Hot Topic

Featured image: What are we waiting for? the fantasy of carbon neutral growth of aviation emissions

What are we waiting for? the fantasy of carbon neutral growth of aviation emissions

Guest Work • Sep 30, 2016

In this guest post, the ‘stop flying’ Wellington lawyer Tom Bennion writes about the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) proposals for ‘carbon-neutral’ growth of greenhouse gas emissions from the fast-growing aviation industry. New Zealand parents often tell their children not to eat too many sweets. Our primary schools spend a lot of time talking about suitable … Read More

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Featured image: Is it in the spirit of the Paris Agreement to ratify it with more emissions?

Is it in the spirit of the Paris Agreement to ratify it with more emissions?

Mr February • Sep 24, 2016

Is the New Zealand Government’s plan to ratify the Paris Agreement in 2016 consistent with a two degrees Celsius (2C) carbon budget? Since the December 2015 Paris Agreement, the British climate scientist Kevin Anderson has given a couple of talks with the title Beyond Dangerous Climate Change: Does Paris Lock-out 2 Degrees? Anderson’s message is that although … Read More

Featured image: Moro bars and triple dips: Geoff Simmons fact checks Paula Bennett’s clean unit claim

Moro bars and triple dips: Geoff Simmons fact checks Paula Bennett’s clean unit claim

Simon Johnson • Sep 02, 2016

The Morgan Foundation’s Geoff Simmons has done a whiteboard Friday video on Minister for Climate Change Issues Paula Bennett’s claim that the surplus emission units are not tainted by the 97 million fake Russian and Ukrainian emission reduction units that the Climate Cheats report of April 2016 showed had been handed to the Government under the … Read More

Featured image: Tiwai Point uncertainty stalls NZ renewables

Tiwai Point uncertainty stalls NZ renewables

Simon Johnson • May 24, 2016

New Zealand Aluminium Smelter Limited is behind the Meridian/Genesis deal keeping the Huntly Thermal Power Station burning coal as the threat of closing the Tiwai Point smelter is stalling the construction of consented renewable energy projects. My last post at Hot Topic was about energy companies Meridian and Genesis doing a deal to keep the Huntly Thermal Power … Read More

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Featured image: When the world warms, the Arctic burns

When the world warms, the Arctic burns

Gareth Renowden • May 19, 2016

The Arctic has been ridiculously warm this last northern hemisphere winter. The sea ice maximum in March was the smallest in the record (by a small margin). April was another warm month in the far North — especially over Greenland — and May is continuing the warm streak. The sea ice is showing the effects of prolonged unusual … Read More

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Featured image: NZ’s emissions reductions go up in smoke as generators keep Huntly coal burning

NZ’s emissions reductions go up in smoke as generators keep Huntly coal burning

Simon Johnson • May 04, 2016

The decision to keep the Huntly coal thermal power station open for another four years is not only contrary to all New Zealand’s commitments and climate targets, it also sends the Ministry for the Environment’s projections of stabilising energy emissions to 2020 up in a cloud of coal smoke. We seem to have had an extra dose of announcements and … Read More

Featured image: Did NZ Steel make windfall arbitrage profits from the ETS?

Did NZ Steel make windfall arbitrage profits from the ETS?

Simon Johnson • Apr 28, 2016

In the wake of the Morgan Foundations hard-hitting report “Climate Cheats”, Simon Johnson (aka Mr February) asks if New Zealand Steel received millions of emission units for free under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme industrial allocation provisions and yet still bought millions of the dubious international Russian units (ERUs) to make windfall arbitrage profits. The Morgan Foundation’s latest report … Read More

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Featured image: NZ uses dodgy Ukrainian carbon credits, minister in denial

NZ uses dodgy Ukrainian carbon credits, minister in denial

Mr February • Apr 26, 2016

Minister for Climate Change Paula Bennett has just been in New York signing the UN Paris Agreement. While in New York, Bennett was interviewed by TV One USA correspondent and general nice guy Jack Tame for Television NZ’s Q + A news show. I wonder if Paula Bennett thought she would get a soft, jokey interview with that … Read More

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Featured image: Fonterra’s coal-fired climate folly

Fonterra’s coal-fired climate folly

Guest Work • Apr 18, 2016

By Jeanette Fitzsimons Cross-posted from Coal Action Network Aotearoa  Why would Fonterra spend several million dollars on a process lasting nearly a year, seeking planning consent for a huge new milk drier that it knows will never be built? Perhaps that’s not a lot of money to them – after all, one million is only three months’ salary for … Read More

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