Science Media Centre

In an opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald, Brian Fallow writes about COP16, the latest international climate change talks, which are currently taking place in Cancun, Mexico. Unlike COP15, the heavily-publicised but ultimately ill-fated talks in Copenhagen last year, this year’s talks are a far quieter affair, and it isn’t expected that any major [...]

Fran O’Sullivan of the NZ Herald about New Zealand’s role, and its agenda, at the recent Copenhagen climate talks. Of particular note is the international research alliance to be headed by New Zealand, which will devoted to examining how best to mitigate agricultural emissions. An excerpt: (read in full here) “But irrespective of the flim-flam [...]

UPDATED 10.30AM Sunday Dec 20: Scientists react to the news from Copenhagen this morning that an agreement to limit temperature increases to 2 degrees C has been reached by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. Click here to download the Copenhagen Accord. Judy Lawrence, Senior Associate, NZ Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria University comments: [...]

Down to the wire for carbon deal Climate negotiators and heads of states will reconvene in a few hours with the aim of removing the hundreds of square brackets from a draft emissions reduction agreement. If the first week of the COP15 meetings was dominated by the split between the developed and developing nations, week [...]

Fri 18/12 Radio NZ: Compromise offer rejected by Tuvalu NZ Herald/NZPA: NZ has ‘great hope’ for talks, Key tells Copenhagen NZ Herald: Key’s speech at the Copenhagen climate talks NBR: Key tells world leaders time to face reality Stuff: Key’s Copenhagen speech: time for agreement 3 News: Key at Copenhagen – ‘challenging and frustrating’ – [...]

Wed 16/12 NZ Herald/NZPA: Smith: Next 48-hours of climate talks crucial Stuff: Last-ditch effort for climate deal Radio NZ: Climate talks moving too slowly – UN3 News: 3 News: China can export wind, solar power technology – Clark Stuff/The press: ‘Extremist tactics’ derail UN climate talks NZ Herald: NZ hopes to make splash with global [...]

Consumer guilt over the distance food travels from paddock to plate is misguided according to a report released at Copenhagen last night by the International Institute for Environment and Development and Oxfam. While the report will please export-orientated producers, New Zealand has been attacked on another front by conservation groups over forestry accounting proposals it [...]

COP15 rolls into the weekend with a packed schedule of press conferences and meetings, many of them science-related, and several focusing on agricultural emissions related issues. See the COP15 website for details of webcast press conferences. The SMC has set up a COP15 resource page here. 09.30 – 10.30: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research [...]

Interested in the entire newsletter?  Sign up for it here, and read archived editions here. (Links for both can be found on the SMC homepage) Shaky start for Copenhagen Week one of the COP15 climate change talks passed in a blur of press conference and closed door meetings while the airing of the Danish text [...]

Day two at Copenhagen saw the release of the WMO’s last global temperature data, which suggests the current decade is the warmest on record. But the conference has also been dominated by the appearance of a leaked report dubbed the ‘Danish texts’. According to the Guardian, which published the draft report, the agreement “hands more [...]