Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
ETS delay comes at a cost, warn foresters
9 Apr 2010
Delaying the emissions trading scheme would cost the country more in the long run, say forest owners.
Tokyo kicks off Asia’s first trading scheme
9 Apr 2010
Plans for a national Japanese emissions trading scheme might still be mired in confusion, but that has not stopped Tokyo winning the race to launch Asia's first carbon trading initiative.
UK poll rivals agree to agree on climate
9 Apr 2010
The three main parties in the UK general election in four weeks agree on at least two things - that humanity is causing global warming and that urgent action must be taken to combat it.
Satellite to check climate change impact on ice
9 Apr 2010
The European Space Agency is launching a satellite that scientists hope will help them to pin down the effects of global warming on the Earth's ice packs more precisely.
Climate scientist Hansen pockets $100,000
9 Apr 2010
American climate scientist James Hansen has won a $100,000 environmental prize for decades of work trying to alert politicians to what he called an unsolved emergency of global warming.
Govt stays silent over future of ETS
1 Apr 2010
The Government appears to have gone to ground over rumours it is considering postponing the entry of heavy emitters into the emissions trading scheme.
... meanwhile, the clock is ticking for big emitters
1 Apr 2010
Heavy industrial emitters of greenhouse gases have got a month to apply for free carbon credits from the Government.
Kiwi dollars might fund overseas research
1 Apr 2010
Part of the $45 million the Government has pledged to the Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be spent on research in other countries.
Kiwis sticking to green values, despite recession
1 Apr 2010
Politicians ignore New Zealanders' concerns about the environment at their peril, says the Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Climate change faces the trillion-dollar question
1 Apr 2010
Political and business leaders gather in London today to try to revive the world's faltering challenge to global warming.
We’re too stupid to stop it, says Lovelock
1 Apr 2010
Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades.
Obama changes mind on offshore oil drilling
1 Apr 2010
US President Barack Obama has unveiled a controversial plan to extend drilling for oil and gas off America's coasts.
US oil company paid sceptics, says report
1 Apr 2010
A little-known, privately owned US oil company has been named as the paymaster of global warming sceptics in the US and Europe.
Repentant Pachauri slips into neutral
1 Apr 2010
The outspoken chairman of the UN’s climate change body is to adopt a neutral advisory role and has agreed to stop making statements demanding new taxes and other radical policies on cutting emissions.
Land lies idle as foresters fear conversion
26 Mar 2010
Thousands of hectares of recently deforested land is lying fallow because under the emissions trading scheme owners can’t afford to convert it to other uses.
UK to set up green investment bank
26 Mar 2010
The UK government will set up green investment bank with £2bn of equity to fund low-carbon transport and energy schemes
It’s getting hot in here, weather figures show
26 Mar 2010
The first decade of the new millennium was the warmest on record, the United Nations weather monitoring agency has announced.
Carbon market a no-no, says Democrat
26 Mar 2010
A group of United States senators trying to revive stalled climate-change legislation should abandon a European-style carbon market to win more support, Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, said yesterday.
Don't blame cows for climate change, says scientist
26 Mar 2010
A scientist in the United States has questioned the impact meat and diary production has on climate change and has accused the United Nations of exaggerating the link.
UN launches global gas emissions calculator
26 Mar 2010
The United Nations has launched the first common system of calculating the amount of greenhouse gases produced in a given city.
Meridian to mark Earth Hour
26 Mar 2010
The country’s biggest electricity generator will be turning off the lights at its own premises this coming Saturday as it marks Earth Hour 2010.
Insurer backs off forest-damage protection
19 Mar 2010
Insurer NZI has put on hold plans to offer forest owners protection against accidental carbon loss while it waits for the carbon market to bed in.
Australia and New Zealand Climate Change Business Conference
19 Mar 2010
August 10-12, 2010, Sydney.-The 6th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change & Business Conference will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre on August 10-12, 2010.
Obama looks at carbon trading shortcut
19 Mar 2010
The Obama administration is considering a carbon-trading system under existing law if the US Congress doesn't pass cap-and-trade legislation that allows companies to buy and sell the right to pollute, a US Environmental Protection Agency official said.
