Editorial: Accord a fig leaf to cover the shame
The Dominion Post 22/12/2009
OPINION: One hundred and ninety-three countries, 119 leaders, thousands of delegates and even more observers. Negotiating a legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was always going to be difficult, but the scale of the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference is surprising.
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Summit in Wellington the 'next step'
Climate talks a 'huge disappointment'
The Nelson Mail 21/12/2009
The Copenhagen climate change talks were a "huge disappointment" and frustrating for New Zealanders, Climate Change Minister and Nelson MP Nick Smith said today.
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Editorial: Response from world leaders sad and stilted
The New Zealand Herald 21/12/2009
To be a success, the Copenhagen climate summit needed to produce a legally binding agreement that obliged major emitters to meet serious greenhouse-gas targets. On that basis, it has to be regarded as a missed opportunity.
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PM: Climate accord process must change
The New Zealand Herald 21/12/2009
Prime Minister John Key returns home this morning from the Copenhagen climate change conference saying a binding agreement could be concluded in Mexico next year but that the negotiating process has to change.
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Late-night drama as veto threatened
The New Zealand Herald 21/12/2009
The deal finally hammered out had been expected to commit countries to deep cuts in carbon emissions. In the end, it fell short.
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Copenhagen deal 'modest start' - NZ ambassador
The New Zealand Herald 20/12/2009
The United Nations process at Copenhagen was slammed as "appalling" by New Zealand's climate change ambassador yesterday, in comments to international media.
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Climate deal 'meaningful, unprecedented' - Obama
The New Zealand Herald 19/12/2009
President Barack Obama declared today a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among the US, China and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty.
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Eleventh hour climate deal not enough - Key
The New Zealand Herald 19/12/2009
Big emitters are backing a deal for rich countries to slash emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 under a "Copenhagen accord" that is being hammered out in the dying minutes of climate talks.
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Fran O'Sullivan: Keep the cows off the grass
The New Zealand Herald 19/12/2009
New Zealand faces a horrible irony: our No 1 export earner is also the source of far too much of our greenhouse gases, and is ruining many of the pristine waterways that once underpinned the previous top earner: tourism.
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NZ has 'great hope' for talks, Key tells Copenhagen
The New Zealand Herald 18/12/2009
Key unlikely to use power to up emissions cuts target
The New Zealand Herald 18/12/2009
Prime Minister John Key will enter climate talks tonight (NZT) with the power to up New Zealand's 10-20 per cent target for emissions cuts, but he is very unlikely to use it.
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Africa's climate plan backed
Govt puts $45m into emissions plan
The New Zealand Herald 17/12/2009
New Zealand will contribute $45 million to the Global Research Alliance on agriculture greenhouse gases following the announcement that at least 19 countries will sign up to the initiative.
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Different answers from Al and Arnie
The New Zealand Herald 17/12/2009
I'll be back, promised Arnold Schwarzenegger as he left the podium.
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Smith: Next 48-hours of climate talks crucial
The New Zealand Herald 16/12/2009
Climate change minister Nick Smith says the pressure is on to reach an agreement at talks in Copenhagen. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish hosts have urged countries to compromise to salvage agreement on a new United Nations pact aimed at averting dangerous climate change as ministers struggled to break a deadlock in the talks.
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David Huebner: America keen to lead, but others must follow
The New Zealand Herald 16/12/2009
A strong and operational climate accord requires the commitment of all the world's nations, writes David Huebner
Prime Minister John Key has described global climate change as "the biggest environmental challenge of our time".
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NZ hopes to make splash with global plan
The New Zealand Herald 16/12/2009
New Zealand will unveil more details of its global alliance to cut greenhouse gases at a meeting in Copenhagen today.
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On the skids and looking forward to the ride
The New Zealand Herald 16/12/2009
Shortly after the UN climate talks hit the skids, Yvo de Boer was asked at a press conference whether it was true that negotiations had stalled.
