Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Climate reparations may be ethical, but they aren’t the best fix, climatologist says
6 Oct 2022
Calls for climate reparations for poorer countries hit hard by climate change are growing louder after catastrophic floods in Pakistan. But though they may be ethical, they aren’t the best solution to a complex problem, one climatologist said.
Hawke's Bay to develop emissions reduction plan
5 Oct 2022
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has voted to develop the region’s first emissions reduction plan, aiming to reach net zero by 2050.
Climate crisis will impact lake water quality and colour
5 Oct 2022
Global heating could see Aotearoa New Zealand’s iconic lakes lose their blue hue, as well as reducing fish and water quality, according to new research.
Vatican unveils new documentary on climate change
5 Oct 2022
A new documentary by filmmaker Nicolas Brown “highlights the key concept of dialogue,” Cardinal Michael Czerny explained on Tuesday, at the presentation of the film “The Letter” at the Holy See Press Office.
NIWA predicts strengthening marine heatwave
4 Oct 2022
Climate change is continuing to influence Aotearoa New Zealand’s weather, with NIWA warning the coming marine heatwave could rival last year’s high temperatures, and the marine sector “should monitor the system closely”.
A Nord Stream disaster every day
4 Oct 2022
A half-mile wide maelstrom is swirling in the Baltic Sea as an estimated 300,000 metric tons of gas violently erupts from the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines. Most of this gas is likely methane, a gas normally invisible to the eye that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over 20 years. The swirling froth recalls Hurricane Ian, another catastrophe that’s just devastated Florida.
Insurance Council urges local governments to focus on climate resilience
3 Oct 2022
As Kiwis cast their votes in local elections, the Insurance Council is calling on incoming councils to invest in climate resilience.
Climate change is a class issue
3 Oct 2022
By Max Lawson - head of inequality Oxfam |As Europe is crippled by high gas and energy prices this winter, there are some who have been saying that this is an opportunity to speed a green transition, a kind of shock treatment to get us all somehow ‘used’ to high energy prices and forced to consume less.
Nord Stream pipeline leaks are ‘catastrophic for the climate’
30 Sep 2022
Methane leaking from yet-to-be explained damage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines is likely to be the biggest burst of the potent greenhouse gas on record, raising new fears of the effect on the climate emergency.
The climate crisis is making the pacific islands uninhabitable. Who will help preserve our Nations?
30 Sep 2022
The climate crisis is creating an increasingly uncertain future for people in most parts of the world. Paradoxically in the Pacific, it is making the future increasingly certain—but not in a way that gives any kind of comfort.
COP27: Why is addressing ‘loss and damage’ crucial for climate justice?
30 Sep 2022
The death and destruction that can result from climate change is not evenly distributed around the world
Fiji’s traditional houses more likely to withstand cyclones
29 Sep 2022
Traditional Fijian knowledge could be key to helping the islands adapt to extreme weather caused by climate change, as traditional dwellings are more likely to withstand tropical cyclones, according to Massey University research.
Rising interest rates only a mild snag in climate battle
29 Sep 2022
Rising interest rates present no significant barrier to the world's transition to net zero emissions by 2050 despite the high levels of investment in green energy needed, according to a strong majority of climate economists polled by Reuters.
Reducing beef’s carbon footprint is key to achieving net-zero in Latin America and the Caribbean
28 Sep 2022
In Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the biggest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in the region — and its best hope for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 — remains the food system.
Young protesters demand climate action worldwide
27 Sep 2022
Young activists staged a coordinated “global climate strike” to highlight the effects of global warming and demand more aid for poor countries hit by weather chaos.
New report reveals organic dairy farming stores carbon, reduces greenhouse gas emissions
27 Sep 2022
A recent study published in the Journal of Cleaner Productions finds greenhouse gas emissions to be 24% lower on organic dairy farms when compared to conventional dairy farms in the United States.
NZ's first refrigerant gas destruction plant planned for Kawerau
23 Sep 2022
Aotearoa New Zealand’s first waste management facility to break down climate-damaging refrigerant gases could be operational as soon as 2024.
Best by the rest...
23 Sep 2022
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: A biofuel mandate prompts economic and environmental criticism; new research in Australia reveals conservative voters care just as much about the environment as climate change activists; and slow lawmaking is making it difficult to act on environmental regulation in time.
Vultures prevent tens of millions of metric tons of carbon emissions each year
22 Sep 2022
New research shows vultures are 'nature’s flying sanitation crew' and play an important part in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
When the EU and US score climate points off China, Africa suffers: comment
22 Sep 2022
Africa’s contribution to climate change is historically negligible. Around 15% of the world’s population lives on the continent but contribute less than 3.8% of greenhouse emissions responsible for global warming.
We owe Pakistan climate reparations
21 Sep 2022
It is almost impossible to comprehend the scale of the crisis Pakistan is facing. A third of the country has been flooded, 1400 people killed, one million homes destroyed, and fifty million people—almost the entire population of England—have been displaced from their homes as a result of this ecological crisis.
Climate in your hands: Extinction Rebellion
19 Sep 2022
Attendees of the Climate Change and Business conference, which kicked off at the Aotea Centre in Auckland this morning, were welcomed with banners declaring “Climate is in your hands.”
Research predicts big climate change impacts on marine mammals
19 Sep 2022
Media release - A new Department of Conservation report predicts that climate change could have a major impact on some of New Zealand’s marine mammals.
The climate-driven health crisis
19 Sep 2022
The world is facing a climate change-fueled health crisis — from increased emergency department visits due to heatstroke, exacerbated asthma and even heart attacks to injuries and illness linked to severe storms.
