ETS

We’ll surpass government forecast says wind energy association

by Bryan Walker February 2, 2012

A mild protest from the NZ Wind Energy Association arrived in my inbox recently. It was in response to the Ministry of Economic Development’s latest Energy Outlook forecast, published last week. The Energy Outlook estimates that wind farm capacity will increase from the current 622MW, to around 1,410MW and produce close to 10% of the [...]

59 comments Read the full article →

Hidden treasure is fools gold

by Bryan Walker December 19, 2011

The Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) has launched a new document, Realising Our Hidden Treasure: Responsible Mineral and Petroleum Extraction. The title says it all, and it’s the same message as the government has been feeding us for the last three years. First the treasure. The document sets it out in dollar terms. [...]

15 comments Read the full article →

NZ wind: call for 20% by 2030

by Bryan Walker November 27, 2011

My attention was caught by a press release this week from the NZ Wind Energy Association (NZWEA) announcing the results of an Infometrics report they had commissioned on the likely economic effect for New Zealand of an increase in wind power by 2030 to the point that it supplied 20 per cent of the country’s [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

Human stupidity and the NZ election (Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)

by Gareth November 23, 2011

I’ve been writing about climate science and policy for the last five years, and taking an interest in the subject for far longer, but I’ve seldom read more depressing news than Fiona Harvey’s Guardian article last week — Rich nations ‘give up’ on new climate treaty until 2020. According to Harvey, expectations for the UN [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

A snake swallows the elephant in the room and then flogs a dead horse – climate change politics in NZ Election 2011

by Mr February November 16, 2011

Possible the longest ever title on a Hot Topic post: Simon Johnson continues our series on the NZ election by examining the entrails… So whats happening with climate change in the election? I was originally thinking about writing a wonkish post comparing climate change policies between parties. You know the sort of thing. Which parties [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Australia’s carbon price mechanism in six dot points

by Gareth November 11, 2011

Rosemary Lyster, Professor of Climate and Environmental Law at the University of Sydney explains the most important features of Australia’s new emissions law. It’s interesting to compare and contrast the framework with the current ETS legislation in NZ, and what may happen to our framework if National form the next government. [Republished from The Conversation] [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Three years of “very serious” climate policy failure

by Gareth November 9, 2011

A damning review of the climate policy of the current government by three leading academics finds that it has made “little substantive progress” on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that work on adapting to climate change impacts has been “even more deficient”, and that current policies are likely to be “economically wasteful”. End-of-term review of the [...]

29 comments Read the full article →

Nick Smith fails the smelter spin test

by Mr February November 2, 2011

What does The Hon Dr Nick Smith, Minister for Climate Change Issues, say when the Greens accuse him of subsidising greenhouse gas polluters. Well it seems he denies it and he produces instructive soundbites of spin. I am informed that at Wellington’s Oxfam election and climate change debate he said that the NZ Aluminium Smelter [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

120% Pure Subsidy: Part 2

by Mr February October 20, 2011

I have had some very good comments on my recent post, 120% Pure Subsidy, about the quantity of free emissions units that NZ Aluminium Smelters Limited (NZAS) has received under the NZ ETS in 2010. Enough good comments that they justify a second post on the subject. Simon Terry of the Sustainability Council points out [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Trans-Tasman Emissions Trading Scheme Challenge: Part Two

by Mr February October 14, 2011

With the passage of the Australian “Clean Energy Future” legislation, Simon Johnson (aka Mr February) makes another trans-tasman emissions trading scheme comparison. Yesterday the Australian Parliament adopted legislation for its greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. It’s time, therefore, for another post on the theme of the “Trans-Tasman Emissions Trading Scheme test series”, looking at the [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries