Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Report calls for new investment approach
18 Feb 2011
Uncertainty over climate policy could contribute as much as 10 per cent risk in overall investment portfolios, a new study warns.
US investors ask enviro questions
18 Feb 2011
American investors are asking coal, energy and oil companies about their exposure to risks from climate change – and want executive pay linked to environmental performance.
Australia puts millions into climate research
18 Feb 2011
The Australian Government this week announced funding for priority adaptation research into preparing Australia for the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Aussie scheme could be lucrative for NZ carbon sellers
18 Feb 2011
As more of the Garnaut papers are released, Australia moves closer to a revised carbon scheme, Carbon Market Solutions says.
Clean-tech costs falling fast, says Garnaut
11 Feb 2011
The cost of clean technology is falling faster than expected, as the United States and China swing their manufacturing might behind the sector, says the Australian Government’s climate change adviser.
ETS group looks at oral submissions
11 Feb 2011
The committee reviewing the Emissions Trading Scheme says it will try to hear oral submissions from those who want to make them.
Engineers warn of infrastructure chaos
11 Feb 2011
Engineers are warning the British Government that the country’s infrastructure will not cope with the effects of climate change.
Combet: Australia must act to cut emissions
11 Feb 2011
Australia’s carbon emissions will rise steeply without decisive and effective new policy action, according to annual projections released this week by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet.
Public and private sectors must work together, says Charles
11 Feb 2011
The growing risks posed to long-term economic growth by climate change and over-exploitation of the planet’s natural resources have been highlighted by Prince Charles in a speech to European parliamentarians.
Ag emissions calculator updated
11 Feb 2011
The group giving neutral climate change advice to agriculture has updated its online emissions calculator.
Weather chaos just the start, warn scientists
4 Feb 2011
The wild weather in Australia should sound a warning to New Zealand business on what to expect from climate change, says one of our leading climate scientists.
Action group gives nod to Green Growth move
4 Feb 2011
A group of top business people pushing for a clean-tech strategy for New Zealand says it will work with the Government’s new Green Growth advisory group.
Garnaut backs fixed carbon price
4 Feb 2011
Australia’s chief climate change adviser is backing the idea of a fixed carbon price.
Smith calls for carbon reduction submissions
4 Feb 2011
The Government is calling for submissions on New Zealand’s 2050 emissions reduction target.
Swap old showerheads for new in Perth
4 Feb 2011
Perth residents can save water and money by swapping old showerheads for free new water saving showerheads under an Australian Government funded project launched this week.
Dramatic emissions cuts possible, says UN
28 Jan 2011
Dramatic cuts in industrial emissions of greenhouse gas emissions are achievable in developed and developing countries at an acceptable cost, the United Nations says.
Govt stays silent on value of free credits
21 Jan 2011
Some of New Zealand’s biggest companies received free carbon credits from the Government.
Caygill committee eyes start next month
21 Jan 2011
The committee reviewing the Emissions Trading Scheme is yet to hold its first meeting, but chairman David Caygill expects those advocating changes to the scheme are already hard at work on submissions.
Review rules out some ETS challenges
23 Dec 2010
Questions about whether the Emissions Trading Scheme is the best way for New Zealand to tackle climate change have been ruled out of a review of the scheme.
Public might not appear before panel
23 Dec 2010
The public might not get a chance to make oral submissions on the review of the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Farmers renew call to keep agriculture out
23 Dec 2010
Federated Farmers says it will use the review of the Emissions Trading Scheme to try to keep agriculture out of the scheme.
California gives nod to timber carbon case
23 Dec 2010
The carbon-storing properties of wood products have been recognised in the new cap-and-trade scheme endorsed by Californian law-makers last week.
Clean-tech strategists will go it alone
17 Dec 2010
Business leaders pushing for a clean-tech development strategy for New Zealand say they’re ready to launch it next year – with or without the Government.
ETS review terms out soon
17 Dec 2010
The terms of reference for a review of the Emissions Trading Scheme will be out by the end of the year, the Government says.
CANCUN: Significant step forward
17 Dec 2010
New Zealand climate change minister Tim Groser and Nick Smith say that the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Cancún, Mexico, is a significant step towards a global, legally binding and comprehensive agreement on climate change.
