Science Media Centre

Antarctica has lost about 3 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, which corresponds to a sea-level rise of around 8 millimetres. An analysis published in Nature shows warm oceans have driven a tripling of ice-loss in Western Antarctica between 1992 and 2017. A collection of international researchers, known as the Ice sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) team, […]

A draft report from the Productivity Commission has made a series of recommendations for how New Zealand can transition to a low-emissions economy. The draft report, released today, is open for submissions until Friday 8 June – the final report will be presented to Government in the second half of 2018. The Commisson has made […]

Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced the members of the Interim Climate Change Committee, which will begin work while the Government sets up a full Commission. Shaw said the independent Climate Change Commission would be set up under the Zero Carbon Act next year, and the interim committee would hand over its work and […]

The latest inventory of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions shows that there has been a 20 per cent increase in emissions from 1990 to 2016. Climate Change Minister James Shaw announced the result of the inventory this morning a few hours after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared that the Government would not hand out any […]

Marine heatwaves have been increasing in length, number and intensity over the past century, according to a study investigating global trends. Published today in Nature Communications, the study examined global trends in marine heatwaves. As New Zealand heads out of a particularly warm summer, influenced in large part by a marine heatwave in the Tasman […]

A new report commissioned by Westpac suggests billions of dollars could be on the line if there is further delay in moving to a low-carbon economy. The report, released today and carried out by EY and Vivid Economics, suggests that New Zealand’s economy could be $30 billion better off if early action is taken to […]

The new Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, has released his first report, containing advice for the Government on how to implement a Zero Carbon Act and establish an independent Climate Commission. The report follows on from his predecessor Dr Jan Wright’s report Stepping Stones to Paris and beyond, released in July 2017. The SMC asked […]

New Zealand could build a renewable low-carbon transport fuels industry – but only if the nation decides to act, according to a new report from Scion. In 2015, nearly a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions were from combustible fuels, so the report suggests biofuels could have a major impact on overall reduction of […]

Prominent climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger has spent much of his career studying climate change – in the NZ Herald, he writes a heartfelt letter to his grandchildren. An excerpt (read in full): I studied climate change before you were born, and about the time Mum and Dad were born, and recognised when they were […]

Even if all nations manage to stick to their Paris Agreement targets, we’re still committed to sea level rise. A study published today in Nature Communications projects 0.7 to 1.2 metres of global sea level rise by 2300 assuming the Paris targets are met. But for every five-year delay in mitigation after 2020, the researchers […]