International: All stories
Bolsonaro names climate denier as key minister
19 Nov 2018
Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has named an anti-globalist diplomat to lead on foreign affairs and his country’s relationship to the Paris Agreement.
Fires become more complex, nuanced ... and alarming
19 Nov 2018
Why do wildfires seem to be escalating? Despite president Donald Trump’s tweet that the California fires were caused by “gross mismanagement” of forests, the answer is more complex, nuanced, and alarming.
Crab fishers sue fossil fuel industry
19 Nov 2018
The largest US West Coast commercial fishing association is suing 30 fossil fuel companies it says are accountable for harming shellfish and livelihoods as the ocean warms.
Spy in the sky spots households wasting heat
16 Nov 2018
People in the UK who waste heat by failing to ensure their homes, offices and factories are leak-proof will soon have the prospect of a spy in the sky to persuade them to mend their ways.
France acts to ban deforestation imports
16 Nov 2018
France intends to stop importing soy, palm oil, beef, wood and other products linked to deforestation and unsustainable agriculture by 2030, shooting ahead of the rest of the EU.
Anti-fossil fuel campaigns contain lessons
16 Nov 2018
Compared with so much ineffective climate activism, the present wave of anti-fossil fuel politics has an important advantage: it resonates better with ordinary people.
Carmakers slam new Spanish climate law
16 Nov 2018
The Spanish car lobby has hit back at the draft of the country’s first climate law published this week, which proposes to ban the sale and registration of lighter diesel and petrol vehicles from 2040.
Greenland crater points to another climate-changing asteroid collision
16 Nov 2018
A massive crater under Greenland’s ice points to a previously unknown climate-altering asteroid impact in the time of humans.
Bolsonaro already at work in the Amazon
15 Nov 2018
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon jumped almost 50 per cent during the three-month electoral season that brought Jair Bolsonaro to power, according to preliminary official figures.
Trump plans to target heavy trucks
15 Nov 2018
The Trump administration plans to cut air pollution from heavy-duty trucks, marking one of its first moves to regulate US industry rather than roll back environmental standards.
Venice flooding is getting worse
15 Nov 2018
The spectacular centrepiece of Venice, St Mark’s Square, now floods more than 60 times a year, up from four times a year in 1900.
Sweet taste of chocolate has turned sour for orangutans
15 Nov 2018
Cadbury chocolate maker Mondelçz International has destroyed more than 25,000 hectares of orangutan habitat in Indonesia, says a new report from Greenpeace.
Heatwaves can hurt male insect fertility
15 Nov 2018
A new study of beetles could explain their global decline – and also be a warning to humankind.
We have no capacity to absorb new fossil fuel plants
14 Nov 2018
The world has so many existing fossil fuel projects that it cannot afford to build any more polluting infrastructure without busting international climate change goals, the global energy watchdog has warned.
EU states call for tough action on deforestation
14 Nov 2018
The UK, France and Germany have called on the European Commission to launch tough new action to halt deforestation by the end of the year.
Can Teresa Ribera transform Spain?
14 Nov 2018
In recent years, Spain has been a graveyard for climate-friendly policies. But there are signs the dead may be twitching back to life.
Bruised Iraq now has climate-change worries
14 Nov 2018
It’s been invaded and bombed, had a third of its territory taken over by terrorist groups, hundreds of thousands have been killed and much of its infrastructure has been destroyed. Now, Iraq has climate change to worry about.
PROBLEM PLASTIC: What's behind our sudden rage and will it make a difference?
14 Nov 2018
Decades after plastic became part of the fabric of our lives, a worldwide revolt against its use is under way.
Shaw heads south to check out ice-melt threat
13 Nov 2018
Climate minister James Shaw is heading to Antarctica as scientists warn we already might have triggered tipping points leading to irreversible melting of the polar ice sheets.
Big Oil spent 1% on green energy in 2018
13 Nov 2018
Top oil and gas companies jointly spent around 1 per cent of their 2018 budgets on clean energy, a new study shows.
