Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Question for PM: UN is serious, are you?
22 Feb 2013
Green Party MP Kennedy Graham told Parliament this week that the United Nations Security Council is starting to consider climate change a serious risk.
European Parliament votes for backloading
22 Feb 2013
Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s environment committee voted by 38-25 in favour of an amendment in support of the EU’s ‘backloading’ plans for the Emissions Trading System, throwing a lifeline to the crisis-hit carbon market.
Obama vows to take tough line
15 Feb 2013
United States President Barack Obama wants a carbon market.
US stand puts Abbot on the spot
15 Feb 2013
The Australian Labor Party is using US President Barack Obama’s tough new line on climate change to launch an offensive against Opposition Leader Tony Abbot.
Companies adrift on climate-change score
15 Feb 2013
New Zealand companies are going backwards on climate-change disclosure, a new report says.
EPA updates trading platform
15 Feb 2013
The Environmental Protection Authority is updating the emissions trading platform.
Ban slams leaders who ignore climate change
15 Feb 2013
Too many world leaders seem content to keep climate change at arm’s length and in its policy silo, says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Solar sponge soaks up gas emissions
15 Feb 2013
Australian scientists have created a 'solar sponge' which captures and then releases carbon dioxide using the power of natural sunlight.
Australia helps embattled Kiribati
15 Feb 2013
Australia will pay $15 million to rehabilitate 40 kilometres of main road on Tarawa, Kiribati, which has been undermined by rising sea levels and coastal erosion.
Kenya eyes millions from carbon trade
15 Feb 2013
Kenya is eyeing millions of dollars from carbon trade derived from its government forests.
Power plants cut gas emissions
8 Feb 2013
Greenhouse gases emitted by United States power plants fell 4.6 per cent in 2011 from the previous year as the industry burned less coal, says a new report.
Ice yields secrets of a warmer world
8 Feb 2013
Ice cores drilled in the Greenland ice sheet, recounting the history of the last great warming period more than 120,000 years ago, are giving scientists their clearest insight to a world that was warmer than today.
Asia seeks ways to reduce air pollution
8 Feb 2013
Officials from 19 Asian countries have began a series of discussions on how to reduce the impact of air pollutants in the Asia-Pacific region.
Refugees? Don't ask us, says Government
1 Feb 2013
New Zealand has no policy for dealing with future climate change refugees.
Key's climate change answers anger Greens
1 Feb 2013
Prime Minister John Key was challenged in Parliament this week over why he didn’t mention climate change in his outline of Government priorities for the year.
Officials sort out Kyoto withdrawal
1 Feb 2013
Government officials are working out the implications of New Zealand’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.
Government mulls over binding target
1 Feb 2013
The Government is “considering advice on Doha outcomes” as it ponders what this country’s binding emissions reduction target will be.
FORUM: Why is it so hard to change?
1 Feb 2013
How do we get people to make the changes necessary to prevent the full impact of climate change, asks writer ANDREW MARTIN.
FORUM: '100% pure' is 100% damaging
1 Feb 2013
100% Pure NZ tag is damaging our economy, says marketing adviser DANIEL BATTEN.
Why you should give up red meat, not flying
1 Feb 2013
People who want to have an effect on climate change would be better to give up red meat and changing lightbulbs than to stop taking flights, says a new study.
Our oil sands are fine, insists Canada
1 Feb 2013
A Canadian bid to persuade European Union policymakers to soften proposed fuel quality laws has come unstuck.
Market reels as European carbon plummets
25 Jan 2013
International traders are dismayed at a spectacular price crash today that left the world’s biggest carbon market in disarray.
At last, it's climate-change time for Obama
25 Jan 2013
By PETER GRIFFIN in Washington. Emboldened by a decisive defeat of his rival in November’s US election, President Barack Obama has outlined a progressive agenda for his second and final term, including rekindling efforts to combat climate change.
Southern lignite stupid idea, says farmer
25 Jan 2013
The idea of digging up fertile farmland for lignite coal is “100% stupidity,” a visiting Australian farmer says.
Mega-projects threaten us all, says report
25 Jan 2013
Government hypocrisy on major energy projects is fueling climate change and placing populations at risk, Greenpeace said as it released a report revealing the alarming threat posed by a planned massive global increase in emissions from coal, oil and gas projects.
Ice fish don't mind if the climate gets warmer
25 Jan 2013
Researchers have found that southern fish can cope with warmer waters, giving some hope for the future of the Antarctic environment.
Industrial gas CERs join ban list
18 Jan 2013
The Government is banning indutrial gas CERs rom New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme because of concerns over their environmental integrity.
Early seasons spring plant surprises
18 Jan 2013
Spring is springing earlier in the United States – and climate change is being blamed.
Groser goes green in Berlin
18 Jan 2013
Climate Change Issues Minister Tim Groser is at Berlin’s Green Week – the largest food, agriculture and horticulture festival in the world.
So, what exactly is going on in Europe?
18 Jan 2013
Despite its green credentials, Europe has ramped up its consumption of coal.
Black carbon looms as much bigger problem
18 Jan 2013
Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is a more potent atmospheric pollutant than previously thought, according to a four-year international study just released.
