Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Sydney is flooded, again, as climate crisis becomes new normal for Australia's most populous state
5 Jul 2022
On a fine day, locals arrive on boats that motor up the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales to dine on the back deck of the Paradise Café.
Restoring nature is not a silver bullet for global warming, we must cut emissions outright
5 Jul 2022
Restoring degraded environments, such as by planting trees, is often touted as a solution to the climate crisis. But our new research shows this, while important, is no substitute for preventing fossil fuel emissions to limit global warming.
Climate change threatens coffee growers in Tanzania
4 Jul 2022
Coffee-growing farmers in Tanzania’s northern Kilimanjaro region are bearing the brunt of climate change, which is affecting their incomes and livelihoods.
Councils take aim at climate crisis
1 Jul 2022
More local authorities are taking aim at the climate crisis, with Queenstown Lakes District Council and Hamilton City Council both adopting climate policies yesterday.
Best by the rest…
1 Jul 2022
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: questions about new carbon offsets; wrestling with methane metrics; and He Waka Eke Noa’s programme director argues Kiwi innovation will be key to reducing emissions.
Pandemic slashes NZTE’s carbon emissions by nearly 70%
29 Jun 2022
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s first sustainability report shows the pandemic slashed a whopping 68.8% from the government agency’s carbon emissions.
NZ not doing enough to prevent deaths from extreme weather worsened by climate change
28 Jun 2022
Negative health consequences from extreme weather in New Zealand could increase because of climate change and the country needs to do more to prevent and manage these threats, researchers say.
Commonwealth adopts historic accord to combat climate change through land use
27 Jun 2022
Commonwealth leaders last week adopted the “Living Lands Charter”, which commits all member countries to safeguarding global land resources while taking coordinated action on climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable land management.
Greenpeace, Green Party call for stronger action on deforestation imports
23 Jun 2022
Greenpeace says a bill aimed at preventing unsustainable timber imports will do little to save the world’s rainforests or end human rights abuses.
How climate change is knocking natural events wildly out of sync
22 Jun 2022
Climate change is throwing off the timing of key events in the natural world, from the flowering of plants to the migrations of birds and mammals. Now, ecologists are warning that this could spiral out of control and cause whole ecosystems to break down.
Is moss a climate change superhero in disugise?
21 Jun 2022
Ask most gardeners what they think of moss and the chances are you will get a string of expletives in return.
Climate change leading to earlier and earlier heatwaves, scientists say
20 Jun 2022
As France grapples with a particularly intense heatwave this weekend, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country, meteorologists say the increasingly early arrival of heatwaves is directly linked to global warming due to human activities.
President Sheikh Mohamed pledges $50 billion to tackle climate change at Biden meeting
20 Jun 2022
UAE president Sheikh Mohamed has pledged $50 billion to address climate change across the world after taking part in a meeting hosted by US President Joe Biden.
Best by the rest...
17 Jun 2022
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: The leaky logic of the farming sector's climate plan; analysis of how effective government policies will be at slashing carbon; and can governments boost defence spending while cutting emissions at the same time?
New England Medical Journal weighs in climate change
17 Jun 2022
The New England Journal of Medicine kicks off a series of articles Thursday with an examination of the effects of air pollution on children’s health.
NZ agrees to help finance Samoa's climate goals
16 Jun 2022
New Zealand has agreed to help Samoa finance its climate goals, including its Nationally Determined Contribution, national climate adaptation plan, and a goal of 100% renewable energy generation by 2025.
In hottest city on Earth, mothers bear brunt of climate change
16 Jun 2022
Heavily pregnant Sonari toils under the burning sun in fields dotted with bright yellow melons in Jacobabad, which last month became the hottest city on Earth.
'We beg God for water': Chilean lake turns to desert, sounding climate change alarm
14 Jun 2022
The Penuelas reservoir in central Chile was until twenty years ago the main source of water for the city of Valparaiso, holding enough water for 38,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. Water for only two pools now remains.
Climate change is fuelling global food price inflation and shortages
14 Jun 2022
With climate change producing mounting harms throughout the world, as well as the war in Ukraine raging on, the issue of a global food price inflation and shortages has reached international attention. Food security is not a new phenomenon, but one that has existed for years now, backgrounded against more pressing concerns.
Plugging methane leaks is a powerful climate fix, so why aren't we doing it?
14 Jun 2022
The oil and gas industry is choking the atmosphere with a heat-trapping gas stronger than CO2 — despite cheap, fast and easy fixes.
Fifty years after UN's Stockholm Environment Conference vision of a "healthy planet" no closer
13 Jun 2022
Diplomats from countries around the world gathered here last week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment—the meeting that made the environment a prominent international issue.
Phasing out coal could generate ‘social benefits’ worth $78 trillion
13 Jun 2022
Replacing coal with renewable energy would greatly benefit society, according to a new working paper from Imperial College Business School.
