International: All stories
Cocaine traffickers fuel climate change
21 Oct 2019
An ever-expanding US market for cocaine is leading to drug traffickers destroying swathes of tropical forest to create new transport routes.
Europe’s largest floating solar plant up and running
21 Oct 2019
The Rhône valley in southern France is best known for its wines and food. Now, it can also add solar power to its list of attractions.
Direct action the only way, says protester Porritt
18 Oct 2019
Direct action by protesters is the only thing that will push politicians into treating climate change as the crisis it is, says the chair of Air New Zealand’s sustainability board, Sir Jonathon Porritt.
Temperatures driving alarming levels of hunger
18 Oct 2019
The climate crisis is driving alarming levels of hunger in the world, undermining food security in the world’s most vulnerable regions, according to this year’s global hunger index.
Trump plans to open 'America's Amazon' to loggers
18 Oct 2019
Donald Trump’s administration is proposing to lift longstanding restrictions on logging in part of southeast Alaska known as “America’s Amazon”.
EU bank puts off climate policy decision
18 Oct 2019
The European Investment Bank has decided to delay until next month a decision on updating its energy lending policy.
Sorry about that, says Ecuador, and reinstates Big Oil subsidies
18 Oct 2019
Calm has returned to the streets of Quito after Ecuador’s government agreed to reinstate fuel subsidies following 11 days of nationwide, violent protests.
Italy eyes cheaper food without packaging
18 Oct 2019
Italian shoppers could soon enjoy a discount on products sold loose as part of a range of measures expected to be approved by the government.
BARE FACTS: Australia's hidden climate crisis
17 Oct 2019
Farming communities in Australia are bitterly divided over an epidemic of land clearing they say is sabotaging efforts to address climate change.
XR eyes legal action over London ban
17 Oct 2019
Extinction Rebellion is eyeing a legal challenge after police placed a London-wide ban on the group’s ongoing climate protest.
Queensland wants to jail XR protesters
16 Oct 2019
Queensland has proposed two-year jail sentences for Extinction Rebellion protesters caught with a locking device used to fix people in public places.
Copenhagen sprints to crown of first carbon-neutral capital
16 Oct 2019
Green growth and ‘hedonistic sustainability’ have helped to keep the public on board as Copenhagen seeks to be the first carbon-neutral city by 2025.
We'll see more ebola outbreaks, say scientists
16 Oct 2019
Outbreaks of ebola – the deadly virus that causes severe bleeding and liver and kidney failure – are likely to increase as the climate warms, scientists say.
Why don't all buildings have green roofs?
15 Oct 2019
Rooftops covered with grass, vegetable gardens and lush foliage are now a common sight in many cities around the world.
SURVIVAL CITY: What happens if cities act but nations don't?
15 Oct 2019
It is cities, not national governments, that are most aggressively fighting the climate crisis – and in 30 years they could look radically different.
It’s only October, so what’s with all these bushfires?
15 Oct 2019
Summer might be more than six weeks away, but out-of-control bushfires have already torn across parts of eastern Australia in recent days, destroying homes and threatening lives.
Big Three oversee $300b in fossil fuel investments
14 Oct 2019
The world’s three largest money managers have built a combined $300bn fossil fuel investment portfolio using money from people’s private savings and pension contributions, the Guardian reveals.
World needs a massive carbon tax, says IMF
14 Oct 2019
A global agreement to make fossil fuel burning more expensive is urgent and the most efficient way of fighting climate change, the International Monetary Fund says.
The 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions
11 Oct 2019
The Guardian has revealed the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world’s oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era.
Fight for our largest forest (it's not the Amazon)
11 Oct 2019
Cheremkhovsky forest covers a 7900 sq km sweep of terrain, but it is merely a dot in the sprawling 12 million sq km Russian boreal forest, or taiga, the world’s largest forested region.
It seems there's a little bit of the climate denier in all of us
11 Oct 2019
It's easy to spot outright rejection of the facts on climate change. But it's far harder to see our own biases and excuses that lead us to delay or deny the need for real action.
Coal is still king in Southeast Asia
10 Oct 2019
Not only will coal continue to be the dominant fuel source in power generation in Southeast Asia, its use will grow and peak in 2027 before slowing, according to a new study.
TOMATO SOURCE: Hothouses will grow up to 20 tonnes a day
10 Oct 2019
Giant greenhouses will be used to grow up to 20 tonnes of tomatoes a day using the heat from water treatment facilities in the UK.
Pope v president as Amazon burns
8 Oct 2019
Two of the most powerful forces in Brazil, the president and the pope, are pulling in opposite directions on an issue critical to climate change.
How Extinction Rebellion put the whole world on red alert
8 Oct 2019
Members of Extinction Rebellion have been described in the UK media as ecomaniacs, ecoradicals, dangerous, and a bloody mess.
Universities sign landmark deal to buy renewable
8 Oct 2019
Twenty of the UK’s leading universities have struck a £50m deal to buy renewable energy directly from British windfarms for the first time.
Human ancestors lived in a low-carbon world
8 Oct 2019
For the entire 2.5 million years of the Ice Age epoch called the Pleistocene, it was a low-carbon world.
Can cities save the planet?
7 Oct 2019
By 2050 about two-thirds of the human population — that is six out of the world’s nine billion people — will be living in cities.
Jail climate protesters, says Australian minister
7 Oct 2019
Protesters who disrupt traffic should have their welfare payments cut and be subject to mandatory jail sentences, Australia's home affairs minister Peter Dutton has declared.
Ocean boom picks up plastic for first time
4 Oct 2019
A huge floating device designed to clean up an island of rubbish in the Pacific Ocean that is three times the size of France has successfully picked up plastic from the high seas for the first time.
