Science Media Centre

As the world responds to a Trump presidency – experts are already turning their thoughts to what that could mean for science, especially health and climate change. During his campaign, Donald Trump said he would repeal President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and reinforced his stance as a climate sceptic. The Washington Post reported that the […]

A new report from the Morgan Foundation says the Government will change forestry accounting rules to meet the 2030 climate change target. The report claims that a covert plan will allow an estimated 79 million tonnes of excess greenhouse gas emissions, equating to near a year’s worth of emissions being wiped off the books. The […]

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright released her latest report on Wednesday, this time turning her attention to the issue of agricultural greenhouse gases. Methane and nitrous oxide – dubbed the biological greenhouse gases – make up about half New Zealand’s total emissions, Dr Wright said. If New Zealand had a chance […]

Now that the Government has ratified the Paris Agreement, the clock is ticking on action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, writes Victoria University Professor of Public Policy Jonathan Boston on stuff.co.nz. An excerpt (read in full): Imagine allocating the remaining global carbon budget of about 260 billion tonnes on a per capita basis. New […]

New Zealand became the 63rd country to ratify the Paris Agreement – getting in ahead of the European Union and within the first 55 per cent of countries required to meet the threshold to bring the agreement into force. New Zealand has pledged to reduce emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. […]

In its second ‘Climate Cheats’ report, the Morgan Foundation names 12 New Zealand companies that traded in ‘hot air’ carbon credits. The report follows on from Climate Cheats, released in April, which outlined the rise of questionable carbon credits from Russia and Ukraine that New Zealand used to meet climate commitments. The report is available […]