International: All stories
Trump budget slashes environment funding
13 Feb 2020
President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal 2021 calls for significant reductions to US environmental programmes at federal agencies, including a 26 per cent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency.
BBC to film the Greta Thunberg story
13 Feb 2020
The BBC will produce a television series about 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Record growth sends Australia's emissions soaring
12 Feb 2020
Emissions from Australia’s largest industrial emitters have surged to 60 per cent above 2005 levels, thanks to record growth in the oil and gas, transport and mining sectors, analysts say.
Bankers' book delivers stark climate change warning
12 Feb 2020
The Green Swan brings a clear message from people who should know: bankers say the climate crisis means major change lies ahead.
Rise of climate anxiety 'overwhelming and terrifying’
12 Feb 2020
Medical experts are concerned that young people’s mental health is being particularly hit by reality of the climate crisis.
Maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe
12 Feb 2020
A series of detailed maps have laid bare the scale of possible forest fires, floods, droughts and deluges that Europe could face by the end of the century without urgent action to adapt to and confront global heating.
Bushfire towns find water contaminated
12 Feb 2020
Communities affected by the Australian bushfires are starting to reckon with a complex, expensive aftermath: the threat to their drinking water.
Most nations ignore climate plans update
12 Feb 2020
The Marshall Islands, Suriname and Norway have submitted plans for tougher action to tackle climate change before a five-year milestone of the Paris Agreement in 2020 - but almost 200 others - including New Zealand - have ignored an informal February 9 deadline.
Gates eyes $830m hydrogen superyacht
11 Feb 2020
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is hoping to hit the seas in the world's first hydrogen-powered superyacht - and it will set him back around $US830 million.
Mystery deaths focus battle for the butterflies
11 Feb 2020
The deaths of two butterfly conservationists have drawn focus to a troubling tangle of disputes, resentments and violence.
Mining leads to flooding in coal capital
11 Feb 2020
Major flooding from just a few hours of heavy rain in Samarinda, Indonesia’s coal-mining capital, has underscored the severity of the environmental degradation being carried out by the industry, officials say.
Antarctica logs hottest day on record
10 Feb 2020
Antarctica has logged its hottest temperature on record, with an Argentinian research station thermometer reading 18.3deg, beating the previous record by 0.8deg.
Europe falls off the pace with solar power
10 Feb 2020
Europe is falling well behind in the race to install enough solar power to keep the rise in global temperatures below dangerous levels, and to reach its own renewable energy targets.
Living fabrics can help to clean the air
10 Feb 2020
Mushroom, pineapple and algae: it sounds like the topping for a rather unusual pizza. In fact, they could be the crucial ingredients in the wardrobe of the future as growing numbers of designers try to create fashion that doesn’t harm the environment.
Trump blanks climate crisis in State of the Union
7 Feb 2020
In his State of the Union address to a divided Congress, President Trump president has extolled his own role in making the nation the world’s leading oil and natural gas producer.
Johnson promises urgent climate action
7 Feb 2020
Boris Johnson has promised “urgent action” on the climate crisis, taking personal leadership of this year’s UN climate talks after a blistering attack by the sacked former minister who was to lead them.
Japan races to build coal-burning power plants
7 Feb 2020
Just beyond the windows of Satsuki Kanno’s apartment overlooking Tokyo Bay, a behemoth from a bygone era will soon rise: a coal-burning power plant, part of a buildup of coal power that is unheard-of for an advanced economy.
Does Britain know what it's doing with Glasgow?
5 Feb 2020
Developing countries and climate campaigners are growing increasingly concerned that the UK lacks a clear strategy for hosting vital UN talks in Glasgow this year.
Timber buildings can slow climate change
5 Feb 2020
European and US scientists have a root-and-branch answer to the challenge of tomorrow’s cities: switch to wood construct timber buildings and reduce the risk of even more devastating global temperature rise.
Global waste problem looks like a job for the IoT
4 Feb 2020
The Internet of Things can be used to develop smarter and more effective ways of managing and reducing waste.
Give them a shot of the truth
4 Feb 2020
Australia’s bushfire crisis was remarkable for the deluge of disinformation spread by climate deniers.
Groups plan to sue Trump over airline emissions
4 Feb 2020
Protest groups plan to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency for failing to regulate aircraft emissions after a 2016 agency determination that those emissions pose a danger to public health.
Tropical forests losing CO2 ability, says study
3 Feb 2020
The world’s tropical forests are losing their ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, while boreal forests are absorbing emissions at an increasingly fast rate, a new study finds.
Military man takes command of the Amazon
3 Feb 2020
President Jair Bolsonaro has caused widespread dismay by appointing an ex-military colleague to oversee protection of the Amazon.
