Topics tagged with 'Greenhouse Effect'
Senate climate bill seems stuck in limbo
21 May 2010
The compromise United States climate change proposal unveiled last week in the Senate is in legislative limbo, its fate apparently uncertain until at least next month.
Costa Rican to head UN climate body
21 May 2010
The daughter of a former president of Costa Rica has been named the United Nations new climate chief.
Minister's credit allocation powers remain on hold
14 May 2010
The Government says it has not considered using ministerial discretion on the allocation of free carbon credits to big emitters of greenhouse gases.
Business group wants right to use hot-air AAUs
14 May 2010
Business lobbyists are pushing for the right to use foreign AAUs (assigned amount units) to offset their New Zealand carbon liabilities.
Should we have tax cuts or extend emissions subsidies beyond 95%?
14 May 2010
ANALYSIS: Now the Government has shut the front door on delaying the ETS, the country’s largest emitters are knocking on the back one to get more free emission credits.
Australia votes $652m for renewable energy
14 May 2010
Australia has announced a $A652 million fund for renewable energy, two weeks after it shelved its carbon trading legislation.
Climate change could make half the world a desert
14 May 2010
Climate change could make half of the world uninhabitable for humans as a rise in temperature makes it too hot to survive, scientists have warned.
Climate dice dangerously loaded, says Hansen
14 May 2010
Evidence for global warming has mounted but public awareness of the threat has shrunk, due to a cold northern winter and finger-pointing at the UN's climate experts, leading NASA scientist James Hansen has warned.
UN bans Bulgaria from carbon trading
14 May 2010
Bulgaria will be banned from carbon emission trading as of June 30 after a United Nations body opened a procedure to revoke its accreditation under the Kyoto Protocol.
World must act to salvage biodiversity, says UN
14 May 2010
A new biodiversity report released by two United Nations environmental bodies says that unless radical and creative action is taken quickly to conserve the variety of life on Earth, natural systems that support lives and livelihoods are at risk of collapsing.
Why the Gulf oil spill doesn't matter
7 May 2010
By Jeff Siegel.- While environmentalists rally and politicians chase opinion polls, investors are now trying to gauge how BP’s Gulf oil incident will affect energy and climate change legislation.
May 10, 2010 - Wellington climate change plan consultation closes
7 May 2010
Consultation on Wellington City Council's draft 2010 Climate Change Action Plan closes this coming Monday, 10 May at 5pm.
No climate deal this year, says UN climate chief
7 May 2010
Outgoing United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer believes there will be no comprehensive climate treaty this year, saying that a major UN conference in December would yield only a first answer on curbing greenhouse gases.
India talks tough in runup to Mexico
7 May 2010
India has made one of the strongest formal submissions in recent times for climate change negotiations, hardening its stance ahead of a hectic six months of talks leading to a key meeting in Mexico in November.
Scientists hit the skies to measure gas emissions
7 May 2010
The state of California is about to become a giant playground for more than 200 atmospheric scientists.
Scientists pick peers to review UN panel
7 May 2010
A 12-member committee has been chosen to conduct an independent review of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Meet the grolar bear ... and there's more oddballs to come
7 May 2010
Climate change could lead to the creation of new Arctic species, a marine expert believes.
Carbon market wide open to doubtful deals
30 Apr 2010
The Government might be moving to clean up the regulations around the financial markets, but investors in the emerging carbon market lack the same protections.
Aussie states could run own ETS, says minister
30 Apr 2010
Australian states have been told they could run their own carbon trading scheme, now the Federal Government has postponed its proposed Emissions Trading Scheme.
Senate climate bill just keeps on rollin’ along
30 Apr 2010
The public progress of the United States Senate attempt to write a comprehensive climate change energy bill has ground to a halt, but an outline of the bill’s major provisions is moving forward.
Climate change hitting home, say US experts
30 Apr 2010
Climate change is already affecting the United States, causing sea level changes, melting glaciers, and triggering wildlife migration, according to a new study by the Environmental Protection Agency.
UN pushes clean energy access to fight poverty
30 Apr 2010
Increasing access to clean energy and improving its efficiency will be vital to both enhancing global prosperity and combating climate change, according to a new report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s advisory group on the nexus between energy and climate.
Careful, warns Castro, we could kill ourselves
30 Apr 2010
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has warned of the aftermath of uncontrollable climate change and the side effects of scientific progress.
Charles has been busy making movies
30 Apr 2010
Prince Charles - once ridiculed for talking to plants - has made a film about climate change and attempts to find innovative solutions to global environmental problems.
