International: All stories
Direct democracy could offer a third climate way
14 Nov 2017
With political agreement on climate change making slow progress and direct action becoming more dangerous, we must find alternatives.
POISON PUSH: Warming helps toxins to thrive
14 Nov 2017
Many of the world’s poorest people are being poisoned by their basic foods – and global warming helps toxins to multiply.
CLIMATE CRISIS? No need to fear, the Cote d'Ivoire is here
14 Nov 2017
Just over 19,000 delegates and officials are attending the UN climate talks in Bonn. The largest party - 493 - comes from the Cote d'Ivoire.
Big cities sign emissions pledge (but not ours)
13 Nov 2017
The mayors of 25 cities with more than 150 million citizens between them say they will start cutting emissions before 2020 and will be carbon neutral by 2050.
EU strikes deal on carbon market reform
13 Nov 2017
European Union negotiators have agreed to a compromise on carbon market reforms, with the bloc keen for a deal this week to show leadership at UN climate talks in Bonn.
Fiji told it must spend billions to adapt to climate change
13 Nov 2017
Fiji must spend an amount equivalent to its entire yearly gross domestic product over the next 10 years to counter the challenges of a changing climate.
Geo-engineering can work ... if the world wants it
13 Nov 2017
Climate scientists now know that geo-engineering – in principle at least – would halt global warming and keep the world at the temperatures it will reach by 2020.
MILLIONS ON MOVE: Climate victims need refugee status
13 Nov 2017
Since 2008, about 26 million people have been displaced each year due to natural disasters, says a troubling Oxfam report.
ETS changes win us an award at Bonn talks
10 Nov 2017
Changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme have won New Zealand a Carbon Pricing Champion Award at international climate negotiations in Bonn.
The seven megatrends that could beat global warming
10 Nov 2017
With the climate tipping point just years away, the tide is turning, thanks to innovations ranging from cheap renewables to lab-grown meat and electric aircraft.
Coal-fired plant sent $1b offshore while pocketing public's $117m
10 Nov 2017
The owner of one of Australia’s dirtiest coal-fired power plants quietly moved $1bn offshore within days of pocketing $117m from taxpayers.
Germany's dirty coalmines focus for direct action
10 Nov 2017
A giant black mark on Germany’s environmental record is scarred on the land an hour’s drive from the venue of this year’s UN climate talks in Bonn.
Victory for forests as nations vow to stop death by chocolate
10 Nov 2017
Ghana and the Ivory Coast are formulating plans to immediately put a stop to all new deforestation after an investigation found that the cocoa industry was destroying their rainforests.
Risk growing for Pacific islands, says study
10 Nov 2017
Many nations have become less vulnerable to natural disasters ranging from cyclones to earthquakes because of improved preparedness, but Pacific island states remain most at risk, a new study shows.
Fonterra to talk farming at Bonn climate talks
9 Nov 2017
Fonterra will strut its stuff tomorrow at international climate talks in Bonn.
Africans call for US to be kicked out of Bonn talks
9 Nov 2017
African campaigners have called for US negotiators to be barred from climate talks under way in Bonn.
Barclays issues €500m bond for 'green mortgages'
9 Nov 2017
UK banking giant Barclays has successfully issued a €500 million green bond - the first of its kind in the UK to use funds backed by domestic assets.
EU acts to clean up transport and boost e-vehicles
9 Nov 2017
The European Commission has a legislative package aimed at reducing CO2 emissions in road transport and encouraging the uptake of electric cars.
Can California eliminate millions of fossil cars?
9 Nov 2017
California State leaders are discussing banning the sale of the millions of cars that run on gasoline or diesel.
LOST LANDS: Rising seas washed away Pacific history
9 Nov 2017
The story of the now-vanished Micronesian island of Nahlapenlohd holds some valuable lessons about recent climate change in the western Pacific.
Auckland - clean power but lacking environmental protection
8 Nov 2017
New Zealand’s clean electricity supply has won Auckland 48th place in the 2017 Smart City Index – but its traffic congestion and lack of environmental protection have let it down.
US now only country saying it won't be part of Paris Agreement
8 Nov 2017
Syria has decided to sign the Paris agreement on climate change, the world's final functioning state to do so.
Do it differently to ensure markets do their job
8 Nov 2017
Carbon markets need to do things differently to avoid the mistakes of the Kyoto Protocol, a market watchdog says.
Sulphur pollution on the rise in India
8 Nov 2017
India is on course to surpass China as the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide.
New Zealand's team in Bonn
7 Nov 2017
New Zealand will be represented at international climate negotiations by climate minister James Shaw and Pacific minister Aupito William Sio.
The other China that wants to lead on climate change
6 Nov 2017
By PATTRICK SMELLIE | As international delegations descend on Bonn for the November 6-17 annual global climate change summit, spare a thought for the other country that calls itself China but, instead of claiming a leadership position in the global debate, is shut out on the sidelines.
UN climate summit means business
6 Nov 2017
This year’s annual UN climate summit, the twenty-third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (https://cop23.unfccc.int/) in UN jargon (or COP23 for short), starts on 6 November – and for once it may have an unusual spring in its step.
