International: All stories

EU rules out tax on plastic products to reduce waste
17 Oct 2017
The European Union has opted for a public awareness campaign on the impact of plastics on the environment, saying a tax would not be sustainable.

UK climate masterplan – the grownups have finally won
16 Oct 2017
The UK Government’s clean growth strategy unequivocally states that tackling climate change and a prosperous economy go hand in hand.

How NASA tracks carbon emissions from space
16 Oct 2017
Fires, drought and warmer temperatures were to blame for excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the 2015-2016 El Niño, say scientists with NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.

Germany to miss climate targets ‘disastrously’
16 Oct 2017
Germany’s environment ministry fears high emissions from coal-fired power plants and transport will make the country miss its 2020 climate targets by a wider margin than previously anticipated.

NOT GUILTY: Easter Island falsely blamed for own demise
16 Oct 2017
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has become the ultimate parable for humankind’s selfishness; a moral tale of the dangers of environmental destruction. But new research paints a very different picture.

Italy's ominous supervolcano shows signs of waking
16 Oct 2017
A super volcano in Italy is waking up. Scientists are trying to predict what it will do next, and what its unrest means for volcanoes worldwide.

BALTIC BURPS: Clams giving off as much gas as 20,000 cows
16 Oct 2017
Scientists have found clams and worms in the Baltic Sea are giving off as much gas as 20,000 dairy cows.

Oxford city to ban cars in zero-emissions zone
13 Oct 2017
Polluting vehicles would be banned from Oxford city centre under plans to bring in what officials believe would be the world’s first zero emissions zone.

Asean banks need to raise sustainable finance bar
13 Oct 2017
Southeast Asia’s banks have only just started to think about their impact on society and the environment.

IMF tells rich nations climate change is urgent business
12 Oct 2017
The International Monetary Fund has warned the world’s richest nations to have a greater sense of urgency about climate change.

Puerto Rico wants Tesla to make it a showpiece
12 Oct 2017
Hurricane-hit Puerto Rico has urged Tesla to turn the islands into a flagship project that can show the world what solar and batteries can do.

Brazil records worst month for forest fires
12 Oct 2017
Brazil has seen more forest fires in September than in any single month since records began, and authorities have warned that 2017 could surpass the worst year on record if action is not taken soon.

LOSING NEMO: When the anemone becomes the enemy
12 Oct 2017
The anemonefish – better known as Nemo after the children’s film Finding Nemo – is at risk from the impacts of climate change.

Abbott reckons climate change is 'probably doing good'
11 Oct 2017
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested climate change is “probably doing good” in a speech in London in which he likened policies to combat it to “primitive people once killing goats to appease the volcano gods”.

German Greens put climate progress top of agenda
11 Oct 2017
Leading Green politicians in Germany have said a coalition agreement with Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats and the free-market Free Democratic party will be contingent on climate policy progress.

Marine life faces mass extinction by 2100
11 Oct 2017
Mass marine extinction may be inevitable if humans go on burning fossil fuels under the notorious “business as usual” scenario.

India bans Diwali fireworks to tackle Delhi's air pollution
11 Oct 2017
India’s supreme court has banned the sale of fireworks in Delhi during the upcoming Diwali festival, hoping to prevent the usual spike in toxic air pollution levels that accompany the holiday.

The war on coal is over, says US environment chief
10 Oct 2017
“The war on coal is over,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt declared as he announced that this week he will sign a new rule overriding Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan.

Americans seem to care least about climate change
10 Oct 2017
When asked about major threats to their country, Europeans are more likely than Americans to cite global climate change.

Think you’re too smart to be taken in by silly food labels?
10 Oct 2017
The bakery that tried to list ‘love’ as a granola ingredient might not have got away with it, but elsewhere dubious and confusing labelling is rife – and it is ruining our diets.

Mackerel on the move stir up European politics
10 Oct 2017
The impacts of climate change can lead to conflict, but conflict not necessarily leads to violence. This is exemplified with the so-called ‘’mackerel case’’.

Ministry denies cutting climate aid to Pacific
9 Oct 2017
New Zealand is denying an accusation that it is cutting its climate aid to the Pacific.

Lawsuits try to paint green activism as a racket
9 Oct 2017
Logging and pipeline companies are using a new legal tactic to seek damages from Greenpeace and other groups. The long-shot cases are having a chilling effect.

Cities must face the reality of living with 50deg heat
9 Oct 2017
The predictions of extreme heat in Australian cities is worrying, but not particularly surprising given the fact that the country is setting hot weather records at 12 times the pace of cold ones. But it does call for an urgent response.

