International: All stories
Trudeau signs off on fuel pipeline - again
21 Jun 2019
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given the green light for a second time to a $5.5 billion pipeline expansion that has attracted strong opposition from environmentalists and some indigenous groups.
US seawalls come with $416 billion price tag
21 Jun 2019
Defending against rising seas could cost US communities $416 billion in the next 20 years, according to a new report.
Australia's north has a powerhouse vision
21 Jun 2019
Australia's Northern Territory has a multi-billion dollar opportunity to invest massively in renewables, create a new hydrogen export industry, and create thousands of jobs, says a new report.
Leftover spy satellites reveal Himalayas melt
21 Jun 2019
US spy satellites that secretly kept watch over the Himalayas during the Cold War are helping researchers piece together the most detailed view yet of the region's accelerating ice loss.
The good, the bad, and the ugly of climate battle
20 Jun 2019
Morocco, Gambia, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India and the Philippines are the good guys.
New York approves ambitious climate plan
20 Jun 2019
New York politicians have reached a deal to create one of the most ambitious climate bills in the US, putting the progressive state on the front lines of fight over the environment.
UK to host critical 2020 UN climate summit
20 Jun 2019
The UK is set to host a critical global summit on the climate crisis at the end of 2020, at which the world’s 190 nations must commit to deep cuts in emissions.
Can Australia avoid drifting into a slow, painful decline?
20 Jun 2019
Australia has been warned it risks "drifting into the future" if it fails to respond to challenges in a fast-changing world.
Floridians set record for underwater cleanup
20 Jun 2019
The Florida city of Deerfield has put 633 divers into the water in what it claims is the world’s largest underwater clean-up.
More countries back EU neutrality goal
19 Jun 2019
Germany, Greece, Italy and Slovenia have added their names to a growing list of EU countries supporting a carbon neutrality objective for 2050, increasing the chances that a deal will be struck at a summit later this week.
Deaths rise among reporters telling environment stories
19 Jun 2019
Thirteen journalists who were investigating damage to the environment have been killed in recent years and many more are suffering violence, harassment, intimidation and lawsuits.
Warmer world will be more dangerous
18 Jun 2019
A warmer world will be more dangerous. As the thermometer rises, so does the risk of conflict and bloodshed in more vulnerable regions.
Ireland has bold plan to tackle climate crisis
18 Jun 2019
Ireland has unveiled an ambitious plan to tackle the climate emergency by weaning the state, businesses, farms and households off fossil fuels.
Drought forces Namibia to sell wild animals to highest bidder
18 Jun 2019
Drought-hit Namibia has authorised the sale of at least 1000 wild animals – including elephants and giraffes – to limit loss of life and to raise money for conservation.
Poor nations could be future species guardians
18 Jun 2019
Developing countries are better than richer nations at promising to protect important agricultural species in the future, but do less well in safeguarding existing biodiversity.
Arctic permafrost melting 70 years ahead of time
17 Jun 2019
Permafrost has begun thawing in the Canadian Arctic more than 70 years early because of climate change, according to new research.
Australia gives go-ahead to Adani mine
14 Jun 2019
Australia has given the final approval for construction to begin on a controversial coal mine to be built by Indian company Adani.
Coal-dependent Japan sets neutral goal
14 Jun 2019
Heavy on tech, light on any plans to tackle its coal dependency, Japan has released its climate legislation.
UK commits to 2050 emissions target
13 Jun 2019
Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the terms of a new government plan to tackle climate change.
African city heat set to grow intolerably
13 Jun 2019
The entire African continent faces lethal weather conditions for many of its people.
Thirty years to climate meltdown – or not?
12 Jun 2019
How much of a threat is climate meltdown? Should we treat it as the biggest danger to life in the 21st century, or as one of many problems − serious, but manageable?
Brazil leader guts environmental agencies
12 Jun 2019
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appears intent on decriminalizing Amazon deforestation, ending most fines, straitjacketing law enforcement, and gutting environmental agencies with mass firings.
Survey finds number of plant extinctions is 'frightening'
12 Jun 2019
Human destruction of the living world is causing a “frightening” number of plant extinctions, according to scientists who have completed the first global analysis of the issue.
At this rate, we'll have more plastic than fish in the ocean
11 Jun 2019
If humanity continues dumping plastics into nature at the current rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s seas by 2050.
Bloomberg mission is to close all US coal plants
11 Jun 2019
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a new $500 million mission - to close every coal plant in the US by 2030.
What's worrying the plastics industry?
