing 10.9 gigatons of carbon every year
21 Sep 2021
Decaying wood releases around 10.9 gigatons of carbon worldwide every year, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.
Battle lines being drawn over role of pine in climate change mitigation
17 Sep 2021
The Environmental Defence Society has called for an “urgent reset” of the Emissions Trading Scheme to avoid large swathes of the countryside being covered in pine plantations
Price of carbon drives new forestry fund
13 Sep 2021
A new fund to finance the planting of pines trees on marginal agricultural land has been launched today.
Not seeing the wood for the trees—the EU’s environmental blunder
8 Sep 2021
The European Union is leading the world in adopting limits on greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, notably via hefty carbon taxes. New policies always experience teething problems but an EU environmental regulation adopted in 2009 has become an embarrassing own goal.
Almost a third of world’s tree species face extinction: report
2 Sep 2021
Almost a third of the world’s tree species are at risk of extinction, while hundreds are on the brink of being wiped out, according to a new report.
Africa's mountain forests store more carbon than previously thought
27 Aug 2021
Tropical forests may be local to the tropics, yet they all have global benefits. In addition to serving as refuges of the planet’s stunning, if shrinking, biodiversity, these forests store large amounts of carbon, which helps offset our emissions and mitigate climate change.
Price of carbon driving forestry conversions
5 Aug 2021
Research commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand has found that about 26,550 hectares of farmland has been sold to “carbon-only” entities since 2017.
US forest fires threaten carbon offsets
5 Aug 2021
Forests in the United States that generate the carbon offsets bought by companies including BP and Microsoft are on fire as summer blazes rage in North America.
Emperor penguins faced with extinction
4 Aug 2021
IF current global warming trends continue, Antarctica’s sea ice will decline at a rate that will reduce emperor penguin numbers to the point that almost all colonies will become quasi-extinct by 2100, writes scientist Stephanie Jenouvrier in the Conversation.
Return of the giants
21 Jul 2021
Media Release - “It's great to see the return of these forest giants,” commented Daran Ponter, Chair of Greater Wellington, as he planted the first of 300 kahikatea on the Mataihuka block at Queen Elizabeth Park. “It has long been known that these wonderful trees, such an abundant mahinga kai for Maori, once dominated this landscape.”
Climate Change Commission faces possible legal challenge
15 Jun 2021
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ are considering bringing a judicial review against the Climate Change Commission on the grounds that its recently released final advice to the government is incompatible with keeping global warming to 1.5c.
Getting people out of their cars a top priority
14 Jun 2021
The lead author of a 2016 Royal Society report that recommended a feebate scheme says yesterday’s announcement is welcome news but getting people out of their cars remains a top priority.
Plantation forests not the solution for climate change: UN Report
11 Jun 2021
Plantations of a single species of non-native tree "are a disaster" for climate change according one of the co-authors of a major new report.
Responses to ClimCom final advice divides along usual lines
10 Jun 2021
An avalanche of press releases in response to yesterday’s release of the Climate Change Commission’s final advice to the government sees interest groups dividing along familiar lines.
10 YEARS AGO...
10 Jun 2021
Ten years ago, the operators of a Waikato aboretum won the right to sell carbon credits from their trees.
Tasmania has reached net-zero emissions
9 Jun 2021
Getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy might seem the end game for climate action. But what if, like Tasmania, you’ve already ticked both those goals off your list?
NZU price on the up
8 Jun 2021
After dropping from a high of $39.60 in February to $36.25 last month, the price of NZUs is on the way up, crossing the $38 mark today.
AI tool for forestry sequestration attracts backing
8 Jun 2021
Media Release - Nelson Artificial Intelligence (NAI), a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for thorny environmental challenges, has spun off its first business after securing a $1.8 million investment in technology that gives landowners streamlined access to forest carbon credit markets.
Air Tahiti Nui offers CarbonClick offsets
3 Jun 2021
New Zealand tech company CarbonClick has signed up a second international airline to its offsetting programme.
