Topics tagged with 'United Nations'
World has its best chance yet to slash emissions – if it seizes the opportunity: IPCC
5 Apr 2022
The world has its best chance yet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, but hard and fast cuts are needed across all sectors and nations to hold warming to safe levels, the global authority on climate change says.
The UN's 10,000-page red alert on climate change
5 Apr 2022
Accelerating global warming is driving a rising tide of impacts that could cause profound human misery and ecological disaster, and there is only one way to avoid catastrophe: drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientists race to finish key IPCC report
4 Apr 2022
UN scientists have worked through the weekend to complete a key report on how to restrict the greenhouse gases that are warming the planet.
UN asks NZ’s Rod Carr to join major global group
1 Apr 2022
Media Release - The UN’s secretary general António Guterres has asked New Zealand’s Dr Rod Carr to join an elite world group to look into climate change issues.
France fails to meet court deadline to get Paris climate deal objectives back on track
1 Apr 2022
With 10 days to go to the French presidential election, the government has just broken a deadline to realign itself with the Paris Climate Agreement objectives.
After US fails to pay its debt, UN’s flagship climate fund warns of austerity
31 Mar 2022
The head of the UN’s flagship climate fund has warned that it will have to reject emissions-cutting projects if its donors do not provide more resources.
Ukraine war accelerates climate emergencies in Horn of Africa
29 Mar 2022
In some parts of the region, famine is now not just a threat, it is waiting, says UNICEF's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Mohamed Fall.
World ‘sleepwalking’ to climate catastrophe: UN chief
22 Mar 2022
UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday the world is “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe”, with major economies allowing carbon pollution to increase when drastic cuts are needed.
IPCC scientists to examine carbon removal in key report
22 Mar 2022
UN scientists are likely to weigh up technology to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, as they gather to finalise a key report.
UN report to lay out options to halt climate crisis
21 Mar 2022
Nearly 200 nations gather today to confront a question that will outlive Russia's invasion of Ukraine: how do we stop carbon pollution overheating the planet and threatening life as we know it?
UN climate change negotiating bloc rejects Russia, condemning its invasion of Ukraine
11 Mar 2022
As the international community seeks to cut off Russia from the global economy, there are moves to isolate Moscow diplomatically in the climate space.
Experts call for moratorium on deep-sea mining
9 Mar 2022
A troupe of environmental activists descended on Rotterdam, Netherlands, last month for an evocative demonstration. Dressed as jellyfish, sea anemones, and “fisher folk,” protestors from the advocacy group Ocean Rebellion sang songs and projected messages onto the hull of a 750-foot-long drilling ship, urging policymakers to protect the seafloor from mining companies.
World agrees to negotiate a ‘historic’ treaty on plastic pollution
4 Mar 2022
World leaders concluded the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly on Wednesday with a promise to the world: By 2024, delegates will broker a binding, international treaty addressing the full life cycle of plastics — including its production and design.
‘Atlas of Human Suffering’ only matters if countries take action
3 Mar 2022
After two days of absorbing, parsing, and reading analyses of this week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, one conclusion shines through: the compendium that UN Secretary General António Guterres calls an “atlas of human suffering” will only matter if countries take action.
An "atlas of human suffering": Guterres
1 Mar 2022
"An atlas human of suffering" was UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres pithy summary of the latest climate report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change yesterday.
New UN report set to paint stark picture of impacts of climate change
28 Feb 2022
A NEW UN science report [being released at midnight tonight NZ time] is set to send what may be the starkest warning yet about the impacts of climate change on people and the planet.
Russian official apologizes to Ukraine at climate science meeting
28 Feb 2022
A Russian government representative apologized to Ukraine and said there was no justification for his country's invasion during a meeting of climate scientists and governments on Sunday morning
UN report warns climate change could spur 50% more wildfires by 2100
25 Feb 2022
A UN report has found governments are spending too much money on fire suppression and not enough on prevention.
Survey of gender bias in the IPCC
9 Feb 2022
Women are increasingly prominent in climate negotiations. Familiar figures include United Nations climate chiefs Patricia Espinosa and Christiana Figueres, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and youth activist Greta Thunberg. Yet gender equity is far from being realized across the climate research community, including in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Countries back away from pledge to update climate goals this year
2 Feb 2022
EVEN before the ink was dry on the Glasgow pact, questions about how many nations would actually honor their pledges were already circulating.
