Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Drought threatening Dutch dikes
31 Aug 2022
Authorities in the Netherlands are on high alert as drought conditions could threaten the stability of the country's network of 19th century peat dikes.
Climate Club aims to inspire achievable action
30 Aug 2022
By Liz Kivi | Three climate activists looking to engage others have come up with a weekly newsletter of climate actions, which has now reached 500 subscribers through word-of-mouth alone.
What’s the chance of meeting Paris climate goal? Just 0.1%: study
30 Aug 2022
Climate scientists say there’s a 0.1% chance of keeping warming below 1.5° Celsius by 2100, as called for in the Paris Agreement.
Fact check: What role does climate change play in extreme weather events?
30 Aug 2022
After scorching heat waves withered crops and dried up mighty rivers in the Northern Hemisphere, catastrophic super flooding in Pakistan has so far killed more than a 1,000 people, displacing millions more.
The six reckonings of Europe’s energy crisis: gas, nuclear, war and inflation
30 Aug 2022
With European wholesale natural gas, coal, and electricity as well as CO2 prices near to all-time highs, Europeans are facing a winter of discontent, one which may in fact last for many years.
Pakistan pins deadly floods on climate change
29 Aug 2022
Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan topped 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday, as the country's climate minister called the deadly monsoon season "a serious climate catastrophe."
Paleoclimate study shows warming oceans could lead to a spike in seabed methane emissionsC
29 Aug 2022
The slowdown of a key ocean current could release methane that is frozen in layers of organic seabed sediments along some of the world’s coastlines, a new study shows.
64% of Kiwis think it’s “unfair” to build on flood prone land
26 Aug 2022
A survey of more than 1000 New Zealanders has found that 64% of them believe it is “unfair” to continue to build on flood prone land.
Best by the rest...
26 Aug 2022
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: two academics ask whether electric planes are really all they're cracked up to be; an inventor who claims steam engines have a green future; and, three academics on what the Nelson floods mean for our future.
Climate change comes for the rich: The world’s wealthiest nations are feeling this summer’s extreme impacts
26 Aug 2022
Climate change doesn’t care about a country’s GDP. Melting glaciers at expensive ski resorts, deadly flooding in some of the world’s richest cities and wildfires across heavily touristed regions of Europe this summer have made clear that while the developing world and the poorest people are the most vulnerable to climate impacts, the rich world is far from immune.
China's unprecedented 70-day heatwave is breaking multiple records
24 Aug 2022
China's more than two-month long heatwave has dried up as many as 66 rivers, including the critical Yangtze River, the world's third longest waterway.
Europe hit by worst drought in at least 500 years as climate change fears grow
24 Aug 2022
Europe is in the grip of its worst drought in at least 500 years, experts warned on Tuesday as fears grew over climate change.
‘Climate change to impact 2 billion people’
23 Aug 2022
An irreversible decline in freshwater storage projected in parts of Asia due to climate change could impact 2 billion people living downstream of the Tibetan Plateau as it could pose a serious threat to water supplies to India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan by mid-century, according to the satellite-based assessment of water changes in Tibetan Plateau.
Spain PM warns of climate emergency as country records hottest summer ever
23 Aug 2022
Spain is facing a climate emergency as it experiences the hottest summer ever recorded, prime minister Pedro Sanchez warned yesterday.
Put Papatuuaanuku first: Kingitanga
22 Aug 2022
Media Release - Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has urged political leaders to heal the damage of decades past with policies that put people and the environment first.
How a humpback whale superhighway is offering warnings about climate change
22 Aug 2022
During winter Australia's east coast becomes a migratory superhighway for humpback whales, a so-called "blue corridor".
Amid severe weather, poll finds fewer Americans are concerned about climate change
19 Aug 2022
A new survey conducted by the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center shows 35% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about how climate change will impact the
Leaving the island: The messy, contentious reality of climate relocation
19 Aug 2022
ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, Louisiana — A sliver is all of this islet that remains above water. What hasn’t slipped into the Gulf of Mexico shows the punishing effects of disastrous climate change: trees killed by saltwater, grasslands overtaken by bayous, empty wrecks that were once homes.