Camels win reprieve from Aussie guns
18 Jan 2013
The Australian Government has rejected a plan to give carbon credits for slaughtering camels to curb emissions coming from their flatulence.
Dull year behind us, flat year ahead
18 Jan 2013
The past 12 months have seen little domestic activity in terms of NZU purchasing to meet obligations under the ETS.
NZ carbon stand wrong, says Kyoto expert
14 Dec 2012
New Zealand’s political determination to maintain access to carbon at international prices is a mistake, says our most seasoned Kyoto negotiator.
Doha votes to bar NZ from KP2 credits
14 Dec 2012
New Zealand will not be allowed access to international carbon credits generated under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
What's our market worth?
14 Dec 2012
Carbon Match founder Lizzie Chambers reflects on the fallout from the COP18 meeting
Twenty-year-old predictions looking good
14 Dec 2012
Climate change predictions made 20 years ago are proving reasonably accurate, a New Zealand expert says.
Poor countries the big climate winners
14 Dec 2012
Poor countries have won historic recognition of the plight they face from the ravages of climate change, wringing a pledge from rich nations that they will receive funds to repair the "loss and damage" incurred.
UN happy with progress made in Doha
14 Dec 2012
The outcome of the United Nations climate conference in Doha paves the way for a comprehensive, legally binding agreement by 2015, says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
ETS progress? You're better off going fishing
14 Dec 2012
By WAYNE KING, Carbon Market Solutions. Now that the climate talks are completed in Doha, and before the Christmas break and the New Year, can we take stock and feel optimistic about agreed international action to halt global warming and the impacts of anthropogenic climate change?
Key defends climate change actions
7 Dec 2012
Prime Minister John Key says that he takes criticism of New Zealand’s actions on climate change with a grain of salt.
We're staunch, junior minister tells world
7 Dec 2012
New Zealand has attempted to assure the world that its carbon-reduction targets will continue beyond 2015.
Agriculture: It's not all bad news
7 Dec 2012
Agriculture can be good news for the climate, a new report says.
This is a crisis, Ban tells Doha
7 Dec 2012
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged countries at the United Nations talks in Doha to act decisively to tackle the growing crisis of climate change.
De Boer wants carbon price of 150 euros
7 Dec 2012
Urgent action is needed to boost carbon prices to €150 a tonne - 2250 per cent higher than current levels - if the EU is to meet its decarbonisation goals by 2050, says a former United Nations climate chief.
NZ will end up just a slogan, Greens warn
30 Nov 2012
New Zealand is in danger of becoming little more than a marketing slogan that the world is starting to see through, Green Party climate change spokesman Kennedy Graham is warning.
This year set to be one of warmest since 1850
30 Nov 2012
Temperatures this year are the ninth highest on record since 1850, says a United Nations report released this week.
Permafrost hosts massive danger, says UN
30 Nov 2012
Huge stores of carbon trapped under the northern hemisphere’s frozen expanses risk being unleashed and becoming a major factor in global warming, a new United Nations report warns.
UN wants private sector to stand up
30 Nov 2012
A new United Nations-led partnership aimed at showcasing innovative models for fighting climate change says it’s time the private sector became a significant investor.
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.
Fonterra admits ‘100% grass-fed’ claim breached law in greenwashing row
Today 11:45am
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Fonterra has admitted its “100% New Zealand grass-fed” claims on Anchor butter were misleading and breached the law, settling a case brought by Greenpeace Aotearoa over packaging used between December 2023 and April 2025.
$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.
New protections for NZ migratory species under UN convention
Today 11:45am
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New international protections for migratory species, including several found in New Zealand, are a positive step – but global protections won’t halt the decline of migratory species on their own, experts say.
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.
Asia ramps up use of dirty fuels to cover energy shortfall triggered by Iran war
Today 11:45am
South Korea will delay the shutdown of coal-fired plants, while the Philippines also plans to boost the output of its coal-burning plants
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.
Watts’s last stand: Simeon Brown takes energy portfolio
Today 11:45am
By Pattrick Smellie | Energy Minister Simon Watts has lost the portfolio to Cabinet fixer Simeon Brown in a reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Media round-up
Today 11:45am
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: The widening political gap is deepening cracks in NZ's climate consensus, Christchurch recorded more than 30,000 extra cycling trips over two weeks, and is the energy crisis a renewable inflection point?
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.
Sci-tech prioritisation report is a joke that could cost NZ dearly, says NZ Association of Scientists
Today 11:45am
Media release: New Zealand Association of Scientists | The Prioritisation Report released yesterday by the Prime Minister’s Science Innovation and Technology Council makes a poor case for further cuts and changes to our research system.
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.
AI’s arrival complicates Big Tech climate goals, and some worry it’s locking in more fossil fuels
Today 11:45am
Six years ago, Google was confident that by 2030 it would power all operations with electricity generated from clean sources, including wind and solar power, and remove as much pollution as it produced. Today it calls those goals a “moonshot.” Microsoft says it’s still aiming to remove more carbon than it creates by 2030 but now describes the effort as “a marathon, not a sprint.”
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.
Momentum speeds up for low-emissions heavy transport
Today 11:45am
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand’s heavy vehicle sector is starting to move toward lower-emissions alternatives, with electric vehicles now delivering cost savings as well as lower emissions.
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.
