International: All stories
Now it's the teachers' turn to strike for climate
22 Feb 2019
Teachers will follow on the heels of striking UK students tomorrow with a protestto demand the national curriculum be reformed to make the climate and ecological crisis an educational priority.
How the world got hooked on palm oil
22 Feb 2019
It’s the miracle ingredient in everything from biscuits to shampoo. But our dependence on palm oil has devastating environmental consequences. Is it too late to break the habit?
US cities will see their climate heading south
22 Feb 2019
Climate change means a big shift for city dwellers worldwide. Americans can look ahead to very different cities as the US climate heads south.
DON'T FEED THE MONSTER: People stop buying new clothes
22 Feb 2019
A growing movement eschews fast fashion in favour of secondhand clothing. Is this the biggest personal change that can be made for the environment?
Scientist made global warming a household term
21 Feb 2019
The scientist who made “global warming” a household term as he fought to popularise the view that greenhouse gases could lead to a dramatic climate change has died aged 87.
TISSUE ISSUE: Are our ancient forests paying a heavy price?
21 Feb 2019
The world’s largest tissue-paper companies are being accused of exacerbating climate change and destroying ancient forests to make toilet rolls.
Majority of European firms have no reduction targets
20 Feb 2019
Most European companies have no target for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions even though 80% see climate change as a business risk, a survey has found.
Florida is drowning ... but they're still building condos
20 Feb 2019
People tend to respond to immediate threats and financial consequences – and Florida’s coastal real estate might be on the cusp of delivering that harsh wake-up call.
UK plans to make plastic producers pay
20 Feb 2019
Britain is about to set out plans to overhaul its recycling system, including making plastic packaging producers pay the full cost of dealing with their waste.
Our biggest animals are being hunted to extinction
20 Feb 2019
The world’s biggest animals – the largest birds, the bigger mammals and even reptiles, sharks and amphibians – are in increasing danger of extinction.
Angry islanders reject rights swap idea
19 Feb 2019
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga has angril rejected the idea that islanders would exchange maritime rights for Australian citizenship, telling Canberra to focus on breaking its coal addiction
Ireland lays ground for stronger climate action
19 Feb 2019
Ireland’s struggle with climate change cuts to the heart of people’s daily lives and reflects the country’s revival after recession: more cars on the road and thriving cattle farms.
Ice voyage will explore ocean hidden for 100,000 years
19 Feb 2019
Scientists are setting out to explore an Antarctic marine realm that was hidden from the Sun for more than 100,000 years.
Scientists feel under attack over Adani work
19 Feb 2019
Australian scientists say relentless, sustained, and needlessly personal media attacks on those analysing the impacts of the Adani coalmine undermines the role of science.
Sharp rise in methane threatens climate targets
18 Feb 2019
Dramatic rises in atmospheric methane are threatening to derail plans to hold global temperature rises to 2deg, scientists have warned.
Climate-disasters bill $650b over three years
18 Feb 2019
Climate-related disasters have cost the world $650 billion over the past three years, according to a new report.
Trump’s wall violates conservation laws
18 Feb 2019
US President Donald Trump (https://inhabitat.com/tag/trump) is moving forward with the construction of his Mexican border wall, even if it means sidestepping important environmental laws.
In this Siberian town, the snow - and the future - is black
18 Feb 2019
Residents of a coalmining region in Siberia have been posting videos online showing entire streets and districts covered in toxic black snow that critics say highlight a manmade ecological catastrophe.
Young protesters ask: If not us, who?
15 Feb 2019
As a movement grows across the world, young people say they want politicians to protect their interests.
Why Australia won’t meet Paris targets
15 Feb 2019
There’s no way Australia achieve the targets five years early without major policy changes, which are unlikely under the current government, says a leading climate scientist.
How forest managers might pick the brains of clever trees
15 Feb 2019
The discovery that some trees can “remember” heatwaves could help forest managers to deal with the impacts of climate change.
Savage heat engulfs temperate Tasmania
15 Feb 2019
Australia has been going through one of its hottest and stormiest summers on record and usually temperate Tasmania, its island state (https://tinyurl.com/y4snt4pg), has taken a battering.
World is halfway through its hottest decade
14 Feb 2019
Here is a climate forecast that climate scientists, meteorologists, politicians, voters and even climate sceptics can check: the next five years will be warm, and will probably help to complete the hottest decade ever.
Buy organic to help insects, say scientists
14 Feb 2019
Buying organic food is among the actions people can take to curb the global decline in insects, according to leading scientists.
Race is on to define Green New Deal
14 Feb 2019
The decision by US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) to bring up the Green New Deal for a Senate vote is prompting a rush to define the terms of progressive Democrats' ambitious proposal to tackle climate change.
BAMBOO BOOM: There's a bold new look in building materials
14 Feb 2019
The market for environmentally sound building materials is changing. If you think bamboo can just be used to grow beans up in your garden, think again.
China and India lead greening of landscape
13 Feb 2019
China and India are leading the world in greening the landscape, a study finds, with the two countries accounting for one-third of the new forests, croplands and other types of vegetation observed globally since 2000.