'Staggering' rate of global tree losses from fires
18 Aug 2022
Around 16 football pitches of trees per minute were lost to forest fires in 2021, a new report says.
Ireland, Malta and Bulgaria see big increases in GHG emissions
18 Aug 2022
Ireland’s greenhouse gas - GHG - emissions increased by 20% in Q1 2022 compared with a year earlier, according to estimates from Eurostat.
Current climate reports might have underestimated the consequences of the climate crisis
17 Aug 2022
The actual impact of anthropogenic climate change has been undermined till now, claimed a new report published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Influential oil company climate scenarios don’t meet Paris Agreement goals: new analysis shows
17 Aug 2022
Several major oil companies, including BP and Shell, periodically publish scenarios forecasting the future of the energy sector. In recent years, they have added visions for how climate change might be addressed, including scenarios that they claim are consistent with the international Paris climate agreement.
Climate-related drought and flooding in Ethiopia
17 Aug 2022
One part of Ethiopia is facing the worst drought in four decades and another is hit by flooding. Millions of people are at risk as climate change causes too much and too little rain.
European forest fires further increasing the world’s climate footprint
17 Aug 2022
The multiple forest fires that have been raging in France since the beginning of summer have released record amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, according to satellite data, and fires in Spain in mid-July also helped break records for carbon emissions. Fuelled by global warming, the blazes are reducing the number of trees available to absorb carbon, further threatening ecosystems.
EU-New Zealand agreement raises the bar on climate action in trade deals: analysis
16 Aug 2022
The EU-New Zealand free trade agreement (FTA) – announced in early July – is the first of its kind to include legally enforceable commitments on climate measures, as well as gender equality and environment and labour standards
Massachusetts’ Republican governor signs far-reaching climate bill into law
16 Aug 2022
Massachusetts’ Republican governor, Charlie Baker, signed a sweeping climate and energy bill into law last week, approving an array of policies intended to advance the state’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
As stronger storms hit Bangladesh farmers, banks are climate collateral damage
16 Aug 2022
Wasim Ali, 45, lived in one of the 55,000 houses destroyed by the deadly Super Cyclone Amphan in May of 2020. The tropical storm whipped up a tidal surge that swept away his house and razed his small farm, measuring just 0.4 hectares (1 acre). Thousands of people were left destitute after this massive natural disaster. But for Wasim Ali, a resident of Protapnagar in Bangladesh’s southwestern Satkhira district, the misery runs deeper.
Initiatives to help Kiwi and Fijian youth take action against climate change
15 Aug 2022
Keep New Zealand Beautiful has launched flexible workshops to help students understand the impacts of climate change, and how they can make a difference; while 100 Fijian youth renewed commitments to fight climate change last week.
‘Ventilation corridors’ funnel cool mountain air into steamy Stuttgart
15 Aug 2022
To travel through Stuttgart is to visit past sins and glimpse a promising future. This German manufacturing hub is where the gas-powered automobile was invented in 1886. Porsche and Mercedes still manufacture their luxury cars here, and these companies’ local museums celebrate a time when the chrome curves of sports cars symbolized speed instead of a climate crisis.
Close to 50 Fijian villages need relocation due to climate change
15 Aug 2022
An estimated 116 sea walls will need to be constructed to protect around 160 Fijian communities from the drastic effects of climate change.
Climate risks dwarf Europe's energy crisis, space chief warns
12 Aug 2022
The head of the European Space Agency (ESA) has warned economic damage from heatwaves and drought could dwarf Europe's energy crisis as he called for urgent action to tackle climate change.
Over 200 major glaciers disappear in Italy due to climate change: Research
12 Aug 2022
More than 200 major Alpine glaciers have disappeared in Italy since record-keeping began in 1895, the country's environmental lobby group Legambiente said in a report.
What is the Kigali Amendment? The Senate’s next big climate win is within its grasp
12 Aug 2022
The Senate just took its biggest climate action ever with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, but there’s another major climate win lurking on its to-do list.