Asian countries spurn and burn waste imports
3 Feb 2020
Two years after China’s ban on other countries' waste, Southeast Asian nations are struggling to deal with import surge, and are enacting bans of their own.
Climate crisis 'increasing violence against women'
31 Jan 2020
Climate breakdown and the global crisis of environmental degradation are increasing violence against women and girls, while gender-based exploitation is in turn hampering our ability to tackle the crises, a major report has concluded.
Protesters ‘call bullshit’ on News Corp coverage
31 Jan 2020
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion have dumped a load of manure outside the Queensland office of News Corp to protest against the media giant’s coverage of climate change.
Guardian bans ads from fossil fuel firms
31 Jan 2020
The Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels.
Rewilding the Arctic would be a mammoth task
31 Jan 2020
It would be a monumental task to start rewilding the Arctic, but the climate payoff could be mammoth.
Tech giants power record surge in renewables
30 Jan 2020
The world’s biggest tech companies fuelled a record surge in the amount of renewable energy sold directly to global corporations last year, according to new figures.
Oslo court backs Arctic oil exploration
30 Jan 2020
An Oslo appeals court has endorsed Norway’s plan for new oil and gas exploration in the Arctic.
State marks first for coastal building rules
30 Jan 2020
New Jersey will become the first US state to require that builders take into account the impact of climate change, including rising sea levels, in order to win government approval for projects.
Amazon staff risk jobs to protest climate policies
30 Jan 2020
Amazon has threatened with dismissal hundreds of employees who are demanding the company adopts more eco-conscious practices.
GM to invest billions in EV plant
30 Jan 2020
General Motors will invest more than $2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to make the facility the automaker’s first devoted entirely to electric vehicles.
Race to exploit seabed set to wreak havoc
29 Jan 2020
New research warns that ‘blue acceleration’ – a global goldrush to claim the ocean floor – is already impacting on the environment.
China, India face crticism over potent pollutants
29 Jan 2020
A new study suggests that China and India might not be living up to recent pledges to dramatically reduce emissions of a greenhouse gas nearly 13,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
How this science could help us cut emissions
29 Jan 2020
A sense of climate emergency is permeating the global consciousness thanks to high-profile campaigning, but many of us have been slow to actually make changes in the way we live.
City buses might moove to dung-drive
29 Jan 2020
Not in their wildest dreams did the residents of Karachi’s Cattle Colony think that the filth they were living in for more than four decades would generate wealth as well as energy.
MORE PLASTIC: Big Oil’s Plan B already in the pipeline
28 Jan 2020
As public concern about plastic pollution rises, the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries are pouring billions of dollars into new plants intended to make millions more tonnes of plastic than they now pump out.
Welcome to 2020: It’s hot – and getting hotter
28 Jan 2020
The year is less than four weeks old, but scientists already know that carbon dioxide emissions will continue to head upwards – as they have every year since measurements began – leading to a continuation of the Earth’s rising heat.
Conservation scientists grieving after bushfires
28 Jan 2020
For many conservation biologists and land managers, the unprecedented extent and ferocity of the Australian bushfires has incinerated much more than koalas and their kin.
Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight
28 Jan 2020
The Doomsday Clock, a symbol created in 1947 to represent humankind’s proximity to global catastrophe, is now just 100 seconds to midnight for the first time.
Shaw criticises 'handful of countries'
17 Dec 2019
Climate minister James Shaw says a handful of countries are preventing the settling of rules governing global carbon markets.
Kyoto credits threaten Paris Agreement
13 Dec 2019
Allowing countries to carry Kyoto credits forward could effectively kill the Paris Agreement, negotiators are being told.
Australians might be told to evacuate their drought towns
13 Dec 2019
The NSW state government is considering evacuating the residents of as many as 90 towns seriously affected by drought.
China’s top climate negotiator steps down
13 Dec 2019
What is the legacy of Xie Zhenhua, a key architect of the Paris Agreement and one of the world’s longest-serving climate diplomats?
Indonesia forest fires cost $5.2 billion
13 Dec 2019
The total damage and economic loss from forest fires in Indonesia this year amounts to at least $5.2 billion, says the World Bank.
Shaw expects late move on carbon trading
12 Dec 2019
Any breakthrough in talks over rules governing international carbon trading is likely to come at the last minute, says climate minister James Shaw.
Europe Green Deal will change whole economy
12 Dec 2019
Nearly every major aspect of the European economy is to be re-evaluated in light of the imperatives of the climate and ecological emergency, according to sweeping new plans set out by the European Commission.
US seeks further block on climate compo
12 Dec 2019
The US government is pushing to ensure it can never be held accountable for the damage caused by climate change in vulnerable countries.
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
Today 11:30am
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
Thu 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
Today 11:30am
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.
