International: All stories
First foreign Holden ‘missed opportunity’ to be hybrid
12 Feb 2018
The new Holden Commodore – the first to be made overseas – is a “missed opportunity” to launch a high-profile electric or hybrid car in Australia, according to pro-renewables groups.
Why hasn’t Trump affected carbon markets?
9 Feb 2018
US President Donald Trump's fight against climate change reduction efforts hasn't had a noticeable impact - yet. Why not?
Thawing permafrost reveals massive doses of mercury
9 Feb 2018
Rising temperatures are waking a sleeping giant in the North - the permafrost - and scientists have identified a new danger that comes with that: massive stores of mercury.
'We don't want green finance, but for finance to be green'
9 Feb 2018
Industry and regulators should be given until 2020 to boost climate risk disclosure or face government intervention, Britain’s Commons Environmental Audit Committee has been told.
Tourism Australia's least prepared for climate change
9 Feb 2018
Tourism is Australia’s most vulnerable and least-prepared industry to deal with climate change despite the fact it is already feeling its effects, according to a new report.
Top universities form climate change coalition
9 Feb 2018
Leading universities across North America have launched the University Climate Change Coalition to leverage their research and resources to spur local climate action.
Half of US bases worldwide under threat from weather
9 Feb 2018
Nearly half of US military sites are threatened by wild weather linked to climate change, according to a new Pentagon study.
EU to define what exactly is green investment
8 Feb 2018
The European Commission will present legislation in May to define what represents "green" investment.
Europe’s biggest fossil fuel project gets public loan
8 Feb 2018
The European Investment Bank has approved a loan to the Southern Gas Corridor, in a move environmentalists described as a “historical mistake”.
Edinburgh University divests from all fossil fuels
8 Feb 2018
The University of Edinburgh is dumping all its fossil fuel investments, making it the largest UK university endowment fund to be completely free of all coal, oil and gas holdings.
How Bill Gates aims to clean up the planet
7 Feb 2018
It’s a simple idea: Strip CO2 from the air and use it to produce carbon-neutral fuel. But can it work on an industrial scale?
Tesla to outfit 50,000 homes with solar and Powerwalls
7 Feb 2018
Tesla will install solar arrays and Powerwalls on 50,000 homes in South Australia to create the biggest virtual power plant in the world.
EU says no trade deals with countries not in Paris pact
7 Feb 2018
The EU has backed French calls to make trade deals with the world’s second-biggest economy contingent on membership of the Paris climate agreement.
Florida Keys raising road levels to beat the sea
7 Feb 2018
Parts of the Florida Keys will spend millions on raising roads before they are inundated by rising sea levels.
Almost four environmental defenders a week killed in 2017
7 Feb 2018
The slaughter of people defending their land or environment continued unabated in 2017, with new research showing almost four people a week were killed worldwide.
Poland urges ‘common sense’ over climate ambition
5 Feb 2018
Poland’s special climate envoy has called for the world to put “common sense” above climate ambition at this year’s COP24 summit.
Carmakers could face prosecution in UK
5 Feb 2018
Carmakers who cheat emissions rules could face prosecution in the UK for deceiving environmental tests under new measures set to be introduced in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal.
How used coffee beans can help your garden
5 Feb 2018
Your morning cup of coffee contributes to six million tonnes of spent coffee grounds going to landfill every year.
Australian firms strike first forest credits deal
2 Feb 2018
Australian companies have struck the first long-term deal in that country to sell carbon credits generated from plantation forestry.
Indonesia has bold plan to rewet the swamps
2 Feb 2018
A controversial Indonesian project to restore 2.5 million hectares of tropical peatland hinges on sustainable farming.
New index will track EU sustainable investment
2 Feb 2018
A sustainability index has been launched to track the performance of environmentally and socially responsible European companies.
EU renewables overtake coal for first time
1 Feb 2018
Renewable technologies - wind, solar and biomass - have beaten coal generation for the first time in the EU.
Scientists worry about climate altering rainforest
1 Feb 2018
Climate change could be causing shifts to the natural cycle of life in the tropical rainforest, scientists have suggested.
ECO ANYONE? Teabags next to go free of plastic
1 Feb 2018
The war on plastic waste is extending to the UK’s favourite beverage, with a major retailer developing a biodegradable paper teabag that does not contain plastic.
How will China’s new carbon trading scheme work?
31 Jan 2018
China last month announced the initial details of its much- anticipated emissions trading scheme, following several years of regional pilot projects.
France to close coal plants two years early
31 Jan 2018
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that all the country’s coal-fired plants will shut down by 2021- two years earlier than initially planned.
Would you host a nuclear waste disposal plant for £1m a year?
31 Jan 2018
Communities around England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be offered £1m a year to volunteer to host an underground nuclear waste disposal facility.
California wants five million electric cars by 2030
31 Jan 2018
California Governor Jerry Brown wants to put five million electric cars on the state’s roads by 2030.
Urban forests add to cities’ health ... and wealth
31 Jan 2018
Planting more urban forests is a simple way not only to improve the health of a city’s people, but to make them wealthier, too.
Chile creates five national parks over 10m acres
31 Jan 2018
Chile has created five sprawling national parks to preserve vast tracts of Patagonia – the culmination of more than two decades of land acquisition by two US philanthropists.
