Under the Paris Agreement, countries have registered plans to meet emissions reductions, but the current pledges, if fully realised, would take us to 2℃ by the 2050s.
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Articles on Climate Explained
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Burning non-recyclable waste to generate energy sounds like a great idea – but incineration plants need an ongoing waste stream to be viable, which perpetuates the make-use-dispose mentality.
New Zealand is a net exporter of many fruit and vegetables. While climate-change induced food shortages are not an imminent risk, some crops may be affected by rising temperatures and extreme weather.
Globally, emissions from air travel account for only about 3% of the warming human activities are causing, but aviation affects our climate in a number of ways.
For every ten centimetres of sea level rise, the chances of a 100-year coastal flood increase three-fold. This means we'll have to build flood defenses or retreat from the coast.
Discussions about climate change often skirt around the issue of population growth, but it is the main driver of rising carbon dioxide levels and many other environmental changes on a planetary scale.
The atmosphere of Mars is more than 96% carbon dioxide, but the planet is cold because its atmosphere is extremely thin, very dry and further away from the Sun.
There is evidence for catastrophic climate change from protracted volcanic eruptions in the past, but since the 1950s the emissions we produce far exceed those from volcanic activity.
In New Zealand, where more than 80% of electricity is renewable, the carbon footprint of electric cars is 62% lower than that of fossil cars. But their lithium battery has other environmental impacts.
People are more likely to deny climate change if they're inclined toward hierarchy, have lower levels of education or are more religious. But the strongest predictor of denial is a person's politics.
Individual actions to reduce emissions are important in two ways. First, they have an immediate impact, and secondly, adopting low-carbon life choices sends a clear message to political leaders.
Unlike a car, you can't just stick a battery-powered engine in a plane and expect it to fly. Despite that, small planes might be the future of electric flight.
Vehicle emissions and industrial facilities are contributing to climate change, but many conservatives don't believe it.
More and more evidence has accumulated which shows that changes in global and regional climate over the last 50 years are almost entirely due to human influence.
For the past two and a half million years, Earth has experienced regular ice ages, but with carbon dioxide levels now over 400 parts per million, the next ice age is postponed for a very long time.
Planting any tree is more important than planting a particular tree when it comes to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide makes up less than one-twentieth of 1% of Earth's atmosphere. How does this relatively scarce gas control Earth's thermostat?
Regenerative agriculture has the potential to build production and reducing pollution, but it needs a clearer definition.
All plants take up carbon dioxide when they grow, but when they are harvested or cut down, they release the greenhouse gas back into the atmosphere.
Traditional market transactions ignore the costs of greenhouse gas emissions. An emissions trading scheme is a tool to put a price on emissions and to influence us to choose lower-emission options.
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Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology
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Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
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Associate Professor , Director Environmental Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
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Professor of Geology, Auckland University of Technology
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Professor, Griffith University
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Director, African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town
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Senior Lecturer in environmental sustainability and public health and co-convenor of OraTaiao: NZ Climate & Health Council, University of Otago
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Senior Researcher in Politics, Auckland University of Technology
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Policy Fellow, Climate Change, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
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Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Professor of Physics, University of Auckland
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Professor in Applied Mathematics, Massey University
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Associate Professor, Psychology, University of British Columbia
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Associate Professor, Psychology, University of British Columbia
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Professor and Chair in Lake and Freshwater Sciences, University of Waikato