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Last-ditch effort for climate deal
The Nelson Mail 16/12/2009
Politicians and negotiators are entering an intense 48 hours to try and salvage a global climate deal in Copenhagen.
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Nelson voices in Copenhagen
The Nelson Mail 15/12/2009
Nelson climate change ambassador Travis Mills says Copenhagen is "busy, tiring, and very cold", but he's thriving at the global epicentre of the climate change problem.
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NZ makes progress on rules governing replanting of forests
The New Zealand Herald 15/12/2009
New Zealand negotiators have made headway towards removing an obstacle to flexible land use in the Kyoto Protocol, though it is far from a done deal.
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Smith puts emissions pressure on developing nations
The Nelson Mail/ stuff.co.nz 15/12/2009
Climate Change Minister Nick Smith is challenging major developing countries to make the necessary emissions cuts to progress climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
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NZ gas-cut plan rated better than climate leader's
The New Zealand Herald 15/12/2009
A report by three top climate think-tanks says efforts planned by New Zealand to cut greenhouse gases stack up better than the European Union's - the region normally thought of as a climate leader.
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Examining the climate emails - word by word
The New Zealand Herald 14/12/2009
LONDON - Emails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled sceptics and discussed hiding data - but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by Associated Press.
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Taking a hard line on climate change
The New Zealand Herald 14/12/2009
Riding the train home from the Bella Centre, sandwiched between placard-carrying polar bears and businessmen in suits and ties, you can overhear several different conversations on the same topic.
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'Too soon' to set binding NZ target
The New Zealand Herald 14/12/2009
The New Zealand delegation is likely to leave Copenhagen without setting a binding greenhouse gas target.
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Climate talks rift with developing nations
Reuters/ The Nelson Mail 14/12/2009
Ministers in Copenhagen are trying to overcome rifts between rich and developing nations, just days before a deadline for reaching a global pact on tackling climate change.
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Walk and ignore the food miles, British told
The New Zealand Herald 12/12/2009
A guidebook unveiled in Copenhagen overnight makes mincemeat of the concept of "food miles", telling British shoppers that if they are really worried about their carbon footprints they could do more good by cycling or walking to the supermarket.
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You find the mentioned guidebook here
Nelson faces scary scenario
NZ knew about leaked 'Danish Text'
The New Zealand Herald 10/12/2009
New Zealand officials were consulted over a document which has compromised climate talks in Copenhagen, but consider it only one of many to be discussed.
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World gets warmer as climate talks start
The New Zealand Herald 09/12/2009
This year is likely to be among the 10 hottest years on record, early figures from the World Meteorological Organisation indicate.
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Region at risk from rising sea levels
The Nelson Mail 07/12/2009
Large parts of Motueka, central Nelson, the Wood and Tahunanui may be drowned by rising sea levels in 100 years, putting a billion dollars' worth of assets at risk, a new Cawthron Institute climate change report warns.
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Feeling the chill for change
The Nelson Mail 07/12/2009
Nelsonians froze for climate change at the weekend to urge their fellow citizens to take the issue seriously.
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'Fourteen days to seal history's judgment on this generation'
The Guardian 07/12/2009
Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.
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Obama's timing boosts hope for major deal on emissions
The New Zealand Herald 07/12/2009
The Copenhagen summit is set to do "real business" because of President Barack Obama's decision to attend its crucial final stage, says Climate Change Minister Nick Smith.
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Niwa publishes climate data to answer critics
The New Zealand Herald 05/12/2009
The state-owned atmospheric and water research institute has taken the unusual step of publishing a graph of raw climate data on its website to answer critics who accused it of fiddling the figures.
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Editorial: Developed world needs to take lead
The New Zealand Herald 04/12/2009
Organisers of the great climate change conference that begins in Copenhagen next week have chosen some high-flown rhetoric to define their goals. The conference will, they say, prove to be a turning point in the battle to avert a global disaster.
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Key says it makes sense to go to Copenhagen
The New Zealand Herald 04/12/2009
%ate Accept-Charset: ISO-8859-1,ed to mounting pressure by agreeing to attend the Copenhagen climate summit.
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Hopes rise for climate progress in Denmark
The New Zealand Herald 03/12/2009
The UN's environment chief is optimistic that the climate change talks beginning in Copenhagen next week will reach a deal setting firm targets to cut carbon emissions.
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Key books flight to Copenhagen - just in case
The New Zealand Herald 03/12/2009
John Key is preparing to attend the Copenhagen summit, with tickets provisionally booked and an announcement set to be made this week.
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Big Freeze aims to cool the world
The Nelson Mail (Going Green) 20/11/2009
Nelsonians can help fight climate change, writes Mary Curnow.
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NZ's emissions target 'inadequate', says UN climate scientist
The New Zealand Herald 20/8/2009
Climate Change Minister Nick Smith is rejecting criticism by a top United Nations climate scientist that the Government's emissions reduction target is disappointing, inadequate and unambitious.
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Government's Climate Target Consultation
Scoop 29/6/2009
Eleventh-hour Announcement from Government on Climate Target Consultation
The government's climate target consultation process was announced by Minister for Climate Change Issues Nick Smith last Friday only ten days before the first consultation is set to take place.
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Hearts melt for climate change
The Nelson Mail 6/6/2009
One hundred and twenty hearts encased in ice slowly melted on the Christ Church Cathedral steps yesterday as part of Nelson artist Jo Campbell's message to the community to take tiny steps for a monumental change against climate change.
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Huge support for extra climate change measures
Scoop 4/5/2009
New Zealanders give MPs huge support for extra climate change measures.
New Zealanders overwhelmingly support a range of policies to manage climate change in addition to the emissions trading scheme (ETS).
These policies would help cut emissions - and deliver other cost savings, health and quality of life benefits.
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Half the nation turned off lights for Earth Hour
New Zealand Herald 4/6/2009
Environmentalists say more than half the nation's adults took part in Earth Hour this year, switching off lights and other non-essential appliances.
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Celebrities lend a hand to Greenpeace
Stuff 23/5/2009
Actors Lucy Lawless and Cliff Curtis want John Key to commit to reducing carbon emissions.
Greenpeace has enlisted their help and that of a number high profile New Zealanders for its Sign On climate campaign.
The campaign aims to generate support to convince John Key to sign on to a 40 percent emission reduction target by 2020 at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
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Climate Projects' Funds Cut
Nelson Mail 13/4/2009
Loss of funding for the Nelson Environment Centre's leading climate change projects is short-sighted and tragic, says Green MP Kevin Hague.
The Ministry for the Environment's Sustainable Management Fund has rejected a second year of funding for the centre's Transition Nelson and Code Red initiatives.
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Wilkins Ice Shelf splits from Antarctica
Stuff 5/4/2009
An ice bridge which had apparently held a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place during recorded history has shattered and could herald a wider collapse linked to global warming, a leading scientist said.
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On Power to the People and Pulling the Plug
Nelson Mail 20/3/2009
Last week’s launch of CodeRed Nelson, our local carbon-reduction rewards scheme, was a great success; Founders was literally buzzing with groups engaged in animated conversation. The venue was packed with affiliate organisations, who demonstrated the practical actions people can take to reduce carbon emissions. Judging from the large turnout it appears people are really concerned and interested in learning what they can do to reduce their own energy usage.
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Figures deliver stark warning of a flooded future
NZ Herald (9 March 2009)
Scientists will warn this week that rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, pose a far greater danger to the planet than previously estimated.
There is now a major risk that many coastal areas around the world will be inundated by the end of the century because Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously estimated.
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New Zealand isolated on green jobs policy
Scoop, 3 March 2009
John Key’s response to climate change and the economic crisis is at odds with international best practice, the latest science and with the broader consensus in New Zealand.
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