Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Big farm subsidy won't work, says Super Fund
30 Oct 2019
The Government’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from farming won’t work while the sector is being given a 95 per cent subsidy, say the Guardians of the New Zealand Super Fund.
Opinions side with charging for farm emissions
29 Oct 2019
A majority of people and organisations making submissions on whether agricultural emissions should be in the Emissions Trading Scheme say price-based mechanisms are the way to go.
FACT CHECK: Is that right, Paula?
29 Oct 2019
National Party deputy leader and former climate minister Paula Bennett says when it was in power, her party stabilised greenhouse gas emissions, while under this Government they will keep rising until 2025. Is she right?
EDITORIAL: A Shaw thing
25 Oct 2019
By publisher ADELIA HALLETT | Climate minister James Shaw, take a bow - you deserve five minutes in the sun for doing what none of your seven predecessors did.
Forest credits' future unclear as new laws loom
25 Oct 2019
The use of forestry carbon credits to offset agricultural emissions remains unclear as law changes go before Parliament.
Former Greens leader roasts Shaw's carbon bill
23 Oct 2019
Climate minister James Shaw will let the climate commission control carbon prices if he’s serious about cutting emissions, says the man who preceded him as co-leader of the Green Party.
Farmers will find out ETS future on Thursday
22 Oct 2019
Farmers will find out on Thursday whether they will be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Zero-carbon bill report pleases minister
22 Oct 2019
A report by the Environment Select Committee has made the zero-carbon bill even stronger, says climate minister James Shaw.
Select Committe backs methane status quo
21 Oct 2019
The Environment Select Committee has taken a bob each way on methane targets – recommending the Government’s target stay in place but that the Climate Change Commission should be able to change it.
NZ First talks big changes for agriculture
21 Oct 2019
New Zealand First is talking “sustainable transition” for the agricultural sector as the country waits for the zero-carbon bill to come back into Parliament.
It's official, our marine world is a mess
17 Oct 2019
Climate change and ocean acidification are piling pressure on a marine system already stressed by the impacts of human activities, the latest official state-of-the-environment report says.
Now's the time to go green, bank tells business
16 Oct 2019
Green financial markets will not develop in New Zealand if companies don’t use them, Westpac says.
NZ joins finance ministers' climate group
16 Oct 2019
Finance minister Grant Robertson is joining the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action.
HEY, JUDE: That's dangerous talk, say 'fanatics'
15 Oct 2019
National MP Judith Collins’ dismissal of the need for urgent action on climate change is being called ill-informed, dangerous and just plain wrong.
10 YEARS AGO ...
15 Oct 2019
Ten years ago, two of the Government’s support parties joined forces with the Opposition to stop National restricting the number of organisations allowed to make oral submissions on proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Farmers and foresters are taking to the streets
14 Oct 2019
Tensions between farmers and foresters over land acquisitions are about to be played out on the streets of Wellington.
Fanatics overstating climate case, says Collins
14 Oct 2019
National Party MP Judith Collins says the risks of letting global heating go beyond 1.5deg above pre-Industrial levels are being overstated by an “increasingly fanatical” green lobby.
Beware of a populist backlash, unions warn
11 Oct 2019
New Zealand risks a Brexit-style populist backlash if it mishandles decarbonisation of the economy, unions are warning.
History shows we can handle it, says CCC chief
11 Oct 2019
Cutting carbon out of the economy should not cause the “collateral damage” seen in New Zealand’s other economic transformations, says the first head of the Climate Change Commission.
Stand by for a doubling of the carbon price
10 Oct 2019
The price of spot carbon in New Zealand could double over the next five years.
SOLO ACT: Amy tells it like it is
10 Oct 2019
Yesterday, a 29-year-old Auckland music teacher who has been an activist for only a few short weeks, screwed up her courage and told some of the country’s biggest businesses they’re not doing enough on climate change.
Higher carbon prices vital, says ETS expert
9 Oct 2019
Rising carbon prices are critical to getting New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emission down, business leaders have been told.
Insurers issue warning to local councils
9 Oct 2019
Local councils that fail to properly assess and prepare for climate change risk legal action from insurance companies, an industry executive says.
