International: All stories
Australian shareholders should be told, says thinktank
30 Nov 2017
Australian companies need to start developing sophisticated scenario-based analyses of climate risks, and incorporating them into their business, a thinktank has said.
How deforestation is starving São Paulo of water
30 Nov 2017
São Paulo could face more devastating water shortages if farmers continue to clear the Amazon forest, warns the utility chief who recently steered the biggest city in the Americas from the edge of drought catastrophe.
After Bonn, five things to watch for in the coming year
30 Nov 2017
Unusually for a large UN climate conference, the recent Bonn talks didn’t finish with any late-night haggling. Progress, in the form of various commitments and pledges, is best described as slow and steady.
DUMPSTER DIVING: For some it's the ethical way to dine
30 Nov 2017
People looking for different ways to approach food and waste have begun “dumpster diving” - searching waste bins for edibles.
Peru’s melting glaciers are a godsend (until they’re gone)
29 Nov 2017
Accelerating glacial melt in the Andes caused by climate change has set off a gold rush downstream, letting the desert bloom. But as the ice vanishes, the vast farms below might do the same.
Rising tides lap at the Pacific's dome of poison
29 Nov 2017
Rising seas caused by climate change are seeping inside a United States nuclear waste dump on a remote and low-lying Pacific atoll.
What do the Koch brothers want from Time?
28 Nov 2017
That Charles and David Koch are putting $650m into Meredith Corp’s purchase of Time would ordinarily be cause for great soul-searching in media. But these are not ordinary times.
China reverses flow of carbon emissions
28 Nov 2017
The flow of China’s carbon emissions has reversed, according to new research led by scientists at the University of East Anglia.
Cleaner coolants fund gets $540m
28 Nov 2017
Rich countries will pay $540 million over three years into a fund to support a shift to cleaner coolants, under a deal agreed in Montreal on Saturday.
Swedish power plant burns clothes instead of fossil fuels
28 Nov 2017
A Swedish power plant is turning to recycled wood and trash for alternatives, including discarded clothing from a retail chain.
ROAD RAGE: Highways could open a Pandora's Box of ills
27 Nov 2017
Within the next 30 years, there could be another 25 million kilometres of road worldwide – enough to encircle the planet 600 times.
Drilling awakens sleeping faults in Texas
27 Nov 2017
Since 2008, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and a handful of other states have experienced unprecedented surges of earthquakes.
Musk's Australia battery poised for final testing
27 Nov 2017
The world’s largest lithium-ion battery, which is being built in South Australia by Tesla to store renewable energy, is about to enter final testing.
Melbourne consortium underwrites windfarm
27 Nov 2017
Three Melbourne councils, two universities, Zoos Victoria, and half a dozen corporations have banded together to underwrite a windfarm in western Victoria.
City trees feel the heat ... and love it
27 Nov 2017
City trees are responding to climate change and urban growth, making the most of the heat island effect.
China likely to hit peak emissions around 2030
24 Nov 2017
China’s carbon emissions will probably peak on or before 2030, a new survey has found.
Disaster on Australia's doorstep, officials warn
24 Nov 2017
Climate change is creating a disaster on Australia’s doorstep, according to a government white paper.
Bonn talks bring a poison pill for Poland
24 Nov 2017
If anything came out of the COP23 climate conference in Bonn, it’s a poison pill for Poland.
India to add 10,000 e-vehicles to official fleet
24 Nov 2017
India has called tenders for 10,000 electric vehicles as replacements for its official fleet.
Community solar heads for rooftops of New York
24 Nov 2017
New York City’s public housing authority is taking bids in a plan to lease its roofs for community solar projects that could power thousands of urban homes.
THIN ICE: Antarctic glaciers could flood the planet
24 Nov 2017
In a remote region of Antarctica known as Pine Island Bay, 2500 miles from the tip of South America, two glaciers hold human civilisation hostage.
LIGHT FRIGHT: Nights getting brighter and not in a good way
24 Nov 2017
Nights are getting alarmingly brighter – bad news for all sorts of creatures, humans included – as light pollution encroaches on darkness almost everywhere.
Climate change drove Trumps out of Germany
24 Nov 2017
Climate change contributed to the wave of German immigration to the US that included Donald Trump’s grandfather.
California nets $860 million from carbon auction
23 Nov 2017
California will collect $860 million from auctioning carbon-emissions permits after the allowances sold out at a record price for the second straight quarter.
You're spies, Russia tells green campaigners
23 Nov 2017
The Russian government is using anti-spying legislation to silence environmental campaigners, a leading watchdog has warned.
As oceans warm, kelp forests begin to disappear
23 Nov 2017
Kelp forests are being wiped out from Tasmania to California, replaced by sea urchin barrens that are nearly devoid of life.
Senate bill would cut EPA funding by $150 million
23 Nov 2017
The US Senate Appropriations Committee this week introduced a bill that would cut nearly $150 million in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency next year.
Poland faces $170,000-a-day fines over illegal logging
23 Nov 2017
Poland has been given two weeks to stop illegal deforestation in a Unesco-protected forest or face fines of at least $NZ170,000 a day.
BEAN BUSES: In London, it's wake up and smell the traffic
23 Nov 2017
Seeking to curb toxic diesel fumes, London transport officials are hunting for new sources of energy for buses. The latest idea? Coffee grounds.