CANCUN: A clearer picture is emerging
17 Dec 2010
A clearer overall framework for global greenhouse gas emissions reductions is emerging - even if more work is needed to develop market mechanisms, writes Business New Zealand energy, enviornment and infrastructure manager John Carnegie from Cancun.
CANCUN: What the scientists are saying
17 Dec 2010
Leading climate scientists from New Zealand, Australia and Britain say progress was made in Cancun - but not enough to prevent dangerous climate warming.
CANCUN: Give money to research, says FedFarm
17 Dec 2010
The Cancun climate change summit proved that a solution to global carbon emissions is still as elusive as ever, says Federated Farmers.
CANCUN: Climate agreements at a glance
17 Dec 2010
Most agree the UN climate summit in Mexico made some progress in the struggle to deal with climate change.
Second chance on wilding trees exemptions
17 Dec 2010
Landowners clearing wilding trees established before 1990 have a second chance to apply for an exemption to the deforestation rules under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
California set to sign up for cap-and-trade
17 Dec 2010
California today is expected to adopt the United States’ most comprehensive carbon trading regime, creating a market-based way to lower greenhouse gas emissions at a time when similar efforts have stalled in Congress.
Millions of lives at risk, says shock report
17 Dec 2010
Governments are gambling recklessly with human lives by wilfully underestimating the depth of the emission cuts they must make in the next 40 years, a new study has found.
Britons pay more under sweeping power reforms
17 Dec 2010
Long-term prices for low-carbon electricity generators will be guaranteed by the government as part of its package of sweeping reforms of Britain’s energy markets unveiled today.
Gillard’s clunkers come under microscope
17 Dec 2010
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's cash-for-clunkers proposal would cost 15 times more than an emissions trading scheme to reduce carbon pollution, according to experts.
Less snow, but skifields should weather the storm
17 Dec 2010
New climate modelling shows that climate change means there will be less snow at the country's ski fields.
NZ plays key role in fossil fuels subsidies probe
17 Dec 2010
New Zealand is leading a group of small and medium-sized countries pushing for reform of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, which, it says, could cut greenhosue gas emissions by 10 per cent.
CANCUN: We're getting somewhere, say foresters
10 Dec 2010
The New Zealand forestry industry expects to have made some progress in sorting out the rules around carbon storage by the time climate change negotiations in Mexico end tomorrow.
CANCUN: We're committed, says Smith
10 Dec 2010
Climate Change Issues Minister Nick Smith has told delegates at climate change negotiations in Mexico that New Zealand is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
CANCUN: We're fooling nobody, says Chauvel
10 Dec 2010
Labour's Climate Change Issues spokesman, Charles Chauvel, reports from Cancun:
Forests come to the rescue of clams exporter
10 Dec 2010
A company that has lost export orders to Europe because of air miles and other environmental concerns is planting forests to offset its carbon footprint.
Solid Energy happy to sit on lignite facts
10 Dec 2010
Solid Energy says it will be some time before it releases figures about greenhouse gas emissions likely to come from proposed lignite developments in Southland.
World Bank will help to finance carbon markets
10 Dec 2010
The World Bank will help developing countries to set up pollution credit markets to help to pay for clean development programmes.
New hub lists shipping pollution info
10 Dec 2010
Ratings on the greenhouse gas efficiency of more than 60,000 ships is now available free of charge on a new website.
UN chief pleads for action at Cancun talks
10 Dec 2010
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made an impassioned plea for agreement at the climate summit in Cancún, saying further delay threatened the health of the planet, the global economy and the well-being of the human race.
Multinationals pick up Gigaton awards
10 Dec 2010
Six international companies, including Nike and Vodafone, have been recognised for their work in implementing market-driven solutions to climate change.
Science millions back Aussie environment
10 Dec 2010
The Gillard Government has invested more than $68 million in five research hubs that will provide science that is seen as essential for sustainably managing Australia's biodiversity.
Sellers looking to monetise holdings
10 Dec 2010
NZU prices have traded between $19.90 and $20.30 (on a spot equivalent basis), says Westpac.
NZ at heart of Cancun row over tree carbon
3 Dec 2010
New Zealand is at the centre of a row at the Cancun climate change talks over proposals to adjust the way in which carbon is accounted for in trees.
Cancun will learn why Kiwi way is the best
3 Dec 2010
New Zealand’s home-grown method of accounting for the carbon in forests is to be held up at the Cancun climate change talks as a model to other countries – especially those in the developing world.
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'.
