Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Rising emissions mean NZ will miss Paris targets
29 Sep 2016
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are set to double between 1990 and 2030 – and even with a carbon price of $50 a tonne, we could still be short of our Paris Agreement pledge by 143 million tonnes.
Russia in the slow lane on road to Paris
29 Sep 2016
What’s holding Russia back from ratifying the Paris climate agreement?
Govt learns we can't cut emissions and sell more milk
28 Sep 2016
The Government knows its economic strategy of increasing agricultural exports cannot go on if New Zealand is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a confidential paper shows.
Food supply fears spark China's global land grab
28 Sep 2016
China is protecting itself against future food supply problems caused by climate change by buying or leasing large tracts of land in Africa and South America, a leading UK climate scientist says.
Ten things you should know about climate change …
28 Sep 2016
No 3: The year 2015 was the warmest on record, but the last record cold year was more than a century ago, in 1909.
IPCC chair: We can meet 2deg target if we act fast
28 Sep 2016
INTERVIEW: Hoesung Lee was elected chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just one month before the landmark Paris climate talks of 2015.
Current emissions dangerous enough, says study
28 Sep 2016
Current greenhouse gas concentrations could warm the world 3-7deg (and on average 5deg over coming millennia. That’s the finding of a paper just published in Nature.
Mali boosts Paris numbers
28 Sep 2016
Mali is the latest country to ratify the Paris Agreement – bringing the total number of countries to have ratified to 61, together responsible for 47.79 per cent of global emissions.
Voluntary actions have role, says carbon certifier
27 Sep 2016
Voluntary carbon credits can help to meet New Zealand’s Paris Agreement target, Parliament has been told.
Ten things you should know about climate change …
27 Sep 2016
No 2: Ninety-three per cent of the heat from humans’ global warming has gone into the ocean, along with 25 per cent of the carbon dioxide.
Burning existing fossil fuels will break the Paris bank
27 Sep 2016
Burning all the carbon in existing coal mines and developed oil and gas fields will push the world past the Paris Agreement climate limit.
Why NZ doesn't need foreign carbon credits
26 Sep 2016
New Zealand could meet its Paris Agreement pledge without using foreign carbon credits and develop a $6 billion industry at the same time, says the Bioenergy Association.
Sometimes the research doesn't do the job
26 Sep 2016
Research has shown that models used by economists to calculate the effects of climate change policies can produce polar opposite recommendations.
We can't blame the solar cycle for global warming
26 Sep 2016
European scientists have dug deep to dismiss once again the old argument that climate change might be a consequence of solar radiation rather than atmospheric chemistry.
PARIS PACT: Morganists say NZ must sell units
23 Sep 2016
The Government must cancel all surplus carbon units it’s sitting on in 2020 as part of ratifying the Paris Agreement, says the group that wrote the Climate Cheats report.
PARIS PACT: Farmers play it short and sweet
23 Sep 2016
Federated Farmers has surprisingly little to say about the Paris Agreement – and that’s possibly a good sign for the climate.
PARIS PACT: Gen Zero does the job for MPs
23 Sep 2016
A group of twenty-somethings has fronted up to hardened politicians and told them not to worry, they’re drafting a Zero Carbon Act for them.
NZ will join aviation emissions agreement
23 Sep 2016
New Zealand will join an international market-based system to reduce aviation emissions, the Government has just announced.
Dire climate impacts go unheeded
23 Sep 2016
The social and economic impacts of climate change have already begun to take their toll – but most people do not yet know this.
Countries rush to ratify Paris Agreement
22 Sep 2016
A host of countries has ratified the Paris Agreement overnight, pushing the climate change treaty past one of the thresholds that need to be met to bring it into force.
No way, Nick, you can't claim credit for the ETS
22 Sep 2016
The Government is doing it again – claiming to have introduced the Emissions Trading Scheme when it actually voted against it.
Emissions targets need all-electric cars
22 Sep 2016
A new study says that achieving limits on temperature rise agreed at last year’s Paris climate conference will require a massive switch to zero emissions electric-powered vehicles, coupled with the development of a completely decarbonised power sector.
Study sees carbon price reaching $60 by 2030
21 Sep 2016
Carbon could be $60 a tonne by 2030, boosting renewables and fuelling a drive toward energy efficiency, a new report shows.
Native American pipeline resistance is about climate justice
21 Sep 2016
Over the past months, hundreds of indigenous persons and their allies have gathered near the crossing of the Missouri and Cannon Ball rivers in the ancestral territories of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
New patent boosts CO2 capture hopes
21 Sep 2016
A technology that could in theory catch 90 per cent of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power stations has been patented by US government scientists.
Goff promises his mayoral car will be electric
20 Sep 2016
Auckland mayoral contender Phil Goff says that under him, the city fleet will go electric – including the mayoral car.
