International: All stories
Survey of gender bias in the IPCC
9 Feb 2022
Women are increasingly prominent in climate negotiations. Familiar figures include United Nations climate chiefs Patricia Espinosa and Christiana Figueres, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and youth activist Greta Thunberg. Yet gender equity is far from being realized across the climate research community, including in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Net-zero corporate commitments largely over-reliant on carbon offsetting
8 Feb 2022
An analysis of 25 corporates' net-zero commitments has found that they cover, on average, just 40% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, with the likes of Unilever, Nestle and BMW Group named among the worst offenders.
Ice that took roughly 2,000 years to form on Mt. Everest has melted in around 25
8 Feb 2022
The highest glacier on the world's tallest mountain is losing decades worth of ice every year because of human-induced climate change, a new study shows.
Gambling on climate failure: fossil fuel projects that only succeed if world fails to meet climate targets
8 Feb 2022
A new analysis co-authored by a former BP geologist identifies five big oil and gas projects—run by ExxonMobil, Shell, Equinor, Petrobras, and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation—that will only succeed if efforts to control global greenhouse gas emissions fail.
U.S. markets regulator flags risks for ratings firms in ESG boom
8 Feb 2022
Credit ratings agencies face new risks as they throw themselves into the fast-growing business of environmental, social and governance (ESG)-based investing, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned in a new report.
‘We need politicians and experts’: how Chile is putting the climate crisis first
8 Feb 2022
Hidden behind the Andes in a quiet corner of South America, a formidable generation of former student leaders are putting together one of the world’s most exciting progressive movements.
Electric cars fend off supply challenges to more than double global sales
8 Feb 2022
Sales of electric cars hit 6.6 million in 2021, more than tripling their market share from two years earlier
European carbon price climbs to new high
4 Feb 2022
The cost of polluting in the European Union jumped to a fresh record, with utilities looking to burn more coal just as the supply of permits dries up.
Giant iceberg blocks scientists’ study of ‘Doomsday Glacier’
4 Feb 2022
Antarctica’s so-called Doomsday Glacier, nicknamed because it is huge and coming apart, is mostly thwarting an international effort to figure out how dangerously vulnerable it is.
North Sea oil and gas project gets green light just months after UK hosted COP26
4 Feb 2022
The UK government's fossil fuel industry regulator has approved a new oil and gas project in the North Sea, just months after the UK hosted the COP26 climate change summit.
Ending animal agriculture and planting trees on empty fields is 'best chance' to slow climate change: vegan scientists
4 Feb 2022
Getting rid of animal agriculture and planting trees on the empty fields is our "best and most immediate chance" to slow climate change, according to two prominent vegan scientists
Is a coffee shortage inevitable as climate change gets worse?
4 Feb 2022
A cup of coffee to start the day is non-negotiable for millions of people around the world. We’ve been drinking it for hundreds of years, with the earliest references to our favourite pick-me-up dating back to the 15th century.
Does hybrid work reduce carbon footprint? It's complicated
4 Feb 2022
Compared to either fully office-based or remote, could it be the worst of both worlds?
Hitting Biden’s greenhouse goals could save billions in health-related costs
4 Feb 2022
Slimming down America’s dependence on fossil fuels is crucial for a multitude of reasons. The one we hear about most often is slowing the toll of catastrophic climate change. But climate change policy has the potential to do a lot more than slash greenhouse gases—if done right, these policies can help build equitable and resilient communities, protect biodiversity, and improve human health.
Remote sensing technology reduces urban air pollution
4 Feb 2022
Cities that adopt roadside emissions sensors to detect high polluting vehicles, together with an enforcement programme to inspect and repair these vehicles, could significantly improve urban air quality, new research shows.
Extreme heat driven by climate change is ‘new normal’ for oceans: study
3 Feb 2022
More than half of the world’s ocean surface has surpassed historic extreme heat thresholds on a consistent basis since 2014, according to a new study by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
New EU green finance strategy shuns decision on nuclear and gas power
3 Feb 2022
The EU is seeking to underpin its ambition to become the world's leading market for climate-friendly investments with an overhauled sustainable finance strategy and a new green bond standard.
Climate action takes centre stage in first Indian budget since COP26
3 Feb 2022
The first Union Budget since India joined the bandwagon of economies committed to becoming net carbon zero, focused on energy transition and climate action. However, it fell short of making significant budgetary allocation to key sectors of energy efficiency, sustainability and clean tech.
