Topics tagged with 'Kyoto'
Government commits to halving NZ emissions with billions of dollars of offshore offsets
1 Nov 2021
The government yesterday announced a more ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution that will see the “the amount of pollution NZ is responsible for” halved by 2030.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 1
1 Nov 2021
Journalist Alastair Thompson chats to Carbon News editor Jeremy Rose about the opening day of COP26 and the stand out performance of a young New Zealand delegate: India Logan-Riley.
National pushing for bilateral carbon market agreements
28 Oct 2021
The National Party is calling on the government to establish bilateral carbon market agreements regardless of the outcome of Article 6 negotiations at the upcoming COP26 Summit in Glasgow.
On forestry, COP26 must avoid double counting of carbon removals: scientist
28 Oct 2021
Global leaders must not allow the double counting of emissions removals from forestry during negotiations at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, says Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele.
Australia pledges net zero emissions by 2050
27 Oct 2021
Leading global coal and gas supplier Australia has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
UN praises updated NDCs but still"nowhere near goal"
27 Oct 2021
Media release - New or updated climate action plans by governments can be effective in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but greater efforts are needed to keep global warming at bay, the UN climate change office says.
Warning that 42 countries are at risk of sinking below the waves due to climate change
15 Oct 2021
Some of the world's smallest countries could "disappear" without action at an upcoming UN summit to contain climate change, the secretary general of the Commonwealth has warned.
"Udder bullshit", leave it to the ETS, way to go: lobby groups respond to ERP
14 Oct 2021
Yesterday’s release of a discussion document on the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan has resulted in a flood of press releases. The verdicts range from “udder bullshit” and leave to the ETS to you’re on the right track but you’re not going fast enough.
Helsinki's climate moonshot
14 Oct 2021
Helsinki deserves credit for modeling not only how to set an innovative climate goal, but also how to craft a novel process to achieve it, writes MIT's Carlo Ratti.
Govt proposes allowing more emissions in the short-term and steeper cuts in the future
13 Oct 2021
THE government is proposing increasing the emissions budget recommended by the Climate Change Commission for the 2022-25 period by 2 megatonnes carbon dioxide equivalents, followed by cuts of 5Mt CO2e for the 2026-30 period, and 11 Mt CO2e in the 2031 – 31 period.
China's coal convulsion threatens climate goals
13 Oct 2021
China's energy crisis is a wild card in the fraught efforts to secure a meaningful deal at the UN climate summit in Glasgow.
“The fight is on” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees: climate change ambassador
8 Oct 2021
New Zealand’s climate change ambassador Kay Harrison told a webinar this morning that “the fight is on” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees at the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow.
COP26 urged to prioritise adaptation as climate emergency surges
7 Sep 2021
On the heels of last month’s warning from the UN climate science panel that extreme weather and rising seas are hitting faster than expected, leaders have called for more money and political will to help people adapt to the new reality.
Europe could miss its 2030 greenhouse gas targets by 21 years
6 Sep 2021
Europe might be making progress on reducing emissions, but its largest utility company doesn't think officials are moving quickly enough. Reuters reports Enel has issued a study warning Europe could be late on reducing greenhouse gas emissions if it continues at its "current pace.
10 YEARS AGO...
1 Jun 2021
Ten years ago, the Sustainability Council was warning the public purse could be facing between $1 billion and $5 billion in liabilities as a result of Kyoto commitments.
$800 per tonne methane tax floated in UN report
7 May 2021
A major UN study on methane, released today, calls for a cut in the consumption of meat and dairy products of up to 50 per cent and observes that a global tax of $US800 per tonne of methane would result in a 75 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050.
Lest we forget: the carbon footprint of war
27 Apr 2021
With global spending on the military just shy of US$2 trillion in 2020, it’s hardly a surprise that the world’s armies are a major contributor to climate change.
Fonterra rejects climate claims
21 Apr 2021
Fonterra is dismissing a claim in Climatic Change – a leading academic journal – that it is the world’s second highest dairy emitter and is responsible for emissions equal to New Zealand’s total emissions target for the coming decade.
The campaign against the climate
20 Apr 2021
A 30-year-long project by some in the oil industry, who have spent millions of dollars manipulating public opinion and perceptions of climate change, is revealed in a new Al Jazeera documentary by Danish filmmaker Mads Ellesoe.
Asia pushes ahead on carbon markets
16 Apr 2021
Despite the economic challenges posed by Covid-19, the past year was marked by a growing number of pledges from Asian countries to reach carbon neutrality.
10 YEARS AGO...
15 Apr 2021
Ten years ago, Carbon News was reporting the ETS had failed to boost forest planting.
10 YEARS AGO...
14 Apr 2021
Ten years ago, NZ was on target to meet its Kyoto targets (a truly distant memory.)
Agriculture and energy sector account for 90 per cent of emissions
13 Apr 2021
Agriculture and the energy sector accounted for 90 per cent of New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, according to the Ministry of the Environment’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 – 2019 released today.
Paying for ecosystem services to save the planet
12 Mar 2021
The idea that ecosystems have monetary value now has global support — and creates a route to protecting Earth’s endangered regions.
Proving that taking care of forest pays carbon dividends
18 Feb 2021
New Zealand’s vast native forests may yet help the country meet its emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Australia will not be given speaking slot at climate summit, Morrison says
11 Dec 2020
Scott Morrison has signalled Australia will not be granted a speaking slot at a climate ambition summit this weekend, despite telling Parliament a week ago he would attend to “correct mistruths” about the Government’s heavily criticised record on emissions reduction.