Fiji says climate change, not conflict, is Asia's biggest security threat
13 Jun 2022
Fiji's defence minister said on Sunday that climate change posed the biggest security threat in the Asia-Pacific region, a shift in tone at a defence summit that has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and disputes between China and the United States.
Climate change looms large over indigenous biodiversity discussion document
10 Jun 2022
Climate change is repeatedly identified as one of the major threats to indigenous biodiversity in a government discussion document launched yesterday.
Best by the rest...
10 Jun 2022
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: Climate change driving extreme autumn weather; the view from Tuvalu on the climate crisis; and how the government broke its own climate rules to subsidise airlines.
Auckland Council approves Climate Action Budget
8 Jun 2022
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff’s Climate Action Budget was approved yesterday, with a clear majority of councillors supporting it at a Finance and Performance Committee meeting.
“Limited time:” World will lock in 1.5°C warming by 2025 without big emissions cuts
8 Jun 2022
The world faces a greater than 50 per cent chance of locking in global warming of more than 1.5°C unless greenhouse gas emissions can be dramatically reduced before 2025, new research suggests.
Feedback loops: How the ‘greening’ of the Alps could lead to more warming
8 Jun 2022
It seems like every year a report is released documenting the scale of snow or ice loss in the Arctic. But, what about the climate significance of rising temperatures in snowy regions nowhere near the Poles? A recent study from researchers at University of Lausanne and the University of Basel has explored this exact question as it pertains to the European Alps.
Singapore's dengue 'emergency' is a climate change omen for the world
8 Jun 2022
Singapore says it is facing a dengue "emergency" as it grapples with an outbreak of the seasonal disease that has come unusually early this year.
Bonn climate conference: World is "cooked" if we carry on with coal: US
7 Jun 2022
The US envoy on climate change John Kerry has warned that the war in Ukraine must not be used as an excuse to prolong global reliance on coal.
Best by the rest...
3 Jun 2022
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in the local media: The farming lobby split over climate policy; the Reserve Bank takes on fuel prices; and Australia pledges climate action in the Pacific.
Urgent and additional measures are needed if Ireland is to meet the climate targets it has set for itself
3 Jun 2022
Urgent and additional measures are needed if Ireland is to meet the climate targets it has set for itself, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said in a newly released report.
What is black carbon, and what does it mean for climate change?
3 Jun 2022
Antarctica, the vast and frozen continent that holds much of the world’s freshwater, appears to the imagination as an unchanging giant. Indeed, most of this remote territory remains free of human habitation and landscape changes.
Wetland regulations welcomed by industry, attacked by Forest and Bird
2 Jun 2022
Forest and Bird says the government’s announcement that it will allow coal mining and other industries to operate on remaining wetlands is disastrous for the climate and biodiversity.
Auckland's billion-dollar climate budget
2 Jun 2022
Auckland Council's billion-dollar package to help tackle the climate crisis is a step closer, with the proposed annual budget for 2022-2023 released yesterday.
Record methane spike boosts heat trapped by greenhouse gases
2 Jun 2022
Greenhouse gases trapped 49 percent more heat in 2021 than in 1990, as emissions continued to rise rapidly, according to NOAA.
Cities need new types of pavement capable of absorbing a flood. This team has a customized recipe
2 Jun 2022
Climate change is altering rainfall patterns, making storms more intense in many locations. Meanwhile, more people are moving to cities around the world. The combination of those two trends adds up to an increased risk of urban flooding.
Canterbury cuts its planting programme
1 Jun 2022
Canterbury’s regional council is cutting nearly $3 million from its planting programme, almost two-thirds of the planned spend over 2 years, in a bid to reduce a predicted 24% rate rise.
The US has fallen way behind on climate goals
1 Jun 2022
The US is doing a pretty horrible job of following through on promises it’s made to tackle climate change, according to two separate new studies.
China’s climate change Pacific reset
31 May 2022
By Jeremy Rose | Last month saw the opening of the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Centre in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. It’s opening, perhaps not surprisingly, barely rated a mention in the New Zealand and Australian media.
Climate breakdown threatens economic breakdown
31 May 2022
Climate breakdown impacts could cause damage to the UK equivalent to cutting the size of the economy by at least 7.4 percent by the end of this century, unless there are stronger reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Millions of lives at stake amid unprecedented challenges: UN experts
31 May 2022
Media Release - Five decades after the world’s first conference to make the environment a major issue, UN human rights experts call on States to redouble efforts to protect the imperilled planet for current and future generations amid unprecedented challenges.
‘We are in danger now’: Vanuatu declares climate emergency
30 May 2022
Vanuatu’s parliament has declared a climate emergency with the low-lying island nation’s prime minister flagging a $1.2bn cost to cushion global warming’s impacts on his tiny Pacific country.