US military stresses climate security risks
19 Sep 2016
A group of senior defence experts in the US has warned that climate change is a threat to the country’s security, with the stark message that “the impacts of climate change present significant and direct risks to US military readiness, operations and strategy”.
Will the planet really profit from natural capital?
19 Sep 2016
What is natural capital and why use it to refer to nature?
Gas emissions (the reported kind) take a dive
16 Sep 2016
New Zealand’s reported greenhouse gas emissions have fallen drastically.
RAIL v ROAD: Trains still come out in front
16 Sep 2016
Rail will continue to out-perform road transport when it comes to climate change, regardless of whether it’s using electric trains or not, KiwiRail says.
Renewables establish economic lead
16 Sep 2016
The cheapest way of generating energy today is to use renewable fuels – and the authors of a new analysis predict that renewables are set to enjoy even more of an advantage within a few years.
Big banks under attack over damaging investments
15 Sep 2016
Two of New Zealand’s largest banks are caught up in a campaign in which customers are threatening to close accounts if the banks don’t stop lending money to climate-damaging businesses.
How companies get smart about climate change
15 Sep 2016
The Paris Agreement not only signalled social change but also sent the market a strong signal to move away from carbon-intensive investment.
Gas pipelines run over EU energy policy
15 Sep 2016
Civil society campaigners have accused the European Union of pouring unprecedented amounts of state aid into a huge energy project that runs counter to its own climate change objectives.
Lower crop yields test market forces
15 Sep 2016
Food will cost the consumer more as a result of climate change, but it is not at all clear that farmers will profit accordingly, says a new study.
Ocean warming intensifies power of typhoons
14 Sep 2016
The typhoons that have slammed into the coasts of east and southeast Asia have become more violent, increasing in intensity by between 12 per cent and 15 per cent over the past four decades, according to a new study.
The fossil fuel divestment game is getting bigger
13 Sep 2016
Fossil fuel divestment is gathering pace around Australia and the world. More and more individuals and organisations are pulling their investment assets out of companies involved with the exploration, extraction, production or financing of fossil fuels.
Warmer world not healthy for wheat crops
13 Sep 2016
Global wheat production will fall as temperatures rise, a new study shows.
Logged forests could be wildlife refuges
13 Sep 2016
Even in degraded forests, wild animals can survive. Selectively logged forests in Borneo can still be home for the clouded leopard and the civet, the orangutan and the bearded pig.
Amazon burns as Brazil signs Paris pledge
12 Sep 2016
Brazil’s new president, Michel Temer, will this week sign up to the Paris Agreement on climate change by committing Brazil to a reduction of 37 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, and of 43 per cent by 2030.
Making wine brings a lot of energy headaches
12 Sep 2016
Wine production consumes large amounts of energy and generates a sizeable quantity of greenhouse gases.
Planting flooded paddies raises rice methane threat
12 Sep 2016
Directly seeding rice into fields rather than transplanting it into flooded paddies would dramatically reduce methane emissions and slow down climate change, according to scientists studying the staple crop.
New EV exemption won't work, says Treasury
9 Sep 2016
The Government is extending an exemption from road user charges for light electric vehicles – despite being told by Treasury that the move won’t get more people into electric cars.
Paris pact submissions will be heard this month
9 Sep 2016
Submissions on New Zealand’s plans to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change will be heard in Wellington on September 22.
Lobby group asks investor to drop fossil fuels
8 Sep 2016
KiwiSaver provider Simplicity is being challenged to add fossil-fuel companies to the list of investments it won’t touch.
PACIFIC PARIAH: Australia’s love of coal has left it out in the diplomatic cold
8 Sep 2016
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will have some explaining to do when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting in Pohnpei, Micronesia, this week.
Europe’s nuclear club slows emissions cuts
8 Sep 2016
The prospect of using nuclear energy appears to deter European countries from adopting renewable technologies such as wind and solar, and from introducing energy efficiency measures.
A-CHOO!: Warming world set to raise pollen count
7 Sep 2016
Allergic diseases already cause misery for hundreds of millions of people, with serious implications for public health budgets in both developed and developing countries.
Dissenting academics write own climate report
7 Sep 2016
The Climate Change Authority’s latest report on Australia’s climate goals has divided its membership – so much so that two authority members have divorce themselves from the report and written their own version.
Paris pact signing could be only weeks away
6 Sep 2016
New Zealand is likely to ratify the Paris Agreement in the next couple of months, the Government says.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
Fri 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 overhaul leaves the door open for coal mining on conservation land
Fri 12 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government’s sweeping reclassification of thousands of hectares of publicly-owned conservation land has met with sharp criticism, with environmental groups saying the decision leaves vulnerable ecosystems exposed to mining and development.
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.
Second fire tears through Tongariro National Park
Tue 9 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Fire crews have returned to Tongariro National Park this morning as a fast-moving fire that started yesterday threatens unburnt vegetation and nearby communities, just a month after a major blaze scorched 3000 hectares in the same area.
