Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
FORUM: Run cars on green electricity
21 Nov 2008
By Jonathan G. Dorn, of the Earth Policy Institute, California. With the dramatic increase in oil prices earlier this year translating into higher prices at the gas pump in the United States, concerns over U.S. dependence on foreign oil are once again part of the national discussion on energy security.
New work on climate change and ice sheets
21 Nov 2008
Part of a $1 million donation last year to Victoria’s Antarctic Research Centre from alumnus Alan Eggers will help scientists better understand the relationship between glaciers and climate change.
Business council not surprised by ETS review
21 Nov 2008
Business leaders not surprised by emissions trading review, but concerned about suspending the act, says the Business Council for Sustainable Development.
NZ - friend or foe of US?
21 Nov 2008
New Zealanders should be seriously alarmed at the prospect of the National-led government damaging the country’s relationship with the United States over its stance on climate change, says Greenpeace.
EXCLUSIVE: Carbon market leader shelves NZ plans
18 Nov 2008
One of the biggest players in the world carbon market has put plans to set up in New Zealand on hold in the wake of the new government’s decision to review the emissions trading scheme.
NZUs 'dead' as carbon market struggles with confusion
18 Nov 2008
Sales of NZUs are effectively dead as carbon markets struggle to understand the implications of the new government's moves on the ETS.
Nats' ETS position changes from promise to preference
18 Nov 2008
The National Party has changed its pre-election promise to have an emissions trading scheme up and running by January 1, 2010 to a “preference”.
China outlines plans for domestic carbon trading
18 Nov 2008
Chinese officials claim their government will establish a nationwide carbon trading scheme.
Beware the brown peril – the abc of ABCs
18 Nov 2008
A three kilometre-thick "brown cloud" of man-made pollution, which stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to China to the western Pacific Ocean, is making Asian cities darker, speeding up the melting of Himalayan glaciers and affecting human health, according to a new United Nations Environment Programme report.
Aussies march to back climate change action
18 Nov 2008
Tens of thousands of Australians took part in mass protests at the weekend to call for tough government action on controlling climate change.
Arnie orders full steam ahead on climate strategy
18 Nov 2008
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered state agencies to begin preparing for the projected impacts of global warming on the economy, people and natural resources.
Carbon-sniffing satellite sleuth readies for launch
18 Nov 2008
NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate, has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to begin final launch preparations.
National reneges on climate change commitments
18 Nov 2008
The Environmental Defence Society has expressed “profound dismay and disappointment” at National’s confidence and supply agreement with ACT.
Greenpeace questions ‘missing’ portfolio
18 Nov 2008
The National Party’s press release detailing Cabinet posts makes no mention of the environment and climate change portfolios, nor the MP who’s rumoured to be heading them.
Time to be climate-positive, NZ businesses told
14 Nov 2008
New Zealand businesses should be embracing a climate-positive future instead of seeing climate change legislation as something from which they need protecting.
FORUM: O'Reilly on leadership group
14 Nov 2008
Your November 11 article O’Reilly questions future of leadership forum could be interpreted as criticism of the individuals on the Leadership Forum on Climate Change.
Exxon Mobil chief slams Australian ETS modelling
14 Nov 2008
Oil giant Exxon Mobil has taken a potshot at the Australian Treasury's view of the likely economic effects of emissions trading, saying it wanted no part of the carbon reduction scheme.
Ban calls on economic summit to tackle global warming
14 Nov 2008
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for this weekend’s Washington summit on the global financial crisis to seize the opportunity to tackle global warming as well, stressing that such action would create jobs and boost the world’s economies.
World-wide investment in clean energy falls sharply
14 Nov 2008
Investment in low-carbon technologies is suffering its first reversal after several years of record growth, as the financial crisis dims the sector's prospects.
1972 book right on target with predicted global collapse
14 Nov 2008
Forecasts of global ecological and economic collapse by mid-century contained in the controversial 1972 book The Limits to Growth are still on-track, according to new CSIRO research.
UN sees need for global body to tackle biodiversity
14 Nov 2008
The possibility of establishing a United Nations-supported scientific intergovernmental body to address biodiversity loss and protect ecosystems is being discussed at a global conference in Malaysia.
Clever climate change thinking could win you $75,000
14 Nov 2008
London’s Financial Times is launching a $75,000 competition to find the world’s most creative ideas for tackling the threat of climate change.
$11.75m for rural projects
14 Nov 2008
The new funding round for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Sustainable Farming Fund opens today.
O'Reilly questions future of leadership forum
11 Nov 2008
Business New Zealand chief Phil O’Reilly is questioning the future role of the Leadership Forum on Climate Change in overhauling the emissions trading scheme, saying that it is highly politicised.
ANALYSIS: Clark could follow in Blair's footsteps
11 Nov 2008
The US presidential victory of Democrat Barack Obama boosts the chances of former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark winning a role with the United Nations.
