International: All stories
CARBON FOOTPRINT: When is your personal overshoot day?
2 Aug 2017
Today, August 2, is Earth Overshoot Day, the day on which our demands on nature for the year exceed what the planet can generate in a year. But when would Earth Overshoot Day be if everyone lived like you? A new calculator will give you the answer.
Trade policies can support global climate efforts
2 Aug 2017
Climate change will have a big impact on the global economy as nations seek to adapt to a warmer world and adopt policies to keep global warming below 2deg.
Climate change can shake the lefties tag
2 Aug 2017
A new poll shows the view that climate change is mostly a left-wing concern is prevalent and problematic. It’s time to change the conversation.
Australia records hottest July
2 Aug 2017
Australia has had its warmest July on record, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
DITCH STRAWS: How to cut plastic waste
2 Aug 2017
Marks & Spencer has redesigned and repackaged more than 140 best-selling products to cut plastic use, saving 75 tonnes of packaging a year in the process.
Planet has just 5% chance of reaching Paris goal, study says
1 Aug 2017
The planet has only a 5 per cent chance that it will avoid warming by at least 2deg come the end of the century.
Already, 2017 is the second-hottest year on record
1 Aug 2017
Average global surface temperatures so far this year are 0.94°C above the 1950–1980 average, making 2017 the second-hottest first six calendar months on record.
Australia left in the slow lane for electric cars
1 Aug 2017
News that deliveries to Australia of the Tesla Model 3 – the company’s first sub $60,000 electric vehicle – will not begin until 2019, nearly 3 years after enthusiasts put down a refundable deposit, shows just how far Australia has slipped in the race to vehicle electrification.
Poor power users hurt by climate policy uncertainty
1 Aug 2017
Low-income and disadvantaged Australians are bearing the brunt of energy price rises caused by climate policy uncertainty, a new report says.
MARINE MYSTERY: Why don't whales get out of the way?
1 Aug 2017
Ships are huge and loud, yet they seem to take whales by surprise.
AL GORE: The rich have subverted all reason
31 Jul 2017
With the sequel to his blockbuster documentary An Inconvenient Truth to be released next month, Al Gore talks about his role at the forefront of the fight against climate change.
EU court orders Poland to stop logging forest
31 Jul 2017
The European Union’s top court has ordered Poland to immediate halt large-scale logging in a Unesco-listed ancient forest.
Carbon-free city being built from scratch
31 Jul 2017
Can a city built from scratch be profitable to developers and enjoyable to residents as it tries to be carbon-free?
Europe’s wind capacity grows but concerns persist
31 Jul 2017
The first half of 2017 saw 6.1 gigawatts of extra wind power capacity installed in Europe. But a lack of long-term political commitment has hit investment and market concentration remains problematic.
England and Wales record warmest winter since 1910
31 Jul 2017
The winter of 2016 was the warmest for England and Wales in records that stretch back to 1910.
Queensland to build one of longest e-vehicle highways
28 Jul 2017
Within six months, Queensland will have a 2000km network of electric vehicle charging stations that make up one of the world’s longest electric vehicle highways.
Paris Agreement needs to be politically, not legally, binding
28 Jul 2017
Whether countries have the legal right to back out of their climate commitments is irrelevant. It’s up to defenders to make sure it hurts them politically.
There are ways we can save island nations from rising seas
28 Jul 2017
As sea levels rise, many island states could soon be annihilated and their residents forced to flee, rendering extinct their societies.
To be sure, Ireland's long on words and short on action
28 Jul 2017
There’s no shortage of good intentions in Ireland’s climate plan, but they are too vague to cut emissions significantly.
US powercos knew of climate threat decades ago
28 Jul 2017
The US electric industry knew as far back as 1968 that burning fossil fuels might cause global warming, but cast doubt on the science of climate change.
Climate science meets a stubborn obstacle: Students
28 Jul 2017
To Gwen Beatty, a junior at the high school in a proud, struggling, Trump-supporting town, the new science teacher’s lessons on climate change seemed explicitly designed to provoke her. So she provoked him back.
PARIS PACT: We might have less time than we thought
27 Jul 2017
A new global temperature baseline casts doubt on humanity's ability to meet the Paris target.
Exxon, Shell face action over US sea level rises
27 Jul 2017
As a trio of lawsuits in California claim compensation for sea rises resulting from fossil fuel emissions, campaigners say carbon majors must change their business models.
Solar not cheaper than coal, says former mining boss
27 Jul 2017
India’s future is still tied to coal and fixing woeful inefficient plants will create huge new generation at a price solar cannot match.
Aboriginals take carbon farming to Canada
27 Jul 2017
Australia’s world-leading indigenous land management and carbon farming programmes are spreading internationally, with a formal agreement signed to help to build a similar programme in Canada.
