International: All stories
What an ‘ambitious’ 2035 electricity target looks like for China
11 Aug 2025
China’s power sector is both the world’s largest emitter and the largest source of clean-energy growth, making it essential to global climate efforts.
Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching
11 Aug 2025
Researchers warn reef may reach tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events
German minister flags risks to tenders as offshore auctions draw no bids
11 Aug 2025
Germany's Economy Minister Katharina Reiche warned that flawed site selection and shifting market dynamics were undermining offshore wind tenders, as the country's latest offshore auctions received no bids.
Tens of thousands evacuated as torrential rains drench China
11 Aug 2025
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated as heavy rains batter southern China, flooding homes and triggering landslides.
How the meat industry uses environmental groups to make beef seem climate-friendly
11 Aug 2025
The meat industry may have enlisted environmental groups to persuade people to “feel better” about eating beef, despite the sector’s ballooning emissions of climate-heating pollution.
'Cali Fund’ for nature still empty as emails show industry hesitation
8 Aug 2025
A major fund for biodiversity remains starved of resources more than five months after its launch – with no money yet put forward by the large companies who could contribute.
Trump moves to shut down NASA missions that measure carbon dioxide and plant health
8 Aug 2025
The Trump administration wants to end two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health.
Africa needs $3 trillion to meet climate goal
8 Aug 2025
The continent needed over $3 trillion to meet its climate goals, as climate finance is a matter of survival for Africa, according to the African Union.
Stop saying 'the clean energy revolution is inevitable'
8 Aug 2025
OPINION: The phrase has been everywhere since Trump’s re-election.
By changing our diets now, we can avoid the food chaos that climate change is bringing
8 Aug 2025
Climate change is pushing up the prices of the food we buy and changing what we eat.
France wildfire is 'catastrophe on an unprecedented scale', says PM
8 Aug 2025
French Prime Minister François Bayrou says a huge, deadly wildfire sweeping through the south of France is a "catastrophe on an unprecedented scale".
China’s solar panel exports fall 3% in June, report shows
7 Aug 2025
Chinese photovoltaic panel exports declined three percent in June from the previous month, mainly because of shrinking demand from the Asia-Pacific region.
Fines and jail time coming for big polluters in South Africa
7 Aug 2025
South Africa will seek jail time, fines and higher taxes for breaches of proposed rules to govern carbon emissions that will apply to almost all sectors of the economy.
A new report shows how local climate activism leads to ‘remarkable’ gains
7 Aug 2025
Efforts to pass laws and advance clean energy projects can significantly reduce emissions, and at a low cost.
What is net zero and is the UK on track to achieve it?
7 Aug 2025
The political consensus around the UK's net zero policies has collapsed, with opponents now branding them too difficult and expensive.
First-of-a-kind US class-action lawsuit would force EPA to reinstate $3bn climate program
7 Aug 2025
Coalition of non-profits, tribes and local governments sued EPA chief for halting climate justice grants.
China updates green taxonomy to increase energy transition finance
7 Aug 2025
China has updated its green taxonomy as part of the country’s efforts to strengthen its net-zero transition ambitions and reduce fragmentation.
Divided nations start 'final' talks on UN plastics treaty
6 Aug 2025
The key divide is whether the new treaty includes a target to limit plastic production or just focuses on recycling and waste management.
Why plane turbulence is becoming more frequent - and more severe
6 Aug 2025
As climate change shifts atmospheric conditions, experts warn that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.
Who are the climate deniers behind the rollback of foundational US climate policy?
6 Aug 2025
DeSmog has been tracking the efforts of fossil fuel trade associations, policymakers, and industry backed-groups out to demolish U.S. climate policy for years.
BP makes its biggest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off coast of Brazil
6 Aug 2025
BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery of the past 25 years off the coast of Brazil as it continues to shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.
Can the US timber industry and forest carbon credit programs coexist?
6 Aug 2025
The climate crisis is forcing society to rethink existing technological and ecological systems. At the nexus of this challenge is how the U.S. values and manages forests.