Markit chief slams Kiwis' lack of carbon nous
23 Apr 2010
New Zealand risks missing the chance to reap the rewards of the emerging clean-tech economy because its leaders are fixated on the negatives, warns the head of the world's leading environmental exchange.
Senators miss Earth Day climate bill deadline
23 Apr 2010
Senators hoping to make a splash on Earth Day with the announcement of a long-awaited US climate bill proposal will now not move until next Tuesday.
Giant solar power station for the Alice
23 Apr 2010
A solar power station – the largest technology of its type in Australia – will be built at Alice Springs airport.
Coastal research body to turn science into action
23 Apr 2010
An $11 million collaboration aimed at helping Australia to translate science into practical applications for adapting to climate change, population growth and other coastal pressures has been launched in Perth.
Support for ETS slumps further, says business lobby
23 Apr 2010
Business support for the Emissions Trading Scheme, due to start for emitters on July 1, appears to have slumped, says the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern).
What the emitters and minister are writing to each other
16 Apr 2010
Carbon News has the correspondence between the Climate Change Issues Minister and large emiters on the future of the emissions trading scheme.
Why farming chief is turning his back on $30,000
16 Apr 2010
Federated Farmers boss Don Nicolson says he’s not interested in claiming carbon credits for his forest.
Senators book Earth Day for new energy plan
16 Apr 2010
Senators working on an energy plan for the United States say they are on track to release their proposals on Earth Day, April 22.
Coal the fuel of the future, Congress told
16 Apr 2010
Executives from the world's largest coal companies told Congress yesterday their industry is providing the fuel of the future.
'Climategate' scientists sloppy but not bad
16 Apr 2010
Climate change researchers accused of manipulating or hiding data in last year's "Climategate" affair were guilty of sloppy record-keeping but not bad science, an independent panel in Britain has concluded.
Indecision could fuel huge power price rises
16 Apr 2010
Australians’ power bills are set to treble by 2020 under government policies, yet the country will still fail to meet the government's most cautious emissions targets, one of the country's biggest generators has warned.
Effects of climate change not to be sneezed at
16 Apr 2010
Climate change could push the cost of United States allergies and asthma beyond the current $32 billion annual price tag, according to conservation and health groups.
ETS delay comes at a cost, warn foresters
9 Apr 2010
Delaying the emissions trading scheme would cost the country more in the long run, say forest owners.
Tokyo kicks off Asia’s first trading scheme
9 Apr 2010
Plans for a national Japanese emissions trading scheme might still be mired in confusion, but that has not stopped Tokyo winning the race to launch Asia's first carbon trading initiative.
UK poll rivals agree to agree on climate
9 Apr 2010
The three main parties in the UK general election in four weeks agree on at least two things - that humanity is causing global warming and that urgent action must be taken to combat it.
Satellite to check climate change impact on ice
9 Apr 2010
The European Space Agency is launching a satellite that scientists hope will help them to pin down the effects of global warming on the Earth's ice packs more precisely.
Climate scientist Hansen pockets $100,000
9 Apr 2010
American climate scientist James Hansen has won a $100,000 environmental prize for decades of work trying to alert politicians to what he called an unsolved emergency of global warming.
Govt stays silent over future of ETS
1 Apr 2010
The Government appears to have gone to ground over rumours it is considering postponing the entry of heavy emitters into the emissions trading scheme.
... meanwhile, the clock is ticking for big emitters
1 Apr 2010
Heavy industrial emitters of greenhouse gases have got a month to apply for free carbon credits from the Government.
Kiwi dollars might fund overseas research
1 Apr 2010
Part of the $45 million the Government has pledged to the Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be spent on research in other countries.
Kiwis sticking to green values, despite recession
1 Apr 2010
Politicians ignore New Zealanders' concerns about the environment at their peril, says the Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Climate change faces the trillion-dollar question
1 Apr 2010
Political and business leaders gather in London today to try to revive the world's faltering challenge to global warming.
We’re too stupid to stop it, says Lovelock
1 Apr 2010
Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades.
Obama changes mind on offshore oil drilling
1 Apr 2010
US President Barack Obama has unveiled a controversial plan to extend drilling for oil and gas off America's coasts.
US oil company paid sceptics, says report
1 Apr 2010
A little-known, privately owned US oil company has been named as the paymaster of global warming sceptics in the US and Europe.
Repentant Pachauri slips into neutral
1 Apr 2010
The outspoken chairman of the UN’s climate change body is to adopt a neutral advisory role and has agreed to stop making statements demanding new taxes and other radical policies on cutting emissions.
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'.
