Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
The climate activists stealing Big Oil’s playbook
11 Nov 2021
A secretive network of public relations experts has spent the better part of the last decade whispering into journalists’ ears about climate science — spoon-feeding them facts, figures, spin and quotes.
Uganda's Vanessa Nakate says COP26 sidelines nations most affected by climate change
11 Nov 2021
As young climate activists descended on Glasgow for the COP26 UN climate summit, Vanessa Nakate was faced with a familiar yet sad experience: Being pushed to the side.
Declaration reacts to biomass industry "greenwashing drive"
11 Nov 2021
Media Release - Environmental organisations are pledging their opposition to burning forest biomass for renewable energy in a declaration issued at the Glasgow climate conference (COP26).
NZ drops below China on Climate Change Performance Index
10 Nov 2021
New Zealand has dropped seven places – and is now ranked below the world’s biggest polluter, China – on the Climate Change Performance Index.
NZ’s biggest GHG emitters ranked
10 Nov 2021
For the first time the Environmental Protection Authority has published a list of the country’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters
Famine-stricken Madagascar calls for 'climate empathy' at COP26
10 Nov 2021
As the world's first climate change-driven famine ravages her tropical island homeland, Madagascar's environment minister is in Scotland to warn that other countries could find themselves suffering a similar fate.
Greenpeace Germany sues Volkswagen for ‘fuelling climate crisis’
10 Nov 2021
A young German climate activist and the heads of Greenpeace Germany have sued Volkswagen (VW) in a German court for “fuelling the climate crisis”, accusing the carmaker of failing to do its part to combat global warming.
New FAO analysis reveals carbon footprint of agri-food supply chain
10 Nov 2021
Food processing, packaging, transport, household consumption and waste disposal are pushing the food supply chain to the top of the greenhouse gas emitters list, according to a new study led by the UN agriculture agency.
Countries far apart as climate talks enter final week
9 Nov 2021
UN climate talks have entered their final week with countries still worlds apart on key issues including how rapidly the world curbs carbon emissions and how to help nations already impacted by global heating.
Climate on track to devastate world’s poorest economies: study
9 Nov 2021
The 65 most vulnerable nations will see their gross domestic product (GDP) drop 20 percent on average by 2050 and 64 percent by 2100 if the world heats up 2.9 degrees Celsius (5.2 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a report released on Monday at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.
African nations seek talks on $700bn climate finance deal
9 Nov 2021
African nations want Cop26 to open discussions this week on a mega-financing deal that would channel US$700bn every year from 2025 to help developing nations adapt to the climate crisis.
What the $1.2 trillion US infrastructure bill means for climate change
9 Nov 2021
Is the newly passed infrastructure bill just small steps on climate or a BFD? The answer to both questions could be yes.
Nature and climate protection pledges pile up at COP26, amid ghosts of past failures
8 Nov 2021
Dozens of nations pledged on Saturday to do more to protect nature and overhaul farming at the COP26 U.N. climate talks, amid misgivings about past failures.
G20 nations will face a full-frontal tide of climate impacts
8 Nov 2021
The climate front lines are not just Tuvalu or the Maldives: they are Tokyo, Brussels, New York, and the world’s economic heartlands.
Climate clock reset: world one year closer to 1.5 degrees warming
8 Nov 2021
Global carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase to almost 2019 levels this year, upending last year’s unprecedented drop caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. This means that emissions are trending upwards again, when they should be in rapid decline if we are to meet the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
Advocating household climate actions reduces support for more effective policy
8 Nov 2021
Media Release - Telling people how to save energy lowers their support for government policy on climate change, new research has found.
Over 560 groups worldwide endorse ‘People’s Declaration’ for radical food systems
8 Nov 2021
Media Release - Amid the ongoing COP 26 in Glasgow, the Global People’s Summit (GPS) on Food Systems announced that 566 groups from 78 countries have endorsed its resulting Declaration that calls for people’s rights to just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable food systems and the end of corporate monopoly control.
Government’s NDC to be challenged in court
5 Nov 2021
The legality of New Zealand’s recently announced nationally determined contribution will be tested in court next February.
IEA says COP26 pledges bring climate goal close, experts urge caution
5 Nov 2021
Net-zero emissions pledges and a commitment by leaders at the COP26 climate conference to cut methane, if enforced, could enable the world to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
Carbon emissions show rapid rebound after Covid dip
5 Nov 2021
Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to rebound to near the levels they were at before Covid, in a finding that has surprised scientists.
Rich countries’ climate policies are colonialism in green: opinion
5 Nov 2021
With natural gas prices at record highs in Europe, Norway is raking it in. The country is Europe’s second-largest gas supplier after Russia—and has just agreed to increase natural gas exports by 2 billion cubic meters to alleviate the continent’s acute energy shortage. Its neighbors, such as Britain, are grateful for every dollop of gas as winter approaches.
Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda seeking damages from major polluters
4 Nov 2021
Two island nations battling rising sea levels and extreme weather such as hurricanes are taking a step they hope will pave the way to holding large greenhouse gas emitters accountable under international law.
UN secretary-general issues new global roadmap
4 Nov 2021
Media Release - As pressure mounts for urgent climate action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today issued a global roadmap to achieve a radical transformation of energy access and transition by 2030, while also contributing to net zero emissions by 2050.
Many IPCC authors expect world to warm by more than 3 degrees
3 Nov 2021
Nearly two thirds of those who responded to a Nature survey of IPCC authors said that they expect the world will warm by at least 3 degrees by the end of the century.
