International: All stories
Trump takes another swipe at Paris Agreement
23 Nov 2020
Out-going United States president Donald Trump railed against the Paris climate accord overnight, telling world leaders at a virtual summit that the agreement was designed to cripple the US economy, not save the planet.
Boomers are the greenest generation - study
23 Nov 2020
Parents and grandparents, not the so-called Generation Green, are the most likely groups to try to minimise their environmental footprint, a new study finds.
Green guide to investment
23 Nov 2020
The European Commission has launched “the world’s first ever ‘green-list’” of sustainable economic activities for private investors by publishing draft guidelines under the EU’s green finance taxonomy.
Billionaire investor forcing climate action from companies
23 Nov 2020
British billionaire Chris Hohn is aiming to force hundreds of US and European companies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions by enlisting global investors to demand an annual vote on their climate plans at shareholder meetings.
Canada to join NZ in going net-zero by 2050
23 Nov 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has presented a bill to commit Canada to cut its emissions to net zero by 2050 and set five-year targets to meet the goal.
Nuclear-produced hydrogen is green, says EU
20 Nov 2020
The European Commission will consider hydrogen produced from nuclear power as “low-carbon”, says a senior EU official who spoke in the European Parliament this week.
Paris goals threatened by farms, forests and industry
20 Nov 2020
Many parts of the global economy, especially agriculture and the cement and steel industries, are heading in the wrong direction or cleaning up their act far too slowly to limit global warming to 1.5deg researchers are warning..
NZ called out over 2030 target
19 Nov 2020
New Zealand is being accused by countries most vulnerable to climate change of “defaulting on climate survival leadership”.
G20 countries will miss Paris mark - report
19 Nov 2020
The G20 will miss the 1.5°C warming target set out in the Paris Agreement, according to the latest Climate Transparency report.
UK must stop sales of fossil-fuel cars by 2026
19 Nov 2020
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to bring forward a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 10 years to 2030 will still not go far enough to meet the government’s own legally binding climate targets, according to new research.
Thousands of jobs from carbon-capture-and-storage
19 Nov 2020
Developing technology to capture and store harmful climate-changing emissions may create up to 49,000 jobs, a report suggests.
Changing rainfall could mean more locusts
18 Nov 2020
Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Sudan are trying to contain the worst locust invasion in more than 70 years.
Floating turbines to power the future
18 Nov 2020
Wind turbines floating miles out to sea could one day provide electricity to our homes, experts believe.
Bank of England needs more powers to decarbonise economy, say experts
17 Nov 2020
Urgent reforms of the Bank of England are needed to help decarbonise the financial system and boost green investment as Britain recovers from the covid-19 pandemic, a group of leading academics has said.
Gas denied ‘transition’ fuel status in draft EU green finance rules
17 Nov 2020
Power plants fuelled by natural gas will not be classed as “sustainable” or “transition” investments in Europe unless they meet emission limits which are so low that none are currently able to comply, draft rules show.
Russia resists tougher climate targets in dash for Arctic gas
17 Nov 2020
Russia has no plans to achieve carbon neutrality before the end of the century and is betting on Asian demand to support a huge expansion of its Arctic gas industry.
Blue Scope is going green
17 Nov 2020
Steel giant BlueScope has announced a $A20 million investment to expand Australian manufacturing of components used in wind and solar projects, as the company prepares to meet a surge in demand for wind and solar components.
EU urged to strengthen ETS
16 Nov 2020
A strengthened emissions trading scheme will be vital to drive further carbon dioxide reductions in the European Union as the bloc discusses an increase of its 2030 climate target, policymakers say.
EIB seeks to become climate bank’
16 Nov 2020
European governments have approved a roadmap to turn the European Investment Bank into a “climate bank” with a €1 trillion green investment package to be spent by 2030.
UK expected to ban fossil-fuel cars by 2030
16 Nov 2020
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, the Financial Times reports.
Farming faces 'historic' shift to cut GHG emissions
13 Nov 2020
Tackling greenhouse gas emissions in farming will require the biggest change since the shift from horses to tractors, a United Kingdom inquiry has found.
UK follows NZ on compulsory carbon disclosure
11 Nov 2020
Large companies and financial institutions in the UK will have to come clean about their exposure to climate risks within five years under the terms of a tougher regime announced.
The illicit trade in F-gases
11 Nov 2020
Attempts to crack down on climate-damaging fluorinated gases has instead sparked a flourishing black market in Europe.
Europe ready to restart transatlantic climate talks
10 Nov 2020
The European Commission and senior EU lawmakers say they are ready to intensify dialogue with the US on climate change, listing car CO2 limits and green finance among areas where “real transatlantic cooperation” is again possible after the four-year “Trump parenthesis”.