In 10 years, we'll be flying on flax and food scraps
19 Mar 2010
Within 10 years, passenger planes will be flying on jet fuel largely made from flax, marsh grass, and food waste as airlines seek to break away from the oil market and do their part to fight climate change, aviation experts say.
Battle over California climate law takes shape
19 Mar 2010
The campaign to put suspension of California's climate change law before voters in November started taking shape this week as warring parties revealed key sources of funding and traded barbs over the nature of their financial support.
Los Angeles launches green tax on electricity
19 Mar 2010
The city of Los Angeles is introducing a carbon reduction surcharge that will raise $170 million to fight climate change.
Watchdog rules ads overstate climate change risk
19 Mar 2010
Two UK Government adverts which used nursery rhymes to raise awareness of climate change have been banned for overstating the risks, a watchdog has announced.
Arrogance undid Copenhagen summit, says Stern
19 Mar 2010
The "disappointing" outcome of December's climate summit was largely down to "arrogance" on the part of rich countries, according to Lord Stern.
Time to stop pointing fingers, says Maldives
19 Mar 2010
The climate change debate should be reframed in economic and security terms ahead of a year-end UN summit in Mexico seeking a binding climate deal, the president of the Maldives says.
UN chief sees progress toward next talks in Mexico
19 Mar 2010
Countries responsible for more than four-fifths of global emissions of greenhouse gases have now backed the accord that emerged from last year’s climate change summit in Copenhagen, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.
EXCLUSIVE: Why it's not worth planting trees
12 Mar 2010
A consultant is calling on the Government to underwrite the risk of accidental harvest of trees and to guarantee forest owners a minimum price for carbon under the emissions trading scheme.
Get wise to green issues, expert tells employers
12 Mar 2010
A ruling by a British judge that environmentalism has the same weight in law as religious and philosophical beliefs should send a warning to New Zealand employers, a local expert says.
Report lists 10 ‘fat cats’ getting rich from carbon
12 Mar 2010
Windfall profits from Europe’s system for trading industrial carbon quotas could discourage big regional polluters from doing anything to curb emissions.
IPCC review scientists won't revisit landmark report
12 Mar 2010
An outside review of the work of the United Nations’ climate change panel will not re-check the body’s controversial latest report but will instead focus on improving procedures for the future.
China and India sign, but keep climate stand
12 Mar 2010
China said it will not deviate from its stand on climate change even after it gave qualified approval to the Copenhagen climate accord this week.
More Americans stop worrying, poll shows
12 Mar 2010
Americans are less concerned about the threat of climate change than they were two years ago and almost half say the seriousness of global warming is overblown, a Gallup poll shows.
Vietnam to get $790m climate change funding
12 Mar 2010
Vietnam has received $790 million in pledges from donor countries and international organisations to devise measures to cope with climate change and curb carbon emissions.
Registry stays silent on $19m share value drop
5 Mar 2010
The company which bought NZX’s voluntary environmental registry TZ1 is not commenting on a drop in share value.
Marks and Spencer’s big green plan sends a message to Kiwi businesses
5 Mar 2010
A bold new bid by Marks and Spencer to become the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015 sends an important signal to New Zealand businesses in the export supply chain, says a business lobby group.
UK adviser calls for carbon tax on China
5 Mar 2010
Britain should consider a carbon tax on imports to help struggling manufacturers, according to one of the government's key advisers, despite fears such a measure could lead to a global trade war.
Britain plans soft loans for home efficiency
5 Mar 2010
British households will be able to take out soft loans to improve the efficiency of their homes, under a new proposed law to fight climate change and cut fuel poverty.
Houses with low energy efficiency will lose value
5 Mar 2010
British homes with low energy efficiency will lose value under government plans to intervene in the property market to help to cut greenhouse gas emissions from homes by a third by 2020.
Uncertainty dries up Aussie carbon market
5 Mar 2010
The carbon market in Australia has come to a complete halt since the Labor Government announced last May that it would delay the introduction of emissions trading.
New body to watch UN climate change panel
5 Mar 2010
The head of the United Nations-backed panel tasked with preparing scientific reports on the impact of climate change has announced the establishment of an independent review body to ensure that procedures are closely followed.
