International: All stories
HIGH STEAKS: What is the true cost of a world eating meat?
10 May 2018
Concerns are growing over the huge impact on the environment, human health and animal welfare grow, so what future is there for the meat industry.
Lack of models holding back e-car market
10 May 2018
The rise of electric cars in Europe is being hampered by a lack of models for consumers to choose from rather than a lack of public recharging points, say energy companies and carmakers.
Pediatricians worry about climate change
10 May 2018
Children are estimated to bear 88 per cent of the burden of disease related to climate change, according to pediatricians.
Kava gets Bonn delegates talking 'like people'
9 May 2018
Observers say Fiji’s kava-fuelled story time at the Bonn climate talks on Sunday helped to break down barriers between government representatives and campaigners.
Tourism responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions
9 May 2018
Tourism accounted for 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions from 2009 to 2013, new research finds, making the sector a bigger polluter than the construction industry.
China is the alternative universe of car industry
9 May 2018
A state-controlled economy is forcing the world's largest car market to embrace electric car solutions, and fast. Here's what China can tell us about the automotive future.
Why you can’t have free trade and save the planet
9 May 2018
Donald Trump is simultaneously chided for refusing to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and for promoting a trade policy that reduces the causes of such emissions.
Ocean dead zones can be bought back to life
9 May 2018
The world has more than 400 dead zones in oceans and lakes where water contains so little oxygen that aquatic life can’t survive.
Atmospheric CO2 hits highest level in 800,000 years
8 May 2018
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached its highest level in at least 800,000 years, according to scientists.
Allianz to stop insuring coal industry
8 May 2018
Insurance giant Allianz will no longer support the coal industry in a move designed to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
'WE'RE DOOMED': Social scientist speaks out on the reality of climate change
8 May 2018
UK social scientist Mayer Hillman, 86, says accepting the impending end of most life on Earth might be the very thing needed to help us prolong it.
UK faces huge bill to get rid of North Sea oil
8 May 2018
The UK’s North Sea clean-up costs – the price to be paid for decommissioning its oil and gas industry – will probably more than double, a British group says.
NZ gets pat on the back in Bonn
7 May 2018
New Zealand’s promise to be carbon-neutral by 2050 has earned it a rare positive mention in dispatches from Climate Action Tracker.
Droughts could be worst in 800 years
7 May 2018
Droughts, floods, heatwaves, and fires have battered Australia for millennia. Are recent extreme events really worse than those in the past?
Winter winds melting Antarctica ice shelf
7 May 2018
Parts of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf are melting in the depths of winter, when temperatures typically stay well below freezing, research finds.
Rio Tinto climate resolution marks big shift
7 May 2018
What does the advocacy group the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility have in common with the Local Government Super fund, the Church of England Pensions Board, and the Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund?
Coal pollution is poisoning China's rice
7 May 2018
Mercury pollution is a problem usually associated with fish consumption. But some people in China, the world’s largest mercury emitter, are exposed to more methylmercury from rice than they are from fish.
Auckland vows to free city centre of emissions
4 May 2018
Auckland is signing up to go fossil fuel-free, pledging to make the city centre emissions-free by 2030 and to clean up the bus fleet.
The true cost of making cities from the sea
4 May 2018
Asia is growing. Literally. From Malaysia to Dubai, luxury developments are rising on artificial islands and coastlines.
E-waste innovator is going to prison
4 May 2018
A Southern California man who built a sizable business out of recycling electronic waste is headed to federal prison for 15 months.
Canada eyes carbon price to cut emissions
4 May 2018
Canada says that setting a nationwide carbon price could help to cut emissions by 90 million tonnes while maintaining a strong economy.
When mountains fall into the sea
4 May 2018
As glaciers melt, unstable slopes are being exposed and are on the precipice of collapse.
Climate 'culture war' will doom Australia
3 May 2018
Australia will not achieve its emissions reductions targets until it ends the “culture war” on climate policy, Labor frontbencher Mark Butler has said.
TALANOA TALK: The 11 key themes in Bonn
3 May 2018
The Talanoa Dialogue could be a springboard to stronger action on climate change, or just another talking shop.
There’s money in sun and wind, says activist
2 May 2018
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigner Bill McKibben - who visits New Zealand next week - says the financial sector has picked up on the future of energy much quicker than politicians have.
Boaty McBoatface to spy on melting Antarctic glacier
2 May 2018
The precarious state of a vast, remote Antarctic glacier will provide an inaugural mission for the British vessel once dubbed Boaty McBoatface and its remotely operated submarine of the same name.
China's solar power boom can be seen from space
2 May 2018
China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, but it's also leading the world in clean energy investment and deployment.
All Paris pact counties now have climate policies
2 May 2018
All 197 countries which signed the Paris Agreement now have at least one law in place to limit global temperatures.
Belt and Road will cost the environment
1 May 2018
China is aggressively trying to leverage on a trillion-dollar transportation and energy infrastructure construction programme that poses potential environmental impacts.
What price trees in our megacities?
1 May 2018
The ecological footprint of population growth is vast and there’s far more that can be done to improve life for urban residents around the world.
Supermud bricks could rescue housing and carbon emissions
1 May 2018
The housing problems of western nations like New Zealand pale in comparison to the scale of the crisis facing much of the world.