Biden says he will expose international 'climate outlaws'
10 Nov 2020
United States president-elect Joe Biden promises to usher in a more confrontational era of climate diplomacy, putting a spotlight on major emitters slow-walking climate action
NSW unveils $32bn renewable energy plan
10 Nov 2020
The New South Wales Government is promising a $32bn private investment boom in renewable energy in regional areas under a plan to transform the state’s electricity infrastructure.
Ardern has high climate hopes for Biden
9 Nov 2020
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expects new United States President Joe Biden to act on climate change.
Biden win a pivotal moment for global climate action
9 Nov 2020
Joe Biden is heading to the White House with a promise to overturn four years of US retreat on climate action.
Biden could bring Paris goals 'within striking distance'
9 Nov 2020
The election of Joe Biden as president of the US could reduce global heating by about 0.1C, bringing the goals of the Paris agreement “within striking distance”, if his plans are fulfilled, according to a detailed analysis.
US election will determine the world's climate future
6 Nov 2020
The race for the White House could take days or weeks to settle, with big implications for prospects of tackling the climate crisis.
US is now out of the Paris Agreement
5 Nov 2020
The United States is now officially the only country in the world refusing to participate in global climate efforts, with the fate of the crisis hanging on the still uncalled presidential election.
How well is Scotland tackling climate change?
5 Nov 2020
This time next year, Scotland will be hosting a major UN climate change conference.
EU set to deny gas power plants a green investment label
4 Nov 2020
Power plants fuelled by natural gas will not be classed as a sustainable investment in Europe, unless they meet an emissions limit that none currently comply with.
Pension fund settles landmark climate lawsuit
3 Nov 2020
One of Australia's largest pension funds has agreed to settle a landmark climate risk litigation filed by a 25-year-old member who alleged it was failing to protect his retirement savings against climate change.
Resolve carbon market dispute to step up ambition, says UK
2 Nov 2020
Countries have a collective responsibility to agree on common rules for a global carbon market, to drive greater climate ambition beyond 2021, says the United Kingdom's lead climate negotiator.
Petronas Asia's first oil company to set zero-emissions target
2 Nov 2020
Malaysian state-owned energy firm Petronas has declared that it will be carbon neutral by 2050
The cost to Australia of unchecked climate change
2 Nov 2020
Australia’s economy will be six per cent smaller, there will be 880,000 fewer jobs and $3.4 trillion in economic opportunities will be lost if the climate crisis goes unchecked for next 50 years, new analysis shows.
Bushfire inquiry says it's going to get worse
2 Nov 2020
Australia must prepare for an "alarming" future of simultaneous and worsening natural disasters, says a long-awaited report into the country's bushfires.
Philippines declares moratorium on new coal power plants
30 Oct 2020
The Philippines Government will no longer accept proposals to build new coal power plants, in a significant policy shift designed to boost the deployment of renewable energy.
Most Aussies care about climate change - poll
30 Oct 2020
New polling shows 79 per cent of Australians care about climate change. So why doesn’t the Government listen?
EU tries to stop fossil-fuel companies suing over climate action
29 Oct 2020
The European Union is trying to remove fossil fuels from the list of investments protected by the Energy Charter Treaty to stop its member states being sued over climate action.
South Korea joins Japan in making 2050 carbon-neutral pledge
29 Oct 2020
South Korea is the latest country to pledge to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
India's cities look to become climate-smarter
28 Oct 2020
India's southern city of Hyderabad is known as a high-tech hub - but its infrastructure is looking increasingly dated in an era of strengthening climate change impacts.
Japan to be carbon-neutral by 2050
27 Oct 2020
Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has said the country will become carbon neutral by 2050, heralding a bolder approach to tackling the climate emergency by the world’s third-biggest economy.
Which countries have a net-zero carbon target?
27 Oct 2020
Twenty-eight countries, one American state and the European Union says they are committed to being carbon-neutral by 2050.
EU will not block new nuclear power plants
27 Oct 2020
The European Commission will not stand in the way of countries that choose to build new nuclear power stations, said EU climate chief Frans Timmermans.
First deal done under Paris Agreement to offset emissions
22 Oct 2020
Switzerland has struck a carbon offsetting agreement with Peru, in what the two nations say is the first deal of its kind under Article 6 of the Paris agreement.
Australian business wants a Green New Deal
22 Oct 2020
Australian company directors want a more radical policy reset to recover from the covid-19 recession including bigger investments in infrastructure, reforms of industrial relations and a Green New Deal.
EU close to reforming farm subsidies scheme
22 Oct 2020
European Union farm ministers have clinched an early-morning deal on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy, touted as ‘a paradigm shift in European food policy'.
EU to go for tough new rules for car batteries
22 Oct 2020
The European Commission will table new EU-wide regulations this autumn to ensure that batteries manufactured or imported into Europe are “the greenest on this planet".
“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.
