International: All stories
Hyundai accused of ‘greenwash’ after u-turn on pledge to use only clean energy
2 Jun 2022
Hyundai has come under fire for announcing a plan to build a natural gas-fired power station soon after pledging to use only renewable energy.
Big tobacco’s big climate impact
2 Jun 2022
New data released by the World Health Organization point to the tobacco industry’s impact on the climate and call for more accountability in the industry.
The US has fallen way behind on climate goals
1 Jun 2022
The US is doing a pretty horrible job of following through on promises it’s made to tackle climate change, according to two separate new studies.
EU spending on climate action ‘overstated’ by €72bn, auditors say
1 Jun 2022
Spending on climate action in the EU’s 2014-2020 budget was “not as high as reported” in official documents, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a report published on Monday (30 May).
Yes, you can save lives by planting trees, a new study says
1 Jun 2022
It’s hard not to love trees. They provide us with shade during the scorching heat of summer, help clean the air and water, and improve our physical and mental well-being. Now, a recent study has found that boosting urban greenery — including trees, shrubs, and other plants — could also save tens of thousands of lives in cities across the USA.
Is this the World’s most eco-friendly landfill?
1 Jun 2022
Once-endangered Pinzgau goats are among the many animals to flourish on Vienna’s “trash mountain,” which heats roughly one-fifth of the city’s homes.
China’s climate change Pacific reset
31 May 2022
By Jeremy Rose | Last month saw the opening of the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Centre in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. It’s opening, perhaps not surprisingly, barely rated a mention in the New Zealand and Australian media.
China’s CO2 emissions see longest sustained drop in a decade
31 May 2022
China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell by an estimated 1.4% in the first three months of 2022, making it the third quarter in a row of falling emissions.
G7 ministers declare 2035 clean grid target, postpone decisions on climate finance
31 May 2022
The Group of Seven western industrialized countries set a 2035 deadline to decarbonize electricity generation, promised to end international public financing of fossil fuels this year, cited Russia’s war in Ukraine as a catalyst for a faster fossil phaseout, but left themselves a long list of agenda items on climate finance as they tied up a marathon series of ministerial meetings in Germany last week.
Climate breakdown threatens economic breakdown
31 May 2022
Climate breakdown impacts could cause damage to the UK equivalent to cutting the size of the economy by at least 7.4 percent by the end of this century, unless there are stronger reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change puts agrivoltaic projects in Northern Africa in the spotlight
31 May 2022
As food and energy security emerge as top priorities in several regions, an innovative use of existing technologies might help serve both: Agrivoltaic projects allow energy production and agricultural activity on the same land, potentially increasing farming productivity.
Watchdogs tackle the murky world of greenwash
31 May 2022
From dubious claims about bamboo-based products to climate funds that are not quite what they seem, regulators have been increasing their scrutiny of corporate claims to be green.
‘We are in danger now’: Vanuatu declares climate emergency
30 May 2022
Vanuatu’s parliament has declared a climate emergency with the low-lying island nation’s prime minister flagging a $1.2bn cost to cushion global warming’s impacts on his tiny Pacific country.
Climate change effect on Peruvian glaciers debated in German court
30 May 2022
German judges and experts have arrived at the edge of a melting glacier high up in the Peruvian Andes to examine a complaint made by a local farmer who accuses energy giant RWE of threatening his home by contributing to global warming.
How mass shootings, ecofascism and climate change got tied together
30 May 2022
Two recent mass shootings in communities of color are renewing fears among environmental groups and climate activists that a growing number of young men are adopting racist right-wing ideologies to explain the worsening climate crisis and justify extreme violence.
Departing consultant contrasts shell’s safety commitment with ‘complete greenwash’ on climate
30 May 2022
The senior safety consultant whose high-profile resignation from Shell spotlighted the company’s “extreme harms” to the environment is drawing a sharp contrast between the colossal fossil’s enduring interest in safer work processes and its failure to deliver on its highly-touted emissions reduction plan
New challenges face the Bonn climate summit
30 May 2022
When the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meets in the German city of Bonn in early June to review worldwide progress in the battle against this growing threat, it will be hard pressed to find any advance at all.
U.S. proposal could change the way oil companies report their carbon footprint
30 May 2022
The officially disclosed carbon footprints of Canada's largest oil companies could balloon in size if tough new climate rules proposed earlier this year by a U.S. regulator come into effect.
Climate change was the defining issue of Australian election. So what will more ambitious action look like?
27 May 2022
Despite Labor and the Coalition being conspicuously quiet about climate change during the campaign, it was in many ways the defining issue of this historic change of government.
Climate burns the right
27 May 2022
Climate change is heating up elections — and the right is getting torched
‘Worse than predicted’: G7 meets to keep climate action on track
27 May 2022
Environmental groups warn nations risk undermining their green goals by scrambling to secure new sources of natural gas to make up for shortfalls in supplies from Russia.
