International: All stories
EU unveils sweeping climate change plan
15 Jul 2021
The European Union has announced a raft of climate change proposals aimed at pushing it towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Amazon rainforest releasing more carbon than it stores
15 Jul 2021
Over the last several years researchers have said that the Amazon is on the verge of transforming from a crucial storehouse for heat-trapping gasses to a source of them, a dangerous shift that could destabilize the atmosphere of the planet.
China to launch ETS this month
15 Jul 2021
China is set to launch its carbon emissions trading scheme this month.
Methane-powered moped
15 Jul 2021
Dutchman Gijs Schalkx harvests methane from ponds — by hand — and uses it to power his moped.
Climate change and Covid require same urgency
14 Jul 2021
Climate change should be treated with the same urgency as the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a just released study.
China's extreme weather warnings avoid talk of climate change
14 Jul 2021
As unprecedented heatwaves sweep across large parts of the Northern Hemisphere, China is telling its people to brace for another summer of dangerous floods and droughts.
Technology boosts efforts to curb tree loss in Amazon
14 Jul 2021
Technology can help indigenous communities to significantly curb deforestation, according to a new study.
Europe's addiction to climate subsidies risks trade war
13 Jul 2021
Former EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard and former WTO director-general Pascal Lamy are warning that the addiction of some of Europe's industries to climate subsidies risks sparking a trade war.
Twenty five mega-cities produce 52% of the world's urban GHG emissions
13 Jul 2021
A new study shows that just 25 mega-cities produce 52% of urban greenhouse gas emissions.
Major overhaul of Europe's ETS on the cards
13 Jul 2021
The European Union is due to propose an unprecedented overhaul to its carbon market this week, seeking to put a price on shipping emissions for the first time.
Climate change will affect productivity
13 Jul 2021
A new study has predicted that climate change will significantly affect people’s ability to work effectively if the goals of the UN Paris Agreement are not met.
G20 endorse carbon pricing
12 Jul 2021
G20 finance leaders recognised carbon pricing as a potential tool to address climate change for the first time in an official communique on Saturday.
Big insurance companies launch net-zero climate alliance
12 Jul 2021
Eight of the world's leading insurance and reinsurance companies on Sunday launched an alliance to help speed up a transition to a net zero emissions economy.
Billions at risk of malaria if global heating continues
12 Jul 2021
More than 8 billion people could be at risk of malaria and dengue fever by 2080 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unabated, a new study says.
Shipping emissions keep climbing
12 Jul 2021
A proposal to make cargo ships pay for pollution is making waves.
Carbon removal hype is a dangerous distraction
9 Jul 2021
Corporations and nations are touting plans to suck greenhouse gases out of the air. But the crucial priority this decade is slashing emissions, the MIT Technology Review argues.
Europe's plan to grow carbon sinks
9 Jul 2021
The European Union has drafted plans to build up forests, grasslands and other natural "carbon sinks" that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help curb climate change.
The waste plastic timebomb
9 Jul 2021
European researchers have warned that the wave of pollution engulfing the globe could be nearing a tipping point. The waste plastic deluge could become an irreversible crisis.
Emissions should be treated like financial debt: researchers
9 Jul 2021
Researchers have proposed a scheme that treats carbon emissions like financial debt.
Green hydrogen uneconomic without subsidies
8 Jul 2021
Even if European carbon prices more than tripled to 200 euros ($236), hydrogen from renewable energy would still struggle to compete with fossil fuels without further government support.
Bringing marine ecosystems back to life
8 Jul 2021
A “game changing” 20-year effort suggests that even severely depleted marine ecosystems can be brought back to life.
Sami object to geoengineering plans
8 Jul 2021
The Sami people of Northern Sweden say blocking out the sun with reflective particles to cool the earth is the kind of thinking that produced the climate crisis in the first place
Hottest June on record for North America
8 Jul 2021
North America witnessed its hottest June on record battered by a deadly heatwave searing parts of the region, according to the European Union’s climate monitoring service.
