International: All stories
Taiwan vows US$32 billon spending spree on clean energy as it lags on climate targets
31 Mar 2022
Taiwan is planning a massive clean energy spending spree until 2030 to redouble climate efforts after government officials said they were likely to miss 2025 targets.
Greens promise to re-introduce a carbon price in Australia
31 Mar 2022
The Australian Greens will push to bring back a price on carbon.
Global wind and solar growth on track to meet climate targets
31 Mar 2022
Solar and wind power can grow enough to limit global warming to 1.5C if the 10-year average compound growth rate of 20% can be maintained to 2030, independent climate think tank Ember said in a report on Wednesday.
Climate disasters rising faster in MENA than any other region
31 Mar 2022
The frequency and severity of climate-related disasters are rising faster in the Middle East and Central Asia than anywhere else in the world, a new study says.
Baker’s yeast may be the unexpected solution to beer’s sustainability problem
31 Mar 2022
Researchers have managed to recreate beer’s signature hoppy flavor through baker’s yeast, circumventing the resource-intensive process of growing aroma hops in a field. This could save gallons of water and carbon dioxide emissions involved in growing the crops for beer—making this favorite beverage much more sustainable, they say.
What does China’s coal push mean for its climate goals?
30 Mar 2022
Late last year, following widespread power shortages, China’s leadership repeatedly emphasised the importance of ensuring energy security – a country’s ability to secure sufficient and affordable energy supplies without interruption.
Climate campaign pushes Bitcoin network to drop energy-hungry code
30 Mar 2022
Greenpeace and other environmental groups launched a new campaign today to push the Bitcoin network to slash its growing greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of the campaign, dubbed “Change the code, not the climate,” is to switch up the energy-hungry process of verifying transactions and mining new Bitcoins
Carbon market for Indonesia
30 Mar 2022
CarbonX, an Indonesian high-impact carbon asset developer, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the world’s first fully digital carbon exchange to develop a carbon marketplace in Indonesia.
Extreme storm surges likely to increase
30 Mar 2022
Extreme storm surges in Europe have increased since 1960, suggests a paper published in Nature.
Stanford transitions to 100% renewable electricity as second solar plant goes online
30 Mar 2022
Stanford’s second solar generating plant went online this month, completing the university’s years-long transition to 100% renewable electricity and marking a major milestone in its larger journey to reach net zero carbon emissions on campus.
Australian carbon traders defend troubled offset market against whistleblower claims
29 Mar 2022
Australia’s biggest carbon traders have sought to defend Australia’s troubled carbon offset regime, following weeks of policy upheaval and claims from one of the scheme’s architects that most of Australia’s government-issued carbon offsets did not represent genuine emissions reductions.
Scientists alarmed as east Antarctic ice shelf collapses
29 Mar 2022
A New-York-City-sized ice shelf has collapsed in East Antarctica, much to the alarm of scientists who thought the region was substantially protected from the impacts of climate change, unlike the more vulnerable western reaches of the continent.
Biden wants record $11 billion in climate aid to poor nations
29 Mar 2022
President Joe Biden is asking Congress to dedicate $11 billion in taxpayer dollars to help other nations deploy clean energy and withstand the growing consequences of climate change -- more than 10 times the amount lawmakers doled out to the effort in fiscal 2022.
Ukraine war accelerates climate emergencies in Horn of Africa
29 Mar 2022
In some parts of the region, famine is now not just a threat, it is waiting, says UNICEF's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Mohamed Fall.
Sweden’s innovative wooden skyscraper captures as much carbon as 10,000 forests
29 Mar 2022
Between the towering trees of Sweden's Bothnian coastline, a new skyscraper is bucking the trend of the traditionally carbon-heavy construction industry.