Climate change effect on Peruvian glaciers debated in German court
30 May 2022
German judges and experts have arrived at the edge of a melting glacier high up in the Peruvian Andes to examine a complaint made by a local farmer who accuses energy giant RWE of threatening his home by contributing to global warming.
Think climate action is expensive? Inaction could cost $178 trillion.
26 May 2022
For centuries, fossil fuels have been associated with prosperity, progress, and growth. But more and more economists say that the continued use of coal, oil, and gas is now driving the world in the opposite direction — toward a lower standard of living and a global economic slump.
G20 climate goals just won't do the job, claims new report
25 May 2022
None of the G20 countries have made climate commitments consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as the Paris Agreement stipulates, data from a new report showed
'A sign of things to come': India and Pakistan heatwave made 30 times more likely by climate change, study finds
25 May 2022
The savage heatwave that has scorched India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely by climate change and is a harbinger of the region's future, scientists have said in a new study.
Redwood could help NZ reach net-zero: Scion
24 May 2022
Redwood could be a carbon capture hero for New Zealand, sequestering double the amount of CO2 captured by pine in some areas, according to new research.
Failure to save the Congo Basin forest ‘would mean world loses climate fight’
24 May 2022
Failing to conserve the carbon-rich forests of the Congo Basin would mean the world loses the fight against climate change, officials in Gabon have warned.
Farmer sues VW over climate change; German court has doubts
23 May 2022
A court in Germany cast doubt Friday on claims by a German farmer that automaker Volkswagen is partly responsible for the impact that global warming is having on his family business.
NZ art focussing on climate on display at Beijing Biennale
Thu 12 Feb 2026
An artist responding to the consequences of climate disruption is the first New Zealander in six years to feature at the prestigious Beijing Art Biennale.
Carbon market rallies but auction floor still out of reach
Fri 13 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The carbon market has rallied, with secondary market prices up more than 25% in the past two weeks, although current prices in the mid-$40s are still far below this year’s $71 auction floor, with the first auction of 2026 less than three weeks away.
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.
Why Trump might be onboard with a UN carbon-offset programme for airlines
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The president’s team has backed the rollout of an initiative that calls for the use of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon credits, even as Trump has pulled back from other international emissions-reduction efforts.
World fight against invasive species comes to Auckland
Tue 10 Feb 2026
Media release: University of Auckland | From countering invasive pink salmon in Norway to controlling feral cats in the Cayman Islands, knowledge on eradicating invasive species will be shared by international experts in New Zealand.
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.
EU weighing options to support industry in carbon market overhaul
Mon 9 Feb 2026
The European Commission is looking at various ways to support industries in an upcoming overhaul of the EU carbon market to prevent them moving to areas with lower pollution standards, the head of the Commission’s climate department said late on Wednesday.
Point of no return: a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, scientists say
Fri 13 Feb 2026
The world is closer than thought to a “point of no return” after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped, scientists have said.
Minister’s letters: Mildly positive or just virtue signalling?
5 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The carbon market was buoyed slightly yesterday, after letters between the Government and the Climate Change Commission were proactively released.
NZ still lacking coherent energy strategy
Fri 13 Feb 2026
By Rod Carr | COMMENT: The government’s levy-funded foreign gas proposal for an LNG terminal shows New Zealand’s politicians being outmanoeuvred yet again by the multi-trillion dollar energy industry.
LNG: a rational choice compared to unpalatable alternatives
Tue 10 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | COMMENT: By deciding to underwrite the private construction of a liquefied natural gas import facility in Taranaki, the Government has made a rational choice in favour of energy security and affordability.
RMA’s successors hinge on two untested bets
17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
Opposition attacks Govt over fossil fuel phaseout backdown
2 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Revelations that Resources Minister Shane Jones ruled out New Zealand signing up to a 'road map' away from fossil fuels at last year’s global climate summit show the National Party’s minor coalition partners’ undue influence over the Government, according to Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Lawyers seek answers on climate impacts of LNG import facility
Fri 13 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action has written to Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts warning that the Government's plan for an LNG import terminal could be in conflict with New Zealand’s climate obligations and emissions reduction targets.
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.
Media round-up
Fri 13 Feb 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Senior UK ministers have asked their New Zealand counterparts to explain new climate policies, National’s LNG blunders are a warning ahead of election campaign, and what are the lessons New Zealand should take from another summer of weather disasters?
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.
'Damning' report challenges forestry’s role in Tairāwhiti as sector rejects conclusions
4 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New independent analysis commissioned by Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti challenges long-standing claims that industrial forestry underpins the Tairāwhiti economy.
LNG plan risks fossil fuel dependency: Environment Commissioner
Wed 11 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Importing liquefied natural gas risks creating a “new path dependency on fossil fuel” unless LNG is ring-fenced for use only in the electricity system and only during extended periods of hydro-electricity water shortages, says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton.
