Topics tagged with 'Kyoto'
NZ fires first COP23 shots in Fiji today
17 Oct 2017
Acting climate minister Paula Bennett will deliver New Zealand’s opening statement at the pre-COP climate talks in Fiji today.
Plant pines on public land, says Bluegreens chief
4 Oct 2017
The head of the National Party’s Bluegreens policy advisory group says pine trees should be planted on Department of Conservation land to offset New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.
E-vehicle policy lacking, say transport officials
28 Sep 2017
A second government department has said New Zealand’s current electric vehicle policy won’t get people out of fossil fuel-driven cars.
WINSTON'S THE WORD: What NZ First leader wants
25 Sep 2017
A party which has vowed to get rid of the Emissions Trading Scheme now holds the balance of power in New Zealand’s Parliament.
PICKY PROBLEM: What makes a carbon forest?
3 Aug 2017
The regeneration of vast areas of carbon-storing native forests is being hampered by “pickiness” over the definition of carbon forests.
Foresters fine, but the ETS has some problems
2 Aug 2017
The forestry sector has behaved rationally in response to the Emissions Trading Scheme - but the scheme itself hasn’t always been rational, a new analysis shows.
THE COUNT: At last, a leader talks climate policy
31 Jul 2017
Seven weeks out from the general election, we’ve finally got a political leader talking climate change policy – and it’s Winston Peters.
OPINION: Adaption versus mitigation
20 Jun 2017
Adaptation is about survival. Mitigation is about finding and implementing solutions to prevent the need to go into survival mode, says DR ANN SMITH chief executive of Enviro-Mark Solutions
How KiwiRail decision bites into e-car benefits
19 Jun 2017
The climate benefits of half New Zealand’s electric car fleet will be wiped out by the scrapping of electric train engines in favour of diesels, says an international sustainable energy expert.
Drought brings drop in greenhouse gas emissions
26 May 2017
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell slightly in 2015 - but only because a drought forced dairy farmers to cut production.
Officials have mid-year date with ETS changes
30 Mar 2017
Officials will report to the Government in the middle of the year on the next round of changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Farmers join in as landowners return to planting
29 Mar 2017
Landowners are planting forests again – and farmers looking to offset emissions appear to be among them.
Morganists want new approach to controls on farming
10 Mar 2017
The Opportunities Party would put a cap on New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, get rid of the $25 carbon price cap and free credits for heavy emitters and bring some agricultural emissions into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Aviation industry acts to reduce aircraft emissions
7 Mar 2017
The aviation industry is the first sector to introduce a global design standard on emissions.
America’s ‘hidden subsidies’ worth $170b a year
6 Mar 2017
Donald Trump wants to restrict or even abolish the US Environmental Protection Agency. In particular, he is proposing to dramatically limit the federal agency’s power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
Liquid hydrogen could fuel future air travel
1 Mar 2017
Liquid hydrogen might be the solution to the thorny problem of sustainable air travel.
Europe takes tough line on shipping emissions
27 Feb 2017
The European Parliament has lost patience with shipping industry inaction over climate change and has outlined plans to include vessels in its Emissions Trading System.
EDITORIAL: Numbers show the game is up
13 Feb 2017
By editor ADELIA HALLETT | Try these numbers: Humans are causing the climate to change at 170 times the natural rate. Our “carbon budget” to keep warming below 1.5deg will be used up in five years. New Zealand’s per person emissions work out to 18 tonnes a year each – nine times higher than the global allowance.
Include farming in ETS, says former climate envoy
3 Feb 2017
Our former climate ambassador says that agriculture should be brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme – even if it is treated differently.
Earthquake delays emissions inventory
14 Dec 2016
Last month’s 7.8 earthquake will delay the publication of New Zealand’s next Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
NZ goes shopping for Paris pact carbon credits
25 Nov 2016
New Zealand has started talking to countries about supplying carbon credits to help to meet its Paris Agreement emissions reduction pledge.
Forget Trump, global climate action is on the move
24 Nov 2016
International momentum for action on climate change is building, despite the United States electing Donald Trump president, says New Zealand’s climate change ambassador.
Will China and Europe form a powerful climate bloc?
24 Nov 2016
It seems almost certain that US President-elect Donald Trump will walk away from the Paris climate agreement next year. In the absence of US leadership, the question is: who will step up?
It's going well, says PM, as we pick up another fossil award
18 Nov 2016
The Prime Minister says the Emissions Trading Scheme is operating “pretty well”.
Musings from Marrakech ...
18 Nov 2016
Green Party MP Dr Kennedy Graham, a former diplomat and veteran of international climate change negotiations, reports from the latest round, in Marrakech.
