Topics tagged with 'Science'
Researchers test new way to remove carbon dioxide from air
29 Jul 2024
Media release | A new method to pump carbon dioxide out of the air has been developed by scientists from the UK and New Zealand.
Media round-up
26 Jul 2024
In our weekly round-up of climate coverage in local media: major failings in Hawke's Bay Cyclone Gabrielle response; how fast-track delayed a key climate policy; and the problem with the government’s science and innovation policies.
Tasmanian 'Eco-Milk' tests shoppers' thirst for climate-friendly dairy
26 Jul 2024
A small dairy in Tasmania is stocking supermarket shelves with what it says is the world's first branded milk produced by cows fed with a seaweed that makes them emit lower levels of environmentally damaging methane gas.
Govt funding cuts “throttling” climate work
12 Jul 2024
A coalition of scientists say that the government axing half a billion dollars of science funding and scrapping more than 350 specialist science roles will sabotage vital work across climate, the environment, and farming.
At-risk islands are missing from climate change models, researchers warn
12 Jul 2024
Urgent international cooperation is required to provide small island states and territories with the information they need to respond effectively to the existential threat of climate change.
Oceanic and coastal water temperatures highest recorded
10 Jul 2024
Media release | Between 2022 and 2023, oceanic and coastal waters around Aotearoa New Zealand reached their warmest annual temperatures since the series began in 1982, according to data released by Stats NZ today.
Climate change is making scientists reassess what is "normal"
4 Jul 2024
Media release | NIWA has completed a major project to analyse how New Zealand’s "climate normals" are shifting.
NZ’s wettest and driest spells to become more extreme
4 Jul 2024
Media release | A new study published yesterday shows how a warming climate will impact New Zealand’s wet and dry weather extremes, giving decision-makers the power to plan for the future.
Media round-up
14 Jun 2024
In our weekly round-up of the climate coverage in local media: Uncertainty abounds in the ETS; a major Atlantic current collapsing could disrupt NZ’s climate again; and is the government focussing on drilling or climate ambition – it can’t be both.
University of Canterbury research 'curbing our carbon conundrum'
14 Jun 2024
Media release | Crushing rocks, injecting CO underground, and burning trees; UC researchers are finding solutions to Aotearoa New Zealand’s 100 million tonne carbon problem.
Hottest June temperature ever
13 Jun 2024
The mercury hit a high on Monday, setting a new national temperature record of 25.7C for June.
Basic income can double global GDP while reducing carbon emissions
11 Jun 2024
Media release | Giving a regular cash payment to the entire world population has the potential to increase global gross domestic product (GDP) by 130%.
‘No additional warming’ for methane target - but relative to when, asks expert?
7 Jun 2024
Advocates of the government’s methane review will probably be disappointed to learn that aligning the target with “no additional warming” might not give farmers the green light to relax about their methane emissions.
Humanity must extract seven to nine billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year
5 Jun 2024
Media release | New State of Carbon Dioxide Removal report shows the need for a much stronger set of policies.
Flood damage a growing risk for NZ’s kelp forests
27 May 2024
Media release | Timber slash and debris from flooding events is decimating Aotearoa New Zealand’s vital underwater kelp forests, a nationwide study shows.
Environment commissioner calls for separate ETS for methane
23 May 2024
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has again called for forestry to be phased out of the Emissions Trading Scheme and is calling for a separate ETS for methane.
We’ve underestimated the ‘Doomsday’ glacier - and the consequences could be devastating
23 May 2024
The Thwaites Glacier, dubbed ‘Doomsday’, could trigger a two-foot rise in global sea levels if it melts completely.
Antarctica likely storing more carbon than previously thought
21 May 2024
Media release | Antarctica is likely a carbon storage powerhouse, according to NIWA.
Concern over job losses at Scion
17 May 2024
Foresters are “deeply apprehensive” over potential redundancies of scientists at Scion, with a proposed 30 jobs losses - about 10% the forestry crown research institute’s workforce.
Carbon pricing works: major meta-study
17 May 2024
Media release | Carbon pricing systems achieve between 5% and 21% emission reductions in their first few years of operation, according to a new study.