Carbon dioxide levels already in danger zone, says new study
11 Nov 2008
If climate disasters are to be averted, atmospheric carbon dioxide must be reduced below the levels that already exist today, according to a study by a group of 10 scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
US must take leading role in climate change, says UN official
11 Nov 2008
The head of the United Nations climate change body has said he hopes the United States will take a more active role in fighting global warming once Barack Obama becomes president.
Rudd under pressure to water down emissions scheme
11 Nov 2008
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is under pressure to water down his government’s plans to tackle climate change as the global financial crisis threatens jobs and economic growth, experts say.
Don’t sit around and wait, Aussie farmers told
11 Nov 2008
Australian agriculture can’t afford to sit around and wait until 2013 for government to decide how it fits into the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a global expert in carbon trading says.
Shell chief urges Canadian governments to take control
11 Nov 2008
One of Canada’s top oil men says voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have failed and should be replaced by coherent and consistent government-mandated rules.
Meeting hears why Africa left behind in carbon offset trade
11 Nov 2008
Administrative and technical problems mean that Africa cannot profit from schemes to tackle climate change through projects to cut carbon emissions in developing countries, climate specialists meeting in Dakar said.
Labour eyes nation-wide electric-car charging network
7 Nov 2008
The Labour Party has announced an election-eve plan for a nationwide infrastructure to recharge electric cars, saying New Zealand could be the first country in the world to get such a network in place.
Solid Energy chief heads world coal body
7 Nov 2008
Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder has been elected chairman of the World Coal Institute.
Obama 1: Dark days ahead for fossil fuels
7 Nov 2008
The election of Barack Obama as US President signals a tectonic shift in the nation’s attitudes to future energy sources and to the environment.
Obama 2: Climate plan must have priority, says Pachauri
7 Nov 2008
President-elect Barack Obama should put global warming ahead of a domestic plan to cut carbon emissions, says Rajendra Pachauri, head of a Nobel Prize-winning United Nations panel of climate-change scientists.
Obama 3: Canada quick to seek climate deal
7 Nov 2008
Canada has its eyes on a North American-wide climate change deal with president-elect Barack Obama, the country's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said yesterday.
Obama 4: These guys owe us 18 square miles of new trees
7 Nov 2008
The US presidential campaigns spent millions to get their messages across. But a writer at The Scientist wondered about the environmental cost.
New EU states team up against parts of climate plan
7 Nov 2008
Seven eastern members of the European Union have upheld a joint stand against parts of the bloc's climate package which they fear could harm their economies.
Canadian firms taking climate change seriously, says report
7 Nov 2008
Canada's biggest companies are making climate change a higher priority, partly through more widespread disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.
Climate change might hurt giant pandas, say scientists
7 Nov 2008
Researchers at Britain’s York University have determined that climate change may be about to affect the lives of rare species such as the giant panda, because of fears that global warming is likely to result in substantial re-distribution of plants and animals.
Parker jobs claim wrong, says coalition
7 Nov 2008
Climate Change Minister David Parker’s claims that the current emissions trading scheme will not only be good for the environment, but will increase jobs during the predicted slump, are completely at odds with the views of our leading economists, says the Greenhouse Policy Coalition.
EXCLUSIVE: Forest owners make Kyoto advance
4 Nov 2008
The Forest Owners' Association has made a major international advance in its push to get forest-offsetting and other issues included in Kyoto Protocol regulations.
Key ETS agriculture decisions out this month
4 Nov 2008
Officials’ recommendations on how the emissions trading scheme should be applied to the agricultural sector – including the controversial point-of-obligation – will be released at the end of this month.
Steel manufacturer calls for global carbon regime
4 Nov 2008
Glenbrook steel mill owner Bluescope is calling for a global carbon scheme.
Agriculture and emissions trading don’t mix, says report
4 Nov 2008
Imposing emissions trading on to agriculture is like trying to fit a saddle on a cow, the Australian Government has been told in a report released yesterday.
Rudd government to go easy on emissions trading scheme
4 Nov 2008
The Australian Government has no ambitions to set an example by moving dramatically ahead of other countries with its emissions trading regime, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says.
UN expert calls for world action to halt desertification
4 Nov 2008
The “silent” crisis of desertification or land degradation if tackled properly can help to address a range of world problems, says a senior United Nations environment expert.
No cap and no fixed price on carbon, investors say
4 Nov 2008
An international gathering of finance and carbon market experts has called on the Australian Government to avoid a price cap or fixed price for emissions permits.
Expert praises China's will to tackle climate change
4 Nov 2008
China's newly released white paper on climate change demonstrates that China has a strong "political will" to tackle global warming, says a German climate policy professor.
KPMG gets serious about climate change
4 Nov 2008
Professional services firm KPMG has launched a global initiative to combat climate change, which it describes as one of the biggest challenges facing the world today.
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'.
