International: All stories
Nature and climate protection pledges pile up at COP26, amid ghosts of past failures
8 Nov 2021
Dozens of nations pledged on Saturday to do more to protect nature and overhaul farming at the COP26 U.N. climate talks, amid misgivings about past failures.
G20 nations will face a full-frontal tide of climate impacts
8 Nov 2021
The climate front lines are not just Tuvalu or the Maldives: they are Tokyo, Brussels, New York, and the world’s economic heartlands.
History shows Irish farmers can meet the carbon challenge: opinion
8 Nov 2021
Irish farmers have been set a methane reduction target at least twice as ambitious as that being faced by their New Zealand counterparts, but Pat O'Toole, of the Irish Farmer, is optimistic they can achieve those cuts.
Climate clock reset: world one year closer to 1.5 degrees warming
8 Nov 2021
Global carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase to almost 2019 levels this year, upending last year’s unprecedented drop caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. This means that emissions are trending upwards again, when they should be in rapid decline if we are to meet the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
China's deafening silence speaks loudest at global climate talks
8 Nov 2021
It is hard to make progress on climate change when the biggest polluter doesn't show up.
PNG public shocked by expense of COP26 delegation
8 Nov 2021
Papua New Guinea — a country faced with a depressed economy and its public health system on the brink of total collapse due to the covid-19 pandemic sent a 62-member delegation to Europe to attend the COP26 Climate Change conference at a cost of a whooping K5.8 million (NZ$2.03 million).
IEA says COP26 pledges bring climate goal close, experts urge caution
5 Nov 2021
Net-zero emissions pledges and a commitment by leaders at the COP26 climate conference to cut methane, if enforced, could enable the world to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
‘End of coal in sight’ as COP26 deals take aim at dirtiest fuel
5 Nov 2021
The British government says the “end of coal is in sight” after Poland, Vietnam and Chile and other countries pledged for the first time to phase out coal-based power generation and stop building new plants.
Carbon emissions show rapid rebound after Covid dip
5 Nov 2021
Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to rebound to near the levels they were at before Covid, in a finding that has surprised scientists.
A $130T climate promise is greeted with suspicion
5 Nov 2021
Political leaders are showering financial titans with praise at global climate talks. But their show of pageantry and back-patting is masking a deeper concern: that the banking industry’s pledges to help fight global warming are vague and unenforceable.
Rich countries’ climate policies are colonialism in green: opinion
5 Nov 2021
With natural gas prices at record highs in Europe, Norway is raking it in. The country is Europe’s second-largest gas supplier after Russia—and has just agreed to increase natural gas exports by 2 billion cubic meters to alleviate the continent’s acute energy shortage. Its neighbors, such as Britain, are grateful for every dollop of gas as winter approaches.
Cooking up carbon credits
5 Nov 2021
Climate change minister James Shaw has cited Switzerland as an example of a country that is meeting its NDC by offsetting in developing countries. So what do those schemes look like?
Glasgow Conversations: Day 4
4 Nov 2021
On Day 4 of COP26, Alastair Thompson talks about the huge difference a little bit of climate finance can make to a country like Niger, and reveals the appalling working conditions of the security guards tasked with keeping delegates safe.
Ireland would need to cull up to 1.3 million cattle to reach climate targets
4 Nov 2021
Up to 1.3 million cattle would have to be culled in Ireland to reach anticipated government targets for reducing greenhouse gases in the agriculture sector, a new report has concluded.
Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda seeking damages from major polluters
4 Nov 2021
Two island nations battling rising sea levels and extreme weather such as hurricanes are taking a step they hope will pave the way to holding large greenhouse gas emitters accountable under international law.
Al Gore warns of a $22 trillion ‘subprime carbon bubble’
4 Nov 2021
Al Gore, the former vice president of the U.S. and the chairman of Generation Investment Management LLP, said the world is witnessing a sustainability revolution and warned that investors caught on the wrong side of history will face losses.
Current carbon market a problem: Mark Carney
4 Nov 2021
The current voluntary carbon offset market is "part of the problem", former governor of the Bank of England and UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney said today at the UN Cop 26 climate summit.
Doing the maths on Biden’s climate pledge
4 Nov 2021
President Biden took a math problem to Glasgow. He and his advisers have spent the first two days of the international climate conference known as COP 26 trying to persuade world leaders that U.S. actions will add up to a 50 percent emissions reduction over nine years.