Meet the green gurus who use 1400 disposable cups a day
23 Nov 2017
More than 2.5 million disposable cups have been purchased by the UK’s environment department for use in its restaurants and cafes over the past five years – equivalent to nearly 1400 a day.
EPA revises social cost of potent greenhouse gas
22 Nov 2017
The Trump administration is tweaking how it measures the costs of emitting a potent greenhouse gas, a move that will have major impacts for climate rules.
CARBON PRICING: Five questions for Nicholas Stern
22 Nov 2017
Economist NICHOLAS STERN spoke in Oxford this month. The Conversation asked him about recent developments in the transition of the world toward an economy adapted to climate change.
Let's handle climate change the way we dealt with cigarettes
22 Nov 2017
What would happen if we treated climate change as a health problem rather than an environmental one?
Could this be beginning of the end for the beloved axolotl?
22 Nov 2017
Although abundant in captivity, the axolotl has nearly disappeared from its natural habitat - and that is a problem.
Former UN climate chief lobbies against Adani loan
21 Nov 2017
Former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has made a rare intervention in Australian politics, urging the Turnbull government not to grant a controversial coal project a near A$1 billion loan.
Past climate lessons prompt present rethink
21 Nov 2017
European scientists have just reached two chilling conclusions about today’s Earth by studying past climate lessons.
Three ways cities are leading the climate change fight
21 Nov 2017
Cities account for 75 per cent of the world’s energy use and 76 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions.
Electric highway will link Norway and Italy
21 Nov 2017
A German utility is planning a string of electric vehicle fast chargers every 120 to 180 kilometers along highways in seven European countries, from Italy to Norway.
Indonesia to roll out 1000 eco-mosques
21 Nov 2017
Worshippers in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, are set to go green with a new initiative that aims to establish 1000 eco-mosques by 2020.
Climate pioneer calls for wave of lawsuits
20 Nov 2017
One of the fathers of climate science is calling for a wave of lawsuits against governments and fossil fuel companies that are delaying action on what he describes as the growing, mortal threat of global warming.
Bonn summit slow and steady but King Coal looms
20 Nov 2017
The climate talks in Bonn saw little drama other than some star turns and a pantomime villain. All eyes are now on Poland, the next summit host.
It's not a done deal, low-lying islands can shape a future
20 Nov 2017
While the plight of low-lying Pacific islands should not be ignored, it is just as damaging to assume that their fate is already sealed.
Norway’s wealth fund eyes divesting from fossil fuels
20 Nov 2017
Norway’s $1 trillion fund is to consider divesting from oil and gas stocks to protect the country's economy from oil price risk.
Australia a Top 10 nation - for cutting down trees
20 Nov 2017
Eastern Australia ranks in the top 10 of the world’s major deforestation fronts – the only area in a developed nation.
The inconvenient truth about smart cities
20 Nov 2017
Plans for more wired, networked, connected urban areas face challenges if they fail to account for existing, local, non-digital elements such as government and socioeconomic conditions.
Shaw commits NZ to leading on climate challenge
17 Nov 2017
New Zealand has just committed itself on the world stage to being carbon-neutral by 2050 and being a Pacific leader on climate change.
NZ signs up to cut methane and black carbon
17 Nov 2017
New Zealand has signed up to a plan to cut methane and black carbon emissions from agriculture and waste.
Global pledge to phase out coal gets full backing of NZ
17 Nov 2017
New Zealand is part of a new alliance launched at the Bonn climate talks that hopes to signal the end of coal.
Carbon markets back in vogue at Bonn
17 Nov 2017
Carbon markets have become a vital piece of common ground for defenders of the climate. The tool is gradually extending around the world, bringing with it higher revenues.
Indigenous groups win greater climate recognition
17 Nov 2017
Indigenous groups claimed a victory at the Bonn climate talks in Bonn as governments acknowledged for the first time that they can play a leadership role in protecting forests and keeping global temperatures at a safe level.
Australian rainforests no longer a carbon sink – study
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Australia's tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, scientists said Thursday, linking the "very concerning" trend to climate change.
'We’re in God’s hands now': A dispatch from Western Alaska
Today 11:00am
An immense disaster has wrought deep trauma on Western Alaska’s Indigenous residents and is raising existential questions about the future of their low-lying communities amid a changing climate and a tightening state budget.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
Thu 16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
EU plans support for countries affected by carbon border levy
Today 11:00am
The European Union will offer development funding to countries affected by the bloc's carbon border tariff, the European Commission said on Thursday, as it attempts to soothe developing economies' concerns over the policy.
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
Thu 16 Oct 2025
The UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have said.
Renewables are a global economic engine, not a culture war threat
2 Oct 2025
Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Indonesia restarts international carbon trade after four years
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has issued a new decree to restart international carbon emission trading after a four year hiatus.
Familiar tensions emerge at the Pacific Islands Forum
26 Sep 2025
With China-Taiwan rivalry, China-Western competition, and big carbon emitters at odds with the islands on climate policy, there is plenty of tension to go around.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Angola lowers climate ambition in blow to spirit of Paris Agreement
Tue 14 Oct 2025
Angola has scaled back its targets for reducing emissions in its new national climate plan, saying it chose “realism and implementability” over the Paris Agreement's calls for governments to set progressively more ambitious goals.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
New UN carbon market rules could reshape how investors value nature
Today 11:00am
A debate over carbon permanence – how long CO2 must stay stored to count towards offsetting emissions – is reshaping global carbon markets and could determine whether nature remains investable.