China lost its Yangtze River dolphin. Climate change is coming for other species next
19 Sep 2022
They called it the "Goddess of the Yangtze" -- a creature so rare that it was believed to bring fortune and protection to local fishermen and all those lucky enough to spot it.
From coffee to codfish: The foods that will get more expensive with climate change
19 Sep 2022
A report released by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES) in May described climate change as an "endemic and widespread" risk to food supplies. This is also exacerbated by rising living costs and the conflict in Ukraine.
Sea-level rise increasing at faster rate around Aotearoa New Zealand
16 Sep 2022
Media Release - Sea levels around Aotearoa New Zealand have risen at a faster rate in recent decades compared with the first half of last century, Stats NZ says.
'The price of our fossil fuel addiction'
16 Sep 2022
Climate impacts are heading into “uncharted territories of destruction”, the head of the UN has warned, as a multi-agency report sets out the scale of the crisis.
US meeting told climate change is major concern for Pacific leaders
16 Sep 2022
Top leaders from across the Pacific are meeting in Honolulu to discuss key issues of mutual concern. Guam is being represented at the high level gathering by Lieutenant Governor Josh Tenorio, who says climate change and the potentially devastating impact on island nations is the biggest concern.
Tropical wetlands emit more methane than previously thought
15 Sep 2022
Since 2007, the world's atmospheric methane concentration has risen at an accelerated rate, but scientists aren't exactly sure why.
Russia’s first climate lawsuit filed over greenhouse emissions
15 Sep 2022
Russia’s first climate lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday by activists who demanded Russia take urgent steps to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet its obligations under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Kenya’s new president promises ambitious climate plan
15 Sep 2022
Kenya's newly elected president William Ruto said that climate change will be key to the government's agenda and made an ambitious pledge to ramp up clean energy and phase out fossil fuels for electricity by 2030.
UN warns world is entering ‘uncharted territories of destruction’ from climate crisis
14 Sep 2022
The United Nations is warning that the impacts of global climate change are entering “uncharted territories of destruction” as countries fail to set adequate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
50 million trapped in modern slavery due to pandemic, war, climate crisis, report finds
13 Sep 2022
From the pandemic to the climate crisis, disasters of the past five years have upended daily life, and a new report shows that in many countries the ensuing economic uncertainty has pushed millions into modern slavery.
Bhutan - 'carbon negative"
13 Sep 2022
As the world’s richest countries fail to meet emissions reductions targets year after year, the small kingdom of Bhutan, tucked away in the Himalayas with a population of less than one million people, became the first country to reach carbon neutrality.
How climate change is tweaking the taste of wine
13 Sep 2022
Warming, wildfires and unpredictable weather threaten to disrupt the delicate processes that underlie treasured wines, putting the fine distinctions between grapes at risk.
Global drought saps hydropower, complicating clean-energy push
12 Sep 2022
Dry conditions in the U.S, Europe and China have raised questions about how hydropower fits into changing energy mix.
African nations demand climate change financing ahead of COP27
12 Sep 2022
The African continent emits only some 3% of global CO2 emissions, yet is among the most exposed to climate change.
Global pact sought to preserve 80% of Amazon forest
12 Sep 2022
Scientists warn that the Amazon is close to a tipping point
Forests make a comeback as African governments look to grow their carbon market
12 Sep 2022
In villages dotted across the African continent, locals living in once-heavily forested regions are starting to find their land in high demand.
Be an environmental jihadist to protect the planet
12 Sep 2022
Muslim eco-activists and scientists released an Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change at a symposium in Istanbul, Turkey, shortly before the Paris climate summit. Seven years on journalist Rohiman Haroon calls on Muslims to take up the cause of climate change.
Europe records hottest summer ever in 2022, says climate monitor
9 Sep 2022
The summer of 2022 was the hottest in Europe's recorded history, the European Commission's climate monitor said on Thursday. It is the second summer in a row of record-breaking temperatures in Europe.
Greenhouse gases, sea sevels hit record highs in 2021
7 Sep 2022
Greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, and ocean heat all hit record highs in 2021, according to an international science report.
Pakistan is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis despite ‘small carbon footprint,’ minister says
7 Sep 2022
Pakistan is facing the worst consequences of the climate crisis thanks in part to the actions of the developed world, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said, as the country battles the worst floods in its history.
Residential green spaces protect growing cities against climate change
7 Sep 2022
The urban population of Canada is growing by more than 400,000 annually, and these new urban residents need housing.
Greenhouse gases down in most regions in 2021 compared with pre-COVID 2019
6 Sep 2022
Media Release - Greenhouse gas emissions decreased in 10 out of 16 regions between 2019 and 2021, with Taranaki showing the biggest drop in emissions during this period, Stats NZ said today.
Why defusing 'carbon bombs' offers a promising new agenda for tackling climate change
6 Sep 2022
A carbon bomb is a fossil fuel extraction project, such as a coal mine, that can cause over a metric gigaton of CO₂ emissions during its lifetime. That's a billion tons—more than twice the UK's annual emissions from a single project.
Zombie ice from Greenland will raise sea level 27 centimetres
1 Sep 2022
Greenland’s rapidly melting ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 27 centimeters -- more than twice as much as previously forecast — according to a recent study.
The flooding in Pakistan is a climate catastrophe with political roots
31 Aug 2022
Flash floods over the weekend left one-third of Pakistan submerged from weeks of heavy rains, compounding an already difficult set of political and economic crises in the country.
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'.
