Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Water key to sustainable development, says UN
11 Oct 2013
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the vital role of water in sustainable development, highlighting in particular its importance with regard to food security, climate change and sanitation.
International update
11 Oct 2013
Westpac's carbon analysts cast their eyes across the international carbon markets.
Govt still silent on auctioning credits
4 Oct 2013
The Government says it has made no decisions yet on the auctioning of carbon credits.
Rebel campaigner eyes NZ connection
4 Oct 2013
Leading Australian climate change campaigner Professor Tim Flannery says he would bring his privately funded Climate Council to New Zealand - if asked.
IPCC report means no more excuses for NZ
4 Oct 2013
The latest IPCC report on climate change removes New Zealand’s excuses for not taking strong action on the problems.
WEB WIRE ... news from the world of carbon
4 Oct 2013
IPCC report, fraud charges, farming key, Kiribati worried, European ETS, climate-think, water bills ...
What is NZ doing to help Pacific?
4 Oct 2013
CARBON MARKET SOLUTIONS continues its look at what New Zealand is doing to help its Pacific island neighbours adapt to climate change:
True carbon price bioenergy aid, says expert
27 Sep 2013
A realistic carbon price and support from large companies would help to propel bioenergy from a good idea to reality, says one of our leading experts.
IPCC serious over sea levels
27 Sep 2013
By HOLLY RYAN, Science Media Centre. Rising sea levels will receive increased attention from climate scientists today when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change unveils its latest report on the state of the climate.
WEB WIRE ... news from the world of carbon
27 Sep 2013
Angela Merkel, Tony Abbott, airlines talk, IPCC leak, US trading, beating disease.
Brussels aims to chop through EU forest rules
27 Sep 2013
An agriculture council is to discuss the European Union’s new forest strategy, which aims to cut through the mass of rules governing the protection of forests.
Norway helps farmers to diversify
27 Sep 2013
Norway has invested $US23.7 million to conserve and sustainably manage the world’s most important food crops to help farmers to cope with the effects of climate change and population increase.
Small businesses star at green awards
27 Sep 2013
It was a big win this week for small Sydney businesses when the City of Sydney’s Green Business Program scooped the Local Government Sustainability Award at the annual Green Globe Awards.
Think rebuild, think sea level, says academic
20 Sep 2013
The likely sea level rise from melting polar ice needs to be seriously considered in the rebuild of Christchurch, a University of Canterbury expert says.
Science sees human waste as weapon in war against climate change
20 Sep 2013
Human waste could be the next weapon in the fight against climate change, according to an Australian academic.
Big cities show how to tackle climate change
20 Sep 2013
Only two Southern Hemisphere cities are listed in a top 10 of urban areas effectively taking on the challenges of climate change.
Are we doing our bit? It seems not
20 Sep 2013
Our previous opinion piece considered the increasing impacts of climate change on small island countries, such as our Pacific neighbours, but which also apply to other small island countries such as those in the Caribbean, and also to low-lying coastal areas.
Crunching the numbers
20 Sep 2013
Westpac takes a look at the Ministry for the Environment's 2012 Facts and Figures report on the Emissions Trading Scheme, and analyses the potential impact on prices.
World climate teams hold NZ retreat
13 Sep 2013
International negotiators gathered north of Auckland this week for informal discussions on a new climate change agreement.
Labour hopefuls and their green values
13 Sep 2013
Which of the three MPs battling to be leader of the Labour Party would be best for the environment?
Start now, science chief tells businesses
13 Sep 2013
New Zealand’s chief science adviser says that businesses should not be distracted by apparent argument over the validity of anthropogenic climate change.
Our businesses must lead, says green champion
6 Sep 2013
The Global Sustainability Leader of the Year says New Zealand businesses need to step up to the responsibilities – and opportunities – of environmental issues like climate change.
We're talking ETS with Australia and Korea
6 Sep 2013
New Zealand has had discussions with Australia and Korea on the theoretical requirements involved in linking emissions trading schemes.
Shane Jones: It's all about balance
6 Sep 2013
Labour MP Shane Jones says that a Government led by him would balance environmental and economic interests.
Businessmen join the stars in oil protest
6 Sep 2013
Business leaders Phillip Mills and Nick Gerritsen are among a list of A-list New Zealanders opposing the Government’s plans for deep-sea oil drilling and its crackdown on protesting at sea.
La Nina effect cause of warming pause
6 Sep 2013
New findings that show a slowing of global surface temperature warming are no cause for complacency, scientists warn.
Why won't they listen, asks Suzuki
6 Sep 2013
One of the world’s best known environmental campaigners, Dr David Suzuki, is calling on all governments to agree on collective action to tackle climate change to safeguard the human race.
