Science Media Centre

Dignitaries meeting in Kigali have pledged to phase-out the use of harmful greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning. Nearly 200 countries struck a deal to amend the Montreal Protocol to address hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), predicting the reduced emissions could prevent up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming. The Montreal Protocol was agreed […]

The carbon footprint of the average Kiwi household is getting smaller, but there is still plenty of room for improvement, suggests new research. According to a new working paper from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, consumption emissions from individual households fell by almost 5 percent since 2007. However, due to the rise in New Zealand’s population, […]

New Zealand researchers have identified several compounds which show promise in reducing methane emissions from cows and sheep. Methane emissions from agriculture are the largest contributor to New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about one third of our total emissions. This week researchers at the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Conference announced that […]

A rather unorthodox geoengineering study has examined the potential for greenhouse gases to play a positive role in humanity’s future… if  a giant volcanic ash cloud created a global winter by blocking out the sun. The paper, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, examined the potential for short-lived greenhouse gases to be used to […]

The Ministry for the Environment has issued its latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2012) and Net Position — the official annual report of human caused emissions of greenhouse gases in New Zealand. The inventory is produced each year as part of New Zealand’s obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the […]

What risks from climate change will New Zealand need to confront? What areas are most vulnerable, and what actions will be required? What options are still on the table for limiting greenhouse gas emissions?  The next sections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report (AR5) — the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the world’s vulnerabilities […]

 Australian scientists have  released a new report on climate change in the Pacific detailing rising sea levels, increasing temperatures andincreases in ocean acidity with  drastic implications for coral-based eco-systems from hitting home in less than 40 years. “The Pacific is getting hotter, sea-levels are rising, rainfall is changing, and equatorial winds have weakened,” said researcher, […]

The revised emissions trading scheme (ETS) passed into law last November comes into effect today, 1 July. The scheme represents a first attempt to price carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions into the economy, in a bid to reduce emissions growth. New Zealand emissions have grown by over 20% above 1990 levels, which are […]

NASA and NIWA scientists are to cooperate on a $375 million project to better understand how fast greenhouse gases enter and leave the atmosphere. An excerpt: (read in full here) “The satellite, to be launched by February 2013, would pick up data from 15 measurement stations around the world, Dr Crisp said. “The New Zealand […]

The first major study to look at the carbon footprint of lamb shows that each 100 gram portion of New Zealand lamb exported to Europe creates 1.9kg of CO2 equivalents and that 80 per cent of that footprint is generated on the farm. The study by Agresearch scientists suggests the large on-farm component is “broadly […]