Australia, Indonesia sign forest carbon agreement
5 Mar 2010
Australia and Indonesia have signed a multi-million dollar pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation on Sumatra.
Others dither, but NZ certain about ETS
26 Feb 2010
The Government says it is committed to pressing ahead with the emissions trading scheme, despite uncertainty over whether two of our major trading partners will adopt cap-and-trade schemes.
US no wiser as Obama chats up business leaders
26 Feb 2010
US climate experts and the energy industry were no wiser about how Barack Obama will manage the country’s greenhouse gas emissions after the president spoke to top CEOs yesterday.
Aussie trading scheme bogs down again
26 Feb 2010
The Australian government's emissions trading scheme is again bogged down in parliament and now might not go to a vote in the Senate until May.
Climate problem urgent, says Chinese leader
26 Feb 2010
Chinese President Hu Jintao has said his country must urgently confront climate change and make it a central part of the government's development strategy.
Fifty years of observations, no reversal of glacier climate damage
Tue 31 Mar 2026
Media release: Earth Sciences New Zealand | Fifty years on from the first aerial survey of our Southern Alps glaciers, late snow and variable summer weather delivered a temporary reprieve from rapid ice loss, says Earth Sciences New Zealand.
Dairy farmers' lack of climate action 'even bleaker' than water inaction – Upton
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Government projections for cutting agricultural emissions are being undermined by low farmer uptake, with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warning the country is relying on “heroic” assumptions to meet its methane targets.
$30m airline fund risks ‘burning public money’ without lasting benefit – expert
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | A $30 million government package to support regional air routes risks delivering poor value for money while increasing emissions, according to transport strategist Tim Adriaansen.
Signs of jet fuel hoarding emerge in Asia on Iran oil shock
26 Mar 2026
Signs are growing that Asian countries are hoarding jet fuel after the Iran war sent oil prices surging, reflecting growing strain on the aviation industry.
Wellington planting nears one million trees
Mon 30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greater Wellington’s parks restoration programme will hit one million native trees this year, with the first dams to rewet peat wetlands in Queen Elizabeth Park now completed after a years-long effort to bring these ecosystems – and their carbon sequestering superpowers – back to life.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
3 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Economic contraction will impact carbon market
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | While higher fossil fuel prices strengthen the long-run economics of decarbonisation, the current fuel crisis won’t inspire near-term confidence in the carbon market, according to Lizzie Chambers of Carbon Match.
Why the real oil crisis hasn’t started yet
Wed 1 Apr 2026
If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed much longer, things will get really bad, really fast.
Carbon price: Ups and downs amid geopolitical uncertainty
26 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | After ups and downs in recent weeks, the carbon market again broke above the $40 mark this week, with questions around how the Middle East conflict will play out weighing on market confidence.
Labour mulls GIDI 2.0 as factory closures mount
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Factory closures across the country could have been prevented if the last Labour-led government’s GIDI fund to assist companies with the cost of electrification hadn't been scrapped, Labour energy spokesperson, Megan Woods, says.
Death toll in Afghanistan flooding increases to 28, authorities say
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Afghan authorities said Monday that the death toll from severe weather that has struck swathes of the country over the past four days has increased to 28, with 49 people injured. Dozens of people have died from extreme weather in the country so far this year.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
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 trading schemes cut more emissions than carbon taxes, according to global study
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Carbon trading schemes are more effective than carbon taxes at reducing emissions, cutting fossil fuel use, and accelerating the shift to renewable energy, a global study has found.
‘Even more bonkers now’ – energy expert on LNG terminal
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | An energy consultant says the Government’s plan to back an LNG import facility is a “non-starter” in the face of rising gas prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
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.
Double danger? Climate change, El Niño push Earth 'beyond its limits'
Wed 1 Apr 2026
A freakish March heat wave has already pushed temperatures to summertime levels throughout much of the western and central United States, but a new report comes with a dire warning: This is just the beginning.
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.
Lawyers complain to ombudsman over Govt failure to release LNG modelling
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Lawyers for Climate Action has made a formal complaint to the Ombudsman over the Government’s failure to release information about its controversial decision to build a LNG import terminal.
