International: All stories
Pollution getting in the way of China's solar goals
26 Oct 2017
Although China is increasing its solar energy supply, air pollution is blocking sunlight and reducing energy output, according to a new study.
BBC apologises over interview with climate denier
26 Oct 2017
The BBC has apologised for an interview with climate change denier Lord Lawson after admitting it had breached its own editorial guidelines for allowing him to claim unchallenged that global temperatures have not risen in the past decade.
WINE WOBBLES: Production is heading for a 50-year low
26 Oct 2017
If you haven’t got a wine cellar, it’s time to get one and start stockpiling because global wine production is about to fall to its lowest level in more than 50 years.
LEAPING LIZARDS: Giants thrive in wasted oil palm plantations
26 Oct 2017
Of Borneo’s large native scavengers, a giant lizard is the only species that has successfully adapted to the land devastated by oil palm plantations.
Fires last year cost an area of forest the size of New Zealand
25 Oct 2017
Forest fires in Brazil and Indonesia contributed to a record loss in global tree cover in 2016, equivalent to the size of New Zealand.
KIRIBATI CRISIS: A long time waiting for the tide to turn
25 Oct 2017
The 33 islands of Kiribati are under threat from climate change. But the islanders have not given up hope.
Texas power giant to shut coal-fired plants
25 Oct 2017
Texas power generator Luminant has announced it will close three coal-fired plants in early 2018. Combined, they account for 12 per cent of the state's coal power plant capacity.
Corals clue to sudden bursts of ocean rise
25 Oct 2017
Fossilised corals off Texas show that in the past, sea level rose several meters in just decades, probably due to collapsing glaciers.
Car lobby wants better testing to combat emissions
25 Oct 2017
Australia’s motoring lobby wants “real-world” vehicle emissions testing, arguing the current system is misleading consumers and regulators.
Twelve major cities vow to buy zero-emissions buses
25 Oct 2017
Twelve major cities including London, Paris, Los Angeles and Cape Town have promised to buy only zero-emissions buses from 2025.
Dirty cars must pay for using London streets
25 Oct 2017
Drivers of the most polluting vehicles must from now on pay a daily charge of up to $NZ40 to drive into central London.
Global pollution kills 9m a year and threatens human survival
24 Oct 2017
Pollution kills at least nine million people and costs trillions of dollars every year, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date, which warns the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies”.
No China, so what happens now to world’s recycling?
24 Oct 2017
In the wake of China's announcement earlier this year that it would cut imports of the world's waste there are concerns that much of the lower grade materials will have nowhere else to go.
Development banks join forces to fight climate change
24 Oct 2017
Credit institutions worth $3000 billion have joined forces to throw their weight behind sustainable development.
UK hints at e-bike subsidy to get people moving
24 Oct 2017
The UK government might consider providing subsidies for electric bicycles and electric cars as part of a concerted policy effort to get more people cycling.
Brazilian Amazon loses 660,000ha of forest in one year
24 Oct 2017
The Brazilian Amazon lost 6,624 sq km of forest between August 2016 and July 2017.
How can we cook a more sustainable Sunday roast?
24 Oct 2017
Messing with the Sunday roast proably is a step too far for many people. So how might we create a more sustainable Sunday roast?
Fiji announces $100m ‘climate bond’ ahead of climate talks
20 Oct 2017
Fiji aims to raise $100 million ($NZ68m) to build resilience to climate change and support a shift to 100 per cent renewable energy.
Environmental activism no racket, rules judge
20 Oct 2017
A judge has dismissed a Canadian logging company's lawsuit against Greenpeace and another activist group that accused them of running a criminal enterprise through their environmental campaigns.
Hunger increasing thanks to wars and climate change
20 Oct 2017
Despite efforts to end food shortages, hunger is on the rise again after years of decline, a UN report says.
How Thailand built a top sustainable stock exchange
20 Oct 2017
Sustainability reporting is not mandatory in Thailand - and yet Thai firms outnumber their Asean peers in the latest Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.
Toxic firefighting chemicals public health challenge
20 Oct 2017
The contamination of drinking water by toxic firefighting chemicals is the most seminal public health challenge of coming decades, says a US environmental official.
Turnbull convinces party to unite on energy policy
19 Oct 2017
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has secured party-room backing to impose new reliability and emissions reduction guarantees on energy retailers and large energy users from 2020.
Planting the planet could cut as much carbon as halting oil
19 Oct 2017
Planting forests and other activities that harness the power of nature could play a major role in limiting global warming under the 2015 Paris agreement.
KITCHEN CRIMES: The hidden scandal of hotel food waste
19 Oct 2017
What if every time you sat down for a meal, you threw one-quarter of it in the trash? That’s the hidden story of waste in the hospitality industry.
