Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
In the House ...
23 Jun 2009
On Thursday, the Government asked – and answered – questions about the emissions trading scheme.
Actor joins Greenpeace to document Pacific climate impacts
23 Jun 2009
Kiwi actress Keisha Castle-Hughes left for the Cook Islands yesterday to sail with Greenpeace and document climate impacts in the Pacific.
Climate lobby wants longer ETS review
23 Jun 2009
The New Zealand Climate Change Coalition wants the Government to extend the time frame for the select committee reviewing emissions trading, and to "clarify its real intentions on this issue."
Dunne: ETS report might be July or August ... or later
19 Jun 2009
The emissions trading scheme review committee might not release its report until as late as August.
Greens get in on the act with ETS talks
19 Jun 2009
The Green Party and National have had preliminary talks about supporting a Labour-National agreement on the emissions trading scheme.
Report doesn't do us justice, says forest chief
19 Jun 2009
The regulatory impact analysis of the emissions trading scheme does not do justice to forestry as a low-cost mitigation option for other sectors, says Forest Owners’ Association chief executive David Rhodes.
Filibustering may delay carbon trading vote
19 Jun 2009
The Opposition is likely to seek to prolong debate on the Australian Government's carbon emissions trading scheme in a bid to delay a vote in the Senate.
Australia unveils new renewable energy targets
19 Jun 2009
The Australian Government has introduced laws aimed at driving renewable energy investment and curbing greenhouse emissions.
Big emitters deny overstating carbon scheme cost
19 Jun 2009
Big emitters Woodside Petroleum and Rio Tinto have denied claims by an environmental group they overstated costs of proposed Australian climate change legislation to the public and the government.
Brussels tries to charm NZ into action on ETS
19 Jun 2009
A European Union charm offensive exerted on Australia over the past month is partly dedicated to ensuring that the Rudd government passes its delayed emissions trading scheme legislation in sympathy with Europe’s own policies.
US House may vote on climate bill next week
19 Jun 2009
Legislation to drastically reduce carbon dioxide pollution blamed for global warming could be voted on by the US House of Representatives as early as next week.
Asia set to become biggest climate change driver
19 Jun 2009
Asia's share of global greenhouse gas emissions could rise to more than 40 per cent by 2030, making it the world's main driver of climate change, experts have warned.
UN launches high-level climate and energy group
19 Jun 2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched a new group consisting of business leaders and experts who will advise him on energy and climate change challenges, particularly in identifying key issues in the run-up to the major United Nations conference in Copenhagen in December.
ETS economic impact report reaction: Government
19 Jun 2009
A joint report by economic consultants NZIER and Infometrics concludes that a modified emissions trading scheme is the best way forward for New Zealand on climate change policy, says the Government.
ETS economic impact report reaction: Labour
19 Jun 2009
Labour says it welcomes a long-awaited economic modelling of climate change policy options, recommending an emissions trading scheme as the best climate change policy response.
ETS economic impact report reaction: Greens
19 Jun 2009
New economic modelling shows that New Zealand can continue with an emissions trading scheme at little economic cost, and Green Party MP Jeanette Fitzsimons says it is a clear message to Government to stop dithering and get on with it.
Carter quiet on potential of forest carbon credits
16 Jun 2009
Forestry Minister David Carter doesn’t want to talk about the potential for New Zealand forest owners to sell carbon credits to other countries – nor what the Government is doing to help them.
US forests stand crucial for NZ growers
16 Jun 2009
The United States’ stand on forestry offsetting is being closely watched and could be hugely beneficial to New Zealand.
Biofuel source important to us, says Air NZ
16 Jun 2009
Air New Zealand says that where a biofuel is produced will be part of its selection criteria for any future biofuel it may use.
Canadian anger builds over carbon trading
16 Jun 2009
Anger over Ottawa's complicated new carbon trading plan is starting to simmer now that farmers have read the details and learned it may not be as profitable as first believed.
World Bank pulls loan to Brazilian cattle giant
16 Jun 2009
The Work Bank has withdrawn a $90 million loan to Brazilian cattle giant Bertin following Greenpeace's release of a report linking the company to illegal deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
Global climate agreement in sight, says UN
16 Jun 2009
An ambitious and effective global pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is in sight, the top United Nations climate change official said, as the latest round of negotiations wrapped up in Bonn.
Big computer companies scramble to go green
16 Jun 2009
The world’s leading computer makers are targeting green goals as they scramble to win environmentally aware customers.
US debates climate change role of farms and forests
16 Jun 2009
A dispute is heating up in the United States over the role of farms and forests in climate legislation.
How white roofs could have a green impact
16 Jun 2009
United States Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that global warming could be slowed by a low-tech idea that has nothing to do with coal plants or solar panels - white roofs.
Carbon heavyweight changes mind about NZ
12 Jun 2009
The company that cancelled plans to come to New Zealand when the in-coming National Government announced a total review of the emissions trading scheme is back.