National wants in on the ETS act
9 Oct 2019
If the Government wants cross-party consensus on climate legislation it should put up legislation the Opposition can support, National’s climate spokesperson says.
How Chia Sisters took their business green
9 Oct 2019
Student climate activist Florence van Dyke has taken the fight to a new arena – business. And it’s working.
Banking academic to head climate commission
8 Oct 2019
Former Reserve Bank chair Dr Rod Carr will head the Climate Change Commission.
Govt poised to reveal farm emissions decision
8 Oct 2019
An announcement on how the agricultural sector will be charged for greenhouse gas emissions is imminent, the Government says.
It's time to 'pull finger', EDS tells politicians
7 Oct 2019
The organisers of a high-powered business and climate change conference in Auckland this week say it is way past time for politicians to come together.
EDITORIAL: Uncomfortable is coming, ready or not
7 Oct 2019
By ADELIA HALLETT | Protests like the one that has closed off some Wellington streets today and is preventing staff from a major government department from getting to work make some people uncomfortable.
NZ sets new mark for coal-fired electricity
27 Sep 2019
New Zealand has burnt more coal to make electricity this winter than in any June quarter since 2014.
Ardern sets up climate-change trade deal
26 Sep 2019
New Zealand is one of five countries bringing climate change into a trade deal.
Emissions spotlight on land use and transport
25 Sep 2019
The committee of experts advising the Government on emissions budgeting has its sights set on our two biggest climate-polluting sectors – land use and transport.
ARDERN'S GLOBAL INVITE: Let's trade strengths
24 Sep 2019
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told the world New Zealand wants climate change included in trade deals and global co-operation on carbon pricing.
Smarts and skills keys to the future, says Govt
23 Sep 2019
Deeper pools of capital, a smart, skilled and motivated workforce and plentiful clean energy are behind the Government’s plans for the future of the economy.
Ardern in star turn at UN climate summit
23 Sep 2019
New Zealand will again take centre stage at international climate talks in New York, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern giving a keynote speech in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
New water rules have Govt guessing on gases
20 Sep 2019
New rules to improve water quality will also drive down New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions – but the Government doesn’t know by how much.
At last, we're getting a look at climate risks
19 Sep 2019
Progress is being made at last on assessing the risk climate change poses to New Zealand.
Local businesses given emissions know-how
19 Sep 2019
The Government has released new advice for local businesses wanting to voluntarily offset their emissions.
OUR ETS: What goes around, comes around
16 Sep 2019
New Zealand had the opportunity a decade ago to adopt the type of agricultural emissions pricing regime for which farmers are now fighting.
Go-it-alone farmers up pressure on politicians
16 Sep 2019
The farming industry is upping pressure on the Government for its own emissions-pricing regime.
Welcome to Welly ... the Paris of the southern hemisphere
13 Sep 2019
Wellington is the new Paris of the South, according to the latest cities’ liveability index.
We'll be doing more driving, researchers say
12 Sep 2019
Human demand for transport will increase as the climate warms, becoming its own feedback loop, researchers say.
Big Hydro might sidestep new water rules
10 Sep 2019
Because of climate change, the country’s six largest hydro power schemes should be exempt from rules requiring minimum water levels in rivers, the Government says.
Cabinet refuses to show ETS farming papers
9 Sep 2019
The Government is refusing to release six documents relating to farming and the Emissions Trading Scheme.
OPINION: New Zealand is one of a kind
9 Sep 2019
New Zealand climate scientist Professor Jim Salinger and United States meteorologist Professor Jose D Fuentes explain why they’ve told the Government to be much harder on methane emissions than it is planning to be.
METHANE MEASURE: It's all a matter of GWPs
6 Sep 2019
A new way of accounting for methane proposed by New Zealand researchers ignores the damage this country has already done to the climate and locks in its “right to emit”, Parliament has been told.
Barbados becomes a blues brother
6 Sep 2019
Barbados has joined a New Zealand-led group taking action to limit the impacts of ocean acidification caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air.
Thames council aware of risks, says lawyer
5 Sep 2019
A lawyer is calling for mandatory disclosure by councils of climate-change risks, saying authorities have been sitting on information about Thames for years.