Structural problems standing in the way of farming innovators
2 Jun 2021
Structural problems in the agriculture sector are preventing a new generation of farmers committed to dealing with climate change from putting their ideas into practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor told the NZ Agriculture and Climate Change conference in Wellington this morning.
Cutthroat competition preventing decarbonisation: Westpac
28 May 2021
The cutthroat nature of the road freight industry is preventing it from making meaningful moves towards decarbonisation, according to new research by Westpac NZ’s economic team.
10 YEARS AGO...
28 May 2021
Ten years ago, the printing and paper industries launched a voluntary scheme promoting paper as a renewable resource to counter growing calls for tougher regulations.
How should that $3 billion in ETS revenues be spent?
27 May 2021
Paying farmers to reduce their stocks, electrifying the main trunk line, and subsidies to zero-carbon housing, are some of the ideas suggested by experts for how the Government should spend the estimated $3 billion dollars raised over the next five years from the ETS auctions.
Solar power initiative benefits Maori households
27 May 2021
MEDIA RELEASE - Solar panels and other renewable technology will support more than 200 homes of kaumatua, papakainga and Maori-owned rentals to provide cheaper power, warmer, and drier homes, and valuable data. It’s part of the Government’s focus on creating targeted renewable energy solutions for Maori and public housing.
Acting now pays dividends in the future
26 May 2021
Transforming the economy now rather than protecting key wealth generating sectors from the full effect of international carbon prices will see the economy grow more in the long run, updated economic modelling shows.
Gas to flicker on?
24 May 2021
Without extra investment New Zealand could find itself without enough gas supply to ensure security of electricity by 2026, a regulator has warned.
Auckland to spend $21 a year per household on climate change
20 May 2021
Auckland City’s proposed $160 million of spending on climate change over the next 10 years, announced in this week’s “recovery budget,” will add just $21 to the annual rates bill of residential property owners.
10 YEARS AGO...
20 May 2021
Ten years ago, new rules for measuring the carbon stored in forests were gazetted.
Forest the size of France have regenerated
12 May 2021
From Mongolia to southern Brazil, forests big enough to cover France have grown back during the last 20 years, but the gains did not make up for losses elsewhere, a study found on Tuesday.
10 YEARS AGO...
10 May 2021
Ten years ago, nearly nine million NZUs had been issued for carbon stored in post-1989 forests.
Great Green Wall promises better lives to African farmers
7 May 2021
Africa’s Great Green Wall, a climate crisis initiative that offers hope for some of the continent’s most beleaguered farmers, is back on a steady trajectory after securing $14 billion in new funding for the next decade
Rail plan lacks climate ambition
6 May 2021
The Government has highlighted the 2.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases New Zealand Rail prevents from entering the atmosphere each year, in its just released NZ Rail Plan, but a climate change expert says the plan is disappointing in its lack of ambition.
Airline offsetting programmes flawed
6 May 2021
The forest protection carbon offsetting market used by major airlines for claims of carbon-neutral flying faces a significant credibility problem, with experts warning the system is not fit for purpose, a Guardian investigation has found
10 YEARS AGO...
5 May 2021
Ten years ago, forestry planting was at an historic low due to uncertainty around the ETS.
10 YEARS AGO...
3 May 2021
Ten years ago, we were reporting that banks were starting to lend on carbon as forestry companies secured contracts as far forward as 2020.
Amazon is now net GHG emitter: study finds
3 May 2021
Something is wrong in the lungs of the world. Decades of burning, logging, mining and development have tipped the scales, and now the Amazon Basin may be emitting more greenhouse gases than it absorbs.
10 YEARS AGO...
30 Apr 2021
Ten years ago, officials were rejecting calls to allow the owners of small forestry blocks to use a new system for measuring carbon
Best by the rest...
29 Apr 2021
Our weekly roundup of notable climate change stories featured in the local media, includes: a survey that shows most Kiwis back the ClimCom recommendations; an call for indigenous people to lead the way in climate talks, and a deep dive into Fonterra's emissions.
Online platform to sell forests
29 Apr 2021
RTE reports on a new online platform to sell off-setting forests.