Trump picks coal lobbyist to help to lead EPA
9 Oct 2017
President Trump's nominee to be second in command at the Environmental Protection Agency helped to kill bipartisan climate legislation during his time as a top Senate aide.

Oceans tell the story of how our planet is warming
6 Oct 2017
More than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed into the oceans.

Amazon fires pushing climate change beyond human control
6 Oct 2017
A leading Amazon scientist has highlighted grave problems in Brazil’s management of the world’s most important forest as climate-driven fires eat it away.

Brisbane aims to be centre for aviation biofuel
6 Oct 2017
Brisbane is set to become a hub for sustainable aviation fuel under an agreement between Virgin Australia and United States-based biofuel producer Gevo.

Sweltering September sets Australian records
6 Oct 2017
Australian temperature records tumbled again in September, with the country experiencing the hottest day since records began, and New South Wales breaking that record twice within a few days.

Thou shalt not burn coal ... Catholics shun fossil fuels
5 Oct 2017
Forty Roman Catholic groups have announced they will shun investments in fossil fuels and have urged others to follow suit.

Australian cities head for 50deg summer days
5 Oct 2017
Even if the Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to below 2deg is met, summer heatwaves in major Australian cities are likely to reach highs of 50deg by 2040.

Scotland bans fracking after public protests
5 Oct 2017
The Scottish government has banned fracking after a consultation found overwhelming public opposition and little economic justification for the industry.

New York aims to be carbon neutral by 2050
5 Oct 2017
Donald Trump’s home city aligns its strategy with tough 1.5deg global warming limit, in defiance of the president’s hostility to climate action.

Ireland a spectacular climate change failure
4 Oct 2017
Ireland has failed spectacularly in its response to the challenges posed by climate change over the last 15 years, the Citizens’ Assembly has been told.

Sunny Southeast Asia just doesn't get solar
4 Oct 2017
Southeast Asia has double the solar energy potential of Northern Europe, but the market hype is not living up to the reality on the ground.

Post-hurricanes, wetlands take on a new role
4 Oct 2017
As communities rebuild after hurricanes, a study shows that wetlands can significantly reduce property damage.

Powerco changes name and abandons fossil fuels
4 Oct 2017
Denmark's DONG Energy has fully abandoned power generation from oil and gas, and is changing its name to Ørsted to pledge its commitment to clean energy technologies.

Morocco to invest millions in solar projects
4 Oct 2017
Morocco is getting ready to launch a €200 million ($NZ326m) programme to spark investment in solar power projects in the agricultural sector by 2021.

US eyes help for struggling coal and nuclear plants
3 Oct 2017
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has taken sweeping steps to buttress a pair of financially strapped nuclear plants under construction and to redefine how coal and nuclear plants are compensated for the electricity they provide.

Tsunami wreckage serves as liferafts for invasive species
3 Oct 2017
Hundreds of species were carried across the Pacific to North America by debris — estimated to weigh a total of nearly 1.5 million tonnes — that was swept out to sea after the 2011 Japan earthquake.

Europe playing a two-faced climate change game
3 Oct 2017
EU member states risk undermining the diminishing confidence Europeans have in the union by playing a two-faced game on climate change.

Trump swaps 'climate change' for 'resilience'
3 Oct 2017
In the Trump administration's list of dos and don'ts, "climate change" is out and "resilience" is in.

Coca-Cola gave us a billion more plastic bottles last year
3 Oct 2017
Coca-Cola increased its production of throwaway plastic bottles last year by well over a billion, according to analysis by Greenpeace.

PROMISES, PROMISES: Does Big Business really mean business?
2 Oct 2017
Corporations globally have made hundreds of commitments on deforestation. But what do these pledges really mean and why do scandals keep happening?

Yes, says the UN, the planet can be pollution free
2 Oct 2017
Pollution is controllable and avoidable through political leadership, high-level champions and commitments, says a new UN report.

Trump's next climate act is a bit of a mystery
2 Oct 2017
President Trump is preparing to repeal Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. But what would take its place remains a mystery.

RAW DEAL: Have children lost touch with the natural world?
2 Oct 2017
Studies show that children are better at identifying Pokémon characters than real animals and plants.

Delhi chokes on US exports of tar sands waste
29 Sep 2017
India has emerged as the world’s largest importer of petroleum coke, an oil byproduct that is now a major cause of pollution in the capital.

You must do more, IMF tells rich countries
29 Sep 2017
The International Monetary Fund has told rich countries they must do more to help poor nations cope with climate change or suffer the consequences.

VIVA VIKA: Giant rat lives in trees and eats coconuts
29 Sep 2017
A fabled giant rat known as the vika is the first new Solomon Islands rodent to be described in more than 80 years.