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.
Minister not concerned about potential economic impacts of ruling out offshore mitigation
Thu 11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts isn’t worried that ruling out using offshore mitigation is effectively reneging from the Paris Agreement with potential to damage New Zealand’s economy and access to export markets.
What are the causes of recent record-high global temperatures?
Fri 12 Dec 2025
The past three years have been exceptionally warm globally.
Is Govt rushing through changes to climate framework to avoid litigation?
Thu 11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says the Government’s motivation for proposed changes to the country’s climate framework law are unclear: “The only reason I can think of is one grounded in potential litigation risk.”
KiwiRail pauses coal trains amid rising climate protests
Tue 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.
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.
$235 billion worth of NZ buildings exposed to flooding
30 Oct 2025
More than 750,000 New Zealanders live in locations exposed to one-in-100-year floods, according to a nationwide study which shows escalating flood risk.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
Thu 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
Thu 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 ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
Fri 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.
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 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'.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
Wed 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.
Australia has new laws to protect nature. Do they signal an end to native forest logging?
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Reforms to Australia’s nature laws have passed federal parliament. A longstanding exemption that meant federal environment laws did not apply to native logging has finally been removed from the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
Thu 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.
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.”
Analysis: Why COP30’s ‘tripling adaptation finance’ target is less ambitious than it seems
5 Dec 2025
One of the headline outcomes to emerge from COP30 was a new target to “at least triple” finance for climate adaptation in developing countries by 2035.
TotalEnergies loses in Paris court, marking a turning point for fossil fuel truth-in-advertising
5 Nov 2025
TotalEnergies was found to have misled consumers about its role in the energy transition.
Tribunal warns govt geothermal strategy risks Treaty breach
2 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government's geothermal development strategy risks breaching the Treaty of Waitangi, according to a report from the Waitangi Tribunal released last week.
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.
Shell facing first UK legal claim over climate impacts of fossil fuels
Fri 12 Dec 2025
Victims of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines have filed a legal claim against oil and gas company Shell in the UK courts, seeking compensation for what they say is the company's role in making the storm more severe.
NZ fails to back ‘roadmap’ to phase out fossil fuels at COP
24 Nov 2025
By Liz Kivi | Eighty-six countries including Australia, the UK, Germany, and Ireland backed a proposal at COP30 for national plans on how to quit oil, gas and coal – but New Zealand wasn’t one of them.
High risk of economic losses from Cook Islands nodule extraction and sales – new study
Fri 12 Dec 2025
Media release: Greenpeace | The economic potential of seabed polymetallic nodules in the Cook Islands has been overstated, according to a new independent study commissioned by Greenpeace International.
Govt rushes to pass climate law changes under urgency
Wed 10 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Legislation to amend the Climate Change Response Act was introduced to Parliament on Monday, and the government intends to rush the changes through under urgency in the next two weeks, avoiding the usual public consultation.
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.
Storms in the Southern Ocean are producing more rain – and the consequences could be global
Mon 8 Dec 2025
Storms in the Southern Ocean influence weather patterns across Australia, New Zealand and the globe.
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.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
Shipping movements disrupted as climate change protesters block coal ships
2 Dec 2025
NSW police have arrested 141 people who attempted to block the shipping channel in Newcastle Harbour during Rising Tide protests, which began on Thursday.
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.
Neighbours fume over plans to axe trees for solar farm
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Diane McCarthy, Local Democracy Reporter | Whakatāne District Council has thrown its support behind residents of a country lane distressed about Genesis Energy’s plans to axe their trees.
NZ and US studying "huge unknown" in Antarctic climate science
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Media release: Earth Sciences New Zealand | Scientists are measuring a huge unknown in climate science: how much heat Antarctica emits into space.
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.
More than $2m up for grabs for low-emissions farming innovation
Wed 10 Dec 2025
The Ag Emissions Centre and AgriZeroNZ yesterday opened their 2026 innovation investment round.
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.
Seven EU countries pressure European Commission to rethink 2035 diesel and petrol car ban
Tue 9 Dec 2025
Pressure from EU countries, lawmakers and the automotive industry is likely pushing the European Commission to delay the revision of the bloc's ban on diesel and petrol cars by 2035.
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.
Study provides a step-change in understanding NZ’s groundwater
28 Nov 2025
Media release | Earth Sciences New Zealand has developed a world-first National Groundwater Age Map and a powerful suite of tools to support the sustainable management of our hidden groundwater resources, from national through to local scales.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
Wed 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.
Australian market operator slashes wind farm predictions amid falling costs for solar and batteries
Thu 11 Dec 2025
The body that runs Australia's biggest power market has scaled back its plans for high-voltage power lines and wind farms to meet the country's green energy targets.