Hawke's Bay proposes tree planting solution
29 Apr 2021
MEDIA RELEASE - The Hawke's Bay Regional Council is proposing an ambitious tree planting solution to address the region’s significant erosion challenges in a way that retains and strengthens pastoral farms.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
Fri 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 slammed for weakening methane target
Mon 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.
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
Today 11:15am
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.
Minister not concerned about potential economic impacts of ruling out offshore mitigation
Thu 11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts isn’t worried that ruling out using offshore mitigation is effectively reneging from the Paris Agreement with potential to damage New Zealand’s economy and access to export markets.
Battery subsidy scheme set for 'urgent' overhaul as costs run out of control
Today 11:15am
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced big changes to the government's battery subsidy scheme amid claims most of its $2.3 billion budget has been spent in just six months.
Is Govt rushing through changes to climate framework to avoid litigation?
Thu 11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says the Government’s motivation for proposed changes to the country’s climate framework law are unclear: “The only reason I can think of is one grounded in potential litigation risk.”
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.
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.
$235 billion worth of NZ buildings exposed to flooding
30 Oct 2025
More than 750,000 New Zealanders live in locations exposed to one-in-100-year floods, according to a nationwide study which shows escalating flood risk.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
Thu 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
Thu 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.
Australian Government wants EV, PHEV owners to start sending power to the grid
Mon 15 Dec 2025
The newly announced Vehicle-Grid Network is part of a plan to establish Australia as a leader in vehicle-to-grid technology.
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.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
Mon 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.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
Wed 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.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
Thu 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.
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.”
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.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
Fri 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.
TotalEnergies loses in Paris court, marking a turning point for fossil fuel truth-in-advertising
5 Nov 2025
TotalEnergies was found to have misled consumers about its role in the energy transition.
Tribunal warns govt geothermal strategy risks Treaty breach
2 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government's geothermal development strategy risks breaching the Treaty of Waitangi, according to a report from the Waitangi Tribunal released last week.
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.
Shell facing first UK legal claim over climate impacts of fossil fuels
Fri 12 Dec 2025
Victims of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines have filed a legal claim against oil and gas company Shell in the UK courts, seeking compensation for what they say is the company's role in making the storm more severe.
NZ fails to back ‘roadmap’ to phase out fossil fuels at COP
24 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Eighty-six countries including Australia, the UK, Germany, and Ireland backed a proposal at COP30 for national plans on how to quit oil, gas and coal – but New Zealand wasn’t one of them.
Media round-up
Fri 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'.
NZ could become ‘dumping ground’ for dirty vehicles: Commissioner
Today 11:15am
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.
The deep ocean is fixing carbon in ways no one expected
Today 11:15am
A new study reveals that unexpected microbes are quietly fixing carbon in the dark depths of the ocean.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
Today 11:15am
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable.
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.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
Weak carbon policy misses ‘exponential’ NZ growth opportunity: KiC
Mon 15 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Ambitious climate change policy is a route to a faster-growing New Zealand economy because of the potential for “exponential” growth in decarbonising technologies,” says KiwisinClimate, a global lobby group of New Zealanders working on climate change policy.
Shipping movements disrupted as climate change protesters block coal ships
2 Dec 2025
NSW police have arrested 141 people who attempted to block the shipping channel in Newcastle Harbour during Rising Tide protests, which began on Thursday.
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.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
Today 11:15am
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.
More than $2m up for grabs for low-emissions farming innovation
Wed 10 Dec 2025
The Ag Emissions Centre and AgriZeroNZ yesterday opened their 2026 innovation investment round.
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.
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.
Study provides a step-change in understanding NZ’s groundwater
28 Nov 2025
Media release | Earth Sciences New Zealand has developed a world-first National Groundwater Age Map and a powerful suite of tools to support the sustainable management of our hidden groundwater resources, from national through to local scales.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
Wed 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.
Australian market operator slashes wind farm predictions amid falling costs for solar and batteries
Thu 11 Dec 2025
The body that runs Australia's biggest power market has scaled back its plans for high-voltage power lines and wind farms to meet the country's green energy targets.
