International: All stories
Why is the US Green Party so irrelevant?
20 Oct 2016
Many Americans value environmental protection and want to see more of it.
Divestment not the best approach, says AMP
19 Oct 2016
One of Australia's biggest investment companies, AMP Capital, says dumping fossil fuel assets is not the answer to climate change, despite acknowledging the significant financial risks associated with rising global temperatures.
Oslo to reduce emissions by 50% in four years
19 Oct 2016
Norwegian capital Oslo has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent compared to 1990 in four years – which would be the fastest change a city has ever had.
Millions more facing extreme poverty by 2030
19 Oct 2016
Up to 122 million more people worldwide could be living in extreme poverty by 2030 as a result of climate change and its impacts on small-scale farmers’ incomes, a major UN report warns.
What if nature had the protections of a person?
19 Oct 2016
The world has taken notice of a radical approach taken by New Zealand in 2014 when it adopted the Te Urewera Act which granted an 821-square-mile forest the legal status of a person.
It's been another hot one
18 Oct 2016
September set a record with temperatures 1.6deg above normal, besting the previous mark set in September 2014. It’s the latest in a run of months — and years — where freakish global warmth has become the norm.
Why poorer suburbs are more at risk in warming cities
18 Oct 2016
Australian cities are getting hotter. But some areas and some residents of cities are more exposed to heat than others.
Climate change could crunch Auckland housing market
17 Oct 2016
Auckland’s soaring house prices could be brought down to earth by climate change, the insurance industry is warning.
EU parliament backs carbon market reform
17 Oct 2016
The industry committee of the European Parliament has voted 45 to 13 in favour of a compromise for reforming the EU’s carbon market.
Global ‘bright spots’ offer climate change hope
17 Oct 2016
We are constantly bombarded with bad news about climate change and the state of the planet – to the point where problems can seem so great that we feel powerless to do anything about them.
Comet collision could have caused rapid carbon rise
17 Oct 2016
Evidence collected along the New Jersey coastline suggests that the collision of a comet or other extraterrestrial body 55 million years ago coincided with an intense warming period that is the closest comparison to today’s climate change.
Australian to head Green Climate Fund
14 Oct 2016
The job of steering the world’s major climate finance fund through its troubled toddler phase has been given to an Australian.
The best idea is not to put up new buildings
14 Oct 2016
Making heritage buildings sustainable is just as important as preserving their history – and they can offer energy-efficiency lessons of their own.
What do you think you're doing, UN asks Australia
13 Oct 2016
Australia is facing renewed international pressure to explain what it is doing to tackle climate change, with a UN review finding its emissions continue to soar and several countries calling for clarity about what it will do after 2020.
Industry calls for support in coolant crisis
13 Oct 2016
Financial support and technology transfer are critical to tackling a climate timebomb in the chemical coolants sector.
Al Gore rides to Clinton's rescue on climate change
13 Oct 2016
Retired Democratic warhorse Al Gore was trotted out at a rally in Miami with Hillary Clinton to highlight an issue he has long championed — combating climate change.
State lays out cost-neutral path to renewables
13 Oct 2016
The panel appointed by the Queensland government to canvass options for its renewable energy target has outlined three cost-neutral pathways for the state to achieve 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
Climate impacts double number of forest fires
13 Oct 2016
Climate change has already doubled the number of forest fires in the western US since the 1980s − and it is a trend that will continue to increase, according to new research.
Australian firms accept role of carbon prices
12 Oct 2016
Most major Australian companies are factoring carbon prices into their budgets, despite the fact the country no longer has a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
Why renters are being left out in the cold
12 Oct 2016
Australia has found that improving energy efficiency is not an option for a significant number of people – renters.
Queensland fast-tracks Carmichael coal mine
11 Oct 2016
The Queensland government has declared the massive Carmichael coal mine and port proposed for the state’s Galilee Basin as “critical infrastructure”, in an effort to fast-track its development.
Paris goals at risk from new coal schemes
11 Oct 2016
Slowing down construction of coal-fired power stations will be vital to hit globally agreed climate change goals, says World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
Climate change worsens Brazil’s drought
11 Oct 2016
A recently published study suggests that the droughts which have traditionally affected Brazil's semi-arid northeast are being worsened by the effects of climate change.
WANTED: $90 trillion to fix what's wrong
10 Oct 2016
A gigantic overhaul of the world’s buildings, public transport and energy infrastructure costing trillions of dollars is required if dangerous climate change is to be avoided.
What’s sugar got to do with it?
10 Oct 2016
Why do we think that climate sceptics are irrational? A major reason is that almost none of them have any genuine expertise in climate science (most have no scientific expertise at all), yet they’re confident that they know better than the scientists.
Climate treaty races toward hazy future
7 Oct 2016
With a speed almost unknown in the annals of diplomacy, the Paris Agreement on climate change is ready to come into force a bare 11 months after it was reached on December 12 last year.
Australia lags as Paris deal swings into action
7 Oct 2016
Australia is not alone in having not yet ratified the Paris Agreement. When all the EU member states have formally joined it will leave Chile, Israel, Japan, Turkey and Australia as the only OECD members on the outer.
Paris Agreement a turning point, says Obama
7 Oct 2016
US president Barack Obama has said the Paris climate deal could prove a “turning point” in the effort to avoid dangerous global warming.