Finland's nuclear free moment
27 May 2022
Finland could soon become the first country in the world to legally commit to carbon negativity.
Carbon credit standards body Verra suspends blockchain, crypto tokenization
27 May 2022
Yesterday Verra, the Washington-based non-profit that sets voluntary carbon credit standards, said it is immediately stopping the practice of creating blockchain tokens or instruments based on retired credits
Vanguard refuses to end new fossil fuel investments
27 May 2022
The world’s second-largest asset manager Vanguard has refused to stop new investments in fossil fuel projects and end its support for coal, oil and gas production.
No done deal on EU carbon market reform
26 May 2022
Lawmakers in the European Parliament’s environment committee voted on a major overhaul of the EU’s carbon market last week, but it’s a long and possibly bumpy road to EU legislators shaking hands on the final deal.
Think climate action is expensive? Inaction could cost $178 trillion.
26 May 2022
For centuries, fossil fuels have been associated with prosperity, progress, and growth. But more and more economists say that the continued use of coal, oil, and gas is now driving the world in the opposite direction — toward a lower standard of living and a global economic slump.
The U.S. has spent more than $2 billion on a plan to save salmon. The fish are vanishing anyway.
26 May 2022
The U.S. government promised Native tribes in the Pacific Northwest that they could keep fishing as they’d always done. But instead of preserving wild salmon, it propped up a failing system of hatcheries. Now, that system is falling apart.
Massachusetts climate change case against Exxon can proceed, court rules
26 May 2022
A lawsuit by the state of Massachusetts accusing ExxonMobil of misleading the public about climate change can go forward, the state's highest court has ruled. Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by ExxonMobil to dismiss the lawsuit.
In Tanzania, carbon offsets preserve forests and a way of life
26 May 2022
Carbon offsets have been criticised for failing to provide carbon savings and ignoring the needs of local communities. But in Tanzania, hunter-gatherer tribes are earning a good return for their carbon credits and protecting their forests from poachers and encroaching agriculture.
G20 climate goals just won't do the job, claims new report
25 May 2022
None of the G20 countries have made climate commitments consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as the Paris Agreement stipulates, data from a new report showed
Island states back Vanuatu’s quest for climate justice at the UN
25 May 2022
Pacific and Caribbean nations have joined Vanuatu in calling for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ legal obligations to protect people from climate harm.
'A sign of things to come': India and Pakistan heatwave made 30 times more likely by climate change, study finds
25 May 2022
The savage heatwave that has scorched India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely by climate change and is a harbinger of the region's future, scientists have said in a new study.
How San Francisco cracked the urban composting code
25 May 2022
California’s environmental achievements are something to behold. The state ranks first in the U.S. for growth in solar power generation and battery storage. It’s the national leader in cumulative electric vehicle sales and public EV charging stations. And it’s one of a growing number of states that aim to run entirely on carbon-free energy in the coming decades – a goal it briefly met, for about 15 minutes, on April 30.
“Under-prepared on all fronts:” Australian renewables exposed to supply and cost crunch
25 May 2022
Despite a federal election result that promises a new era of political support for the Australian renewable energy industry, a major report warns of a tough road ahead for a market still feeling the effects of supply-chain “long Covid.”
UK’s net zero target is under threat because there’s no plan to pay for it
25 May 2022
The UK government’s plan for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is at a serious risk of sinking before it’s been fully launched. With the Treasury having rejected a request by MPs to come up with a “clear funding plan”, there’s now every chance that an already bad plan will turn into no plan at all.
Fossil fuel industry loses its grip over Australia’s climate and energy policies
24 May 2022
Australia has a new Labor government and a significant climate-focused cross bench, and it might just mark the beginning of the end of an almost decade-long grip the fossil fuel industry has held over national climate change and energy policy.
UN body makes ‘breakthrough’ on carbon price proposal for shipping
24 May 2022
Countries have agreed on the need to put a carbon price on shipping emissions after more than a decade of resistance, which campaigners have hailed as a “major breakthrough”.
Failure to save the Congo Basin forest ‘would mean world loses climate fight’
24 May 2022
Failing to conserve the carbon-rich forests of the Congo Basin would mean the world loses the fight against climate change, officials in Gabon have warned.
Sharp cut in methane now could help avoid worst of climate crisis
24 May 2022
Cutting methane sharply now is crucial, as focusing on carbon dioxide alone will not be enough to keep rising temperatures within livable limits, scientists have warned.
How a French bank set the gold standard for climate action
24 May 2022
The headquarters of La Banque Postale resemble a towering greenhouse in a quiet residential neighborhood of Paris, about a mile east of the Eiffel Tower.
HSBC suspends senior banker for dismissing 'nut job' climate change warnings
24 May 2022
Banking giant HSBC has reportedly suspended a senior banker after he dismissed climate change warnings as "unsubstantiated" and accused bankers of overstating global warming risks.