10 Jun 2019
This year’s Global Plastics Summit revealed an industry that sees big growth ahead but also serious challenges, from plastics in the ocean to climate impact.
Trump disses climate change after meeting Charles
10 Jun 2019
US President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as “a change in weather” just hours after holding talks on the issue with Prince Charles.
Some day soon, people might be queueing to get to Siberia
10 Jun 2019
Siberia, currently one of the most sparsely populated places in the northern hemisphere, could become a target for mass migration as the climate warms.
There’s more CO2 in the atmosphere than you think
7 Jun 2019
Carbon dioxide levels recorded last month at the Mauna Loa atmospheric observatory in Hawaii reached an average of 414.7 parts per million. But in truth, the amount of greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is higher still.
Australia's rising emissions spark row
7 Jun 2019
Data showing the latest increase in Australia's greenhouse emissions was released late, in defiance of a Senate order, but leaked to a major newspaper.
Meet the coastal dwellers who don't fear rising seas
7 Jun 2019
Half of the people living in New South Wales’ coastal communities think rising sea levels will not affect them, and a quarter of accommodation businesses on the coast are unsure if sea-level rise is even occurring, new data shows.
Coal-dependent Chile vows to come clean by 2040
7 Jun 2019
Chile, host of the next UN climate talks, has unveiled its plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which will require one of the fastest coal shutdowns anywhere.
Australian musicians band together to run solar farms
7 Jun 2019
Midnight Oil, Cloud Control, Vance Joy and Regurgitator have signed up to FEAT, a new platform encouraging their industry to back sustainability.
Interpol names most-wanted eco criminals
6 Jun 2019
International police have asked for help in tracking down the world’s most wanted environmental criminals.
Britain powers to two weeks free of coal
6 Jun 2019
Britain has not used coal to generate electricity for two weeks - the longest period since the 1880s.
Changing climate has seabirds dying in their thousands
6 Jun 2019
The bodies started washing ashore on St Paul Island, Alaska, in October 2016. One after another, the small carcasses of seabirds - mostly puffins - landed on the beach in extraordinary numbers.
Lawmakers want to pay homeowners for bee gardens
6 Jun 2019
Minnesota aims to offer financial support to homeowners who want to transform their yards into bee-friendly gardens.
Pacific sucks up more anthropogenic emissions
5 Jun 2019
The rate that the Pacific Ocean takes up human-caused emissions of carbon has increased between 1991 and 2017, a new study finds.
Finns going carbon-free faster than we are
5 Jun 2019
Finland is outbidding New Zealand in the drive to carbon-neutrality, saying its economy will be effectively carbon-free by 2035 - 15 years earlier than New Zealand plans to get there.
Climate crisis seriously damaging human health
4 Jun 2019
A report by experts from 27 national science academies has set out the widespread damage global heating is already causing to people’s health.
What happens now with Adani?
4 Jun 2019
By mid-June, if everything goes as expected, Adani Australia will receive the final environmental approvals for its proposed Carmichael coal mine and rail line development.
Students must plant 10 trees to graduate
4 Jun 2019
The PhilippineS Senate has passed a law requiring all students to plant 10 trees in order to graduate.
Macedonians might have done battle with climate change
4 Jun 2019
Alexander the Great's Macedonian ancestors might have been struck by one of the earliest environmental disasters linked to human activity.
Scientists fight Brazilian leader's cutbacks
31 May 2019
Brazil’s scientists are fighting back against President Jair Bolsonaro’s plans to slash funding for research and education programmes.
Florida creates office to take on climate crisis
31 May 2019
To say Dr Tom Frazer faces a daunting workload as he begins his new job as Florida’s first chief science officer would be an underestimation.
Author of dystopian climate novel is 'deeply optimistic'
31 May 2019
People have “a moral obligation” to be optimistic about the climate crisis because the alternative would be to despair, The Wall author John Lanchester has said.
Malaysia loses last male rhino
31 May 2019
The last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia has died in a nature reserve on Borneo.
Pope pleads for 'startling' inaction to end
30 May 2019
If the world is to win the fight against climate change, its leaders must stop profiting from fossil fuels that threaten the survival and well-being of the planet and its inhabitants, says Pope Francis.
Rising seas threaten Australia’s major airports
30 May 2019
Most major airports in Australia are located on reclaimed swamps, sitting only a few metres above the present sea level.
Triumphant Greens demand more radical action
29 May 2019
Europe’s Greens, big winners in the weekend's EU elections, will use their newfound leverage in a fractured parliament to push an agenda of urgent climate action, social justice and civil liberties, the movement’s leaders say.
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.