World watches as 49 million acres of forest disappear
26 Jul 2017
About 49 million acres of forest disappeared worldwide in 2015, mainly in North America and the tropics, putting the year’s global deforestation level at its second-highest point since data gathering began in 2001.
All hell breaks loose as the tundra thaws in Siberia
26 Jul 2017
A recent heatwave in Siberia’s frozen wastes has resulted in outbreaks of deadly anthrax and a series of violent explosions.
NZ in firing line of foreign species invasion
26 Jul 2017
Foreign animals and plants can cause huge damage in vulnerable nations like New Zealand, with the march of Argentine ants a new example of how climate change is boosting the threat.
UK businesses urge PM to raise climate ambitions
26 Jul 2017
A group of UK businesses and investors have written to Prime MInister Theresa May, urging her to raise the country’s ambitions to tackle climate change.
India diverts $25 billion away from clean energy
26 Jul 2017
The Indian government is diverting $25 billion earmarked for clean energy to an unrelated policy, a national news site has revealed.
Electric trams shuttle goods around Europe cities
26 Jul 2017
French and German cities using trams to move products are showing how to cut congestion while making a profit from the network.
Mayors demand English acts on climate change
25 Jul 2017
New Zealand’s mayors want a national emissions reduction plan and a stocktake of the likely cost to the country of climate change – something Prime Minister Bill English has steadfastly rejected.
Mexico has an idea ... insure coral reefs against damage
25 Jul 2017
A stretch of coral reef off Mexico is the testing ground for a new idea that could protect fragile environments around the world - insurance.
China to ban import of foreign waste
25 Jul 2017
China has anounced that it will no longer be importing foreign garbage shipments.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Climate warrior in love with Big Oil
25 Jul 2017
Justin Trudeau has proposed to end Canada's coal use, tax carbon pollution and invest in clean energy technology. But he also wants to keep Canadian oil flowing.
The changing climate is killing us ... as we speak
24 Jul 2017
The most obvious effect of global warming is not a doomsday scenario. Extreme heat is happening today, and wreaking havoc on vulnerable bodies.
Volvo e-car push reflects China’s leadership ambition
24 Jul 2017
Chinese-owned Volvo's move away from the internal combustion engine will fuel Beijing dominance in emerging clean technology.
Asian temperature rise could be disastrous
24 Jul 2017
Profligate fossil fuel use could cause Asian temperatures to rise by 6deg , bringing floods and food shortages for hundreds of millions.
Changing your diet could save animals from extinction
24 Jul 2017
Nearly one-third of tropical animal species face extinction if humans do not curb their growing appetites for beef, pork and other land-intensive meats.
Hanoi choking on fumes of five million motorbikes
24 Jul 2017
The roads of Vietnam’s capital have been taken over by the two-wheeled horde, but bringing in a ban by 2030 will be a tough ask.
Big brands in illegal forest destruction, says report
24 Jul 2017
Pepsico, Unilever and Nestlé have been accused of complicity in the destruction of Sumatra’s last tract of rainforest shared by elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers together in one ecosystem.
Rising seas spark tobacco-style lawsuits in California
21 Jul 2017
Several flood-prone municipalities in California filed first-of-their-kind lawsuits against fossil fuel companies this week as they attempt to recoup the cost of coping with rising seas.
Plastic pollution risks near-permanent contamination
21 Jul 2017
Humans have produced more than eight billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans.
Asia coal boom bankrolled by foreign money
21 Jul 2017
The much-discussed boom in coal-fired power in south-east Asia is being bankrolled by foreign governments and banks, with the vast majority of projects apparently too risky for the private sector.
CON JOB: We must stop fighting as individuals
21 Jul 2017
OPINION: Stop obsessing with how personally green you live – and start collectively taking on corporate power.
Work for me, says Macron, and scientists flock to France
21 Jul 2017
Hundreds of climate scientists, including many from the United States, have applied to work in France under a multi-million dollar scheme set up by President Emmanuel Macron.
Satellites zero in on dangerous urban heat islands
21 Jul 2017
Cities are getting hotter as the planet warms, and the consequences can be deadly - a heat wave hit Russia in 2010 and killed 55,000 people.
Cape Town shares water lessons of record drought
21 Jul 2017
Cape Town, experiencing its worst drought in 100 years, has taken the situation as an opportunity to seek solutions which could be of use in other parts of Africa.
Let buyers borrow more on greener homes, says report
20 Jul 2017
Homebuyers could take out bigger mortgages if the energy ratings of properties were factored into the lending criteria of banks and building societies, new research has found.
Fiji COP presidency must not fail climate victims
20 Jul 2017
Despite warm words about protecting the vulnerable, the island presidency of this year’s UN climate talks is showing no urgency on “loss and damage”.
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.