Five cities that could change the future of Antarctica
7 Oct 2016
Antarctica is at a crossroads. The frozen continent at the bottom of the planet has the potential to either become one of the most fiercely contested zones in the world, or the most collaborative.
Opposition slams Government carbon credits plan
6 Oct 2016
New Zealand’s plans to buy its way out of emissions reductions run foul of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change, Opposition parties say.
NZ ratifies Paris Agreement
5 Oct 2016
New Zealand has ratified the Paris Agreement and the European Union is about to, pushing the global climate change treaty over the threshold to bring it into force.
India signs but readies for scrap in Marrakech
5 Oct 2016
India might have ratified the Paris Agreement at the weekend but has indicated it’s ready for a scrap at the forthcoming UN climate talks in Marrakech. | Read more
Canada will tax carbon emissions to meet Paris targets
5 Oct 2016
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will impose a tax on carbon emissions starting in 2018 as part of its efforts to meet targets set by the Paris climate change accord.
Is this the dawn of Australia's hydrogen economy?
4 Oct 2016
The hydrogen economy has been a long time coming. The use of hydrogen as a replacement energy source for oil and gas has been talked about since the early 1970s when the term was first coined by an engineer at General Motors in the US.
Can artificial grass and fake trees replace ‘real’ nature?
4 Oct 2016
The benefits of spending time outdoors are well known. Whether travelling for an hour to reach open countryside or simply walking five minutes to a nearby urban park, being in and around nature makes us happier and healthier.
EU (and others) will ratify Paris deal this week
3 Oct 2016
EU ministers this week are expected to ratify the Paris Agreement, along with India and Cananda, meaning enough countries will have signed up for the deal to come into legal force.
As lights go out, Turnbull switches on peak stupid
3 Oct 2016
One big storm and Australia's climate and energy debate is surging back to peak stupid.
Why storing carbon in land can’t solve climate change
3 Oct 2016
Australia should develop a firewall between its policies to reduce fossil fuel emissions and those designed to increase carbon uptake on land, a new Climate Council report has recommended.
REAGAN REVISTED: Climate change and the big race
30 Sep 2016
Climate change did not come up in the first presidential debate – well, not in any real sense.
Australia admits it's in the dark over Paris pledges
30 Sep 2016
Government officials have acknowledged that Australia’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledged at Paris in 2015 were made without any modelling to show whether existing policies could achieve those targets.
Fossil fuel majors ignore climate crisis
30 Sep 2016
Bill McKibben, the US environmentalist who is one of the world’s foremost authors and activists on issues of global warming, does not mince his words.
Figueres dives back into climate after UN bid
30 Sep 2016
Fresh from quitting what is becoming an increasingly brutal race to replace Ban Ki-moon as UN secretary-general, Christiana Figueres is back with a new project: Mission 2020.
Paris bans traffic along bank of Seine
30 Sep 2016
Paris has voted for the ban of vehicles on the road running along the right bank of the river Seine.
Businesses dragging chain on sustainability
29 Sep 2016
New Zealand must catch up with the movement toward sustainable “conscious capitalism” to survive in a disrupted world, says Vector chair Michael Stiassny.
Russia in the slow lane on road to Paris
29 Sep 2016
What’s holding Russia back from ratifying the Paris climate agreement?
Poland threatens EU plan to ratify pact
29 Sep 2016
Poland has demanded the EU protect its plans to build new coal-fired power plants if it wants fast-track its ratification of the Paris climate agreement.
Air pollution kills million Chinese in one year
29 Sep 2016
More than one million people died in China from dirty air in one year, according to World Health Organisation.
How cities are eliminating car parks
29 Sep 2016
It’s a traditional complaint about urban life: there’s never anywhere to park. But in the 21st century, do cities actually need less parking space, not more?
World passes the 400ppm threshold ... permanently
28 Sep 2016
Scientists say that 2016 will be the year that carbon dioxide officially passed the symbolic 400 ppm mark, never to return below it in our lifetimes.
IPCC chair: We can meet 2deg target if we act fast
28 Sep 2016
INTERVIEW: Hoesung Lee was elected chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just one month before the landmark Paris climate talks of 2015.
500 Australian businesses back 75% climate target
Wed 27 Aug 2025
Atlassian, Canva and Fortescue are among a coalition of more than 500 businesses operating in Australia that are backing a 75% emissions reduction target for 2030, which modelling from Deloitte found was technically achievable.
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.
EU wildfires hit new record as flames scorch area larger than Cyprus
Mon 25 Aug 2025
The area burned this year has exceeded the 1 million hectare mark for the first time since records started in 2006.
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.
India needs $467 billion climate finance by 2030 to decarbonise 4 key sectors
Mon 25 Aug 2025
India will need to mobilise USD $467 billion in climate finance by 2030 to put four of its most carbon-intensive sectors – power, steel, cement and transport – on a low-carbon pathway.
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'
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Africa’s top climate change challenges: a fairer deal on phasing out fossil fuels and mobilising funds
Fri 22 Aug 2025
African countries have made binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, they will need to shift to renewable energy and stop mining and using fossil fuels like oil and coal.
Amazon nations pledge support for Brazil's COP30 rainforest fund
Wed 27 Aug 2025
The fund will be backed by an initial, one-time $25-billion contribution from donor nations, along with $100 billion in private funds.
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.
