International: All stories
Middle of nowhere ... yet it’s still awash with microplastics
21 May 2018
Point Nemo in the Pacific is so far flung that the nearest humans are often those aboard the International Space Station. But even that hasn’t saved it from the scourge of microplastics.
Scientists detect mysterious rise in ozone-eater
18 May 2018
Scientists have detected a sharp and mysterious rise in emissions of a key ozone-destroying chemical centred somewhere in east Asia.
Green economy can create 24 million jobs by 2030
18 May 2018
The Paris climate agreement will create 24 million jobs by 2030, according to a report released by the International Labor Organisation
India eyes hybrid solar-wind power plants
18 May 2018
India has released a draft policy for setting up hybrid wind-solar plants where both windmills and panels are put up on the same piece of land.
London considering car-free days
18 May 2018
London is considering introducing car-free days in an attempt to tackle the city’s air pollution crisis that experts say is responsible for thousands of early deaths each year.
GAS BYPASS: UK could go from coal to clean
17 May 2018
The UK has been told there's no need to build large gas-fired power stations to replace the coal plants that the government has pledged to switch off by 2025.
Europe renewables up - so are emissions
17 May 2018
A bumper year for renewable energy didn’t stop Europe from increasing its emissions.
Modern mammoths could help stop Arctic ground emissions
17 May 2018
Geneticists from Harvard think that reintroducing mammoth-like creatures to Arctic tundra environments could help to stop the release of greenhouse gases from the ground.
Order under threat ... so where's the Security Council?
17 May 2018
Scientists, think-tanks, NGOs, and militaries agree that climate change threatens human safety and well-being. Yet the organisation charged with global security has remained relatively silent.
Australian businesses back renewables
16 May 2018
Australian businesses are jumping on board the renewables boom with almost half of the nation's major companies making the switch to clean, affordable and reliable renewable energy.
Eleven ways the Paris deal is working in the real world
16 May 2018
As climate talks stall, it’s clear the UN process is no longer the major driving force of the climate transition. But does that matter?
Investors urge oil firms to shun Trump's Arctic plan
16 May 2018
Investors managing more than $2.5 trillion have warned oil firms and banks to shun moves by US president Donald Trump to open an Arctic national wildlife refuge to drilling.
UK proposes new law to create Green Brexit
16 May 2018
The UK Government is seeking to reassure the public that environmental laws will not be watered down after the country’s planned departure from the European Union.
Lloyds Bank pumps £2b into green projects
16 May 2018
Lloyds Bank is making an extra £2 billion available to help UK businesses implement sustainability initiatives.
How will drought-hit farmers feed Australia?
15 May 2018
Australia has just experienced the eighth-driest April on record with rainfall across grain, sheep and cattle heartlands well below normal. So how do farmers plan to keep the country fed?
Green homes earn more mortgage money
15 May 2018
Borrowers in the UK will be able to take out a bigger mortgage when buying greener properties for the first time, under a pioneering scheme to encourage energy efficiency.
California turns farms into carbon-sucking factories
15 May 2018
In a grand experiment, California switched on a fleet of high-tech greenhouse gas removal machines last month.
Personal grooming products might be polluting urban air
15 May 2018
New evidence suggests that compounds in deodorants, lotions, hair gels and perfumes are major sources of air pollution in urban areas.
California orders solar panels on all new homes
14 May 2018
California will require solar panels on new homes and low-rise apartment buildings starting in 2020.
No money in Aussie budget to fight climate change
14 May 2018
Australia's response to intensifying extreme weather events remains at the bottom of the national agenda, after the Federal Budget failed to deliver funding for measures to tackle climate change.
London plans to be one of greenest cities
14 May 2018
Ambitious plans have been released which seek to transform London into one of the world’s greenest cities.
Costa Rica reckons it can be the first country free of carbon
14 May 2018
Costa Rica’s newly elected president is vowing to make his country the world's first truly carbon-zero territory.
More talks set as Bonn ends in stalemate
11 May 2018
Climate negotiators gathered in Bonn to negotiate the rules that will govern the Paris Agreement have gone back home with little to show after almost two weeks of negotiation.
HAND-OUTS: More variable climate means a less just world
11 May 2018
A more variable climate spells another injustice in a warming world, with the poorest people likely yet again to feel the heat most intensely.
California faces long road to reach e-car target
11 May 2018
California continues to lead the US in electric car sales but it faces a long, hard road before it can achieve its goal of getting five million emissions-free vehicles on the road in 12 years.
Energy service finds best deal for customers
11 May 2018
An Australian consumer group Choice has launched a $99 service to compare prices from electricity retailers, monitor them for 12 months and automatically switch subscribers to the best deal.
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.
Oil refinery fire at key Victoria facility
16 Apr 2026
Explosions and towering flames were reported as a significant fire broke out at one of Australia’s major oil refineries.
Trump takes a ‘wrecking ball’ to independent scientific advisory board
Thu 30 Apr 2026
Without the impartial oversight of its board, the National Science Foundation is now “fully at the behest of the White House,” experts warn.
China’s leadership calls for ‘strict control’ of fossil fuels
Tue 28 Apr 2026
Chinese government leaders published a policy document on 22 April – Earth Day – calling for stricter controls on fossil-fuel consumption and greater oversight of heavy emitters.
EU faces ‘China shock’ as EV imports drive Beijing’s record surplus with bloc
Fri 1 May 2026
The EU is experiencing a prolonged “China shock” as a flood of Chinese EVs into Europe helped push Beijing to a record surplus with the bloc.
UK scientists to fire salt water into the sky in bid to tackle climate crisis
Fri 1 May 2026
Government supporting new geoengineering techniques as race against unregulated companies seeking to capitalise on need for climate cooling tech heats up.
Canada, Alberta close in on carbon price agreement, sources say
Wed 29 Apr 2026
Canada and Alberta are expected to strike a deal in the next two weeks that will increase the price on carbon for the province's industrial emitters, but a broader agreement to tackle oil sands greenhouse gases and green-light a new crude oil export pipeline remains elusive.
India submits new climate action pledges to UN body, flags condition to fulfil promise
Wed 29 Apr 2026
India has formally submitted its pledge to the UN climate body, underline importing conditions noting the developing countries' committments cannot be fulfilled without adequate support in terms of finance and technology transfer.
Tuvalu to host world leaders before COP31 summit
16 Apr 2026
Tuvalu, the Pacific nation at the forefront of the global climate crisis, will host a special meeting of world leaders before this year’s Cop31 summit, as the conference president expresses “complete faith” in Chris Bowen to lead tough negotiations.
Drowned chicks and food scarcity: Emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal now endangered
13 Apr 2026
The primary drivers are shrinking sea ice and warming oceans driven by climate change.
Rationing power and diluting petrol – how African countries are coping with effects of Iran war
30 Mar 2026
Countries across Africa have taken measures such as diluting petrol and restricting electricity consumption to cope with the fuel crisis triggered by the US and Israel's war in Iran.
Beef production drives 40% of agriculture-linked forest destruction, Brazil leads
26 Mar 2026
Beef production is the leading driver of agriculture-linked deforestation, accounting for 40% of all forest clearing done to open space for food production, according to details of a study released on Tuesday.
Extreme heat threatens global food systems, UN agencies warn
23 Apr 2026
Extreme heat is pushing global agrifood systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the U.N.'s food and weather agencies.