India readies for clashes with developed world at Bonn
6 Nov 2017
SEVERAL AREAS of unfinished business mean talks in Bonn could ignite as developing nations seek concessions from the industrialised world
5 things MFAT wants you to know about COP23
6 Nov 2017
INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS to put meat on the bones of the Paris Agreement start in Bonn today, with Fiji in the presidency.
Climate change will create 'world's biggest refugee crisis'
3 Nov 2017
Tens of millions of people will be forced from their homes by climate change in the next decade, creating the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen, according to a new report.
Market forces can go further, faster and cheaper to cut emissions
3 Nov 2017
Government delegations gathering in Bonn for the start of annual UN climate talks on Monday need to ramp up efforts, says the International Emissions Trading Association.
Paris possible with huge private-secctor investement
3 Nov 2017
Global investment could hold the key to fighting climate change, with $1 trillion already invested in solutions such as renewables and energy efficiency, says International Finance Corporation
Europe still drilling for oil, despite Paris Agreement
3 Nov 2017
Just days before international climate talks start in Bonn, firms are lining up to drill for oil - at great expense - in northern European waters.
Is China the leader UN climate talks need?
3 Nov 2017
china is more assertive than ever about its climate leadership ambitions, as 195 countries head to Bonn for the annual UN summit.
Fossil fuel companies undermining Paris agreement negotiations – report
2 Nov 2017
Global negotiations seeking to implement the Paris agreement have been captured by corporate interests and are being undermined by powerful forces that benefit from exacerbating climate change, according to a report released ahead of the second meeting of parties to the Paris agreement – COP23 – next week.
EPA aims to block scientists who get EPA funding
2 Nov 2017
US Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is poised to jettison scientists who have received grants from the EPA and replace them with industry experts and state government officials.
Pacific Islanders call on Australia not to fund Adani
2 Nov 2017
Pacific Islanders whose homes face eradication by rising sea levels have called on Australia to not fund the Adani Carmichael coalmine, as a new report reveals the worsening impact of climate change across Oceania.
Whyalla steel goes green with solar and storage
2 Nov 2017
UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has made good on his commitment to transform his newly acquired Australian steel business into a renewable energy powerhouse.
Ice cracks again close Antarctic research station
2 Nov 2017
A British research station in Antarctica is being shut down for the second winter in a row following concerns over growing cracks in the 150-metre thick ice shelf on which it stands.
Merchants believe in the business case for bikes
2 Nov 2017
Merchants in an Oregon town believe new walking and biking infrastructure will attract cusatomers to their businesses.
Billion-dollar renewables boom boosts Queensland
1 Nov 2017
Queensland is a leader in Australia’s renewables boom, with more than $1.6 billion dollars invested in large-scale projects creating more than 1300 construction jobs.
Brazil’s carbon emissions rose 8.9% in 2016
1 Nov 2017
Despite Brazil’s worst recession in history, national greenhouse gases emissions are estimated to have risen 8.9 per cent in 2016 and reached the highest level since 2008.
Winter coming later ... and leaving earlier
1 Nov 2017
Across the United States, the year’s first freeze has been arriving further into the calendar, according to more than a century of measurements.
CARS CRUNCH: More and more cities say they don't want them
1 Nov 2017
After more than 100 years of living with cars, some cities are slowly starting to realize that the automobile doesn’t make a lot of sense in the urban context.
Heat stress, malnutrition ... climate change makes us sick
1 Nov 2017
Climate change is already having an impact on our health, by exposing people to dangerous heat waves and more extreme weather.
Global atmospheric CO2 levels hit record high
31 Oct 2017
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased at record speed last year to hit a level not seen for more than three million years.
Sea could rise 1.3m unless coal power ends by 2050
31 Oct 2017
Sea levels could rise 1.3m this century unless coal-generated electricity is virtually eliminated by 2050, according to a new paper that contains the latest understanding of Antarctica’s contribution.
Demand for fresh vegetables all year round is killing soils
31 Oct 2017
Consumers’ expectations that certain types of produce will be available all year round mean that farmers must engage in unsustainable and destructive practices.
Why California’s wine country fires were so destructive
31 Oct 2017
As of late October, more than a dozen wildfires north of San Francisco had killed more than 40 people, burned approximately 160,000 acres and destroyed more than 7000 structures.
Regional businesses use renewables to slash costs
31 Oct 2017
From solar to running generators, some regional businesses in Australia have quit the energy grid and several others are showing interest in defecting.
“There was so much death.” A toxic algal bloom is ravaging Australia’s southern coast – warming waters are to blame
Today 10:45am
Three ingredients are required for an algal bloom to get going – temperature, the right conditions and food. South Australia had all the preconditions necessary, thanks to climate change.
We used to stash gold in Fort Knox. What if we did the same with carbon?
Today 10:45am
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
Wed 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.
Apple Watch not a 'CO2-neutral product,' German court finds
Thu 28 Aug 2025
Apple can no longer advertise its Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany, following a court ruling on Tuesday that upheld a complaint from environmentalists, finding that the U.S. tech company had misled consumers.
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive?
20 Aug 2025
When climate change undermines the climate plan.
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.
Is Africa about to see the solar energy boom it needs?
Thu 28 Aug 2025
African countries imported a record number of solar panels in the past year, which could be the beginning of a green energy boom on the continent.
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.