Germany's Annalena Baerbock criticises Russia over SC climate veto
15 Dec 2021
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticised Russia on Tuesday for blocking UN efforts to tackle climate change.
Who will be the judge of countries' climate plans?
13 Dec 2021
Countries have until the end of next year to ensure their climate commitments meet the Paris agreement's cap on global warming. But who will check that their promises really do stack up?
Security Council to vote on historic climate change resolution
13 Dec 2021
The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution on climate change and security today which was co-authored by Ireland and Niger, the co-penholders on the climate file.
Land and water ecosystems, 'stressed to a critical point': FAO
13 Dec 2021
Land and water resources are “stressed to a critical point”, following significant deterioration over the past decade, according to a major new report released on Thursday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
African Union urged to bring political clout to Egypt climate talks
9 Dec 2021
Africa has been trying for years to get its special needs and circumstances officially recognised in UN climate talks, without success. The bloc left Glasgow last month disenchanted once again.
UN Security Council considers first ever resolution on security implications of climate change
3 Dec 2021
The United Nations Security Council may be about to pass its first-ever resolution on the implications of climate change for peace and security. The council has talked about climate security since 2007, and it has acknowledged that environmental challenges such as droughts and degradation of farming land can fuel conflicts in regions like the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. But it has not laid out a systematic approach to assessing these risks or responding to them.
International meeting could open up ocean mining, drastically undermining ocean health
3 Dec 2021
Media Release - Critics are sounding the alarm that an upcoming meeting of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the international body that regulates and controls mining activities in the world’s ocean that lies beyond national jurisdictions, could push through ocean mining regulations in as little as two years.
UN shipping body agrees voluntary measures to cut black carbon in the Arctic
30 Nov 2021
Ship operators have been urged to switch to cleaner fuels in the Arctic, under a resolution to cut black carbon emissions at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) last week.
UN shipping talks fail to speed up faster carbon exit
29 Nov 2021
Further shipping talks are scheduled for next year after delegates at a U.N. agency meeting that sought to speed up decarbonization of the sector failed to make progress, officials said on Friday.
New Zealand’s climate change regulation is messy and complex – here’s how to improve it
24 Nov 2021
Waikato University associate professor of law Nathan Cooper says the Emissions Reduction Plan provides the perfect opportunity to align New Zealand's national and international climate targets.
Nigeria commits to annual carbon budgets to reach net zero under climate law
23 Nov 2021
Nigeria has become the first major developing country to commit to set annual carbon budgets to plot its path to cutting emissions to net zero.
UN hails nuclear as the lowest carbon electricity source
23 Nov 2021
A new report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) that examined the lifecycle carbon produced by all technologies suggests that nuclear power generates less carbon dioxide emissions over its lifecycle than any other electricity source.
Who will ensure compliance with the Glasgow climate commitments?
19 Nov 2021
The news from Glasgow includes positive announcements, in particular agreements to curb deforestation, cut methane emissions, “phase down” coal use and, next year, more aggressive emissions reduction targets. But a disturbing history of broken global climate promises — going back decades — compels us to ask: Will countries comply with their commitments, and what happens if they don’t?
What would it look like if we treated climate change like an actual emergency?
17 Nov 2021
If we accept the facts of climate change, we also have to accept the radical changes necessary to address it, argues economic anthropologist Jason Hickel.
‘COP26 hasn’t solved the problem’: scientists react to UN climate deal
16 Nov 2021
The Glasgow Climate Pact is a step forward, researchers say, but efforts to decarbonize are not enough to limit global temperature rises to 2 °C.
Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Glasgow: Carbon Brief
16 Nov 2021
Carbon Brief provides an in-depth summary of all the key outcomes in Glasgow – both inside and outside the COP26.
Fixing climate finance: Jeffrey Sachs
16 Nov 2021
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) fell far short of what is needed for a safe planet, owing mainly to the same lack of trust that has burdened global climate negotiations for almost three decades.
Last chance saloon all over again
15 Nov 2021
By Jeremy Rose Carbon News editor: They said it in Copenhagen, they said it in Paris, and numerous commentators said it about Glasgow too: This is the last chance saloon when it comes to averting disastrous climate change.
Glasgow Conversations: It's a wrap
15 Nov 2021
In this the final episode of the Glasgow Conversations, Alastair Thompson talks about the successes and failures of COP26, and ranks the various participants: Africa scores a 10 - Europe just 1.
COP26: New global climate deal struck in Glasgow
15 Nov 2021
The Glasgow Climate Pact is the first ever climate deal to explicitly plan to reduce coal, the worst fossil fuel for greenhouse gases.