‘Unprecedented’: CO2 in the atmosphere is rising 10 times faster than at any point over 50,000 years
17 May 2024
Ice built up in the Antarctic over hundreds of thousands of years is helping scientists to understand today's climate.
Major conference for Pacific experts on Indigenous knowledge and climate crisis
9 May 2024
More than 60 Pacific experts are at a conference looking at the intersection between Indigenous knowledge and the climate crisis, hosted by the University of Canterbury.
Kiwi company aims to make alternative protein from carbon emissions
6 May 2024
A New Zealand-based start-up has raised $1 million towards commercialising production of an alternative protein made with carbon emissions.
Commission rejects basis for review of methane targets - but methane vaccines could be good news for ag sector
9 Apr 2024
The Climate Change Commission has rejected the basis of a new, separate review of Aotearoa’s methane target in its advice released yesterday.
Best by the rest...
5 Apr 2024
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in local media: How to avoid a billion climate deaths? Why pressure must increase to cut emissions; and the Maōri king and other indigenous Pacific leaders sign up to granting whales legal personhood.
Scientists warn Australians to prepare for megadroughts lasting more than 20 years
5 Apr 2024
New research shows megadroughts lasting up to 20 years or more have occurred in Australia in the past and could happen again.
Half of Tairāwhiti at risk of erosion - new data
28 Mar 2024
An estimated 182 million tonnes of eroded soil entered New Zealand's rivers in 2022, according to new research.
Mountain species at risk of extinction due to climate change
28 Mar 2024
Experts say an international study that has found species in mountain regions are at risk of extinction due to rapidly rising temperatures has worrying implications for New Zealand.
Methane-detecting satellite launched with NZ govt backing
6 Mar 2024
A long-awaited satellite designed to accurately detect methane emissions from space finally launched yesterday, with New Zealand backing.
Native snails heading for extinction
27 Feb 2024
Media release | New Zealand has some of the most spectacular land snails in the world, but they’re sliding to extinction – and climate change is a major factor.
Researchers looking to develop ‘resilience credit’
20 Feb 2024
Researchers are hoping to develop the world’s first 'resilience credit' as the ultimate goal of a project looking at how salt marshes and mangroves could protect the Bay of Plenty’s coastline from climate change.
Kiwi researchers rewriting climate history
13 Feb 2024
New Zealand researchers say they have rewritten the deep time history of Earth’s temperature record with findings that disprove ideas that early oceans were hot.
A leading data scientist's journey from doomism to climate hope
12 Feb 2024
Data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that planetary damage could be about to peak – but that the US election result could be "pivotal".
Scientists call for a new hurricane category as storms intensify
7 Feb 2024
Kiwi scientists are welcoming international research suggesting we need a new hurricane category to communicate just how much more intense the biggest tropical cyclones are expected to become under climate change.
Sustainability and climate change concerns for Central Otago - new research
26 Jan 2024
Sustainability and climate are high on the list of concerns for people in Central Otago - and they don’t want a new airport, according to research released today.
Climate crisis to blame for more extreme weather - NIWA
24 Jan 2024
Scientists have been working on joining the dots between human-driven climate change and more extreme weather since the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
Octopus DNA contains grave warning for sea level rise
22 Dec 2023
Media Release | Scientists have used octopus DNA to discover that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) likely collapsed during the Last Interglacial period around 120,000 years ago when global temperatures were similar to today.
NZ a consistent carbon sink - new research
21 Dec 2023
Aotearoa is a consistent carbon sink, while Australia switches between being a carbon sink and a carbon source, according to new research.
Powerful climate deniers delay action in NZ: new report
18 Dec 2023
Most New Zealanders believe in climate change and its human cause - but climate change deniers are often over-represented in powerful positions and are delaying action, according to new research.
Climate change might be to blame for ozone hole - new research
22 Nov 2023
Ozone levels above Antarctica may not be recovering after all, and climate change might be to blame, according to NZ scientists.