Australian climate election leaves Liberal Party demolished in the capital cities
23 May 2022
Australians have voted overwhelmingly for stronger action on climate change, with stunning results across the country for both teal independents and the Greens delivering a harsh rebuke to the Morrison government’s years of foot-dragging on emissions reduction.
HSBC AM global head of responsible investing: 'Who cares if Miami is six metres under water in 100 years?'
23 May 2022
HSBC Asset Management global head of responsible investing Stuart Kirk has questioned the risk climate change plays for financial markets, arguing that it is not one investors should worry about.
Your money is your carbon
23 May 2022
If you've got $125k in the financial system, it's doing as much damage as your cooking and your heating and your flying. These are the most important new climate numbers for many years
Farmer sues VW over climate change; German court has doubts
23 May 2022
A court in Germany cast doubt Friday on claims by a German farmer that automaker Volkswagen is partly responsible for the impact that global warming is having on his family business.
Biden commits $3.5 billion to carbon capture
23 May 2022
The US government is investing in machines that suck giant amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air in the hopes of reducing damage from climate change.
Despite mining ban, Russia scours Antarctica for massive fossil fuel deposits
20 May 2022
The Kremlin’s mineral explorer says it has found a stunning 500 billion barrels of oil and gas below the Southern Ocean’s climate-threatened waters. Tapping these mooted reserves would not only hamper global efforts to fight the climate crisis. Known for flouting major agreements, a defiant Russia in the Antarctic could destroy the decades-long protected status of Earth’s last unmined frontier.
Trees are dying much faster in northern Australia
20 May 2022
The rate of trees dying in the old-growth tropical forests of northern Australia each year has doubled since the 1980s, and researchers say climate change is probably to blame.
This gas would have stayed in the ground if it wasn’t for bitcoin
20 May 2022
In Pennsylvania, Big Dog Energy LLC has installed 30 gas-fired generators at one of its gas well pads in Beccaria Township, using the electricity they produce in an ingenious, profitable, and possibly environmentally-damaging pursuit—mining the cryptocurrency known as bitcoin.
Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?
20 May 2022
Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which gets released when livestock operations pool manure in open-air lagoons.
Datacentres should be forced to invest in wind and solar energy, all states agree – except Queensland
Wed 13 May 2026
Power hungry datacentres that are growing to meet the demands of artificial intelligence could be forced to invest in enough new solar and wind generation to completely cover their electricity needs.
Some inconvenient truths in bringing climate science to the judiciary
Thu 14 May 2026
OPINION: Climate science had been knocking on the courthouse doors for quite some time when the Supreme Court of the United States finally invited it into the realm of legal action in 2007.
China’s leadership calls for ‘strict control’ of fossil fuels
28 Apr 2026
Chinese government leaders published a policy document on 22 April – Earth Day – calling for stricter controls on fossil-fuel consumption and greater oversight of heavy emitters.
Inequality causing 100,000 extra deaths a year from heat and cold in Europe
Tue 12 May 2026
Economic inequality adds more than 100,000 deaths to the vast toll from heat and cold in Europe each year, research has found.
Risk of drought in UK grows after unusually dry start to spring
Thu 14 May 2026
The risk of drought is rising after an unusually dry start to spring has pushed river flow, groundwater and reservoir stores below normal levels across much of the country, especially in central and southern England.
Carbon capture ‘doesn’t work’: Former British Columbia premier
8 May 2026
Former British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell warned the costly, troubled technology has failed to deliver, undercutting a central justification for billions in public subsidies and new oil infrastructure.
While the world hesitates, India must continue leading on climate
Thu 14 May 2026
India’s updated climate targets must translate into systems that secure growth, resilience, and autonomy.
How climate change threatens the economic backbone of the Pacific
4 May 2026
The vast Pacific Ocean and the islands dotted within it produce more than half of the world's tuna.
‘Triple whammy of climate chaos’: Why Antarctica's sea ice collapse is no longer a mystery
Mon 11 May 2026
Scientists have finally identified the ‘triple whammy’ behind Antarctica’s dramatic collapse, shedding new light on the chain reaction that has pushed its sea ice to record lows.
With its first marine reserve, Ghana protects its ocean to secure its future
5 May 2026
Comment: Last month, Ghana made news when it declared its first marine reserve and sited it in one of the nation’s most ecologically and biologically significant marine environments.
The country where lethal hantavirus cases are on the rise. Experts blame climate change
Wed 13 May 2026
Experts believe environmental degradation caused by climate change and human activity is contributing to its spread by allowing the rodents that transmit the virus to thrive in new areas.
UN methane alert system expanded to coal and waste sectors after Indian landfill named among world’s top emitters
6 May 2026
The United Nations is expanding its methane monitoring system to cover coal mines and waste facilities, after satellite analysis identified a landfill in India among the world’s three largest methane-emitting sites.
