International: All stories

Switzerland told it must do more to comply with landmark climate ruling by Council of Europe
11 Mar 2025
Switzerland hasn't shown that it's meeting the requirements of a landmark climate change decision from Europe's highest human rights court, the Council of Europe announced on Friday.

Defense of climate multilateralism key to Brazil's leadership, COP30 president says
11 Mar 2025
Brazil will use its presidency of the annual United Nations global climate talks to press for multilateralism and respect for science, COP30 President-Designate Andre Aranha Correa do Lago said on Wednesday in a rejoinder to U.S. President Donald Trump over climate matters.

Who is Mark Carney, the former central bank governor turned Canada's next leader?
11 Mar 2025
Canada's new leader is a relative political newcomer. While the former UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance has previously advocated for net-zero investment, he has promised to scrap the country's carbon tax, saying he wants to shift the cost from consumers to big corporations.

Dramatic fall in London's levels of deadly pollutants after low emissions zone expansion
10 Mar 2025
People in the UK capital are breathing much cleaner air, with significant improvements in the city's most deprived areas.

Most cookstove carbon credits ruled out of quality scheme in integrity push
10 Mar 2025
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market has rejected widely used rulebooks for cleaner cooking, which will require projects to switch to more rigorous methods.

Australia's biggest coal-fired power station is 'driving up energy bills'
10 Mar 2025
Australia's largest coal-fired power station is unreliable and driving up electricity prices, according to a new report that argues against the viability of keeping coal plants open beyond their scheduled closure dates.

UK government announces plans to axe oil and gas windfall tax in 2030
10 Mar 2025
The Government has announced plans to end a windfall tax on oil and gas profits in 2030 as it launches a consultation on the future of the North Sea energy sector.

Global sea ice levels just hit a new record low
10 Mar 2025
Sea ice cover in both the Antarctic and Arctic remained far below average throughout February as global average temperatures linger near record highs.

Visualising daily global temperatures
10 Mar 2025
Good data visualisations can help make climate change more visceral and understandable.

US withdrawing from plan to help major polluters move from coal
7 Mar 2025
The United States is withdrawing from the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a collaboration between richer nations to help developing countries transition from coal to cleaner energy.

Carbify: Tree planting; Blockchain; Crypto; and NFT trees?
7 Mar 2025
Carbify is a Dutch company that claims to have "tree planting solutions for every sector." But do those trees even exist?

The legal tussle to hold corporate polluters accountable for climate loss and damage
7 Mar 2025
The stage has been set for a series of major battles over whether corporations can be held accountable through the courts for loss and damage from climate change.

World's largest iceberg runs aground off remote island
7 Mar 2025
The world's largest iceberg has run aground in shallow waters off the remote British island of South Georgia, home to millions of penguins and seals.

The fact that humans can only survive on Earth doesn't bother Trump - and I know why
7 Mar 2025
By George Monbiot | OPINION: He is surrounded by people who have grandiose plans and dreams beyond our planet. Vengeful nihilism is a big part of the Maga project.

Coral reefs in Vietnam face collapse. Can conservation efforts turn the tide?
7 Mar 2025
The gentle waves off the coast of central Vietnam's Nha Trang obscure an open secret: The life-giving coral reefs below are dying. The waters are eerily devoid of fish. The bounty of the ocean is coming to an end.

Trump orders swathes of US forests to be cut down for timber
6 Mar 2025
President's move to expand tree cutting across 280m acres evades rules to protect endangered species.

Rare cyclone threatens millions on Australia's east coast
6 Mar 2025
Millions of residents along Australia's eastern coast are preparing for the impact of the most southerly cyclone to threaten the region in more than five decades.

Avalanche in India triggered by 600% surge in rain linked to climate change
6 Mar 2025
An avalanche which killed eight in India on Friday was set in motion weeks earlier by a dry winter, and triggered by a sudden 600% spike in precipitation within 24 hours, a disaster expert says.

Locals in Greenland now have two fears: Trump and climate change
6 Mar 2025
'Greenlanders don't want to be Danish. Greenlanders don't want to be American'.

China announces plans for major renewable projects to tackle climate change
6 Mar 2025
China said on Wednesday it would develop a package of major projects to tackle climate change as it moves to bring its carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060.

Albanese Government vows to secure future of Australia's food supply chain by developing new national strategy
6 Mar 2025
The Albanese Government has promised to help secure the future of Australia's food supply chain by developing a new national strategy if it wins the election.

Countries fail again to decide timing of key IPCC climate science reports
5 Mar 2025
China, Saudi Arabia and India pushed back against a proposal to align the IPCC flagship reports with the timeline of the global stocktake of climate action.

EU proposes more relaxed CO2 target compliance for new cars
5 Mar 2025
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced she will propose a more relaxed three-year timeframe for the automotive industry to comply with the bloc's CO2 standards, instead of annual targets.

US: EPA calls for watchdog to probe $20 billion climate fund
5 Mar 2025
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is at the center of a fight between the Trump administration and environmental groups seeking access to the funds that Congress approved under its massive climate legislation.

China plays key role on climate change, may be looked to for additional leadership, COP30 president says
5 Mar 2025
China has a very important role to play in tackling climate change and others may look to the Asian country for additional leadership in the field, COP30 President-Designate Andre Aranha Correa do Lago said on Thursday.

Japan's worst wildfire in half a century spreads
5 Mar 2025
Firefighters were Tuesday battling Japan's worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 local residents.

