Eloise Gibson

Ageing bridges must be replaced to withstand next big cyclone Thirty-nine bridges on the state highway network are already older than 100 - by 2030, that number will be 260.

You can listen here to my last audio piece for Morning Report.
Heartfelt thanks to Tui Warmenhoven for sharing her story, and the excellent Belinda Storey www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

$200 extra to drive a RAV4: Will RUC changes help or hurt the climate? Universal road user charges are proposed to start in 2027, changing the way drivers of the country's more than 3 million petrol vehicles contribute to the cost of roads.

I talked to @eloisegibson.bsky.social about universal Road User Charges. Govt says (a) carbon charge, ETS will sort it; (b) cutting petrol carbon charge from $450/t to $50/t -> negligible effect. They can't both be true, I don't think either of them are true. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Completely stoked that this miracle of a snail found Giselle Clarkson, a person who a) would never squish it and b) knew all about left-spirals and c) deeply deserved a Ned in her life.

Well played, my eternal frenemy @marcdaalder.bsky.social

The climate reading public is in good hands.

Thank you, I will also miss scientists but hope to find me some in my new job 😉

Thank you friend. Time for a break, and the next person will smash it, I'm sure.

Officials warn of damage to diplomatic relations in secret climate change memo Officials raise concerns on government's climate change stance in mistakenly released advice.

The climate advice they didn't want you to see.

[finally, six days before I finish up, I get to use that headline formula 😅]

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

a thick rectangular orange sheet of hot molten steel, a sort of slab, with smoke rising off it

years ago, an outlet used this image (or something very close to it) on an article I wrote on steel decarbonisation, and someone replied "THE FORBIDDEN HALOUMI" and weirdly my brain hasn't let me ever forget it

Nawwww! These kids ❤️❤️💕

I can't wait to see what the next generation of NZ climate journalists do! Please support them.

After 5 years exclusively covering climate, my soul needs a break from writing about but not solving the crisis, so I'm hoping to do some solving for a while....

I'll be working with Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority from September, helping in energy, electricity and saving us all money.

Some news...

I am happy and also sad to let you know I have a new job outside journalism. I finish at RNZ on August 28.

It's been an incredible 18 years in journalism - it really can be the best job in the world.

The BEST is talking to incredible scientists and researchers, national treasures.

And now the attribution analysis results: climate change strengthened #Erin ’s peak intensity by about 9 mph 📈, resulting in it becoming a Category 5️⃣ storm. If not for human-caused climate change, Erin would have been a Category 4 storm at its peak. www.climatecentral.org/tropical-cyc...

Honestly I wouldn't want to do that myself so I salute you!

How Jacinda Ardern’s ‘groundbreaking’ climate law has become ‘a shell’ The Zero Carbon Act promised to lock climate ambition into law. But with key policies repealed, delayed or watered down, the once 'world-leading' legislation has become a husk of its former self.

@kirstyjohnston.bsky.social patiently going through the list of climate policies repealed, and what's still standing.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Mary Argue doing the good mahi for RNZ on science funding cuts....

Data on the cuts to the Marsden Fund reported by RNZ this morning

There’s Money to Be Made From ‘MAHA.’ Food Companies Want In.

A NYT comment: “Humans ate organic, whole foods for millennia. They got plenty of exercise, lived without plastics. Until the mid-1800s, life expectancy at birth was 39. Food may be good medicine, but it’s not a panacea. Medical advances—like vaccines—have doubled the human lifespan, not superfoods”

We strangled our rivers; now they're fighting back Special report: We forced NZ's braided rivers into tiny channels so we could build our homes and farms in their riverbeds – now we're seeing the consequences. Marc Daalder investigates.

Paywall now lifted: My special report this morning is about how we spent generations strangling our rivers to make room for our homes and farms, only to find we've ended up supercharging their flows.

What do we do when we realise we've built a society in a riverbed?
newsroom.co.nz/2025/08/13/l...

Agriculture excluded from compulsory ETS reporting Three of the country's biggest greenhouse gas emitters no longer have to reveal how much planet-heating gas they produce each year. Climate Change correspondent Eloise Gibson filed this report.

Here's me having a wee chitchat with Ingrid about it on Morning Report

Agriculture excluded from compulsory ETS reporting www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

Three of New Zealand's biggest emitters no longer have to reveal their climate impact It comes after the government ended compulsory reporting for the farming sector.

Agricultural companies never had to pay for their methane emissions in NZ, but they used to be required to report the totals to the EPA.

No longer.

For some companies, it was the only way to get even a crude estimate.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Australia could be about to leapfrog NZ on climate targets A conservative Australian politician turned climate leader has told New Zealand ministers it is in their interests to do more on climate change.

"My message to conservatives both in Australia and abroad is when it comes to taking action on climate change, if you do it in an economically rational way there is also a political dividend to be gained."

- Australia's Matt Kean,noting NZ's target is "largely static"
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Why congestion charging might not lower Auckland's air pollution Congestion charges can lower emissions and travel times by putting cordons around the central city and spending the revenue on public transport, but proposals for Auckland could end up doing neither.

"Without significantly investing in alternative modes, and then investing the revenue in frequent buses, protected bike lanes, or better train services, this isn't a congestion charge, it's just a tax on those who can't afford it” - Tim Welch

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Why congestion charging might not lower Auckland's air pollution Congestion charges can lower emissions and travel times by putting cordons around the central city and spending the revenue on public transport, but proposals for Auckland could end up doing neither.

Why congestion charging might not lower Auckland's air pollution

Is Colossal a threat to Science or Is it Science's Last Hope for the Next Generation?

Just got a 🧪pitch from a PR claiming to work with Colossal (de-extinction chancers). It was a pre-written article claiming the science sector is carrying out "coordinated attacks" on the co. Spy the headline. They asked if I'd publish it on my Forbes column.

Not enough eye rolls on Earth for this 🙄

😂😂

I feel like there was a book about this kind of thing.

Devastating cyclones to get 20-35 percent wetter with fossil fuel emissions Researchers have used more precise climate modelling to reveal how fossil fuel emissions could affect cyclone behaviour.

"The most relevant take home for New Zealand is that the amount of extreme rainfall coming out of these storms will increase in the future and this increase will be dependent on future temperature increases"

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Devastating cyclones to get 20-35 percent wetter with fossil fuel emissions Researchers have used more precise climate modelling to reveal how fossil fuel emissions could affect cyclone behaviour.

"The most relevant take home for New Zealand is that the amount of extreme rainfall coming out of these storms will increase in the future and this increase will be dependent on future temperature increases"

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...