Green architect unveils ‘Coral City’ housing
6 Sep 2013
A Filipino-Italian company advocating green architecture has proposed the construction of houses and buildings that can quickly adapt and withstand typhoons, floods and other calamities due to climate change.
Environment first, vows Labour contender
30 Aug 2013
A government led by Labour leadership contender Grant Robertson would make all legislation subject to an environmental impact assessment.
Is this the new Groser, asks academic
30 Aug 2013
Climate Change and Trade Minister Tim Groser appears to have had a Road to Damascus experience.
ANALYSIS: Australians' vote will affect carbon market
30 Aug 2013
The 2013 Federal Election in Australia will have a significant impact on Australian carbon markets, regardless of who wins, Westpac says.
'I don't think I've ever driven a Kyoto Protocol ...'
30 Aug 2013
Last Sunday, Radio New Zealand’s Down The List programme turned its satirical eye on New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target.
Study brings new fears over Antarctic ice
30 Aug 2013
The world’s largest ice sheet in Antarctica could be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than previously thought, according to new research from Durham University.
Why the Pacific problem will not go away
30 Aug 2013
While we here in New Zealand are worried about our pay checks and the next iphone due to emerge shortly, some thought needs to go out to our Pacific neighbours, says Carbon Market Solutions.
Kyoto rules govern new emissions stand
23 Aug 2013
New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target will be implemented under Kyoto Protocol rules.
Experts slam 5% emissions target
23 Aug 2013
Leading climate policy and science experts say the Government’s emissions reduction target is “markedly inadequate and disappointing”.
Academic links climate change and civil wars
23 Aug 2013
A Harvard University academic is looking for connections between climate change and civil war.
IPCC scientists point finger at humans
23 Aug 2013
Humans are most likely to blame for warming temperatures across the globe in recent decades, according to a leaked study from an international committee of scientists.
Pacific women to see how the US does it
23 Aug 2013
Women climate leaders from across the Pacific will visit the United States to learn how America is combating climate change.
Emissions target under fire from MPs
23 Aug 2013
The Government's 2020 emissions reduction target came under fire in Parliament this week.
NZ commits to 5% climate change target
16 Aug 2013
New Zealand has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to five per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Our Super funds back pollution, says WWF
16 Aug 2013
More than $1 billion invested for New Zealanders’ futures is supporting some of the world’s most polluting and environmentally destructive companies, a report released today by WWF-New Zealand reveals.
Foresters opting out of ETS, says Labour
16 Aug 2013
A new report shows the gutted Emissions Trading Scheme is damaging the forestry sector, Labour’s Climate Change spokesperson Moana Mackey says.
EPA gets ready to sidestep Congress
16 Aug 2013
A top US climate change official says the Obama administration is finished waiting for Congress to act on climate change and plans to bypass the legislative branch in developing a federal response.
Utilities must boost climate resilience, says report
16 Aug 2013
The US energy industry needs to deliver a major improvement in the resilience of its power grids or risk ever-more frequent weather-related blackouts, which are already costing the economy between $18bn and $33bn a year.
Australia draws the battle lines
16 Aug 2013
There’s a carbon battle going on over the Tasman in the lead-up to that country’s general election.
Soot and methane not the whole emissions story
16 Aug 2013
Cutting the amount of short-lived, climate-warming emissions such as soot and methane in our skies won't limit global warming as much as previous studies have suggested, a new analysis shows.
Climate change threatens ancient sites
16 Aug 2013
Climate change is threatening New Zealand’s archaeological sites.
Fund managers minding climate risks
9 Aug 2013
Fund managers are incorporating climate risks into investment decisions, a new report shows.
Groser defends climate change attitudes
9 Aug 2013
This week in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Tim Groser found himself defending statements by two of his Cabinet colleagues that seem to suggest they are not entirely convinced that anthropogenic climate change is real:
Farm-level emissions cuts possible, but almost everything stands in the way
Thu 18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Progress to slash farming emissions is being blocked by limited farmer confidence in mitigation tools, inconsistent engagement, misinformation and a lack of clear policy signals, according to a new report.
State-owned farmer drives profit growth with emissions reductions
Fri 19 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Government-owned Landcorp, trading as Pāmu, is one-third of the way to meeting its 2031 emissions reduction targets, with five years left to run to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30.3% against 2021 emissions.
NZ’s government wants tourism to drive economic growth – but how will it deal with aviation emissions?
22 Oct 2025
By Robert McLachlan, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University | Following a brief dip during the COVID pandemic, aviation is back in a growth phase.
Air NZ inks deal for its first internationally verified carbon credits
9 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Air New Zealand has committed to buying 8000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030, in partnership with local native forest investment platform My Native Forest.
‘Cali Fund’ aiming to raise billions for nature receives first donation – of just $1,000
16 Dec 2025
A major biodiversity fund – which could, in theory, generate billions of dollars annually for conservation – received its first donation of just $1,000 in November.
Govt launches strategy backing wood-based heat sector
23 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Forestry biomass could replace as much as 40% of fossil fuel-generated process heat by 2050, but access to supply, regulatory settings and business cases for converting to wood-based heat sources are required, the Government says in a series of documents released yesterday.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
Fri 19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Seven quiet wins for climate and nature in 2025
Fri 19 Dec 2025
This year's environmental backdrop is familiar: emissions are rising and nature is continuing to decline. But there have nevertheless been bright spots in 2025.
Govt unveils plans for carbon storage regulations – and ETS rewards
Thu 18 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government has released plans to regulate carbon capture and storage in natural geological formations, which include Emissions Trading Scheme incentives, with the aim of introducing related legislation in 2026.
Global coal demand hit record high this year but is set to decline by 2030
Thu 18 Dec 2025
Global coal demand reached a record high in 2025 but is expected to decline by 2030 as renewables, nuclear power and abundant natural gas squeeze its dominance in power generation.
Investors must support positive climate-tech
28 Nov 2025
OPINION: We need better leadership than the current ‘climate opportunism’ that is rife in the Beehive, and we need to back a marketplace that will make it happen, writes Rob Campbell.
RMA’s successors hinge on two untested bets
17 Dec 2025
Two ideas sit at the heart of the Government’s replacement for the Resource Management Act: regulatory relief and spatial planning.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
11 Dec 2025
Despite India’s attempt to anoint itself as the leader of the developing world, at the COP30 summit, New Delhi’s track record remains contradictory.
Govt warned that scrapping ag emission pricing comes with risks
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s move to halt plans for agricultural emissions pricing without replacing it with any other action will leave New Zealand facing a bigger gap to meet its third emissions budget, Environment ministry officials have warned.
NZ hydrogen regulation to catch up with the world
Thu 18 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The government has announced a regulatory reset for New Zealand’s emerging clean tech hydrogen sector.
DOC trims costs and winds down jobs for nature
10 Nov 2025
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is entering a new phase of tighter budgets and structural change as it winds down the pandemic-era Jobs for Nature programme and reshapes its operations to absorb long-term cost pressures.
Pacific climate response in question as NZ finance remains unclear
Fri 19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | With New Zealand's $1.3 billion international climate finance commitment set to end with no clarity on what follows, the Auditor-General says oversight of that funding remains patchy and long-term outcomes are unclear.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Transport pollution was the biggest contributor to an increase in New Zealand’s consumption-based emissions in 2023, with emissions from household travel up 12%, and consumption-based emissions totalling 58.3 million tonnes – up 1.6% from the previous year.
Hydrogen emissions are ‘supercharging’ the warming impact of methane
Fri 19 Dec 2025
The warming impact of hydrogen has been “overlooked” in projections of climate change, according to authors of the latest “global hydrogen budget”.
RMA to speed up fossil fuel consents
18 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | An energy lobby group has welcomed a last-minute amendment to the RMA that puts fossil fuels on the same footing as renewables, however a sustainable energy expert says the move “beggars belief.”
Westpac NZ announces partnership to form Blue Economy hub in Nelson
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Westpac NZ has announced a new three-year partnership with the Nelson Regional Development Agency and Kernohan Engineering to help accelerate the development of a sustainable marine economy – also known as the blue economy.
Govt slammed for weakening methane target
15 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams The Government has pushed through legislation under urgency to almost halve New Zealand’s 2050 methane target – a move Opposition parties say disregards scientific advice, breaks the country’s hard-won political consensus on climate action, and shifts the burden of higher warming and higher future costs onto the next generation.
COP30 microcosm of difficult geopolitics, says Vanuatu's Climate Minister
15 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Despite ‘intransigent’ states blocking multilateralism and a disappointing official outcome, Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says he left the COP30 climate summit feeling more positive than after previous UN climate conferences.
Hiringa eyes green methanol plant near Whanganui
29 Jul 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Green hydrogen pioneer Hiringa Energy is deep in planning to develop an “eight-to-nine figure” methanol plant near Whanganui, using a combination of biomass and hydrogen produced using renewable energy.
Insurers welcome govt decision to keep NHC levy unchanged
21 Nov 2025
Media release |The Insurance Council of New Zealand | Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) has welcomed the Government’s decision to leave the Natural Hazards Commission levy unchanged, amid ongoing concerns around the cost-of-living.