EDITORIAL: It's a long way from Montreal to Paris
4 Sep 2019
By ADELIA HALLETT | The Montreal Protocol – an international treaty to save the protective ozone layer that covers the Earth – has worked.
Economists launch study of droughts
4 Sep 2019
The impacts of climate change-induced droughts on New Zealand’s rural communities is under investigation.
Fifty years of observations, no reversal of glacier climate damage
Tue 31 Mar 2026
Media release: Earth Sciences New Zealand | Fifty years on from the first aerial survey of our Southern Alps glaciers, late snow and variable summer weather delivered a temporary reprieve from rapid ice loss, says Earth Sciences New Zealand.
Dairy farmers' lack of climate action 'even bleaker' than water inaction – Upton
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Government projections for cutting agricultural emissions are being undermined by low farmer uptake, with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warning the country is relying on “heroic” assumptions to meet its methane targets.
$30m airline fund risks ‘burning public money’ without lasting benefit – expert
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | A $30 million government package to support regional air routes risks delivering poor value for money while increasing emissions, according to transport strategist Tim Adriaansen.
Signs of jet fuel hoarding emerge in Asia on Iran oil shock
26 Mar 2026
Signs are growing that Asian countries are hoarding jet fuel after the Iran war sent oil prices surging, reflecting growing strain on the aviation industry.
Wellington planting nears one million trees
Mon 30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greater Wellington’s parks restoration programme will hit one million native trees this year, with the first dams to rewet peat wetlands in Queen Elizabeth Park now completed after a years-long effort to bring these ecosystems – and their carbon sequestering superpowers – back to life.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
3 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Economic contraction will impact carbon market
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | While higher fossil fuel prices strengthen the long-run economics of decarbonisation, the current fuel crisis won’t inspire near-term confidence in the carbon market, according to Lizzie Chambers of Carbon Match.
Why the real oil crisis hasn’t started yet
Wed 1 Apr 2026
If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed much longer, things will get really bad, really fast.
Carbon price: Ups and downs amid geopolitical uncertainty
26 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | After ups and downs in recent weeks, the carbon market again broke above the $40 mark this week, with questions around how the Middle East conflict will play out weighing on market confidence.
Labour mulls GIDI 2.0 as factory closures mount
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Factory closures across the country could have been prevented if the last Labour-led government’s GIDI fund to assist companies with the cost of electrification hadn't been scrapped, Labour energy spokesperson, Megan Woods, says.
Death toll in Afghanistan flooding increases to 28, authorities say
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Afghan authorities said Monday that the death toll from severe weather that has struck swathes of the country over the past four days has increased to 28, with 49 people injured. Dozens of people have died from extreme weather in the country so far this year.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
19 Feb 2026
Construction is set to begin on a new retail-office development in central Auckland, which is targeting a 40% reduction in embodied carbon and 25% lower energy.
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.
Carbon trading schemes cut more emissions than carbon taxes, according to global study
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Carbon trading schemes are more effective than carbon taxes at reducing emissions, cutting fossil fuel use, and accelerating the shift to renewable energy, a global study has found.
‘Even more bonkers now’ – energy expert on LNG terminal
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | An energy consultant says the Government’s plan to back an LNG import facility is a “non-starter” in the face of rising gas prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
20 Feb 2026
Several environmental organisations are calling on political parties to make climate and biodiversity central to the 2026 election campaign, with reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme seen as a key priority.
Double danger? Climate change, El Niño push Earth 'beyond its limits'
Wed 1 Apr 2026
A freakish March heat wave has already pushed temperatures to summertime levels throughout much of the western and central United States, but a new report comes with a dire warning: This is just the beginning.
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.
Lawyers complain to ombudsman over Govt failure to release LNG modelling
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Lawyers for Climate Action has made a formal complaint to the Ombudsman over the Government’s failure to release information about its controversial decision to build a LNG import terminal.
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.”
FMA to ease conditions for green bond issues
Tue 31 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Green, social and sustainability-linked bonds will face lower disclosure requirements and regulatory costs under a class exemption newly granted by the Financial Markets Authority.