MARRAKECH MESSAGE: We've got enough clean credits
16 Nov 2016
New Zealand is likely to use 38.1 million tonnes of its surplus carbon credits to meet its next emissions reduction target and will not need access to international markets, climate change talks in Morocco have heard.
DODGY CREDITS: What does Treasury really think?
15 Nov 2016
Treasury’s opinion on whether New Zealand should retire more carbon credits to make up for the “dodgy” units it surrendered to meet it first emissions reduction pledge remains tantalisingly out of sight.
KYOTO QUERY: Is NZ carbon units stand legal?
11 Nov 2016
New Zealand’s legal ability to use carried-over Kyoto carbon units to meet its 2020 emissions reduction target is being questioned.
Australia ratifies, under a large Trump-shaped shadow
11 Nov 2016
Australia has announced that it is to ratify the Paris climate agreement, which entered into force last Friday.
We might be better than we think at absorbing carbon
9 Nov 2016
New research reveals that the ability of New Zealand’s land biosphere to absorb carbon could be 50 per cent more than currently estimated.
Hopes rise for solution to forest-split problem
7 Nov 2016
The door is slightly open for the Government to reconsider the contentious pre-1990/post-1989 forestry split under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
NZ wins praise for work in global carbon markets
4 Nov 2016
New Zealand is showing “true leadership” on the development of global carbon markets, a new report says.
Border tax could cut emissions, says NZ economist
21 Oct 2016
The US, China and the European Union should bring in border taxes on carbon emissions contained in imported products not already taxed in their countries of origin, according to a former New Zealand cabinet minister.
Millions worth of free credits sit in private accounts
20 Oct 2016
Non-forestry carbon credits worth more than $350 million – many of them given by taxpayers to large industrial emitters – are sitting in private carbon accounts.
Bennett in no rush to surrender extra credits
11 Oct 2016
The Government will not surrender extra carbon credits to cover the environmentally worthless credits New Zealand used to meet its first emissions reduction target – at least not yet.
Govt knew use of hot-air credits would draw fire
10 Oct 2016
The Government was warned last year that New Zealand could face criticism for using hot-air credits to meet its 2020 emissions reduction target, documents show.
Opposition slams Government carbon credits plan
6 Oct 2016
New Zealand’s plans to buy its way out of emissions reductions run foul of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change, Opposition parties say.
Airline emissions deal could boost offset bills
3 Oct 2016
A new global market-based measure for aviation emissions could see New Zealand having to offset 3 million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year.
Govt learns we can't cut emissions and sell more milk
28 Sep 2016
The Government knows its economic strategy of increasing agricultural exports cannot go on if New Zealand is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a confidential paper shows.
PARIS PACT: Morganists say NZ must sell units
23 Sep 2016
The Government must cancel all surplus carbon units it’s sitting on in 2020 as part of ratifying the Paris Agreement, says the group that wrote the Climate Cheats report.
Ukraine ratifies Paris Agreement
21 Sep 2016
Ukraine – the source of many of the low-value carbon credits that have so embarrassed the New Zealand Government – is the latest country to ratify the Paris Agreement.
Gas emissions (the reported kind) take a dive
16 Sep 2016
New Zealand’s reported greenhouse gas emissions have fallen drastically.
PACIFIC PARIAH: Australia’s love of coal has left it out in the diplomatic cold
8 Sep 2016
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will have some explaining to do when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting in Pohnpei, Micronesia, this week.
Bennett all ears as Canberra talks about Paris
1 Sep 2016
New Zealand climate change minister Paula Bennett was in Australia’s Parliament yesterday when the Paris Agreement on climate change was tabled.
Dodgy dealing cost us dearly, says Asia expert
30 Aug 2016
Using dodgy carbon credits has damaged New Zealand’s chances of becoming an Asian carbon trading hub, says an expert on doing business in South-East Asia.
NZ looks for carbon credit trading friends
19 Aug 2016
New Zealand is stepping up the hunt for sources of quality carbon credits to help to meet its international emissions reduction targets.
Bennett rules out parties' two key climate points
18 Aug 2016
Carbon budgeting and a climate commission are not on the table for cross-party talks on climate change.
DIRTY DOZEN: Big firms who traded in cheap units
16 Aug 2016
Some of New Zealand’s largest carbon emitters, along with forestry companies and even iwi are among the organisations that used cheap EURs to meet their liabilities under the Emissions Trading Scheme, a new report shows.
Anxious farmers keen to keep carbon subsidies
10 Aug 2016
Farmers – already exempt from liability for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions from their businesses – urged the Government to keep other subsidies in place to further protect them from carbon pricing.
Why we need a carbon tax ... as well as an ETS
18 Jul 2016
New Zealand needs a carbon tax as well as the Emissions Trading Scheme if it is to meet its promise to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, new research shows.
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'.