Sweden puts deadline on fossil-free ships
13 Feb 2019
Sweden’s shipping sector is preparing to end the use of fossil fuels domestically by 2045, in line with national climate goals.
How emissions reporting is set to change
13 Feb 2019
A new project hopes to show how emissions reporting should be done, but building trust looks set to play a huge part in overcoming the challenge.
Islands declare emergency after invasion by hungry polar bears
13 Feb 2019
Russian environmental authorities have deployed a team of specialists to a remote Arctic region to sedate and remove dozens of hungry polar bears that have besieged the people living there.
Ambitious Danish island ends fossil fuel use
13 Feb 2019
A small Danish island ends fossil fuel use by combining ambitious aims with ensuring that local people have a say in cleaner replacements.
Plummeting insect numbers threaten collapse of nature
12 Feb 2019
The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review.
Australia could be 100% renewables by 2032
12 Feb 2019
Australia could reach the equivalent of 100 per cent renewables by 2032, if the current rates of installation of wind and solar continue, says a new report.
Electronic devices trigger surge in e-waste
12 Feb 2019
E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world and a global reboot in the way humans produce and use electronic devices is urgently needed, says a new UN study.
France tables 2050 carbon-neutral law
11 Feb 2019
The French government has proposed legislation committing the country to carbon-neutrality by 2050.
NSW court rejects coal mine in landmark call
11 Feb 2019
Environmental groups are cheering a decision in NSW's Land and Environment Court that found the emissions of greenhouse gases and resulting climate change from a proposed coal mine were among the reasons to reject the project.
To keep humans safe, let nature shape the coast
11 Feb 2019
The knee-jerk reaction to sea-level rise has traditionally been to maintain the shoreline’s position at all cost, by building new flood defence structures or upgrading old ones.
Street artists are joining the fight to save the environment
11 Feb 2019
In these times of rising activism on climate change and other environmental threats, a new band of campaigners has joined the fight: street artists.
Green New Deal claims bold plan to fight change
8 Feb 2019
New US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is releasing a broad outline of a vision for the Green New Deal, a plan to battle economic and racial injustice while also fighting climate change.
Two billion people dread the day the Himalaya ice cap fails
8 Feb 2019
At least a third of the huge ice fields in Asia’s towering Himalaya mountain chain are doomed to melt due to climate change with serious consequences for almost two billion people.
Cities need to grow up - not out
8 Feb 2019
Urban areas are expected to grow by 80 per cent by the end of the next decade, and unless they grow up rather than out, they could be in trouble, says a new report.
Past five years hottest run on record
7 Feb 2019
Global temperatures in 2018 were the fourth-warmest on record, US scientists have confirmed, adding to a stretch of five years that are now collectively the hottest period since modern measurements began.
Russia takes new look at Paris Agreement
7 Feb 2019
Russia, one of the world’s highest-polluting hold-outs, has taken steps that could lead to ratification of the Paris Agreement.
Trump fails to mention climate change
7 Feb 2019
Top scientists have condemned US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address and say future presidents must confront climate change as an urgent priority.
Overheated Aussies might have to sideline favourite sports
7 Feb 2019
Australia's summer sports obsession could face interruptions as extreme weather events increase.
Cruising boom builds concern over emissions dodging
5 Feb 2019
A boom in cruise liner holidays is raising concerns over the widespread use of “emissions dodging” by global shipping to meet tough new dirty fuel rules next year.
UN calls Brazil dam burst a crime
5 Feb 2019
The Brazil dam burst last week happened less than a month after the country’s new climate-sceptic government came to office promising a relaxation of environmental laws and inspections to “take the yoke off producers”.
Major study changes view of vital Atlantic conveyor belt
5 Feb 2019
An international research programme has uncovered data that could transform scientists’ understanding of the Atlantic Ocean current – a circulation pattern that plays a central role in determining weather across the world.
Australia heat sign of things to come, say scientists
4 Feb 2019
AUSTRALIA sweltered through the hottest month in its history in January and climate experts say temperatures are rising faster than predicted.
European colonisation of America killed so many it cooled the Earth's climate
4 Feb 2019
European colonisation of the Americas resulted in the killing of so many native people that it transformed the environment and caused the Earth’s climate to cool, new research finds.
Darwin methane leak ‘covered up’ by gas companies and regulators
Tue 2 Sep 2025
At the heart of the project that heralded northern Australia’s gas boom — Darwin’s first liquefied natural gas plant — was a storage tank that operators hailed as a major feat of engineering.
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
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.
EU’s record wildfire emissions highlight threat to forest carbon sinks
Mon 1 Sep 2025
As carbon emissions from forest fires spike in Europe, experts warn that wildfires pose a growing risk to national efforts to meet climate goals.
UK Conservatives pledge to get all oil and gas out of North Sea
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if elected.
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.
Liberia has a new plan to protect its rainforests. Can it work?
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in Liberia, but in 2024, it lost more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of humid primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch.
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.