Five things you need to know about the Glasgow Climate Pact
15 Nov 2021
The COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow have finished and the gavel has come down on the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed by all 197 countries.
These experts say there's reason for cautious optimism coming out of COP26
15 Nov 2021
As the COP26 summit ends, experts say there is reason to be "cautiously optimistic" about the work that's been done to avoid a climate disaster.
After the failure of COP26 mass protest only hope of survival: Monbiot
15 Nov 2021
It’s too late for incremental change. By mobilising just 25% of people, we can flip social attitudes towards the climate, argues environmentalist George Monbiot.
Glasgow Climate Pact has loopholes so big an oil tanker could get through them
15 Nov 2021
The curtain came down on United Nations climate talks a day later than expected. It’s a strange feeling as representatives from countries around the world said they were willing to accept an agreement that they all said sucks.
Compromise COP26 deal disappoints
15 Nov 2021
The COP26 summit approved a climate deal late Saturday evening. But the watered-down ambitions on the end of coal subsidies left many delegates frustrated, including Switzerland.
COP26 ends with a strong result on carbon markets: EDF
15 Nov 2021
After six years of difficult and technical negotiations, the UN climate talks at COP26 in Glasgow finally gave us a strong Paris Agreement rulebook for international cooperation through carbon markets and called on countries to take specific and urgent measures to address dangerous climate change.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 11
12 Nov 2021
On the second to last (scheduled) day of COP26, Alastair Thompson reflects on the summit so far, a talk by Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, and how Saudi Arabia and Australia could yet scuttle a final agreement.
Climate Change vs. the Sino-American Cold War
12 Nov 2021
In the absence of meaningful policies from both China and the United States, this year’s climate-change summit, COP26, was never going to deliver what the world really needs. Ultimately, getting both countries on the same page and cooperating on the issue will require public pressure from their own people, argues Daron Acemoglu.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 10
11 Nov 2021
On day 10 of COP26, Alastair Thompson is there when the US and China announce what he believes to be the most significant news of the summit to date.
Cook Islands calls for new class of climate debt
11 Nov 2021
Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown has called for climate related debt to be treated differently from national debt.
Local govt bill 'completely misses the point,' passes first reading
Today 11:00am
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The government’s bill making changes to the Local Government Act to "refocus" councils on their core functions passed its first reading in Parliament last night, with critics saying it will set back climate resilience.
Expert rejects farmers call to ditch green investment framework
Thu 17 Jul 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Scrapping a proposed 'green' finance taxonomy before work on it is even finished would risk New Zealand being left behind in the transition to more sustainable systems, according to an expert.
NZ Post drops science-based climate target
8 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | NZ Post has dropped its science-based emissions reduction target of 42% by 2030 with no plans to replace it.
Airlines risk legal challenges by advertising jet fuel as “sustainable”, NGO warns
Today 11:00am
Amid suspected fraud in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a new report says the airline industry should stop calling all alternatives to kerosene “sustainable”.
Tipping points: Window to avoid irreversible climate impacts is ‘rapidly closing’
11 Jul 2025
In the midst of a record-breaking heatwave in Europe, the UK city of Exeter recently played host to the second international conference on “tipping points”.
Sustainability claims questioned as renewable diesel surges
14 May 2025
Critics are sceptical about industry claims of renewable diesel life-cycle greenhouse gas emission cuts and warn renewable diesel carbon releases will surge if sourcing is scaled up, triggering tropical deforestation as producers convert forests to energy crops, such as oil palm and soy.
‘Ideological sludge’: How NZ is quiet quitting climate action
Thu 17 Jul 2025
New Zealand once stood out as a world leader on climate change. In June it became the first country in the world to abandon a commitment to phase out oil, gas and coal.
EU seeks 'fair competition' with China on green energy
Today 11:00am
The European Union is seeking "fair competition" with China and not a race to the bottom in wages and environmental standards, the bloc's vice president for the clean transition told AFP in Beijing on Monday.
Bearish sentiment lingers for carbon market
11 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | The compliance carbon market could be set for a gradual upward trajectory, however unsold volume from the quarterly Emissions Trading Scheme auctions continues to act as ‘a price ceiling,’ according to an expert.
EU wants to see China take more ambitious climate action
Tue 15 Jul 2025
The world needs China to show more leadership on climate action, highlighting the importance of cutting planet-heating emissions and reducing the Chinese economy's reliance on coal.