NZ and island nations pay climate fee on time
30 Jan 2018
New Zealand and five small states in the area are among the handful of countries that have paid this year’s dues to the United Nations’ climate change work.
Britain takes another look at personal carbon accounts
30 Jan 2018
The UK is getting serious about tackling collective individual behaviour which threatens the environment.
Local people tackle tide of beach plastic
30 Jan 2018
Local volunteers have collected more than 12,000 tonnes of plastic from a beach in Mumbai.
Capitalism must be changed, says major investor
26 Jan 2018
Capitalism must change to avert climate change, says the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock.
Gas field earthquakes put firms on notice
26 Jan 2018
Two hundred of the Netherlands’ biggest companies have been told by their government to stop sourcing fuel from a major Dutch gas field within four years following a series of increasingly significant earthquakes.
German emissions rise for second year in a row
26 Jan 2018
An increase in transport sector emissions drove up Germany’s total greenhouse gas emissions for the second time in a row in 2016.
The climate solution no-one in Davos will be talking about
25 Jan 2018
Economists say a global carbon tax would efficiently shift the world to safer energy production. So why is it barely mentioned?
Angry scientists condemn Trudeau's climate research cut
25 Jan 2018
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 250 Canadian scientists highlight their concern over the imminent end of a research programme to better understand climate change.
Trump tariffs will cost thousands of solar jobs
25 Jan 2018
President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a tariff on imported solar panels will cost the US solar industry about 23,000 jobs this year and risks slowing the growth of clean energy.
Why 'blended' finance is key to sustainability
25 Jan 2018
Public and private sector funds must increasingly pool resources to finance larger global sustainability and climate change projects, a new study shows.
Australian university to be 100% solar powered
25 Jan 2018
The University of New South Wales in Sydney has signed an agreement to ensure 100 per cent of its electricity needs will be met by solar photovoltaics.
PLASTIC POISON: Market failure has put the world in peril
24 Jan 2018
Climate change is the result of the greatest market failure the world has ever seen.
UK billionaire eyes EVs in old Holden plant
24 Jan 2018
UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta is looking to buy equipment from and use part of the old Holden factory in South Australia to create an electric vehicle production line.
Australia climbs clean energy leaderboard
24 Jan 2018
Australia has been named among the top 10 nations investing in clean energy, with more than $11.3 billion spent on renewables in 2017.
Illegal cocoa farming destroys African forests
24 Jan 2018
Côte d’Ivoire’s brown gold has gradually destroyed the country’s national parks and protected forests.
Climate change drives farmers from Mekong delta
24 Jan 2018
Saltwater intrusion and drought are destroying crops in one of the most fertile places on earth, prompting an exodus of farmers.
Why China wants to rule green-energy markets
23 Jan 2018
As other major powers find themselves in climate denial or atrophy, China might well boost its power and status by becoming the global energy leader of tomorrow.
Good sports sweat it out in stadiums not up to the job
22 Jan 2018
As Australian sports fans and players swelter through another summer season, questions of stadium design to deal with extreme heat are becoming more urgent.
Super battery beats expectations for first month
22 Jan 2018
The world’s largest lithium ion battery has brought much needed flexibility to the South Australian grid, encouraging other Australian states to follow suit.
Why coal city switched all 8000 taxis to electric
22 Jan 2018
Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province in China, replaced 8000 petrol-powered taxis with electric vehicles in a single year.
Battery subsidy scheme set for 'urgent' overhaul as costs run out of control
16 Dec 2025
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced big changes to the government's battery subsidy scheme amid claims most of its $2.3 billion budget has been spent in just six months.
EPA erases references to human-caused climate change from websites
19 Dec 2025
EPA has scrubbed references to people’s contribution to rising temperatures from some of its climate change webpages.
Verra cancels four tree planting projects in China. And starts reviews of 45 more projects
16 Dec 2025
“Multiple carbon projects in China are facing serious allegations regarding the authenticity of government approval documents."
France updates its 2050 carbon neutrality roadmap
17 Dec 2025
To mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, France released a revamped climate plan promising to phase out oil and gas and sharply increase electricity use.
Net-zero scenario is ‘cheapest option’ for UK, says energy system operator
15 Dec 2025
A scenario that meets the “net-zero by 2050” goal would be the “cheapest” option for the UK, according to modelling by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The ecological havens flourishing beneath power lines
19 Dec 2025
Initiatives to foster native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs are turning utility corridors into wildlife corridors.
‘Not normal’: Climate crisis supercharged deadly monsoon floods in Asia
12 Dec 2025
Cyclones like those in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia that killed 1,750 are ‘alarming new reality’.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
18 Dec 2025
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say.
Are rainforests now a cause of, rather than the answer to, climate change?
15 Dec 2025
A new study finds that Africa’s forests, responsible for one-fifth of global carbon removal, are beginning to generate carbon as the result of human activity.
Thousands of climate disasters are not included in official reports from Amazonian countries
12 Dec 2025
More than 12,500 extreme weather events impacted the Amazon and its population in 10 years, but countries have not generated enough information about it, according to a new scientific study.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