Ecologist queries Air NZ enviroment award
12 Jun 2009
Air New Zealand’s Qualmark’s Enviro-Gold accreditation is based in part on a false view of sustainability, says Pacific Ecologist editor Kay Weir.
Where are our carbon credits, asks tribal group
12 Jun 2009
Emissions trading has been a long time coming for Ngâti Porou Whanui Forests.
Aust firms not ready for carbon scheme, says survey
12 Jun 2009
Australian businesses are mostly not prepared for the federal government's planned domestic carbon trading scheme, due to start in mid-2011, a new survey shows.
Canada to establish carbon trading market
12 Jun 2009
The Canadian federal government has announced plans to establish a national carbon trading market in which all companies and individuals could participate.
Japan under fire for 8% emissions cut target
12 Jun 2009
Japan has said it plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 8 per cent from 1990 levels by the end of the next decade, a goal attacked as too little by environmentalists.
Swedish PM calls for carbon taxes in Europe
12 Jun 2009
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has called for European nations to tax carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases.
Rich countries have ‘moral duty’ to cut emissions
12 Jun 2009
Britain needs to cut greenhouse gases by 45 per cent by 2020 to prevent the world "lurching into climate disaster", according to a report from Oxfam.
New climate pact ‘unlikely’ in Copenhagen
12 Jun 2009
The UN's top climate official has voiced doubt about the prospects for completing a new pact on global warming in Copenhagen by its much-touted December deadline.
Millions on move as climate changes, warns UN
12 Jun 2009
Climate change has already caused displacement and migration, and could uproot millions more in the future, warns a new United Nations-supported report.
How heifers became the Hummers of agriculture
12 Jun 2009
While most of the world debates penalising vehicle and industrial pollution, a United Nations report has fingered another guilty party - cows.
Tried-and-true recipes to tackle and gain from climate change
12 Jun 2009
Amidst the electric fence systems and EID Readers at this year’s Fieldays is an old-fashioned dairy offering free, value-added dairy products and tips on how farmers can tackle and gain from climate change.
Shareholders left in dark on climate change
9 Jun 2009
The world's big corporations are failing to provide a full account to investors of the risks and potential costs of climate change, says a new report.
UK set to cut emissions 23 per cent by 2010
9 Jun 2009
Britain is on course to cut its greenhouse gas by about 23 per cent by 2010 from the 1990 level.
No need to rush climate laws, says Aust Opposition
9 Jun 2009
Claims by the US that its likely failure to finalise climate change legislation before December will not jeopardise the crucial Copenhagen talks have been seized on by the federal Opposition as evidence that Australia does not need to rush its laws through by the end of the year.
Flights tax could fund climate aid for poor countries
9 Jun 2009
Wealthy countries could be asked to accept a levy on international flight tickets to raise billions of dollars to help the world's poorest nations to adapt to climate change.
Japanese green-car makers slip back into top gear
9 Jun 2009
After months of cutting output, closing plants and laying off staff as its car exports crashed, Toyota has resumed overtime work to ramp up production of its latest Prius hybrid.
Land use seen as vital to fixing climate toll
9 Jun 2009
The world cannot effectively address climate change without altering people’s relationship with soil, the world’s third largest carbon pool, says a new report.
Nature best at handling climate change, says UN
9 Jun 2009
Nature is best at controlling the gases responsible for climate change, the UN Environment Programme believes.
We need an environment watchdog, says society
5 Jun 2009
An environmental protection authority would give New Zealand more rigorous, science-based decisions on projects of national significance, says the Environmental Defence Society.
Climate change: Where there's a Wills there's a way
5 Jun 2009
The best form of defence against climate changes is attack, Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer Bruce Wills believes.
Wood the new coal in a low-carbon world
5 Jun 2009
Power companies are burning more trees because the renewable fuel can be cheaper than coal and ignited without needing permits to release carbon dioxide.
High-earning green sector workers feel safe in jobs
5 Jun 2009
Most workers in the thriving climate change sector feel just as safe in their jobs, if not more so, than they did a year ago, a new Reuters survey shows.
Companies not disclosing climate risks, say studies
5 Jun 2009
Most global industrial companies that emit a lot of greenhouse gases are not adequately detailing their climate strategies in US financial filings, two studies by environmental and investment groups have shown.
Pacific islands win UN vote on climate threats
5 Jun 2009
Small Pacific islands vulnerable to rising sea levels won a symbolic victory at the United Nations this week with the passage of a resolution recognising climate change as a possible threat to security.
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
Thu 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
Fri 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
Tue 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Thu 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
Thu 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
Wed 17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
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.
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
Thu 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
Fri 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
Fri 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
Wed 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.
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
Wed 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.
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.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
Fri 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
Tue 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
Fri 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
Tue 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?
Thu 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
Tue 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.
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.
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
Fri 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'.