NZ voluntary carbon market’s sad state
Mon 14 Jul 2025
By John O’Brien | OPINION: A combination of scandals, challenging economic times, and cheaper offshore carbon credits, mean that the domestic voluntary carbon market in New Zealand remains absolutely tiny.
Common low-grade clay strengthens low-carbon concrete
5 Jun 2025
Media release | Engineers at RMIT University have converted low-grade clay into a high-performance cement supplement, opening a potential new market in sustainable construction materials.
Cuts to climate finance put exports in jeopardy: Lawyers
23 May 2025
By Liz Kivi | The government has halved international climate finance, a move aid organisations describe as “devastating,” and which lawyers say could put our Paris Agreement commitments and export market access at risk.
Carbon price grinds higher - where to from now?
30 Jun 2025
By Liz Kivi | The carbon price has continued to grind slowly higher since this month’s failed auction, with prices at their highest since March, although still languishing well below this year’s auction floor price.
Importing LNG is feasible, but is it plausible?
Today 11:00am
Importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a form of energy supply insurance is technically feasible, but an industry-commissioned report raises questions about whether it is financially plausible.
Key orange roughy population on verge of collapse, govt considers closure
9 Jul 2025
Media release - Deep Sea Conservation Coalition | New data reveals that New Zealand’s main orange roughy fishery, accounting for half of the country’s total catch, is on the brink of collapse, with one model showing it may have reached that point already, and the government’s considering closing it.
Media round-up
Today 11:00am
In our round-up of the latest climate coverage in local media: with parts of the country still reeling from flooding exacerbated by climate change, debate heats up over who will pay for managed retreat from at-risk areas.
Latest trawl bycatch numbers 'a grim wake-up call'
24 Jun 2025
Media release – Greenpeace | The latest fisheries bycatch data paints a grim picture, with trawlers hauling up thousands of kilograms of coral and killing hundreds of fur seals and seabirds over a 12 month period.
Illegal loggers profit from Brazil’s carbon credit projects
Thu 17 Jul 2025
How a system designed to protect the world’s biggest rainforest is funding businesses with a track record of illegal deforestation.
Climate backtracking could impact trade relationships: Labour
9 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | Labour Party Energy spokesperson Megan Woods says the government needs to be upfront about how its energy policies will impact trade relationships, following revelations New Zealand was warned by other governments that backtracking on climate policies jeopardised its membership of an international alliance.
Watts talks big on energy reform, but barriers persist
29 May 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Energy and Climate Change minister Simon Watts says the government is doubling down on efforts to boost renewable energy generation, streamline regulation, and drive private sector investment as New Zealand faces mounting energy security and affordability challenges.
Farmers slam proposed guidelines for sustainable finance
Wed 16 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | Federated Farmers is calling on the government to scrap its proposed framework for ‘green’ finance, saying it is ideologically driven, unworkable, and risks harming rural communities.
Does Aussie court ruling hold lessons for NZ?
Thu 17 Jul 2025
By Liz Kivi | A recent Australian court ruling should serve as a warning to New Zealand's decision-makers on how important it is to align climate targets and climate policies with the best available science, according to a climate litigation expert.
Methanex closure comes early this year
14 May 2025
The almost-now-annual closure of Methanex has come earlier this year, giving more confidence that the electricity system will get through the winter without a fuel shortfall.
Electric firebricks: decarbonising high-temperature industrial heat
13 Jun 2025
By Ian Mason | A new technology could offer a more cost-effective solution than hydrogen to decarbonise one ‘hard-to-abate’ sector of New Zealand’s economy, as well as having ample potential for demand response as the electricity grid becomes more renewable.
‘Significant gaps’ in proposed approach to climate adaptation
10 Jul 2025
A new report into climate adaptation doesn’t suggest how development in high-risk areas should be avoided - an issue that needs urgent action with thousands of homes still being built in hazardous areas, according to the Environmental Defence Society.
Will NZ walk away from the Paris Agreement?
20 Dec 2024
By Geoff Bertram | COMMENT: Unless the government can find very cheap offshore mitigation, the temptation to walk away from its Paris Agreement obligations may well be too strong to resist for a coalition government focused on fiscal austerity.
Activists sue US development bank over $4.6bn loan to massive Mozambique gas project
Today 11:00am
Environmental groups claim loan is ‘unlawful’ in legal filing.