As warming climate hammers coffee crops, this rare bean may someday be your brew
5 Mar 2025
As Earth's warming climate causes problems for big coffee producers, some are looking to a rarely cultivated species that may stand up better to drought and heat. It's Excelsa, which is native to South Sudan and a handful of other African countries.

UK: Reducing emissions 87% by 2040 could cut household costs
4 Mar 2025
The UK should cut its emissions to 87% below 1990 levels by 2040 under its seventh five-yearly "carbon budget", according to official advice from the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

China missed key climate target last year
4 Mar 2025
China missed a key climate target in 2024 and emissions in the world's second-largest economy rose slightly as coal remained dominant despite record renewable additions, official data showed Friday.

Risk of financial fallout may deter Argentina from leaving Paris Agreement
4 Mar 2025
Argentina's President Javier Milei has expressed his will to leave the global climate pact, but key trade partners and foreign aid may stand in the way.

Trump's firings at US weather agency will put lives at risk, scientists say
4 Mar 2025
"There will be people who die in extreme weather events and related disasters who would not have otherwise."

Tesla's plummeting sales risk lucrative emissions credit earnings
4 Mar 2025
CEO Elon Musk has angered European customers and governments, undercutting his EV brand.

Meet Chonkus: the CO2-chomping alga that could help tackle the climate crisis
4 Mar 2025
Chonkus may sound like a champion Sumo wrestler but it is the nickname for a superpower strain of microbe that absorbs lots of CO2 relative to its size and stores it in its large cells.

Plants losing appetite for carbon dioxide amid effects of warming climate
3 Mar 2025
Earth's plants and soils reached peak carbon dioxide sequestration in 2008 but proportion absorbed has been declining since, study finds.

Big EU countries push expanded carbon border tax to help repay Covid debt
3 Mar 2025
France, Italy and Poland support the move, but others fear it might prompt Donald Trump to retaliate in anger.

COP16: Key outcomes agreed at the resumed UN biodiversity conference in Rome
3 Mar 2025
Countries have agreed at the resumed COP16 talks in Rome to a strategy for "mobilising" at least $200bn per year by 2030 to help developing countries conserve biodiversity.

Trump's war on climate science is pushing us into a dystopian future
3 Mar 2025
US President Donald Trump's latest war on the climate includes withdrawing support for any research that mentions the word.

Glacial melting is accelerating, driving sea level rise and depleting freshwater: study
3 Mar 2025
Accelerating glacial melting is causing the world's oceans to rise year after year and is causing a loss of regional freshwater, new research led by scientists at the University of Zürich shows.

From drill to grill: Continued fossil fuel use puts us all in the hot seat
3 Mar 2025
The Climate Council is warning that Australia's biggest cities could face dangerously hot temperatures, unless action is taken to slow down climate change. The Council has released a 'heat map' which also shows that continuing to cut climate pollution can safeguard Australians from the worst impacts of soaring heat.

The far right just made huge gains in a country once seen as a climate champion. It's a pattern happening across the world
28 Feb 2025
Germany was once seen as a climate champion, setting ambitious targets to slash planet-heating pollution.

US officials absent from global climate forums during Trump 2.0
28 Feb 2025
US officials have missed recent international climate forums sparking concerns about a potentially significant shift from Donald Trump's first term.

Countries use more land for golf courses than for solar or wind energy: study
28 Feb 2025
The amount of land needed for renewable energy projects is sometimes criticised, but a new study points out that, in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, much more land gets allocated for golf courses than renewable energy facilities.

China aims to eliminate severe air pollution this year
28 Feb 2025
China aims to effectively eliminate severe air pollution by the end of 2025, a senior environment official said, as authorities ramp up efforts in pollution control and emissions reduction in the "battle for blue skies."

Kerala's early heat surge signals climate shift
28 Feb 2025
Kerala, known for its clear skies and balmy weather during the early part of the year, which attracts tourists, has been grappling with an early start of unusually hot weather this season. Scientists attribute this to a mix of local weather conditions and long-term climate change impacts.

America's "first car-free neighborhood" is going pretty good, actually?
28 Feb 2025
Since breaking ground in 2021, Culdesac Tempe has had its share of detractors and skeptics. But none of them live there.

Companies urged to pay into new UN fund to help protect nature
27 Feb 2025
Companies who use the genetic coding of the natural world to design products ranging from weight-loss drugs to cosmetics faced renewed calls on Tuesday to help pay to protect it as a dedicated fund was launched at a U.N. conference in Rome.

Nauru sells citizenship to help fund relocations as sea levels rise
27 Feb 2025
A new 'golden passport' scheme aims to raise funds to relocate people inland as climate change raises sea levels.

How much do rich nations owe Africa for climate damage?
27 Feb 2025
Wealthy nations owe African countries some 50 times more for climate damage than the debt Africa owes them, ActionAid report says.

Europe's impossible choice: Which industries should survive the green transition?
27 Feb 2025
One German aluminum factory decided to go green and close its smelter. The EU faces a similar choice, with Europe's future at stake.

RFK Jr., onetime environmentalist, kills climate change programs
27 Feb 2025
In 1999, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an environmental lawyer, was named by Time magazine as a "hero of the planet" for his pioneering work to clean up America's waterways. On February 14 of this year, his second day as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he ended HHS funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health, a move that will likely terminate this work.