International: All stories
HEY, BABE: Want to save the climate? Have fewer children
14 Jul 2017
The greatest impact individuals can have in fighting climate change is to have one fewer child, according to a new study that identifies the most effective ways people can cut their carbon emissions.
California about to vote on emissions trading scheme
14 Jul 2017
California lawmakers are expected to vote next week on legislation to extend the state's landmark cap-and-trade programme, the country's most progressive, statewide attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
States threaten to go it alone on clean energy
14 Jul 2017
Australian state energy ministers are threatening to go it alone with a clean energy target as they ramp up pressure on the Coalition government.
And now, the weather: Prepare for 10,000 years of drought
13 Jul 2017
Climate history locked in stalagmite evidence warns of 10,000 years of drought – 100 centuries – to come in the Middle East.
Believe it or not, Queensland plans to cut emissions
13 Jul 2017
Coal-hungry Queensland is preparing to slash its pollution to net-zero by 2050, under new plans just released by the State Government.
Coal price will decline, experts tell Australia
13 Jul 2017
As Australia mulls the building of its biggest-ever export thermal coal mine, its biggest foreign buyers look set to reduce their consumption, driving down the price of Australian coal, and the profitability of its mines.
Trillion-tonne iceberg breaks away from Antarctica
13 Jul 2017
A trillion-tonne expanse of ice that has broken off Antarctica's Larsen C shelf isn't going to raise sea level on its own, but it can't be viewed in isolation.
Finland ignores scientists and increases logging
13 Jul 2017
Plans to increase logging in Finnish forests will have dire impacts on the climate; yet the Finnish government is ignoring evidence and denigrating scientists.
Changing climate puts load on labourers
12 Jul 2017
Climate change could affect labour productivity – at least in the wine industry, new research suggests.
Diplomats assess China’s climate leadership promise
12 Jul 2017
The international community is asking itself whether China really has what it takes to lead global climate policy now the US has yielded that mantle.
ON YER BIKE: China launches smog-eating bicycles
12 Jul 2017
Commuters in China's smog-bound cities soon will be able to clean the air as they ride bicycles that inhale dirty air, clean it, and then release fresh air into the environment.
Countries with coral reefs must do more, says UN
12 Jul 2017
Custodians of world heritage-listed sites should aim to keep global temperature increases to just 1.5deg, the United Nations says.
UN climate fund under fire for using private banks
12 Jul 2017
Civil society organisations warn that the Green Climate Fund’s decision to accredit more private banks will disadvantage poor countries.
Musk's big battery is a real game-changer
11 Jul 2017
Elon Musk’s agreement to build the world’s largest battery for South Australia isn’t just an extraordinary technological breakthrough that signs coal’s death warrant.
Changing climate could mean end of the Emperor penguin
11 Jul 2017
Antarctica's iconic Emperor penguins might not be able to handle a changing climate and could be extinct by the end of the century, a new report says.
Sahel monsoon might see African drylands bloom
11 Jul 2017
Suddenly, a drought-stricken African region could benefit from a Sahel monsoon, with climate change storm clouds breaking over Chad and Mali.
G20 leaders' climate statement highlights rift with US
10 Jul 2017
World leaders have made clear the isolated stance of the US on climate change, with 19 of the G20 countries affirming their commitment to the “irreversible” Paris climate agreement.
Tesla to build giant battery for South Australia
10 Jul 2017
US-based Tesla and French company Neoen will build the world’s largest lithium ion battery in South Australia with plans to complete construction before summer.
G20 SUMMIT: Dealing with climate change in the Age of Trump
7 Jul 2017
As the world’s big emitters meet, their response to the G20 climate plan will be a barometer of their willingness to push back on Trump and fulfill the Paris accord.
How a shipping firm took control of a country’s UN mission
7 Jul 2017
How the climate-threatened Marshall Islands came to be represented at UN shipping talks by a private company based in Virginia, 11,000km away.
France decrees commercial rooftops must be green
7 Jul 2017
According to a new law, rooftops on new buildings in commercial zones across France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels.
Pacific nations push for Paris pact commitments
6 Jul 2017
A commitment by rich nations to the Paris Agreement and an end to fossil-fuel development were the two major issues to come out of a pan-Pacific climate meeting in Fiji this week.
RICH LIST: Is inequality bad for the whole environment?
6 Jul 2017
From buying stuff to eating meat to wasting water, there is growing evidence that countries with a bigger gap between rich and poor do more harm to the planet and its climate.
Indian utility bets $10 billion on coal power
6 Jul 2017
India's state-run power utility plans to invest $10 billion in new coal-fired power stations over the next five years.
Scientists know how big the Larsen C iceberg will be
6 Jul 2017
Just three miles separate the Larsen C crack — a rift slicing the front off a major Antarctic ice shelf — from open water.
Climate Change Authority loses last climate scientist
6 Jul 2017
The Australian government's Climate Change Authority has just lost its last climate scientist.
Poor countries prepare to fight climate change alone
6 Jul 2017
Developing countries have been promised $100 billion per year by 2020. With no sign of it arriving some are taking matters into their own hands.
G20 fossil fuel investment threatens Paris targets
5 Jul 2017
G20 countries have stepped up green finance, but their investment in fossil fuels remains so high that the “well below 2 degree” warming limits set in the Paris Agreement will be missed by a wide margin, a new report shows.
DIZZY DAYS: What Trump has scrapped since January
5 Jul 2017
Since January, the White House, Congress and EPA have engineered a dizzying reversal of regulations designed to protect the environment and public health.