Environment crusaders head to Congress
13 Nov 2018
They’ve taken on polluters and built climate solutions. Now they’re bringing activism to Congress in one of the most diverse freshmen classes in US House history.
Why 2018 will see record for carbon emissions
13 Nov 2018
In 2018, humanity will pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ever, and yet last year was a record year for renewable energy. What gives?
Amazon is adapting, but not fast enough
13 Nov 2018
A 30-year analysis of Amazonian trees finds the world’s largest rainforest is already adapting to climate change, but probably not fast enough.
Britain's new climate could bring wine bonanza
13 Nov 2018
Could rain-sodden Britain become the hot new wine producer?
How the US interior department became a tool of big business
13 Nov 2018
Since his first day on the job, when he surrounded himself with a police escort and rode through Washington on a horse named Tonto, US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has exhibited a flair for ostentation.
How fund managers could help save Amazon
12 Nov 2018
Large asset managers could play a pivotal role in safeguarding the Amazon forest, a new report shows, amid concerns Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro could strip the planet of its lungs.
China faces pressure over illegal greenhouse gases
12 Nov 2018
China will be urged to crack down on illegal CFC-11 production under an international declaration set for adoption at a meeting in Ecuador this week.
Germany pours money into EV battery ventures
12 Nov 2018
Germany has earmarked one billion euros to support a consortium looking to produce electric car battery cells and plans to fund a research facility to develop next-generation solid-state batteries.
Flash floods increase as mercury climbs
12 Nov 2018
Scientists once again have confirmed that humankind’s actions have triggered ever-greater extremes of rainfall – and an ever-greater rise in disastrous flash floods.
End of the end of the Earth ... according to Jonathan Franzen
12 Nov 2018
A writer at the top of his game considers climate change, what we can do and what keeps him from despair.
Carbon Clock wound back - just a tick
9 Nov 2018
The Carbon Clock showing how much time the world has left before it exhausts its carbon budget has been set back a fraction.
JFK first to be warned about climate change
9 Nov 2018
John F. Kennedy was warned about "climate control" in February 1961, becoming perhaps the first American president to learn about people's impact on planetary temperatures.
Red-meat tax would save many lives, says study
9 Nov 2018
Taxing red meat would save many lives and raise billions to pay for healthcare, according to new research.
WORTHY AWARD: 'Single-use' named 2018 word of the year
9 Nov 2018
Single-use, a term referring to products – often made of plastic – that are made to be used once and thrown away, has been named Collins Dictionary’s word of the year for 2018.
Climate change back on US political agenda
8 Nov 2018
With their win of control of the US House of Representatives, Democrats will now have the numbers to put climate change issues back on the Congressional agenda.
Aussie schoolkids take action over climate change inaction
8 Nov 2018
Hundreds of students around Australia are preparing to strike from school because of what they say is a failure by politicians to recognise climate change as an emergency.
Palau bans sunscreen to protect coral reefs
8 Nov 2018
Palau is set to become the first country to ban reef-toxic sunscreen.
Ministers call for transparency in climate finance
7 Nov 2018
EU economy and finance ministers have stressed the need to scale up public and private money for climate change.
E-car demand fuels rise in Congo child labour
7 Nov 2018
Demand for electric vehicles is fuelling a rise in child labour in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, experts said this week, urging companies to take action as the industry expands.
Unseasonably hot, you say? Not any more
7 Nov 2018
The record hot weather being experienced across prts of Australia is now the new normal as the effects of climate change become baked-in.
Living normally, a platypus could ingest 69 drugs a day
7 Nov 2018
Insects near waste water could give a platypus or trout half a daily human dose of antidepressants, a new study reveals.
Plastics pollution on our beaches is becoming a pain
6 Nov 2018
Plastic rubbish on New Zealand beaches is not only hurting wildlife, it’s hurting us, too.
In two years we could face our own extinction, says UN
6 Nov 2018
The world must thrash out a new deal for nature in the next two years or humanity could be the first species to document our own extinction, warns the United Nation’s biodiversity chief.
Is corporate Australia facing a 'tipping point'?