India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070
3 Nov 2021
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow.
Trudeau takes carbon pricing debate to COP26
3 Nov 2021
Prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau is pushing the world to impose a global price on carbon by 2030 that would cover 60 per cent of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change in 11 charts
3 Nov 2021
With COP26 underway, the climate crisis is in the spotlight. Here are the most important facts relating to how our planet has been changing.
If nothing is done the world will have 200 million climate refugees by 2050
3 Nov 2021
Negotiators at COP26 are unlikely to deal with the challenges posed by climate migration, a failure that some experts say shows “a lack of political will.”
‘Oppose This Climate Slavery’: A Manifesto
3 Nov 2021
Wealthy western nations must live up to their responsibilities and pay billions of dollars in compensation to the poorest countries being hit hardest by climate change, so they can invest in sustainable measures to face the future. So says Kaossara Sani, a Togolese climate activist who has written a manifesto to the world as leaders meet at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
University of Canterbury researches decarbonising Antarctic science
3 Nov 2021
Media Release - A UC research project evaluating the feasibility of hydrogen production in Antarctica could help to reduce carbon emissions in the future by replacing fossil fuels with a zero-carbon alternative.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 2
2 Nov 2021
On day two of COP26, journalist Alastair Thompson attends the Leaders' Summit and hears a rambling speech by UK PM Boris Johnson and a powerful plea from Barbados PM Mia Mottley.
‘Digging our graves’: Guterres demands action at climate summit
2 Nov 2021
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres demanded world leaders act to “save humanity” as they met for the historic COP26 climate summit with code-red warnings from scientists ringing in their ears.
‘Thin’ Pacific Island teams at COP26 spark fears of inequity
2 Nov 2021
Only four Pacific Islands will be represented by their leaders at upcoming U.N. climate talks in Glasgow because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, with most island nations forced to send smaller teams.
US Supreme Court considers EPA’s power to set emissions limits
2 Nov 2021
The US Supreme Court will soon rule on whether the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
How climate change traps poor countries between poverty and disaster
2 Nov 2021
As world leaders meet at COP26 to confront climate change, low-income nations have a dilemma: How can they develop without raising carbon emissions?
Australia's emissions projections are a farce based on technological pipe dreams: opinion
2 Nov 2021
If you examine the figures rather than the media release, it’s clear the Coalition has given up on the Paris agreement, argues Greg Jericho.
Climate reparations
2 Nov 2021
A trillion tons of carbon hangs in the air, put there by the world’s rich, an existential threat to its poor. Can we remove it?
Aotearoa joins International Climate Council Network
2 Nov 2021
He Pou a Rangi, New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission has joined forces with a group of international evidence-based climate advisors in an effort to deliver on global climate action.
Government commits to halving NZ emissions with billions of dollars of offshore offsets
1 Nov 2021
The government yesterday announced a more ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution that will see the “the amount of pollution NZ is responsible for” halved by 2030.
Who’s going to the COP26 climate summit? Meet the key players at the UN talks
1 Nov 2021
The COP26 climate summit begins on Sunday, with world leaders from more than 100 countries set to take part in what is regarded as humanity’s last and best chance to secure a livable future amid dramatic climate change.
Why planting trees is no silver bullet against climate change
1 Nov 2021
“Nature-based solutions” are gaining traction as a means of fighting climate change while protecting biodiversity. Tree planting, a key part of several countries’ COP26 pledges, is one such proposal – but experts say that reforestation, while essential, is far from a silver bullet against climate crises.
Antarctica gets a Glasgow Glacier ahead of climate summit
1 Nov 2021
Britain is naming a thinning Antarctic ice mass the Glasgow Glacier, to symbolize the vast implications for the world of a climate conference that starts Sunday in the Scottish city.
Reasons to be hopeful: the climate solutions available now
1 Nov 2021
The climate emergency is the biggest threat to civilisation we have ever faced. But there is good news: we already have every tool we need to beat it. The challenge is not identifying the solutions, but rolling them out with great speed.
Introducing the Glasgow Conversations
29 Oct 2021
Alastair Thompson is one of just two New Zealand journalists covering the COP26 summit from Glasgow. For the duration of the summit he will be having a daily chat with Carbon News editor Jeremy Rose.
More than $100bn in public investments to be climate friendly
29 Oct 2021
The government has announced a new “responsible investment framework” that will see the more than $100bn managed by Crown Financial Institutions required to be aligned with the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Polls shows rising demand for government action on climate
29 Oct 2021
Popular support for governments to take tough action on climate change is growing around the world, according to a BBC World Service opinion poll.
India rejects target for net zero emissions ahead of COP26 climate conference
29 Oct 2021
India has rejected calls to announce a net zero carbon emissions target and says it is more important for the world to lay out a pathway to reduce such emissions and avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures.
What big oil knew about climate change, in its own words
29 Oct 2021
Stanford University PhD candidate Benjamin Franta uncovered a trove of documents revealing Big Oil's knowledge of climate change and its efforts to seed doubt of the science behind it. He tells the story in this piece on The Conversation.
Bottom-up change could be only hope as governments repeatedly fail to deliver: experts
29 Oct 2021
A NEW study sees the lack of environmental justice considerations in climate negotiations as a root cause of the failure of international talks to slow climate change.
Health and wellbeing must be heart of climate response: healthcare professionals
28 Oct 2021
Groups representing the majority of New Zealand's healthcare professionals have penned an open letter calling on prime minister Jacinda Ardern to place health and wellbeing at the heart of the country's climate response.
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.