Why I’m not outraged at the Govt’s latest climate backsliding
7 Nov 2025
COMMENT: The Government’s latest climate rollbacks underline New Zealand’s long history of a lack of genuine desire to cut emissions, writes Geoff Bertram.
Three Greenpeace activists removed by police from Fonterra
17 Dec 2025
Media release | Three Greenpeace activists were removed by police from Fonterra’s downtown Auckland offices, following a protest on Monday at the Shareholders’ Fund meeting over the corporation’s role in the contamination of rural communities’ drinking water.
NZ ‘clearly’ breaching international law on climate – Vanuatu Climate Change Minister
12 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, says New Zealand restarting fossil fuel exploration and subsidies is an obvious breach of international law, exposing the country to international and domestic litigation.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
Fri 19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greenpeace says Government changes to national direction instruments under the RMA paves the way for mining in wetlands and biodiversity hotspots and will expose some of Aotearoa’s most fragile ecosystems to irreversible damage.
NZ could become ‘dumping ground’ for dirty vehicles: Commissioner
16 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has warned the Government that its changes to the clean car standard could turn the country into a dumping ground for high emitting cars, making future emissions budgets harder to achieve.
NZ's latest climate target 'weak' – Climate Action Tracker
24 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand's new international climate target to 2035 is weak, and could even allow for higher emissions than the 2030 target, according to a global scientific project that tracks government climate action.
Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life
Fri 19 Dec 2025
Media release | A study conducted by researchers from Murdoch University in Australia and Dalian Ocean University in China has found that offshore windfarms can improve marine ecosystems and diversify aquatic food chains.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
16 Dec 2025
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable.
Govt consulting on Pacific Resilience Facility
12 Dec 2025
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is calling for submissions on its international treaty examination of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
Govt green lights rural recycling scheme
4 Dec 2025
The Government has approved new regulations to bring rural waste schemes under one unified framework.
KiwiRail pauses coal trains amid rising climate protests
9 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Climate activists are ramping up actions this week, with a Christchurch protest leading to KiwiRail pausing some coal train operations on Saturday, and another protest against the Fast-Track Amendment Bill planned for parliament today.
Straterra has a new name: the New Zealand Minerals Council
16 Apr 2025
Media release | Straterra has been renamed as New Zealand Minerals Council, says chief executive Josie Vidal.
Could tidal energy one day power NZ?
Thu 18 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests Aotearoa holds some of the world’s strongest tidal-stream energy potential – enough to generate up to 93% of today’s electricity use – but one expert cautions that extracting energy at such a scale could have significant impacts and remains highly uncertain.
NZ could lose nearly all glaciers this century without stronger climate action
16 Dec 2025
New Zealand could see 97% of its glaciers vanish by 2100, with new international modelling projecting a rapid acceleration in glacier extinction from the 2030s onward – even under lower-warming scenarios.
Solar households to get little-noticed tax break
23 Sep 2025
A provision in the government’s latest tax bill would exempt households from paying tax on income they earn by selling excess electricity back to the grid.
Oil and gas majors would create $78bn more value by stopping exploration
11 Dec 2025
Media release | Ten of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would create significantly more shareholder value by ending exploration and sharply curtailing upstream development, according to new analysis released today by ACCR.
Last minute change to oil and gas legislation over cleanup costs
31 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government is expected to repeal the oil and gas ban today, with a last-minute amendment handing discretionary power to two ministers over the controversial issue of decommissioning.
The surprisingly convincing case against cars
Fri 19 Dec 2025
Life After Cars dares to imagine how different, and enriching, a car-free world could be.
Kaicycle celebrates ten years of collective climate action in Pōneke
14 Nov 2025
Media release: Kaicycle | Since 2015, Kaicycle has grown from a humble pilot project growing kai and collecting compost on bicycles into the thriving urban farm and composting hub that Wellingtonians know and love.
Heatwaves, downpours and droughts – Auckland on track for more extreme weather
1 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New projections show Auckland will face more heatwaves, heavier downpours, worsening droughts and growing coastal threats as climate extremes intensify, according to a new report from Earth Sciences New Zealand.
NZ just had its hottest spring in at least 116 years
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | This year New Zealand had its hottest spring since records began, with widespread heat, rainfall extremes and destructive wind driven by sudden stratospheric warming.
Media round-up
12 Dec 2025
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Another offshore wind firm exits New Zealand over a clash with seabed mining; Fonterra falls behind on its climate goals as farm emissions remain flat; and the businesses trapped by the gas 'death spiral'.