DIVIDED COUNTRY: Border gets the creeps
1 May 2018
The stark climatic border in the US separating the sultry east from the dry west is rapidly shifting - a change that could have a significant future impact.
The hills are alive with the signs of plastic
1 May 2018
A major study has found microplastics in soil across Switzerland and scientists warn urgent research is needed into impacts on food safety.
Arctic currents change as did the ancient Pacific
1 May 2018
Changes in Arctic currents today appear to reflect similar changes thousands of years ago – in the North Pacific. Scientists think they may be linked.
Bonn meeting to sort out Paris pact
30 Apr 2018
A meeting to hammer out the “operating manual” for the Paris Agreement starts in Bonn today.
Making our cities cooler is a no-brainer
30 Apr 2018
Numerous cities are trying to do something what's known as the urban heat island effect. But there is a very long way to go. So what is holding us back, and what needs to happen?
GOING UP? Modern elevators are being given a green lift
30 Apr 2018
Elevator companies have begun to explore a wide and somewhat outlandish array of green alternatives to the traditional rope-and-pulley systems of 100 years ago.
EU votes to ban bee-killing pesticide
30 Apr 2018
The EU has overwhelmingly voted for a ban on the use of a pesticide known to be harmful to bees.
Starbucks customers like reusable cups
30 Apr 2018
A survey in UK Starbucks stores shows that reusable cup usage has surged by 156 per cent since the intoduction of a 5p charge.
Climate will empty islands in just decades, warns report
27 Apr 2018
Low-lying atolls around the world will be overtaken by sea-level rises within a few decades, according to a new study.
DRASTIC PLASTIC: Kenya grounds the flying toilet
27 Apr 2018
KENYA'S tough plastics laws appear to be working. Waterways are clearer, the food chain is less contaminated – and there are fewer “flying toilets”.
Globalisation might be better for environment
27 Apr 2018
The increasing pace of globalization and how it affects the environment has been a major global concern.
Hands up those companies making an effort
26 Apr 2018
An analysis of more than 600 top US companies has found that those seeing the effects of global warming first-hand are taking the most concrete actions.
EU backs new circular economy measures
26 Apr 2018
The EU has taken a significant step towards principles which make an asset out of waste.
BP chief urges Cambridge not to divest
26 Apr 2018
BP chief executive Bob Dudley has come under fire from campaigners after he urged Cambridge University not to drop its fossil fuel investments.
Company averts climate chocolate threat
26 Apr 2018
Fears that the supply of cocoa beans would dry up have led a confectionery giant to help farmers to avert a climate chocolate threat.
Bloomberg vows to pay America's Paris dues
24 Apr 2018
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he will write a $4.5m cheque to cover this year’s US commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.
Blockchains could tackle our waste problems
24 Apr 2018
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin might fill news headlines, but attention has been shifting to the technology that underpins them - blockchains.
California must live with whiplash events
24 Apr 2018
California is likely to swing from drought to extreme rainfall and flooding more often in the future, a new report says.
Off the Green and into the Blue
24 Apr 2018
A staggering number of golf balls wind up in the ocean. What happens to them?
Australian governments subsidising fossil fuel use by more than $30,000 a minute, analysis finds
Fri 13 Mar 2026
Australian federal and state government subsidies that encourage fossil fuel use and help drive the climate crisis will reach $16.3bn this year after leaping by nearly 10%, according to a new analysis.
Trump administration sues California over the state’s nation-leading vehicle-emission rules
Tue 17 Mar 2026
The Trump administration ramped up a battle with California over the state’s nation-leading vehicle-emission standards Thursday, suing air regulators over rules aimed at curbing pollution from cars.
What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ mean for climate change?
10 Mar 2026
China’s leadership has published a draft of its 15th five-year plan setting the strategic direction for the nation out to 2030, including support for clean energy and energy security.
Germany misses climate targets as emissions barely fall in 2025
Tue 17 Mar 2026
Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany have again missed targets set by the Climate Protection Act and barely fell at all in 2025.
UK emissions fall 2.4% in 2025 as coal hits 400-year low
9 Mar 2026
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.4% in 2025 to their lowest level in more than 150 years, according to new analysis.
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.
'The situation is dire': War on Iran squeezes India's cooking-gas supplies
Mon 16 Mar 2026
The shockwaves of a war being fought nearly 3,000km away are now reaching India's kitchens.
Vanuatu moves forward with UN climate resolution despite Trump opposition
9 Mar 2026
The Trump administration’s attempt to sink a UN resolution demanding countries act on the climate crisis has caused cuts to the proposal but hasn’t entirely killed it, according to the tiny Pacific island country spearheading the effort.
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
Mon 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.
Companies – including Blackrock – retired 2 million carbon credits after Verra suspended project
Thu 12 Mar 2026
Verra suspended the Pacajai REDD project in Brazil in September 2023, pending an investigation into the project’s validity. That didn’t stop Mastercard, BlackRock, Philip Morris International from retiring carbon credits from the project to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Summit aims to revive stalled UN talks on phasing out fossil fuels
11 Mar 2026
Colombia and the Netherlands have set out three priorities for a conference on phasing out fossil fuels they will co-host in Colombia in April.