Japan's emissions at record low
9 Dec 2020
Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.7 per cent to a record low in the 2019 financial year that ended March 2020, government figures showed on Tuesday, thanks to growing use of renewable energy and lower energy consumption by manufacturers.
Upton, Parker - Nats stopped the ETS working
17 Nov 2020
New Zealand’s failure to seriously address its emissions problem through the 2010s has come under fire from two politicians whose attempts to effectively price carbon were thwarted by National Governments.
TEN YEARS AGO ...
13 Nov 2020
Ten years ago, climate minister Tim Groser was off to Washington to talk to the Major Economies Forum about his ideas for cutting global emissions.
US is now out of the Paris Agreement
5 Nov 2020
The United States is now officially the only country in the world refusing to participate in global climate efforts, with the fate of the crisis hanging on the still uncalled presidential election.
Resolve carbon market dispute to step up ambition, says UK
2 Nov 2020
Countries have a collective responsibility to agree on common rules for a global carbon market, to drive greater climate ambition beyond 2021, says the United Kingdom's lead climate negotiator.
Delivering credit for carbon storage
19 Oct 2020
In 1915, Mike Gibbs’ ancestors made their way from the flat, agricultural plains of Southland to the wild, steep, forested edge of Eastern Fiordland.
How does the COP26 delay affect GHG emissions?
14 Oct 2020
Will delaying the COP26 UN climate negotiations impact international action to decarbonise? Would catch-up talks help? Could the talks collapse because countries stopped paying their dues?
Nigeria, Jamaica bring closure to the Kyoto Protocol era
6 Oct 2020
The Doha Amendment will come into force this year after Nigeria became the 144th country to ratify the climate treaty, in a last-minute scramble to tie the loose ends of the Kyoto Protocol era.
Most parties get a 'fail' on climate and health
30 Sep 2020
Just one political party has policies that comprehensively address the threat climate change poses to the country’s health, a new analysis show.
Australia’s gas plans could use quarter of world’s carbon budget
11 Sep 2020
A push to develop Australia’s gas resources could jeopardise global efforts keep global warming to safe levels, eating up more than a quarter of the world’s remaining carbon budget, a new report suggests.
IPCC: the dirty tricks faced by scientists over three decades
7 Sep 2020
Thirty years ago, in a small Swedish city called Sundsvall, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its first major report.
Household consumption driving our emissions
27 Aug 2020
Our attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are being undermined by New Zealand's growing consumerism.
Australia claims climate success
2 Jul 2020
Despite three decades of relative inaction on climate change and stalling from successive Australian Governments, the Morrison Government has claimed success in meeting Australia’s targets under the Kyoto Protocol, which came to an end on Wednesday.
Parker whips home third leg of climate trifecta
26 Jun 2020
The third leg of the Government’s climate change legislation trifecta came home this week.
Parker has trade pact proposal, will travel
25 Jun 2020
New Zealand will take the proposed ground-breaking Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability to the table in trade talks with the United Kingdom.
Fewer emissions, but we need to be doing more
15 Apr 2020
New Zealand’s emissions fell slightly in 2018 – but not because the country has changed its behaviour.
Energy producers cut CO2 emissions
12 Feb 2020
Carbon dioxide emissions from energy production in the developed world has finally fallen to the level it was at in 1990, the Kyoto Protocol baseline year.
Why and what we should learn from bushfires
7 Feb 2020
Wildfires raging in Australia this summer show why New Zealand must include emissions from natural disasters in its climate reporting, says an expert on environmental accounting.
Australia wrong about our Kyoto credits
30 Jan 2020
New Zealand comes out on top in a row with Australia about climate change, according to The Guardian.
Shaw criticises 'handful of countries'
17 Dec 2019
Climate minister James Shaw says a handful of countries are preventing the settling of rules governing global carbon markets.
Kyoto credits threaten Paris Agreement
13 Dec 2019
Allowing countries to carry Kyoto credits forward could effectively kill the Paris Agreement, negotiators are being told.
Shaw expects late move on carbon trading
12 Dec 2019
Any breakthrough in talks over rules governing international carbon trading is likely to come at the last minute, says climate minister James Shaw.
PLEASE EXPLAIN: NZ faces grilling at Madrid meet
9 Dec 2019
New Zealand faces up to the world in Madrid today to explain how it is meeting its emissions reduction targets despite a 23 per cent rise in gross emissions and 65 per cent rise in net emissions since 1990.
Jump to it, Jacinda, says global carbon watchdog
5 Dec 2019
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is under international pressure to increase New Zealand’s 2030 emissions reduction target in line with the Paris Agreement.
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
Today 12:30pm
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
Tue 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
Today 12:30pm
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
Today 12:30pm
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
Wed 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
Today 12:30pm
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
Today 12:30pm
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
Wed 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.
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.
Govt slammed for weakening methane target
Mon 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
Mon 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.
Three Greenpeace activists removed by police from Fonterra
Wed 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.
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.
Wetlands and biodiversity at risk as mining rules loosen: Greenpeace
Today 12:30pm
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
Tue 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
Today 12:30pm
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
Tue 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
Tue 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.
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
Today 12:30pm
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'.