Where does the climate movement go from here?
6 Aug 2025
With the Trump administration’s attack on America’s climate and environmental protections getting more extreme by the day, it’s easy to feel like there is no path forward for effective climate action in the United States.
Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave
5 Aug 2025
Scientists have recorded the longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in the region in records going back to 1961.
BlackRock, other fund managers lose bid to dismiss Texas climate collusion lawsuit
5 Aug 2025
A U.S. judge on Friday largely rejected a request by top asset managers including BlackRock, to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Texas and 12 other Republican-led states that said the companies violated antitrust law through climate activism that reduced coal production and boosted energy prices.
OPEC+ countries to boost oil production by 547,000 barrels per day
5 Aug 2025
Some believe the boost in production could lower oil and gasoline prices.
Vatican strikes solar farm deal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral state
5 Aug 2025
Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world’s first carbon-neutral state.
EU climate goals at risk as ailing forests absorb less CO2, scientists say
5 Aug 2025
Damage to European forests from increased logging, wildfires, drought and pests is reducing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide, putting European Union emissions targets at risk, scientists warn.
Barclays exits net zero banking alliance
5 Aug 2025
Barclays will exit the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, marking the second UK-based bank to withdraw from the UN-backed coalition dedicated to advancing global net zero goals through their financing activities, after the departure last month of HSBC.
IEA: Renewables will be world’s top power source by 2026
4 Aug 2025
Renewable energy will overtake coal to become the world’s top source of electricity “by 2026 at the latest”, according to new forecasts from the International Energy Agency.
Trump promised a drilling boom. The new rigs haven’t showed up yet
4 Aug 2025
With clean energy more cost-competitive than it once was, the White House’s oil-first strategy is faltering in a changing energy landscape.
How oil push in Democratic Republic of Congo could affect climate change
4 Aug 2025
Home to the world's second largest tropical rainforest, Democratic Republic of Congo plans to expose half its land to oil and gas drilling in what conservationists call a major threat to endangered apes, local jobs and global climate goals.
The renewable energy revolution is a feat of technology
4 Aug 2025
By Rebecca Solnit | COMMENT: An energy revolution is underway in this century, though most people have not noticed it.
UN holds emergency talks over sky-high costs for COP30 climate summit
4 Aug 2025
The United Nations' climate bureau held an urgent meeting over concerns that sky-high accommodation prices for this year's COP30 climate summit could price poorer countries out of the negotiations.
What’s in a number? New carbon target sparks new climate warfare
4 Aug 2025
Casual observers of Australia's federal parliament might this week have been startled by a sudden resumption of conflict over climate, but the timing was no accident.
The US is sitting out the most consequential climate summit in a decade. It may offer a victory to China
1 Aug 2025
The Trump administration fired the last of the US climate negotiators earlier this month, helping cement America’s withdrawal from international climate diplomacy. It may also have handed a huge victory to China.
Freshwater is disappearing from the Earth at alarming rates
1 Aug 2025
The planet has endured massive freshwater losses over the past two decades due to the combined effects of climate change, overconsumption and drought, a new study has found.
How the grift works
1 Aug 2025
By Bill McKibben | COMMENT: The Trump administration’s climate policies are one big grift but the president also seems to have fallen for a con set up by European leaders.
PR firm working for Shell wins COP30 media contract
1 Aug 2025
As calls grow to keep fossil fuel influence out of UN climate talks, campaigners say Edelman’s partnership with the oil and gas major raises an alarming conflict of interest.
Reintroducing a carbon price the 'most economically efficient tax reform' to repair Australia's budget
1 Aug 2025
Economist Ross Garnaut has warned of "tragic consequences" for productivity and the federal budget, as well as climate change, unless Australia reintroduces a carbon price "as a matter of urgency".
Plant trees in urban areas to tackle deadly heatwaves, say experts
1 Aug 2025
Tree planting in city centres needs to "go harder and go faster" in order to help keep them cool ahead of future deadly heatwaves, an expert has said.