French court orders government to act on climate
7 Jul 2021
France’s top administrative court has ordered the government to take “all necessary additional steps” within the next nine months to enable it to reach its climate crisis targets or face possible sanctions, including substantial fines.
Powerful Chinese agency put in charge of climate change
7 Jul 2021
China’s top economic planning body has been put in charge of devising a plan for the world’s biggest polluter to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
EU to funnel hundreds of billions to sustainable finance
7 Jul 2021
The European Union says it will harness banks and markets to funnel hundreds of billions of euros annually into sustainable investments and create the first “climate-neutral continent” by 2050.
Glacier meltwater causing flooding
7 Jul 2021
Scientists say meltwater flooding will increase as the ice continues to retreat, but will eventually stop—when all the ice is melted and the glaciers are no more.
Rebound in gas demand threatens international climate targets: IEA
6 Jul 2021
A rebound in global gas demand to 2024 following a record fall last year is poised to knock the world off track for a climate goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.
Business views EU carbon levy as protectionest
6 Jul 2021
The EU faces an uphill battle to convince trading partners that the world’s first levy on carbon imports is fair, workable and a necessary part of the bloc’s attempted green revolution as opposed to a protectionist tool.
More than 90% of Europeans consider climate change a serious problem
6 Jul 2021
A new Eurobarometer survey shows that European citizens believe climate change is the single most serious problem facing the world.
Climate change warnings in 1960s ignored
6 Jul 2021
The effects of ‘weird weather’ were already being felt in the 1960s, but scientists linking fossil fuels with climate change were dismissed as prophets of doom.
Data reveals alarming increase in greenhouse gases
5 Jul 2021
More greenhouse gases were produced in 2018 than any previous year, despite more than 20 countries reducing their carbon emissions since 2000, research from UNSW Sydney and their collaborators has shown.
Heatwave deaths could skyrocket in future
5 Jul 2021
Some scientists see a day when heat-related deaths may match those of all infectious diseases.
US urges Australia to act on climate change
5 Jul 2021
The top US diplomat in Australia has declared both countries need to set “more ambitious climate goals” and tackle the climate crisis “head on”, as international pressure mounts on the Morrison government to act.
Exxon's secret video reveals anti-climate campaign
5 Jul 2021
Exxon's lobbyist had accidentally revealed how the oil company uses its political muscle to undercut climate action.
‘Cows are the new coal’: investors
5 Jul 2021
Global economies must take rapid action to reduce the level of greenhouse gases emitted by agriculture, or risk missing climate targets, a world-leading group of investors has warned.
Climate heat is changing Earth’s water cycle
2 Jul 2021
Humans have begun to alter Earth’s water cycle, and not in a good way: expect later monsoon rains and thirstier farmlands.
Australia bottom of the climate change pack
2 Jul 2021
Australia has been ranked dead last for climate action in the latest Sustainable Development Report, which assesses the progress of countries towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Courts set for rise in compensation cases
2 Jul 2021
There's likely to be a significant increase in the number of lawsuits brought against fossil fuel companies in the coming years, say researchers.
Bangladesh ditches coal-fired power plant plans
2 Jul 2021
Bangladesh has cancelled plans to build 10 coal-fired power plants, a government official said on Monday, amid rising costs for the fuel and increasing calls from activists to base more of the nation's power on renewable energy.
Guardian launches climate crimes series
1 Jul 2021
The Guardian has launched a climate crimes series that examines attempts to hold the fossil-fuel industry accountable for the havoc they have created
UK e-bike boom
1 Jul 2021
E-bike sales outstripped electric car sales in 2020, according to the United Kingdom's Bicycle Association.
‘Hot air’ carbon offset scheme undermines Colombia’s climate goal
1 Jul 2021
Colombia stands to lose $62m in carbon tax revenue and underperform its emissions targets due to flawed forest carbon credit projects, investigators claim.
