Science Media Centre

It might still be possible to meet the 1.5°C temperature target set by the Paris Agreement, scientists say, but we probably need to strengthen the current pledges for emissions reductions. An international team of researchers, including Victoria Univerity of Wellington’s Professor Dave Frame, assessed remaining carbon emission budgets compatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C above […]

With three hurricanes currently tracking through the Atlantic, experts are watching Hurricane Irma, which is being called one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record. The hurricane has reached the Caribbean islands and may track toward Florida by the weekend.   The UK SMC gathered expert commentary on Hurricane Irma. Please feel free to […]

A draft report from the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) — which was stamped for release in April — has been leaked. The purpose of the report is to help local governments manage coastal hazard risks, including those brought on by climate change. As stated in The Press, the report concludes that $19 billion worth of […]

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the USA on August 26 as a category 4 storm, and has caused extensive flooding across Texas, leaving at least 11 people dead. The UK SMC gathered expert reaction to the storm, the first major hurricane of the US hurricane season. Please feel free to use these comments in your […]

Deputy Director of the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre Dr Andy Reisinger offers a rebuttal in the NZ Herald to a column published on Tuesday. An excerpt (read in full): As a climate scientist, I strongly rebut Tuesday’s opinion piece by Robin Grieve who claimed he was relating facts from the Motu Research […]

Researchers looking at air trapped within Antarctic ice have found humans are putting more methane into the atmosphere through fossil fuel emissions than previously thought. Using ice cores from Antarctica’s Taylor Glacier, an international team of researchers – including New Zealand and Australian scientists – measured natural rates of methane in the atmosphere over the […]

The Science Media Centre put questions on key science-related issues to the political parties ahead of the General Election scheduled to be held on September 23. This is the fourth time the SMC has canvassed political parties on their science-related policies; you can access previous election Q&As on our website – 2008, 2011, 2014. Click […]

In a week-long series, The Spinoff has devoted its attention to climate change: sponsored by Al Gore’s new movie, An Inconvenient Sequel. Kicking off with a review of the movie, which follows Gore in the countdown to the Paris climate summit in December 2015, Simon Wilson says it takes a more personal approach compared to the […]

The country’s capital will have warmer autumns and rainier winters by 2090, according to a new Niwa climate report. The report, prepared for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, projected an increase in the annual number of ‘hot days’ (over 25°C) in Wellington, from six per year now, to 26 per year by 2090. In the […]

An international study has estimated deaths from air pollution will rise by about 60,000 globally by 2030 because of climate change. Published this week in Nature Climate Change, the study combined global climate models – including data from New Zealand – to examine how warmer temperatures will speed up the creation of air pollutants. The […]