What’s driving the remarkable decline of urban sprawl in the US?
3 Feb 2022
Rising gas prices prevented the development of 4.19 million acres of forest and agricultural land in the U.S. between 2000 and 2015, according to a new study. The findings enhance understanding of the dynamics underlying urban sprawl.
Greenflation is real: opinion
3 Feb 2022
Like the cicadas that plague the Atlantic seaboard of the United States every 17 years, inflation has awoken from its most recent hibernation. The hike from about 2 percent in a typical year in the United States to 5.3 percent in the third quarter of this year marked roughly a decade since the last time economists took to op-ed pages and talking head circuits to warn of an uncontrollable rise in prices.
TransAlta submits plan for battery storage near Alberta hydro dam
3 Feb 2022
Fossil heavyweight TransAlta Corporation has officially filed an application to build a 180-megawatt battery storage facility near one of its hydroelectric projects in Alberta.
Countries back away from pledge to update climate goals this year
2 Feb 2022
EVEN before the ink was dry on the Glasgow pact, questions about how many nations would actually honor their pledges were already circulating.
Climate change has likely begun to suffocate the world's fisheries
2 Feb 2022
By 2080, around 70% of the world's oceans could be suffocating from a lack of oxygen as a result of climate change, potentially impacting marine ecosystems worldwide, according to a new study.
30,000 year-old carbon deposits are thawing in Siberia
2 Feb 2022
Carbon, freeze-locked under ice over 30,000 years ago, is now thawing and being released into the climate.
How "cool roofs" are helping women earn more in India
2 Feb 2022
During the scorching midday heat in Behrampura, a slum in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, it can be difficult to breathe, let alone get any work done. Throughout the summer, peak daytime temperatures often exceed 38C. Crowded and cramped housing, a lack of ventilation and the prevalence of cheap, heat-trapping materials such as metal roofs magnify that heat to even more unbearable levels.
Repeat photography shows climate change impacts on real places
2 Feb 2022
A 2004 photo captures a boat cruising a strip of water where an 1899 picture taken from the same spot shows a giant glacier. On either side of the channel, green trees and shrubs cover a rocky landscape that a century ago had been blanketed with white snow.
More Zoom, less climate gloom
2 Feb 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many aspects of everyday life, including the way we work. Now, more than ever, professionals are working from home due to health and safety concerns and local restrictions. The pandemic has also forced the trillion-dollar events industry to undergo a fundamental shift as many organizers move conferences from physical halls to online platforms such as Zoom.
Global carbon markets value surged to record US$851 billion last year
1 Feb 2022
The value of traded global markets for carbon dioxide (CO2) permits grew by 164% to a record 760 billion euros ($851 billion) last year, analysts at Refinitiv said on Monday.
This Fed pick is a climate hero. Will it sink her nomination?
1 Feb 2022
When former President Obama tapped Sarah Bloom Raskin to join the Federal Reserve in 2010, the appointment went smoothly; the Senate unanimously confirmed her nomination to the world’s most powerful central bank.
Beijing expected to relaunch the China Certified Emission Reduction scheme
1 Feb 2022
What is the China Certified Emission Reduction scheme and why is it important for Beijing’s carbon neutral goal? The South China Morning Post journalist Yujie Xue explains.
Q&A: What do rich countries owe the rest of the world?
1 Feb 2022
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., links the debt rich countries owe poor ones to what the descendants of enslaved people are owed in the United States – and says the legacies of colonialism, slavery, and carbon emissions are inextricably connected.
New transport blueprint unveiled for Scotland
1 Feb 2022
A mass transit network in Glasgow and bridges or tunnels to some of Scotland's islands are among the ideas in the Scottish government's new transport strategy.
20% of Brits eating less meat to fight climate change
1 Feb 2022
A survey, commissioned by environmental search engine Ecosia, has revealed new plant-based trends. Major takeaways include more than 20%of participants reducing meat intake in light of the climate crisis. It was revealed that 32% are willing to change their diets to help the environment.
Renewables investment hits record $755B
31 Jan 2022
Renewable energy development hit a record US$755 billion last year, but still fell far short of what will be needed to bring the world’s greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050, according to analysis released yesterday by BloombergNEF.
Net zero will result in hundreds of thousands of job losses in Australia: report
31 Jan 2022
Australia will lose hundreds of thousands of jobs, mostly in a handful of regions, if it fails to make the changes required by our emissions-busting trading partners, a report warns.