Half the national curricula worldwide don’t mention climate change
4 Nov 2021
Only 53% cent of the national curricula in 100 countries surveyed incorporated climate change in their curriculum, according to a new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Kiwi inspired solar silk road gets boost at COP26
3 Nov 2021
A green electricity initiative that would see renewable energy shared between countries and even continents – originally proposed by a Kiwi – is being backed by more than 80 countries including the US, India and Britain.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 3
3 Nov 2021
As Day 3 of COP26 draws to a close, Alastair Thompson reflects on a day which saw Tuvalu PM Kausea Natano declare it was too late to save his homeland from disaster, Boris Johnson torturing a football metaphor, and possibly a drone or four shot down by snipers.
Many IPCC authors expect world to warm by more than 3 degrees
3 Nov 2021
Nearly two thirds of those who responded to a Nature survey of IPCC authors said that they expect the world will warm by at least 3 degrees by the end of the century.
India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070
3 Nov 2021
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow.
U.S. announces new rules to curtail methane at climate summit
3 Nov 2021
EPA’s long-awaited rules cracking down on oil and gas methane will debut today in Glasgow, Scotland, forming the centerpiece of a U.S. offensive against the second-most important greenhouse gas.
Trudeau takes carbon pricing debate to COP26
3 Nov 2021
Prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau is pushing the world to impose a global price on carbon by 2030 that would cover 60 per cent of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions.
Why COP26 agreement will struggle to reverse global forest loss by 2030
3 Nov 2021
More than 100 world leaders meeting at COP26 – the UN climate summit in Glasgow – have committed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.
Climate change in 11 charts
3 Nov 2021
With COP26 underway, the climate crisis is in the spotlight. Here are the most important facts relating to how our planet has been changing.
If nothing is done the world will have 200 million climate refugees by 2050
3 Nov 2021
Negotiators at COP26 are unlikely to deal with the challenges posed by climate migration, a failure that some experts say shows “a lack of political will.”
‘Oppose This Climate Slavery’: A Manifesto
3 Nov 2021
Wealthy western nations must live up to their responsibilities and pay billions of dollars in compensation to the poorest countries being hit hardest by climate change, so they can invest in sustainable measures to face the future. So says Kaossara Sani, a Togolese climate activist who has written a manifesto to the world as leaders meet at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 2
2 Nov 2021
On day two of COP26, journalist Alastair Thompson attends the Leaders' Summit and hears a rambling speech by UK PM Boris Johnson and a powerful plea from Barbados PM Mia Mottley.
‘Digging our graves’: Guterres demands action at climate summit
2 Nov 2021
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres demanded world leaders act to “save humanity” as they met for the historic COP26 climate summit with code-red warnings from scientists ringing in their ears.
‘Thin’ Pacific Island teams at COP26 spark fears of inequity
2 Nov 2021
Only four Pacific Islands will be represented by their leaders at upcoming U.N. climate talks in Glasgow because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, with most island nations forced to send smaller teams.
US Supreme Court considers EPA’s power to set emissions limits
2 Nov 2021
The US Supreme Court will soon rule on whether the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
How climate change traps poor countries between poverty and disaster
2 Nov 2021
As world leaders meet at COP26 to confront climate change, low-income nations have a dilemma: How can they develop without raising carbon emissions?
Australia's emissions projections are a farce based on technological pipe dreams: opinion
2 Nov 2021
If you examine the figures rather than the media release, it’s clear the Coalition has given up on the Paris agreement, argues Greg Jericho.
Climate reparations
2 Nov 2021
A trillion tons of carbon hangs in the air, put there by the world’s rich, an existential threat to its poor. Can we remove it?
Glasgow Conversations: Day 1
1 Nov 2021
Journalist Alastair Thompson chats to Carbon News editor Jeremy Rose about the opening day of COP26 and the stand out performance of a young New Zealand delegate: India Logan-Riley.
Extreme weather events are 'the new norm'
1 Nov 2021
Extreme weather events - including powerful heat waves and devastating floods - are now the new normal, says the World Meteorological Organisation.
G-20 leaders struggle to secure climate breakthrough at Rome summit
1 Nov 2021
Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies holding their first face-to-face summit in two years, struggled on Sunday to bridge differences over how to combat global warming ahead of a crucial United Nations conference on climate change.