Scotland takes aim at green red tape
4 Oct 2019
Developments that tackle climate change could avoid having to get planning permission, under proposals being considered by the Scottish government.
Antarctica shows 65,000 ‘meltwater lakes’
4 Oct 2019
Blue lakes have been forming in record numbers around the edges of the Antarctic ice sheet as warmer temperatures cause snow and ice to melt and collect in depressions on the surface.
TURNING OF THE SCREW: Royal Shakespeare Company cuts BP
4 Oct 2019
The Royal Shakespeare Company is to end its sponsorship deal with BP amid growing opposition to fossil fuel sponsorship of cultural institutions.
Unhappy investors criticise firms over Paris pact
3 Oct 2019
Investors representing more than $55 trillion say just a fraction of companies are doing their part in meeting the Paris Agreement.
UK to deploy special climate protest police
3 Oct 2019
British police will deploy specially trained climate protest officers to London this weekend to help to deal with two weeks of protests planned by Extinction Rebellion.
Drought could hit half world’s wheat at once
3 Oct 2019
The planet’s daily bread could be at risk as almost two-thirds of the world’s wheat-growing areas face “severe, prolonged, and near-simultaneous droughts”.
NSW considers laws to stop courts blocking coalmines
3 Oct 2019
The New South Wales government is considering legislation that could limit the ability for planning authorities to rule out coalmines projects based on the climate change impact of emissions from the coal once it is burned.
OUR HEALTH: Should we be worried about microplastics?
3 Oct 2019
Plastic is everywhere – in our food, air, water and oceans. But do we know enough to determine how harmful it is to our health?
Shippers rig vessels with 'cheat machines'
2 Oct 2019
Global shipping companies have spent billions rigging vessels with “cheat devices” that circumvent new environmental legislation by dumping pollution into the sea, a UK newspaper says.
How Britain ended its coal addiction
2 Oct 2019
The UK was once the world’s largest coal consumer, but the highly polluting fossil fuel has been pushed out by renewable energy and natural gas.
Giant iceberg breaks off east Antarctica
2 Oct 2019
The calving of the 1636 sq km iceberg in Antarctica is not linked to climate change, scientists say, but could speed up further melting.
Rugby stars are losing their Pacific islands
2 Oct 2019
Whatever happens on the pitches, rugby stars from the Pacific islands face a battle back home to save their ancestral lands from rising sea levels.
Towns prepare for 'unimaginable' water crisis
1 Oct 2019
Livelihoods in Australia are now at risk from drought worsened by climate change, a predicament more familiar to developing countries.
VILLAGERS DIG IN: 'Human rights before mining rights'
1 Oct 2019
Villagers living on the edge of one of Germany’s biggest surface coalmines have vowed not sell their properties to the energy company RWE, and to fight any attempt to oust them from their homes.
Queensland plans huge hydrogen projects
1 Oct 2019
Two huge renewable hydrogen projects have been planned for the heart of Queensland’s major coal and gas regions.
Why you should stop buying new clothes
30 Sep 2019
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, producing 20 per cent of global wastewater and 10 per cent of global carbon emissions – and it’s estimated that by 2050 this will have increased to 25 per cent.
Seabed carbon storage could help in climate crisis
30 Sep 2019
Climate scientists say seabed carbon storage could be a new ally to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a volume greater than all the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere from the planet’s coal-burning power stations.
Poland plunges ahead with new coal mines
30 Sep 2019
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party plans to introduce legislation that will allow the government to open new coal mines without the approval of local authorities.
'It's heartbreaking': A town watches its beach wash away
30 Sep 2019
Stockton beach in New South Wales is being washed away by dramatic coastal erosion which has already claimed a childcare centre.
Activists suing Europe’s biggest coal plant
27 Sep 2019
It is Europe’s biggest coal plant, with annual CO2 emissions roughly equivalent to those of the whole of New Zealand – but the future of the Beùchatów power station in central Poland has been called into question.
Battery subsidy scheme set for 'urgent' overhaul as costs run out of control
16 Dec 2025
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced big changes to the government's battery subsidy scheme amid claims most of its $2.3 billion budget has been spent in just six months.
EPA erases references to human-caused climate change from websites
19 Dec 2025
EPA has scrubbed references to people’s contribution to rising temperatures from some of its climate change webpages.
Verra cancels four tree planting projects in China. And starts reviews of 45 more projects
16 Dec 2025
“Multiple carbon projects in China are facing serious allegations regarding the authenticity of government approval documents."
France updates its 2050 carbon neutrality roadmap
17 Dec 2025
To mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, France released a revamped climate plan promising to phase out oil and gas and sharply increase electricity use.
Net-zero scenario is ‘cheapest option’ for UK, says energy system operator
15 Dec 2025
A scenario that meets the “net-zero by 2050” goal would be the “cheapest” option for the UK, according to modelling by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The ecological havens flourishing beneath power lines
19 Dec 2025
Initiatives to foster native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs are turning utility corridors into wildlife corridors.
‘Not normal’: Climate crisis supercharged deadly monsoon floods in Asia
12 Dec 2025
Cyclones like those in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia that killed 1,750 are ‘alarming new reality’.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
18 Dec 2025
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say.
Are rainforests now a cause of, rather than the answer to, climate change?
15 Dec 2025
A new study finds that Africa’s forests, responsible for one-fifth of global carbon removal, are beginning to generate carbon as the result of human activity.
Thousands of climate disasters are not included in official reports from Amazonian countries
12 Dec 2025
More than 12,500 extreme weather events impacted the Amazon and its population in 10 years, but countries have not generated enough information about it, according to a new scientific study.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