Trump administration moves to repeal scientific declaration on dangers of greenhouse gases
31 Jul 2025
In one of its most significant reversals on climate policy to-date, the Trump administration on Tuesday proposed to repeal a 2009 scientific finding that human-caused climate change endangers human health and safety.
2025 on track to be second or third warmest year on record
31 Jul 2025
As it passes its midway point, 2025 is on track to be the second or third warmest year on record. However, it is very unlikely to beat 2024 as the hottest year.
European Central Bank to consider 'climate factor' when lending to banks
31 Jul 2025
The European Central Bank will add climate change considerations to its lending operations from late 2026, raising pressure on banks to channel financing towards greener sectors as the euro zone seeks to reduce its carbon footprint.
The EU’s ‘fantasy’ $750B energy promise to Trump
31 Jul 2025
The EU has narrowly avoided a full-blown trade war with Donald Trump by pledging to buy $750 billion of U.S. oil and gas by the end of his term. But achieving that will be almost impossible.
Earth’s wetlands are disappearing and global efforts to save them are unravelling
31 Jul 2025
More than 170 countries have gathered to save critical ecosystems. But the U.S. was a no-show for most of the summit and Russia said it will withdraw from the wetlands treaty.
Tilting at windmills? Trump’s claims about turbines fact-checked
31 Jul 2025
The US president has taken a swipe at wind power as the blades visible from his Turnberry golf course turn.
At least 30 killed and several missing as heavy rains and floods lash northern China
30 Jul 2025
Thousands of people were evacuated as the region, including the capital Beijing, braced for more rainfall overnight.
Tax on AI and crypto could fund climate action, says former Paris accords envoy
30 Jul 2025
Laurence Tubiana urges governments to consider levies on energy-hungry technology.
A third of ‘slum residents’ in global south are exposed to disastrous flood risks
30 Jul 2025
One in three people in informal settlements in the global south live in floodplains and are at risk of a “disastrous flood”.
NSW to ban new coalmines in major shake-up for $23bn industry
Mon 23 Mar 2026
A major shake-up is on the way for one Australian state’s single biggest export, which powers homes here and abroad.
US to pay almost $1bn to French energy company to kill wind project plan
Today 11:45am
As a fuel crisis triggered by the war in Iran drives up global fossil fuel prices, the Trump administration has announced it will pay French energy major TotalEnergies $1bn to kill plans to construct wind farms off the US east coast.
China tells oil refiners to suspend exports
Fri 20 Mar 2026
China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing unidentified sources, as the war in the Middle East risks an energy supply crunch.
Spain’s Sánchez attacks other EU leaders for exploiting energy prices to gut climate policies
Mon 23 Mar 2026
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez said his country was on “the right side of history” when it comes to how it has handled the economic and social costs of previous energy crises.
Analysis: CO2 from UK data centres could be ‘hundreds of times’ higher than thought
Today 11:45am
Emissions from the new data centres set to drive the UK’s AI “revolution” could be hundreds of times higher than government estimates, according to analysis by Carbon Brief.
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.
Asia pivots to coal as Middle East conflict chokes LNG supply
Thu 19 Mar 2026
Asian utilities are boosting coal-fired power generation to cut costs and safeguard energy supply, industry officials say, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran chokes liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments and soaring prices threaten to suppress LNG demand.
Pacific Nations fear fuel shortages as Middle East war sends oil prices soaring
Fri 20 Mar 2026
Leaders of Samoa and Tonga appealed for help this week as the import-reliant Pacific nations raised fears over possible fuel shortages and escalating costs caused by war in the Middle East.
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
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.
Surfing’s big break: how climate crisis insurance may save El Salvador’s waves
Thu 19 Mar 2026
Fearing that extreme weather threatened its epic breaks, Oriente Salvaje is piloting the first surf insurance policy to protect livelihoods and ecosystems.
Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says
Wed 18 Mar 2026
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.
