Guest Author • Dec 16, 2021 •
By Robert McLachlan 2021: the fourth year of the Labour-led government; the first in which it governs alone; the second year of the Covid pandemic; the last year before the Zero Carbon Act kicks in for real. What was achieved for the climate? In terms of actually cutting emissions, – like removing petrol cars and coal boilers – not a lot. Read More
Guest Author • Dec 16, 2021 •
Nathan Cooper, University of Waikato New Zealand made two important climate commitments at the COP26 summit last month — to halve emissions by 2030 and to join the global methane pledge to cut methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030. But what happens if these pledges are inadequate for the climate emergency we face? And how can … Read More
Public Health Expert • Nov 24, 2021 •
Feature image by Luke Pilkinton-Ching, University of Otago Wellington Caroline Shaw, Anja Mizdrak, Ryan Gage* Wellington City Council is currently consulting on a cycle network for Wellington. This is a big deal. WCC are proposing a 147km cycle network around the city, the vast majority of which is new. This will mean most suburbs in the city have … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 23, 2021 •
By Paul Callister and Robert McLachlan Fifty years ago, on 26 November 1971, the film “Notes on a New Zealand City: Wellington”, directed by Paul Maunder, premiered on Wellington TV. The narrator asks if Wellington’s future will involve suburban sprawl, traffic, motorways, suburban shopping malls, and the decentralization of employment; or an alternative vision of medium-density … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 19, 2021 •
Timothy Welch, University of Auckland At the COP26 climate summit, world politicians patted themselves on their backs for coming to a last-minute agreement. Humanity now waits with bated breath to see if countries implement the commitments they made, and if those commitments help the planet. If the rest of our climate progress mirrors the policies around transportation, we’re … Read More
Robert McLachlan • Nov 16, 2021 •
By David Hall and Robert McLachlan There is strong agreement among economists that emissions pricing should play a central role in climate change policy. New Zealand has had a price on some carbon emissions through its Emissions Trading Scheme since 2010, although (COVID excepting) emissions have not yet fallen. Recently the scheme has been strengthened through higher prices, now … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 03, 2021 •
Soheil Mohseni, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Alan Brent, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, and James Hinkley, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The transport sector accounts for 47% of New Zealand’s carbon dioxide emissions. It will be a focus for decarbonisation to meet the country’s new climate pledge to … Read More
Robert McLachlan • Aug 27, 2021 •
Let me introduce you to the good life. Climate solutions are often judged not just by whether they work – that is, by whether they reduce emissions – but also by whether they support a “just transition”. As Sam Huggard of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions writes, “the costs of the necessary changes that deliver all of us … Read More
Robert McLachlan • Jul 07, 2021 •
New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission is facing its first legal hurdle, as a group of 300 climate-concerned lawyers seek judicial review of the processes it used to calculate carbon budgets in its recently released advice to government. Carbon budgets are a cornerstone of New Zealand’s climate change response under the Zero Carbon Act and lie at … Read More
Guest Author • Jun 22, 2021 •
Basil Sharp, University of Auckland New Zealand faces two enormous challenges if it is to meet its international climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement: biogenic methane emissions from agriculture, and carbon emissions from industry and transport. For now, there seems little prospect of significantly reducing agricultural emissions, short of reducing actual livestock numbers, because the technology is … Read More