Alaska Supreme Court narrowly dismisses youths’ climate change lawsuit
31 Jan 2022
The Alaska Supreme Court narrowly decided Friday to dismiss a challenge to the state’s fossil fuel policy brought by Alaska youths.
How to win more global warming lawsuits
31 Jan 2022
Plaintiffs who sue governments and companies over climate change would have a higher success rate if they relied on the most recent global warming data.
8 reasons Finland is winning on climate: opinion
31 Jan 2022
The race to act on climate breakdown and ecological crisis is against time - rather than each other. Finland, though, is definitely way ahead of the pack.
Key crops face major shifts as world warms
28 Jan 2022
The parts of the world suitable for growing coffee, cashews and avocados will change dramatically as the world heats up, according to a new study.
How Pacific climate diplomacy is changing
28 Jan 2022
Pacific Island nations facing the reality of climate change-induced land loss are using their diplomatic strength to ensure their sovereignty and economic future are protected, Jess Marinaccio writes from Tuvalu.
Future forests will have smaller trees and soak up less carbon: study
28 Jan 2022
There is no crystal ball to tell ecologists how forests of the future will respond to the changing climate, but a University of Arizona-led team of researchers may have created the next best thing.
Gas stoves leak climate-warming methane even when they're off
28 Jan 2022
Your natural gas cooking stove may leak climate-warming methane even when it is turned off, warns a new Stanford University study.
The pandemic has been great for electric car sales
28 Jan 2022
Electric vehicles grabbed a much bigger share of the global car market last year as sales more than doubled despite turbulent economic conditions and a severe shortage of computer chips.
Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan talking about climate change will make your brain dissolve
28 Jan 2022
In a new episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson talked at length about climate change in an exchange that makes Rogan’s recent anti-vax content seem scientifically sound enough to win a Nobel Prize.
Climate change costs world US$329 billion in damages
27 Jan 2022
Led by the deadly and costly Hurricane Ida and massive flooding in Europe, the world racked up $329 billion in economic losses linked to severe weather last year, and only 38% of that bill was covered by insurance.
Huge aluminium demand expected in solar industry, concerns arise on emissions
27 Jan 2022
Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) predict that growth to 60TW of photovoltaics needed to rapidly reduce emissions to ‘net zero’ and limit global warming to <2 °C could require up to 486 Mt of aluminium by 2050. A key concern for this large aluminium demand is its large global warming potential.
Cutting carbon to take backseat to ‘normal life’ in China: Xi Jinping
27 Jan 2022
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated the Asian superpower’s low carbon desires must not get in the way of ‘normal life’.
Oil firms accused of scare tactics after claiming climate lawsuits ‘a threat to US'
27 Jan 2022
US oil firms have been accused of using scare tactics after telling a federal court on Tuesday that lawsuits alleging fossil fuel companies lied about the climate crisis could threaten America’s oil supply.
Here’s how top predator species might buffer climate change impacts on biodiversity
27 Jan 2022
Sometimes even a finger-length fish can make all the difference in an ecosystem. As many of the world’s wild places confront a double-whammy of a warming climate and vanishing species, new research suggests that predators as small as the lowly sculpin could help dampen ecological turmoil triggered by heatwaves.
Economist proposes carbon backed currency
27 Jan 2022
With alternative coins flourishing and Central Banks designing their own digital currencies, there is a potential hard-backed currency which cannot be ignored: carbon. Using carbon to back a global currency would redistribute wealth, incentivize low carbon technology and avoid the environmental taxes which hit the world’s poor the hardest, writes Australian economist Steve Keen.
A real ‘intergenerational equity’ budget would address Australia’s unceasing environmental decline
Today 11:30am
Labor has unveiled a budget designed to tackle intergenerational equity in Australia through bold tax reform.
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.
UK halves Green Climate Fund contribution, as it spends more on security
Today 11:30am
After promising £1.6 billion to the UN’s flagship climate fund in 2023, the UK government has now said it will only hand over half as much.
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.
Africa secures major clean energy deals as France deepens investment push
Today 11:30am
French and African leaders have announced more than $11 billion in renewable energy investments across Africa, underscoring the continent’s growing importance in the global push for cleaner energy and industrial development.
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 members prepare for pivotal vote on landmark ICJ climate justice ruling
Today 11:30am
If the resolution is passed, governments will recognise their legal responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