How potatoes and bananas can keep your house warm
19 Oct 2017
Potatoes and bananas reborn as insulation, peanuts processed into partition boards and mushroom bricks that grow in five days ... just some of the ways the building trade could change its wasteful ways and construct virtuous new cities.
Texas town mayor turns green-power tyro
19 Oct 2017
The mayor of Georgetown, Texas, Dale Ross is ‘a good little Republican’ – but ever since his city weaned itself off fossil fuels, he has become a hero to environmentalists.
Egypt shaped by volcanoes and climate change
19 Oct 2017
Volcanic eruptions and climate change have been linked to periods of social unrest and the eventual downfall one of Ancient Egypt's most famous dynasties.
NZ goes for 'triple win' at Bonn climate talks
18 Oct 2017
New Zealand will push a “triple win” for agriculture at international climate talks in Bonn next month.
Qantas eyes transpacific biofuel flights by 2020
18 Oct 2017
Qantas has announced that its Los Angeles to Melbourne flights will be powered by biofuel from 2020.
World's choking cities need fewer cars, not cleaner cars
18 Oct 2017
Electric cars won’t eradicate city gridlocks and air pollution, but carbon footprints could be cut by favouring pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit.
Trump stance on Paris deal sad, says Pope
18 Oct 2017
Speaking on World Food Day, Francis said climate change was a driver of hunger and migration and the Paris climate agreement was the legal basis for the solution.
NZ fires first COP23 shots in Fiji today
17 Oct 2017
Acting climate minister Paula Bennett will deliver New Zealand’s opening statement at the pre-COP climate talks in Fiji today.
Starving penguins a sign that all is not well in Antarctica
17 Oct 2017
The awful news that all but two penguin chicks have starved to death out of a colony of almost 40,000 birds is a grim illustration of the enormous pressure Antarctic wildlife is under.
Chevron dumps plan to drill in Australian Bight
17 Oct 2017
Chevron has become the second big oil company to abandon plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, almost exactly a year after BP ditched its more advanced plans for the untapped basin.
One-third of population could be living in Africa by 2100
17 Oct 2017
Today, one out of six people on Earth live in Africa. These same projections predict that the proportion will be one in four in 2050 and more than one in three by 2100.
EU rules out tax on plastic products to reduce waste
17 Oct 2017
The European Union has opted for a public awareness campaign on the impact of plastics on the environment, saying a tax would not be sustainable.
UK climate masterplan – the grownups have finally won
16 Oct 2017
The UK Government’s clean growth strategy unequivocally states that tackling climate change and a prosperous economy go hand in hand.
How NASA tracks carbon emissions from space
16 Oct 2017
Fires, drought and warmer temperatures were to blame for excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the 2015-2016 El Niño, say scientists with NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.
Germany to miss climate targets ‘disastrously’
16 Oct 2017
Germany’s environment ministry fears high emissions from coal-fired power plants and transport will make the country miss its 2020 climate targets by a wider margin than previously anticipated.
NOT GUILTY: Easter Island falsely blamed for own demise
16 Oct 2017
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has become the ultimate parable for humankind’s selfishness; a moral tale of the dangers of environmental destruction. But new research paints a very different picture.
Italy's ominous supervolcano shows signs of waking
16 Oct 2017
A super volcano in Italy is waking up. Scientists are trying to predict what it will do next, and what its unrest means for volcanoes worldwide.
BALTIC BURPS: Clams giving off as much gas as 20,000 cows
16 Oct 2017
Scientists have found clams and worms in the Baltic Sea are giving off as much gas as 20,000 dairy cows.
Oxford city to ban cars in zero-emissions zone
13 Oct 2017
Polluting vehicles would be banned from Oxford city centre under plans to bring in what officials believe would be the world’s first zero emissions zone.
Asean banks need to raise sustainable finance bar
13 Oct 2017
Southeast Asia’s banks have only just started to think about their impact on society and the environment.
IMF tells rich nations climate change is urgent business
12 Oct 2017
The International Monetary Fund has warned the world’s richest nations to have a greater sense of urgency about climate change.
Puerto Rico wants Tesla to make it a showpiece
12 Oct 2017
Hurricane-hit Puerto Rico has urged Tesla to turn the islands into a flagship project that can show the world what solar and batteries can do.
Brazil records worst month for forest fires
12 Oct 2017
Brazil has seen more forest fires in September than in any single month since records began, and authorities have warned that 2017 could surpass the worst year on record if action is not taken soon.
LOSING NEMO: When the anemone becomes the enemy
12 Oct 2017
The anemonefish – better known as Nemo after the children’s film Finding Nemo – is at risk from the impacts of climate change.
Abbott reckons climate change is 'probably doing good'
11 Oct 2017
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested climate change is “probably doing good” in a speech in London in which he likened policies to combat it to “primitive people once killing goats to appease the volcano gods”.
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
Today 11:00am
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
Today 11:00am
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
Wed 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.