Fact check: Is China the main climate change culprit?
1 Jul 2021
China currently releases more carbon emissions than any other country — leading many to believe it bears the greatest responsibility for climate change. However, the situation is more complex than it seems.
US heatwave is climate change: scientists
30 Jun 2021
Is climate change amping up the US Pacific Northwest heat wave? Yes — and it’s time to stop asking.
90% of institutional investors taking climate change into account
30 Jun 2021
Ninety percent of institutional investors say climate change is the most significant ESG (environmental, social, governance) factor influencing their decisions to invest in a company.
An indigenous leader fighting climate change
30 Jun 2021
Indigenous land defender Nemonte Nenquimo discusses how climate change has altered the Amazon, the plant medicines used to help fight COVID-19, and the ancestral knowledge passed down by her elders.
EVs make up one in nine of all new cars in Europe
30 Jun 2021
One in every nine new cars sold in Europe last year was an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, with low-emission car sales surging even as the COVID-19 pandemic knocked overall vehicle sales.
EU approves landmark climate law
29 Jun 2021
European Union countries yesterday gave the final seal of approval to a law to make the bloc's greenhouse gas emissions targets legally binding, as EU policymakers prepare a huge new package of policies to fight climate change.
Climate change could shrink global economy by 10%
29 Jun 2021
The global economy could lose 10% of its total economic value by 2050 due to climate change, according to new research.
Australian governments subsidising fossil fuel use by more than $30,000 a minute, analysis finds
Fri 13 Mar 2026
Australian federal and state government subsidies that encourage fossil fuel use and help drive the climate crisis will reach $16.3bn this year after leaping by nearly 10%, according to a new analysis.
US National Academies of Sciences says no to demands it remove climate info
Wed 18 Mar 2026
State attorneys general won't get climate chapter removed from a legal manual.
What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ mean for climate change?
10 Mar 2026
China’s leadership has published a draft of its 15th five-year plan setting the strategic direction for the nation out to 2030, including support for clean energy and energy security.
Germany misses climate targets as emissions barely fall in 2025
Tue 17 Mar 2026
Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany have again missed targets set by the Climate Protection Act and barely fell at all in 2025.
UK emissions fall 2.4% in 2025 as coal hits 400-year low
9 Mar 2026
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.4% in 2025 to their lowest level in more than 150 years, according to new analysis.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
17 Feb 2026
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
'The situation is dire': War on Iran squeezes India's cooking-gas supplies
Mon 16 Mar 2026
The shockwaves of a war being fought nearly 3,000km away are now reaching India's kitchens.
Vanuatu moves forward with UN climate resolution despite Trump opposition
9 Mar 2026
The Trump administration’s attempt to sink a UN resolution demanding countries act on the climate crisis has caused cuts to the proposal but hasn’t entirely killed it, according to the tiny Pacific island country spearheading the effort.
Limiting warming to 2C is ‘crucial’ to protect pristine Antarctic Peninsula
24 Feb 2026
Keeping global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial temperatures is “crucial” for limiting damage to the Antarctic Peninsula’s unique ecosystems, according to a new study.
'Blackwater' lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are now emitting ancient carbon into the atmosphere
Mon 16 Mar 2026
Carbon that has been buried in the Congo Basin's peatlands for millennia is seeping into lakes and rivers. Why this is happening remains unclear, but researchers warn that tropical peatlands could be nearing a tipping point.
Companies – including Blackrock – retired 2 million carbon credits after Verra suspended project
12 Mar 2026
Verra suspended the Pacajai REDD project in Brazil in September 2023, pending an investigation into the project’s validity. That didn’t stop Mastercard, BlackRock, Philip Morris International from retiring carbon credits from the project to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says
Wed 18 Mar 2026
The disruption to energy markets caused by the Iran war is a lesson on the risks of relying on fossil fuels which should drive governments to wean their economies off oil and gas faster, the U.N. climate secretary told Reuters on Monday.