How Australia bungled climate policy
5 Jul 2017
Australia has never had climate consensus – and it has been costly, argues Labor frontbencher Mark Butler in an extract from his book Climate Wars.
Universities in global South aim to end reliance on West
5 Jul 2017
Universities from the world’s least developed countries have launched a cooperative programme aimed at ending their dependence on climate experts and expensive consultants from rich countries.
Climate change will worsen US poverty
5 Jul 2017
Yet another study has exposed the cruel cost of climate change as it increases US poverty. It could be worse than the Great Recession.
In the Netherlands, a better way to rebuild the beach
5 Jul 2017
A $US78 million experiment aims to reinforce the rapidly eroding coastline, while avoiding the ecological damage common with other nourishment schemes.
India gets busy and plants 66 million trees in 12 hours
5 Jul 2017
In India, about 1.5 million volunteers have planted more than 66 million trees in just 12 hours as part of a record-breaking environmental campaign.
UN urges Australia to rethink Adani coal mine
4 Jul 2017
A UN committee has urged Australia to review its support for expanded coal production.
Open your doors to climate refugees, Fiji tells US
4 Jul 2017
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has called on the US to open its borders and offer a permanent home to the people of the Marshall Islands threatened by rising seas.
Cash begins trickling out of Green Climate Fund
4 Jul 2017
Lambasted by Donald Trump and much criticised from all sides, the seemingly friendless Green Climate Fund has begun doling out money.
Europe's contribution to deforestation set to rise
4 Jul 2017
Europe’s consumption of products such as beef, soy and palm oil could increase its contribution to global deforestation by more than a quarter by 2030, analysis shows.
Even the biggest tanker jets can’t win our total war on fires
4 Jul 2017
The more effectively we suppress fires, the worse they become. As climate change makes the world more combustible, we need a new approach.
Germany ‘massively weakens’ draft G20 climate plan
3 Jul 2017
The latest draft of the German plan for this week’s G20 Hamburg meeting contains major concessions to the US and opens the door for coal projects to be defined as “clean”.
WINTER'S NOT COMING: Jon Snow worried over lack of it
3 Jul 2017
His character Jon Snow might fret about the arrival of winter, but Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington has said he was instead confronted by “terrifying” evidence of global warming while filming the TV show.
Lack of green options traps Europe’s energy poor
3 Jul 2017
Fuel poverty affects tens of millions of Europeans. Coupled with continuing subsidies for fossil fuel boilers, this means decarbonisation efforts face an uphill struggle.
OPINION: The view from Antarctica
3 Jul 2017
A week in Antarctica gives Sustainable Business Council chair and Toyota New Zealand chief executive ALISTAIR DAVIS hope that humans can and will act on climate change.
MILLION A MINUTE: Our bottle binge as bad as climate change
30 Jun 2017
A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20 per cent by 2021, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change.
Antarctica's ice-free areas to increase by up to a quarter by 2100
30 Jun 2017
Climate change will cause ice-free areas on Antarctica to increase by up to a quarter by 2100, says a new study.
Where climate change wars could erupt
30 Jun 2017
Add simmering political tensions to predicted weather shocks and the world has a recipe for disaster.
Giant hailstones set to become the norm across North America
30 Jun 2017
Golfball sized hail that can crack car windscreens, damage roofs and decimate crops are set to become the norm across parts of North America as a result of climate change.
Why we have three years left to stop dangerous climate change
29 Jun 2017
The next three years will be crucial to stopping the worst effects of global warming, says former UN chief Christiana Figueres and other experts.
MODI AND ADANI: Old friends who are laying waste to India
29 Jun 2017
India’s environment has been subjugated to the whims of the prime minister’s industrial cronies. How can the world believe him on climate change?
Things are hotting up for the world's bulging waistline
29 Jun 2017
Earth's tropical atmosphere - our bulging waistline - is growing in all directions and some countries should be worried.
‘Off like a rocket’: Battery rebate prompts massive rooftop power surge
Thu 28 Aug 2025
The federal government’s home battery rebate has proved so popular it is adding the equivalent to South Australia’s big battery to the grid every 8.7 days.
Ørsted shares at all-time low after Trump halts work on US windfarm
Wed 27 Aug 2025
Shares drop by 17% after stop-work order on $1.5bn project off Rhode Island, which was 80% complete.
China's carbon market to introduce absolute emissions caps from 2027
Wed 27 Aug 2025
China will tighten its carbon trading market by introducing absolute emissions caps in some industries for the first time starting by 2027.
Apple Watch not a 'CO2-neutral product,' German court finds
Thu 28 Aug 2025
Apple can no longer advertise its Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany, following a court ruling on Tuesday that upheld a complaint from environmentalists, finding that the U.S. tech company had misled consumers.
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive?
20 Aug 2025
When climate change undermines the climate plan.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
Singapore seals carbon credit deal with Thailand, its first South-east Asian partner
Thu 28 Aug 2025
The agreement, the eighth for Singapore, helps both nations meet climate targets under the Paris Agreement, directing finance to Thai projects.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Is Africa about to see the solar energy boom it needs?
Thu 28 Aug 2025
African countries imported a record number of solar panels in the past year, which could be the beginning of a green energy boom on the continent.
Lessons from the Incas: How llamas, terraces and trees could help the Andes survive climate change
Thu 28 Aug 2025
New research suggests solutions may lie in environmental knowledge that the Incas and their predecessors developed centuries ago.
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of COP30
20 Aug 2025
Only 28 countries have submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters yet to produce plans.