Bottom trawling risks releasing massive ocean CO2 sink: new report
17 Nov 2023
New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone contains about 2,240 million tonnes of organic carbon or 1% of the estimated global carbon stocks in marine sediments, a report commissioned by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has found.
Heat-related deaths could increase fivefold by middle of 21st century
16 Nov 2023
Heat-related deaths could increase almost fivefold by the middle of the century, according to an international WHO co-authored report by more than 100 researchers.
New study highlights need to address risk of continued global warming after net zero
16 Nov 2023
From scorching heat waves to torrential downpours and devastating storms, the disastrous effects of global warming are sweeping across the world.
Global heating is accelerating, warns scientist who sounded climate alarm in the 80s
6 Nov 2023
Study delivers dire warning although rate of increase is debated by some scientists amid a record-breaking year of heat.
NZ’s response to climate change ‘hangs in the balance’: scientists
3 Nov 2023
Scientists are calling on the incoming government to urgently rebuild the country’s research, science and innovation sector - with our climate change response at risk.
Marsden Fund grants for climate research
2 Nov 2023
Research into climate and the energy transition are among 123 projects taking $83.59 million from this year’s Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden, the Marsden Fund, announced today.
New govt funding for climate research
30 Oct 2023
One third of this year’s Rutherford Fellowships are for climate research, with four of the 12 researchers tackling climate-related projects with $800,000 each from the fund over five years.
Proposal to include non-forestry land in NDC calculation
25 Oct 2023
By Jeremy Rose | A Cabinet minute from July of this year agreed in principle to include non-forest land in New Zealand’s nationally determined contribution.
10% of wilderness outside of Antarctica may be threatened by agriculture as the climate warms
20 Oct 2023
Media release | Expansions in crop farming across the globe are the biggest driving force of biodiversity loss in the wild. Now, in a new study publishing in the journal Current Biology on November 6, researchers have modeled how the world’s agricultural landscape could change over the next 40 years.
Sea-level rise likely to skyrocket if Paris Agreement targets not met
19 Oct 2023
Media release | The Greenland ice sheet is projected to undergo abrupt losses due to melting if global warming exceeds temperatures of around 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, according to a modelling study published in Nature.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center
Thu 18 Dec 2025
The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Minister not concerned about potential economic impacts of ruling out offshore mitigation
11 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | Climate Change Minister Simon Watts isn’t worried that ruling out using offshore mitigation is effectively reneging from the Paris Agreement with potential to damage New Zealand’s economy and access to export markets.
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.
$235 billion worth of NZ buildings exposed to flooding
30 Oct 2025
More than 750,000 New Zealanders live in locations exposed to one-in-100-year floods, according to a nationwide study which shows escalating flood risk.
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.
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.
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.
Are rainforests now a cause of, rather than the answer to, climate change?
Mon 15 Dec 2025
A new study finds that Africa’s forests, responsible for one-fifth of global carbon removal, are beginning to generate carbon as the result of human activity.
Canada unveils new rules to lower oil and gas methane emissions
Thu 18 Dec 2025
Canada announced long-promised rules on Tuesday aimed at dramatically reducing methane emissions from the country's oil and gas sector.
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.
Tribunal warns govt geothermal strategy risks Treaty breach
2 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government's geothermal development strategy risks breaching the Treaty of Waitangi, according to a report from the Waitangi Tribunal released last week.
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
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.
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'.
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.
The deep ocean is fixing carbon in ways no one expected
Tue 16 Dec 2025
A new study reveals that unexpected microbes are quietly fixing carbon in the dark depths of the ocean.
‘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.
Climate change policy moving to new mega-ministry
Wed 17 Dec 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | The Government’s primary adviser on climate change policy, the Ministry for the Environment, is to be folded into a new mega-agency that will also cover urban, transport, local government and housing.
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.
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.
EU waters down plans to end new petrol and diesel car sales by 2035
Wed 17 Dec 2025
The European Commission has watered down its plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.
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.
Australian market operator slashes wind farm predictions amid falling costs for solar and batteries
11 Dec 2025
The body that runs Australia's biggest power market has scaled back its plans for high-voltage power lines and wind farms to meet the country's green energy targets.