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.”
FMA to ease conditions for green bond issues
Tue 31 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Green, social and sustainability-linked bonds will face lower disclosure requirements and regulatory costs under a class exemption newly granted by the Financial Markets Authority.
Five trees can’t offset a car: Lawyers accuse Mazda of greenwashing
9 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action NZ is taking Mazda to the Advertising Standards Authority over its claims that a tree-planting programme will offset vehicle emissions.
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.
NZ prepares to join ‘gold rush’ for white hydrogen
25 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand may be close to commercialising the capture and use of naturally occurring ‘white’ hydrogen, with investment plans for developments in the Wairarapa region picking up pace in response to spiralling oil prices.
Media round-up
20 Mar 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Crown lawyers agree High Court could quash emissions plan if found unlawful; NZ is locked in 'disaster inertia'; and climate change is notably absent from new development laws.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Govt process to change climate plan ‘fundamentally flawed’, says judge
18 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The government’s 2024 changes to New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan was “as fundamentally flawed a process as I think I have ever seen”, the judge presiding in a case challenging climate change decision-making has said.
Cleantech expo coming to Auckland
26 Mar 2026
New Zealand’s first national cleantech expo is set to bring together 30 innovators, in what organisers say is the country’s fastest growing area in the tech sector.
NZ First targets regional share of mining royalties
Mon 30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand First has proposed returning 50% of mining royalties to regional communities, saying that too much of the value from resource extraction is currently flowing to Wellington.
Tuvalu prioritises climate change in agreement with NZ
Fri 27 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand has pledged an additional $20 million to climate resilience work in Tuvalu, more than doubling Aotearoa's aid to the tiny island nation in the current financial year.
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.
Worst in a generation: Environmentalists slam fisheries reform bill
25 Mar 2026
Media release: Greenpeace | The Fisheries Amendment Bill, which will likely have its first reading in parliament this week, is being labelled the worst fisheries policy in a generation by environmental groups who are calling for it to be rejected to protect ocean health.
Kiwis overly optimistic about state of environment
27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests many New Zealanders believe the environment is in better shape than it really is, with public perceptions often out of step with scientific evidence.
‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics
24 Feb 2026
Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?
Activists occupy controversial gold drilling site
25 Mar 2026
By Max Frethey, Local Democracy Reporter | Opposition in Golden Bay to a controversial gold mine at Sams Creek has flared up over the weekend after several activists briefly occupied a drilling site.
China has a new competitor? Kazakhstan reveals huge rare Earth deposit that could power the next tech boom
25 Feb 2026
China’s grip on rare earths might finally see some competition, and the world is already taking notice.
World-leading plasma torch takes aim at NZ's most potent greenhouse gases
24 Mar 2026
Media release | A high-tech plasma torch was lit up today as Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, officially opened the $10 million National Refrigerant Destruction Facility – signalling a new era in addressing the environmental impact of New Zealand’s most potent greenhouse gases.
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.
Why the Iran war may have just killed the AI boom
26 Mar 2026
The $1.5 trillion in committed AI infrastructure spending by major tech companies is built on an assumption of a functional global supply chain, which the Iran conflict has fundamentally broken.
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.
Two Australian states offer free public transport as war pushes up fuel prices
Mon 30 Mar 2026
Public transport in two Australian states will be made free to incentivise people not to drive as fuel prices soar due to the war in the Middle East.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
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.
‘Stop burning fossil fuels’ pleads scientist as extreme rain causes floods yet again
Fri 27 Mar 2026
Northland and Auckland have again been lashed by heavy rain, with hundreds of people evacuated last night because of extensive flooding in the Far North, and some areas hit by more than a month's average rainfall in just 24 hours.
AI tool predicts wildfire danger faster than current systems
26 Mar 2026
Media release | A wildfire forecasting system powered by artificial intelligence could help detect dangerous fire conditions earlier and reduce the cost of wildfire response, according to new research from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
Record wind output helps shield the UK from worst of Iran war fallout
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Record output from wind farms has helped boost total clean power supplies in the United Kingdom to new highs so far in 2026, and allowed power firms to pare use of fossil fuels to multi-year lows.