Who’s going to the COP26 climate summit? Meet the key players at the UN talks
1 Nov 2021
The COP26 climate summit begins on Sunday, with world leaders from more than 100 countries set to take part in what is regarded as humanity’s last and best chance to secure a livable future amid dramatic climate change.
Why planting trees is no silver bullet against climate change
1 Nov 2021
“Nature-based solutions” are gaining traction as a means of fighting climate change while protecting biodiversity. Tree planting, a key part of several countries’ COP26 pledges, is one such proposal – but experts say that reforestation, while essential, is far from a silver bullet against climate crises.
Antarctica gets a Glasgow Glacier ahead of climate summit
1 Nov 2021
Britain is naming a thinning Antarctic ice mass the Glasgow Glacier, to symbolize the vast implications for the world of a climate conference that starts Sunday in the Scottish city.
Reasons to be hopeful: the climate solutions available now
1 Nov 2021
The climate emergency is the biggest threat to civilisation we have ever faced. But there is good news: we already have every tool we need to beat it. The challenge is not identifying the solutions, but rolling them out with great speed.
Introducing the Glasgow Conversations
29 Oct 2021
Alastair Thompson is one of just two New Zealand journalists covering the COP26 summit from Glasgow. For the duration of the summit he will be having a daily chat with Carbon News editor Jeremy Rose.
Polls shows rising demand for government action on climate
29 Oct 2021
Popular support for governments to take tough action on climate change is growing around the world, according to a BBC World Service opinion poll.
India rejects target for net zero emissions ahead of COP26 climate conference
29 Oct 2021
India has rejected calls to announce a net zero carbon emissions target and says it is more important for the world to lay out a pathway to reduce such emissions and avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures.
World's most highly protected forests are now net emitters of carbon
29 Oct 2021
Humans and climate change have transformed 10 of the world’s most highly protected forests into net emitters of carbon over the past 20 years, according to a new report
What big oil knew about climate change, in its own words
29 Oct 2021
Stanford University PhD candidate Benjamin Franta uncovered a trove of documents revealing Big Oil's knowledge of climate change and its efforts to seed doubt of the science behind it. He tells the story in this piece on The Conversation.
Could a technological fix save the planet from climate change?
29 Oct 2021
Pessimism is growing about humanity’s ability to save the planet as world leaders prepare to convene for climate change talks at the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Sunday. Faced with increasingly apocalyptic projections, some scientists are calling for plans to cool the planet with geoengineering. But is this a realistic path out of the nightmare?
Bottom-up change could be only hope as governments repeatedly fail to deliver: experts
29 Oct 2021
A NEW study sees the lack of environmental justice considerations in climate negotiations as a root cause of the failure of international talks to slow climate change.
“There was so much death.” A toxic algal bloom is ravaging Australia’s southern coast – warming waters are to blame
Fri 29 Aug 2025
Three ingredients are required for an algal bloom to get going – temperature, the right conditions and food. South Australia had all the preconditions necessary, thanks to climate change.
We used to stash gold in Fort Knox. What if we did the same with carbon?
Fri 29 Aug 2025
If we could convince the masses that waste carbon dioxide is sacred and worth hoarding — like gold — one of our most existential problems might solve itself.
China's carbon market to introduce absolute emissions caps from 2027
Wed 27 Aug 2025
China will tighten its carbon trading market by introducing absolute emissions caps in some industries for the first time starting by 2027.
Apple Watch not a 'CO2-neutral product,' German court finds
Thu 28 Aug 2025
Apple can no longer advertise its Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany, following a court ruling on Tuesday that upheld a complaint from environmentalists, finding that the U.S. tech company had misled consumers.
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive?
20 Aug 2025
When climate change undermines the climate plan.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
Singapore seals carbon credit deal with Thailand, its first South-east Asian partner
Thu 28 Aug 2025
The agreement, the eighth for Singapore, helps both nations meet climate targets under the Paris Agreement, directing finance to Thai projects.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Is Africa about to see the solar energy boom it needs?
Thu 28 Aug 2025
African countries imported a record number of solar panels in the past year, which could be the beginning of a green energy boom on the continent.
Lessons from the Incas: How llamas, terraces and trees could help the Andes survive climate change
Thu 28 Aug 2025
New research suggests solutions may lie in environmental knowledge that the Incas and their predecessors developed centuries ago.
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of COP30
20 Aug 2025
Only 28 countries have submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters yet to produce plans.