After deluge, climate change fears make S.Korea prioritise Seoul flood defences
12 Aug 2022
The heaviest rain in Seoul in 115 years has spurred the South Korean capital to revive a $1.15 billion plan to improve drainage after floods exposed how even the affluent Gangnam district is vulnerable to climate change-driven extreme weather.
'The Sacrifice Zone': Myanmar bears cost of green energy
11 Aug 2022
The birds no longer sing, and the herbs no longer grow. The fish no longer swim in rivers that have turned a murky brown. The animals do not roam, and the cows are sometimes found dead.
Experts say the net zero concept is often used to delay taking action against emissions
11 Aug 2022
As large parts of Europe and North America swelter and then ignite, a future of endless climate destruction seems inevitable.
Climate change is making 58% of infectious diseases worse
10 Aug 2022
More than half of the infectious diseases known to impact humans are being aggravated by climate change, scientists reported Monday in a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change.
‘Heatflation’ warning as 2022 EU crop harvests affected by climate change
10 Aug 2022
As much of Europe bakes in the latest heatwave, fears are growing about what’s being dubbed ‘heatflation’ – climate change-driven staple crop losses that could see already inflated food prices reach new highs this autumn, deepening the cost-of-living crisis.
Climate change will push whales further south
9 Aug 2022
Climate change will send New Zealand’s iconic marine giants south, further destabilising local marine ecosystems as well as threatening Kaikoura’s tourism industry, according to new research.
A volcano is erupting again in Iceland. Is climate change causing more eruptions?
9 Aug 2022
The Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland began erupting again on Wednesday after eight months of slumber – so far without any adverse impacts on people or air traffic.
Meet the pilot who quit flying because of the climate crisis
9 Aug 2022
Not many pilots climbing steadily up the ranks retire their wings in the name of environmental activism. But Todd Smith did just that at great expense. He spoke with DW about this life transition.
Don’t listen to the climate doomists
8 Aug 2022
On 25 April 2022 Australia’s public radio station replayed an interview with Jonathan Franzen in which the American author suggested we should resign ourselves to the climate crisis. “We literally are living in end times for civilisation as we know it… We are long past the point of averting climate catastrophe,” he intoned ominously.
Fijians forced from their ancestral lands by climate change want polluters to pay
8 Aug 2022
Boats moor next to living rooms on Fiji’s Serua Island, where high tide breaches the seawall and floods the village.
Good news on climate change? Australia's Great Barrier Reef has healthiest coral in 36 years
8 Aug 2022
Australian Institute of Marine Science says results in north and central regions are a sign the reef could still recover, but loss elsewhere highlights risks
Unprecedented, climate-driven disasters are stymieing preparation efforts
5 Aug 2022
A new study warns that unprecedented events — disasters so extreme that communities haven’t experienced anything like them before — are stymieing attempts to prepare for them. Risk management strategies based on past climate norms are no longer effective for a more extreme future.
The end of snow threatens to upend 76 million American lives
5 Aug 2022
The Western US is an empire built on snow. And that snow is vanishing.
Who will pay for adaptation?
4 Aug 2022
The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) has been welcomed as a good start, but the big question of who is going to pay for the billion dollar large-scale adaptation is still up for debate.
First national climate adaptation plan launched today
3 Aug 2022
The Government plans to introduce legislation to support managed retreat in response to the worsening impacts of climate change, according to the first national climate adaptation plan, released this morning.
A $7.3B pot of money to prepare US infrastructure for climate change
3 Aug 2022
The Biden administration is providing states with more detail about how they can use money from the federal infrastructure law to protect people and structures from the perils of climate change, a move that’s drawing cheers from both political parties.
Scientists say it’s ‘fatally foolish’ to not study catastrophic climate outcomes
3 Aug 2022
As global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, some climate scientists say it’s time to start paying more attention to the most extreme, worst-case outcomes, including the potential for widespread extinctions, mass climate migration and the disintegration of social and political systems.
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'.