Five trees can’t offset a car: Lawyers accuse Mazda of greenwashing
9 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action NZ is taking Mazda to the Advertising Standards Authority over its claims that a tree-planting programme will offset vehicle emissions.
Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert
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.
NZ prepares to join ‘gold rush’ for white hydrogen
25 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand may be close to commercialising the capture and use of naturally occurring ‘white’ hydrogen, with investment plans for developments in the Wairarapa region picking up pace in response to spiralling oil prices.
Media round-up
20 Mar 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Crown lawyers agree High Court could quash emissions plan if found unlawful; NZ is locked in 'disaster inertia'; and climate change is notably absent from new development laws.
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.
Govt process to change climate plan ‘fundamentally flawed’, says judge
18 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The government’s 2024 changes to New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan was “as fundamentally flawed a process as I think I have ever seen”, the judge presiding in a case challenging climate change decision-making has said.
Cleantech expo coming to Auckland
26 Mar 2026
New Zealand’s first national cleantech expo is set to bring together 30 innovators, in what organisers say is the country’s fastest growing area in the tech sector.
NZ First targets regional share of mining royalties
Mon 30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand First has proposed returning 50% of mining royalties to regional communities, saying that too much of the value from resource extraction is currently flowing to Wellington.
Tuvalu prioritises climate change in agreement with NZ
Fri 27 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand has pledged an additional $20 million to climate resilience work in Tuvalu, more than doubling Aotearoa's aid to the tiny island nation in the current financial year.
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.
Worst in a generation: Environmentalists slam fisheries reform bill
25 Mar 2026
Media release: Greenpeace | The Fisheries Amendment Bill, which will likely have its first reading in parliament this week, is being labelled the worst fisheries policy in a generation by environmental groups who are calling for it to be rejected to protect ocean health.
Kiwis overly optimistic about state of environment
27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests many New Zealanders believe the environment is in better shape than it really is, with public perceptions often out of step with scientific evidence.
‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics
24 Feb 2026
Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?
Activists occupy controversial gold drilling site
25 Mar 2026
By Max Frethey, Local Democracy Reporter | Opposition in Golden Bay to a controversial gold mine at Sams Creek has flared up over the weekend after several activists briefly occupied a drilling site.
China has a new competitor? Kazakhstan reveals huge rare Earth deposit that could power the next tech boom
25 Feb 2026
China’s grip on rare earths might finally see some competition, and the world is already taking notice.
World-leading plasma torch takes aim at NZ's most potent greenhouse gases
24 Mar 2026
Media release | A high-tech plasma torch was lit up today as Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, officially opened the $10 million National Refrigerant Destruction Facility – signalling a new era in addressing the environmental impact of New Zealand’s most potent greenhouse gases.
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.
Why the Iran war may have just killed the AI boom
26 Mar 2026
The $1.5 trillion in committed AI infrastructure spending by major tech companies is built on an assumption of a functional global supply chain, which the Iran conflict has fundamentally broken.
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.
Two Australian states offer free public transport as war pushes up fuel prices
Mon 30 Mar 2026
Public transport in two Australian states will be made free to incentivise people not to drive as fuel prices soar due to the war in the Middle East.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
18 Feb 2026
Aotearoa’s first National Infrastructure Plan, introduced to Parliament yesterday, calls for "a predictable approach to electrifying the economy" as one of ten priorities for the next decade.
‘Stop burning fossil fuels’ pleads scientist as extreme rain causes floods yet again
Fri 27 Mar 2026
Northland and Auckland have again been lashed by heavy rain, with hundreds of people evacuated last night because of extensive flooding in the Far North, and some areas hit by more than a month's average rainfall in just 24 hours.
AI tool predicts wildfire danger faster than current systems
26 Mar 2026
Media release | A wildfire forecasting system powered by artificial intelligence could help detect dangerous fire conditions earlier and reduce the cost of wildfire response, according to new research from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
Record wind output helps shield the UK from worst of Iran war fallout
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Record output from wind farms has helped boost total clean power supplies in the United Kingdom to new highs so far in 2026, and allowed power firms to pare use of fossil fuels to multi-year lows.