Clear-sighted view to trade-offs crucial to reimagining our relationship with the land
7 Jul 2025
By Nick Swallow | COMMENT: New Zealand could see a 70% drop in the value of dairy land if we pursue our emissions targets for agriculture, according to a new report.
Rio Tinto urges Albanese govt to reimpose carbon tax, boost green energy subsidies
Thu 17 Jul 2025
The mining giant has used it’s submission to the Productivity Commission ahead of the Albanese government’s economic roundtable to lobby for the re-imposition of a carbon pricing scheme and bolstered green energy subsidies.
Foresters seek time; end to using ETS as a land use tool
Wed 16 Jul 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Production and carbon forestry owners have begged the environment select committee to at least give the sector more time to come up with workable rules for legislation intended to cap forest planting on farmland.
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.
Millions of tons of tiny plastic particles are polluting the ocean, study finds
Tue 15 Jul 2025
At least 27 million tonnes of nanoplastics are estimated to be floating in the North Atlantic Ocean, weighing more than all wild land mammals combined.
'Back-to-basics' approach for councils ignores climate risk
11 Jul 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | While ACT is standing local government candidates to oppose councils' attempts to manage emissions and ministers are calling for local authorities to 'get back to basics' - or even suggesting scrapping regional councils altogether - one expert says this narrative is putting communities at risk in the face of climate change.
Markets aren't going to save us – Carr
9 Jul 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Consumerism is reaching its ecological and economic limits, and only systemic change - not market tweaks - can steer us away from climate catastrophe, according to former Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr.
Microplastics found in sand on dozens of NZ beaches
4 Jun 2025
Scientists have extracted microplastics from the sand of 22 beaches from the Far North to Banks Peninsula.
Feedback sought on national fuel security plan
Wed 16 Jul 2025
Media release - Beehive: The Coalition Government is seeking feedback on a draft Fuel Security Plan that provides a long-term strategy to ensure New Zealanders have reliable access to fuel in times of domestic and global disruption, Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones says.
UK: Thousands lobby MPs to demand climate action
10 Jul 2025
More than 5,000 people from across the UK arrived in Westminster on Wednesday to meet their MPs and demand urgent climate action to protect their communities.
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.
Germany's wind power expansion picks up, but targets still missed, says lobby
Today 11:00am
Germany's onshore wind power sector recorded its strongest half-year since 2017, but the expansion still falls short of the legally mandated targets, the BWE wind power lobby said on Tuesday.
Antarctica Scholarships 2025: Ocean detectives
Thu 17 Jul 2025
Media release – Antarctica New Zealand | Antarctica’s Southern Ocean is full of unanswered questions, and this year’s Antarctica New Zealand scholarship recipients are on a mission to help solve them.
Climate groups want UK wealth tax to make super-rich fund sustainable economy
Thu 17 Jul 2025
Growing number of campaigners urge government to ensure green investment is not done ‘on backs of the poor’.
Kiwi ‘smart panel’ startup aiming to reduce energy bills and emissions
4 Jul 2025
NZ start-up Basis this week launched an ‘intelligent’ panel to replace traditional electrical switchboards in homes, which it says can save the average home $1,200 NZD annually on bills and lead to lower emissions.
United Nations carbon market rules agreed but concerns remain
25 Nov 2024
New carbon market rules agreed at the fractious UN climate summit will be a relief to New Zealand and Singapore, who were leading the negotiations, but concerns about greenwashing and disadvantaging nature-based solutions remain.
Fast, sustained phase-out of fossil fuels: best-performing countries in coal and transport sectors
10 Jul 2025
By Robert McLachlan | It’s true that climate change is getting worse – it will continue to get worse until emissions fall to near zero. But is action on phasing out fossil fuels really stalling?
Waste Levy risks becoming ‘slush fund’ under proposed changes – Commissioner
5 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Proposed changes to New Zealand's waste legislation risk undermining public trust in the waste levy scheme, according to Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton.
The struggle for control of the Arctic is accelerating - and it's riskier than ever
11 Jul 2025
As the battle for one of the world’s coldest places heats up, an increasingly fragile security balance may be breaking down, leading to an escalating arms race.
UN University report warns against carbon credits from REDD, tree planting, and improved forest management
13 Jun 2025
But the report stops short of recommending banning the trade in carbon temporarily stored in trees.
For the first time, China invests more in wind and solar than coal overseas
29 May 2025
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, long derided for its heavy carbon footprint, was dominated by wind and solar power projects for the first time from 2022 to 2023, according to a new analysis. But coal plants financed in earlier years are still coming online.