Germany’s new government had big plans on climate, then Russia invaded Ukraine
28 Mar 2022
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has made Germany’s reliance on Russian oil and gas untenable, and led the center-left government of Chancellor Olav Scholz to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
White House office seeks public opinion on crypto-climate implications
28 Mar 2022
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), an Executive Office of the President of the United States, commenced a study to identify the scope for offsetting energy use and climate changes related to digital assets.
China's carbon market has a credibility problem: analysts
28 Mar 2022
China’s newly launched national carbon emissions trading system (ETS), the world’s largest, needs to raise its game on fraud prevention by imposing steeper penalties on offending companies to deter cheating, analysts said.
Baby boomers are the new climate change villains: study claims
28 Mar 2022
Are baby boomers driving climate change? A new study says older adults are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other age group now. In fact, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found that people over 60 accounted for 25% of these emissions in 2005. However, that number jumped to 33% in 2015.
Trudeau government lowballed cost of carbon tax
28 Mar 2022
The reason Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux says most Canadians paying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax are worse off financially, as opposed to the Trudeau government which claims most are better off financially, is simple.
Australia’s carbon market is in crisis
25 Mar 2022
Australia’s carbon market is in a state of crisis.
Shifts in El Niño may be driving climates extremes in both hemisphere
25 Mar 2022
Global warming is shifting cyclical temperature swings in the Pacific Ocean, and that affects floods in Australia, fires in South America and even temperature in the polar regions.
Climate smart’ policies could increase southern Africa’s crops by up to 500%
25 Mar 2022
The climate crisis is threatening food stocks in sub-Saharan Africa, but a comprehensive approach to food, farming and resources could increase crop production by more than 500% in some countries in the region, according to new research by more than 200 experts.
Indian forest loss ‘worse than feared’ due to climate change
25 Mar 2022
Forest loss in India could become an even bigger problem than anticipated in the coming years, with new research revealing climate change has caused significant recent losses.
Germany lowers petrol and public transport prices
25 Mar 2022
Germany’s government coalition will introduce one-off bonuses, lower taxes on fuels and cheap public transport tickets as part of a wide-ranging relief package against rising energy costs.
19 oil and gas producing countries must cut oil and gas 76% by 2030 to keep 1.5° alive
24 Mar 2022
Nineteen oil and gas-producing countries must reduce production by three-quarters this decade and phase it out completely by 2034 to keep a 1.5°C climate future within sight, according to a new analysis released this week by the United Kingdom’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
Arctic sea ice winter peak in 2022 is 10th lowest on record
24 Mar 2022
Arctic sea ice has reached its maximum extent for the year, peaking at 14.88m square kilometres (km2) on 25 February. It is the 10th smallest winter peak in the 44-year satellite record.
Appeal Court allows White House to calculate social cost of carbon
24 Mar 2022
The Biden administration’s climate plans have one less constraint after a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling stayed a Louisiana District Court’s order preventing agencies from considering the social cost of carbon.
UN weather agency to spearhead 5 year early warning plan, boosting climate action
24 Mar 2022
The UN set an ambitious five year deadline on Wednesday for countries to ensure that citizens worldwide are protected by early warning systems against extreme weather and climate change, the UN chief announced, marking World Meteorological Day.
Putin’s climate envoy Anatoly Chubais quits
24 Mar 2022
Anatoly Chubais, the architect of Russia's market reforms in the 1990s and President Vladimir Putin's climate envoy, has quit his post, becoming the highest-ranking official to stand down following the invasion of Ukraine.
Protecting the beasts of the land and sea could help fight climate change
24 Mar 2022
Large animals could be big allies in the fight against climate change, according to a new analysis.
New report a ‘stark indictment’ of rich nations’ climate failure
23 Mar 2022
Rich countries must end their oil and gas production by 2034 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius and give poorer nations time to replace fossil fuel income, according to a new report.
Proposed SEC climate rules sparks fight over indirect emissions
23 Mar 2022
THE US Securities and Exchange Commission broke new ground yesterday when it unveiled a 510-page rulebook that, if finalized, would force companies to provide investors with more information to help them better account for the economic realities of a warming world.