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.”
European Central Bank's green supervision grows teeth, but will banks avoid being bitten?
Fri 13 Feb 2026
After several years of issuing guidance and repeatedly calling on banks to take climate and environmental risk management seriously, the European Central Bank is moving from guidance and expectations to enforcement.
Kiwi startup takes on global plastic pollution
Thu 12 Feb 2026
A New Zealand startup is launching what it says is the world’s first plastic-free effervescent drink tablet, with the ambitious aim of eliminating bottled beverages to reduce global plastic pollution.
Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert
Wed 11 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s fixation on eliminating the "dry-year risk margin" as a lever to reduce costs misses a much bigger opportunity to lower electricity prices, according to Christina Hood, head of Compass Climate.
Hydrogen emissions are ‘supercharging’ the warming impact of methane
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”.
Wales council to buy and demolish homes prone to flooding
4 Feb 2026
A row of homes in a village in south Wales is to be bought by a local authority and demolished as they can no longer be protected from flooding caused by the climate crisis.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Green Member’s Bill aims to give whales legal ‘personhood’
Mon 9 Feb 2026
The Green Party wants to give whales legal rights, including the right to sue.
Govt unveils plans for carbon storage regulations – and ETS rewards
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.
Ministers celebrate fast-track milestone amid criticism
Tue 10 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government is marking the first anniversary of its fast-track approvals regime, saying it is helping “build New Zealand’s future”, despite continued criticism from environmental groups, opposition parties, and industry voices following several controversial project decisions.
Govt looks to Commission for ways to shore up carbon price
4 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government has asked the Climate Change Commission to look at lower auction volumes and an increase in the auction floor price as options to revive the Emissions Trading Scheme, as carbon prices remain weak.
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.
Climate change linked to decline in southern right whale
Thu 12 Feb 2026
Scientists in Australia are warning southern right whales are showing signs of climate-related stress, just days after a Green Party Member’s Bill was introduced in New Zealand proposing legal personhood for whales.
Climate ambassador moves on
Fri 13 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government is on the hunt for a new top climate diplomat, with previous climate ambassador Stu Horne moving on to a posting in Honolulu as New Zealand’s Consul General to Hawai’i.
Commentators slam Govt inaction in aftermath of climate change-fuelled storms
30 Jan 2026
By Liz Kivi | Climate action - or inaction - is shaping up to be an election issue, with multiple commentators drawing a line between the Coalition Government’s backsliding on climate targets and the deadly extreme weather events of the past week.
Major health risks linked to plastics emissions set to soar by 2040
28 Jan 2026
The adverse health consequences stemming from the global plastics system are projected to more than double by 2040, driven by greenhouse gases, air pollutants and toxic chemicals released throughout its lifecycle.
Greenpeace set to take UK Government to court over deep-sea mining licences
5 Feb 2026
Environmental NGO Greenpeace has kick-started a legal challenge against the UK Government’s decision to approve the transfer of two seabed exploration licences to a newly-formed mining company with US links.
Critical minerals talks with US questioned in Waitangi Tribunal climate inquiry
Mon 9 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand and the United States' negotiations over critical minerals have raised questions for the Waitangi Tribunal’s long-running inquiry into climate change.
January floods driven by tropical systems and La Niña conditions
Thu 12 Feb 2026
Record-breaking rainfall across parts of Aotearoa in January was fuelled by tropical moisture and persistent low-pressure systems, with some regions recording more than five times their normal monthly rainfall, Earth Sciences New Zealand says.
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.
NZ-UAE partnership boosts advanced tech
Mon 9 Feb 2026
Media release | A new Antarctic science partnership with a leading UAE university will grow New Zealand’s advanced engineering and modelling capability, supporting high-value jobs, encouraging economic growth, and enabling smarter climate risk management, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti says.
Pacific climate response in question as NZ finance remains unclear
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | With New Zealand's $1.3 billion international climate finance commitment set to end with no clarity on what follows, the Auditor-General says oversight of that funding remains patchy and long-term outcomes are unclear.
China maximises battery recycling to shore up critical mineral supplies
Wed 11 Feb 2026
Beijing is bracing for a tsunami of spent EV batteries by taking steps to boost recycling – a strategy that could also cut its reliance on imports of clean energy minerals.
EU to ban destruction of unsold clothes and shoes
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The European Commission has adopted new measures that will require medium and large companies to stop discarding unsold clothing and footwear, in the bloc’s latest move to target textile waste.
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.
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity
4 Feb 2026
The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
Hydrogen plant to start construction
Tue 10 Feb 2026
Construction is set to start this month on Hiringa Energy’s long delayed green hydrogen project in South Taranaki, after years of consenting fights that culminated in the Court of Appeal rejecting Greenpeace’s challenge in late 2023.