6 Nov 2018
In the parlance of climate science, a "tipping point" is a dire prospect – a critical threshold breach that triggers an abrupt and rapid change in climate.
Court allows children's climate case to go ahead
6 Nov 2018
Two weeks after it put the case on hold, the US. Supreme Court has allowed a lawsuit brought by 21 children and young adults against the federal government over climate change to proceed.
Threatened cities trade sea walls for parks
5 Nov 2018
Under a new plan to deal with higher tides, Boston will allow the rising water to come in to the city, rather than fighting to keep it out.
Climate warming messes with the jet stream
5 Nov 2018
Greenhouse gases are increasingly disrupting the jet stream, a powerful river of winds that steers weather systems in the Northern Hemisphere.
Dreaded tsetse flies wilt in Africa’s growing heat
5 Nov 2018
Global warming might have done one good thing for the Zambezi Valley: it may have done for the tsetse flies, with conditions soon too hot for them to breed there any longer.
Scientists will risk prison to get climate action
2 Nov 2018
A group of British scientists and their supporters is willing to risk a prison term to press governments to tackle climate change and environmental crises.
The Paris climate gang is breaking up
2 Nov 2018
In 2015, a group of countries banded together to shape the global climate pact, but political turmoil is pulling the alliance apart.
Oil refinery fire at key Victoria facility
16 Apr 2026
Explosions and towering flames were reported as a significant fire broke out at one of Australia’s major oil refineries.
Trump takes a ‘wrecking ball’ to independent scientific advisory board
Thu 30 Apr 2026
Without the impartial oversight of its board, the National Science Foundation is now “fully at the behest of the White House,” experts warn.
China’s leadership calls for ‘strict control’ of fossil fuels
Tue 28 Apr 2026
Chinese government leaders published a policy document on 22 April – Earth Day – calling for stricter controls on fossil-fuel consumption and greater oversight of heavy emitters.
EU faces ‘China shock’ as EV imports drive Beijing’s record surplus with bloc
Fri 1 May 2026
The EU is experiencing a prolonged “China shock” as a flood of Chinese EVs into Europe helped push Beijing to a record surplus with the bloc.
UK scientists to fire salt water into the sky in bid to tackle climate crisis
Fri 1 May 2026
Government supporting new geoengineering techniques as race against unregulated companies seeking to capitalise on need for climate cooling tech heats up.
Canada, Alberta close in on carbon price agreement, sources say
Wed 29 Apr 2026
Canada and Alberta are expected to strike a deal in the next two weeks that will increase the price on carbon for the province's industrial emitters, but a broader agreement to tackle oil sands greenhouse gases and green-light a new crude oil export pipeline remains elusive.
India submits new climate action pledges to UN body, flags condition to fulfil promise
Wed 29 Apr 2026
India has formally submitted its pledge to the UN climate body, underline importing conditions noting the developing countries' committments cannot be fulfilled without adequate support in terms of finance and technology transfer.
Tuvalu to host world leaders before COP31 summit
16 Apr 2026
Tuvalu, the Pacific nation at the forefront of the global climate crisis, will host a special meeting of world leaders before this year’s Cop31 summit, as the conference president expresses “complete faith” in Chris Bowen to lead tough negotiations.
Drowned chicks and food scarcity: Emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal now endangered
13 Apr 2026
The primary drivers are shrinking sea ice and warming oceans driven by climate change.
Rationing power and diluting petrol – how African countries are coping with effects of Iran war
30 Mar 2026
Countries across Africa have taken measures such as diluting petrol and restricting electricity consumption to cope with the fuel crisis triggered by the US and Israel's war in Iran.
Beef production drives 40% of agriculture-linked forest destruction, Brazil leads
26 Mar 2026
Beef production is the leading driver of agriculture-linked deforestation, accounting for 40% of all forest clearing done to open space for food production, according to details of a study released on Tuesday.
Extreme heat threatens global food systems, UN agencies warn
23 Apr 2026
Extreme heat is pushing global agrifood systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the U.N.'s food and weather agencies.