South Korea commits to slashing emissions
23 Mar 2022
South Korea has passed the Carbon Neutrality Act which commits the country to cutting emissions to 40% of those in 2018 by 2030.
Carbon trading platform launched in Singapore
23 Mar 2022
Climate Impact X (CIX), a global carbon exchange and marketplace, has launched a new, Singapore-based digital carbon credit trading platform called Project Marketplace.
Designer of China carbon market sees expansion delayed
23 Mar 2022
A researcher who helped design China’s national carbon market said it will expand into new sectors later than expected, a setback for a key tool in President Xi Jinping’s drive to cut the world’s biggest source of emissions.
Brazil unveils incentives to spur biomethane output
23 Mar 2022
Brazil's government has unveiled a series of incentives to spur the production and sustainable use of biomethane, a fuel that can be obtained from recycling urban and rural waste, and that can replace natural gas, diesel and gasoline.
World ‘sleepwalking’ to climate catastrophe: UN chief
22 Mar 2022
UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday the world is “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe”, with major economies allowing carbon pollution to increase when drastic cuts are needed.
Russia claims sanctions will stop it meeting climate targets
22 Mar 2022
The Russian energy ministry is claiming that international sanctions will harm the country’s ability to meet its climate goals.
Australian carbon credit companies to cash in on multi-billion-dollar windfall
22 Mar 2022
Australian companies have been gifted a multi-billion-dollar windfall, after being allowed to break long-standing government supply contracts to cash in on a booming market.
Cameron’s decision to cut ‘green crap’ now costs each household in England £150 a year
22 Mar 2022
The decision by David Cameron’s government to ditch what he denounced as “green crap” policies will cost every household as much as £150 a year by the autumn, new analysis has shown.
IPCC scientists to examine carbon removal in key report
22 Mar 2022
UN scientists are likely to weigh up technology to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, as they gather to finalise a key report.
Astronomy's contribution to climate change rivals the emissions from some countries
22 Mar 2022
Astronomers spend their careers looking up at the sky, away from Earth, but now some stargazers say their field has to grapple with the fact that observing the cosmos is contributing to their home planet's climate emergency.
IEA 10-point plan to cut oil use
21 Mar 2022
In the face of the emerging global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, practical actions by governments and citizens in advanced economies and beyond can achieve significant reductions in oil demand in a matter of months, reducing the risk of a major supply crunch, according to new analysis released by the International Energy Agency.
Antarctica and Arctic experiencing more than 30 to 40 degree temperature increases
21 Mar 2022
Antarctica and Arctic temperatures have dramatically increased by at least 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, according to multiple reports.
The U.S. may force companies to disclose climate risks
21 Mar 2022
How much do companies contribute to climate change and how are they impacted by it? Those questions are at the heart of a major announcement expected today from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Permafrost peatlands ‘on a precipice’
21 Mar 2022
Global warming is pushing the carbon-storing peatlands in Northern Europe and Siberia closer to a climate tipping point than previously believed, researchers warn, but policies to reduce emissions can still save the lands in northernmost Western Siberia.
UN report to lay out options to halt climate crisis
21 Mar 2022
Nearly 200 nations gather today to confront a question that will outlive Russia's invasion of Ukraine: how do we stop carbon pollution overheating the planet and threatening life as we know it?
Circular economy needed to get to net-zero emissions
21 Mar 2022
Designers and brands must go beyond recycling and focus on making bigger, systems-level changes to help the world move to a circular economy and ultimately reach its net-zero goals, argues architect Ellen MacArthur.
High energy costs intensify debate over Europe's carbon plan
18 Mar 2022
A European Union plan to charge fuel suppliers for the CO2 emitted by cars and heating buildings is emerging as the most contentious element in a raft of climate change policies the bloc’s member states are negotiating this year.