International: All stories
MACRON MOVES: New French leader makes climate vows
9 May 2017
France's new centrist president Emmanuel Macron supports a coal phase-out by 2022, a carbon price rise and trade sanctions on polluting countries.
Hamburg is taking a half-billion-dollar climate bet
9 May 2017
The German shipping city of Hamburg will spend nearly $US600 million over 30 years in a bid to hold back the rising sea.
Put cities, not countries, in charge of climate change
9 May 2017
Climate change can't be left to dysfunctional nation states to tackle – but as Oslo and Seoul have shown, metropolitan centres can rise to the challenge.
Chicago posts EPA’s deleted climate change info
9 May 2017
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has responsed to the Trump administration pulling down its website detailing information about climate change by putting up his own.
Bonn talks pave the road for Paris Agreement
8 May 2017
Work on the rules that will drive the Paris Agreement is under way.
Directionless, US climate teams head to Bonn
8 May 2017
As US president DonaldTrump mulls over leaving the Paris agreement, American officials fly in to important climate talks with no clear mandate.
GET LOST: Beijing pulls 180,000 polluting vehicles
8 May 2017
Beijing removed 180,000 old and polluting vehicles from its roads in the first four months of 2017.
Negative emissions tech might be the answer
8 May 2017
As CO2 levels rise, controversial techniques including carbon capture and storage, enhanced weathering and reforestation might be solutions.
Peru paves way for major polluter
8 May 2017
Proposals to raise Peru's legal limits of sulfur dioxide by more than 12 times have been linked directly to the sale of a US-owned smelter in the Andes.
China wants fish, so Africa goes hungry
5 May 2017
Of all the stresses that humans have inflicted on the world’s oceans, including pollution and global warming, industrial fishing ranks high.
Brazil throws new light on wildlife problem
5 May 2017
Artificial lighting is spreading across Brazil (and many other counries), with unknown effects on wildlife.
Canberra swimming against the tide on Westpac call
4 May 2017
The Australian government’s strident criticism of Westpac for not financing the Adani Carmichael coal mine is out of step with the economics.
New crack raises fears of major Antarctic ice breakaway
4 May 2017
Another branch has appeared in a huge crack on one of Antarctica’s largest ice shelves, and scientists fear a huge chunk will break away.
Humans better at rapid change than we think
4 May 2017
A new study provides evidence that humans are capable of radically altering the world around us, and offers hope in the face of climate change.
Most Americans keen on carbon price
4 May 2017
Most Americans want a price on carbon, according to new research.
Solar could provide 30% of Australia’s power needs by 2030
4 May 2017
Solar photovoltaics could provide 30 per cent of Australia’s electricity needs by 2030.
Atlanta commits to 100% renewables
4 May 2017
Atlanta lawmakers have passed a resolution to pursue 100 per cent renewable energy sources, including wind and solar, to power the city by 2035.
High ground is becoming hot property
2 May 2017
Climate change may now be a part of the gentrification story in Miami real estate.
Big banks distance themselves from Adani mine
1 May 2017
Australia’s big four banks have ruled out funding or withdrawn from Adani’s Queensland coal project, after Westpac said it would not back opening up new coalmining regions.
Paris Agreement not fair to US, says Trump
1 May 2017
President Trump has complained that the United States was being unfairly treated in the Paris Climate Agreement and said he would announce a decision in about two weeks on whether Washington would remain in the accord.
PEOPLE POWER: Angry America stages march against Trump
1 May 2017
The People’s Climate March, timed to Trump’s 100th day as president, came amid a flurry of pro-fossil-fuel policy actions from the White House.
Arctic is unravelling, says major new report
1 May 2017
The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, suggests a major assessment of the region.
Households key to Australia’s energy transition
1 May 2017
Australia’s households and small businesses will play a critical role in the switch to 100 per cent renewable energy.
Put your mattress to bed and help save the planet
28 Apr 2017
A mattress-recycling scheme in Auckland could divert more than 8000 tonnes of waste a year and save $14.5 million.
American climate refugees likely to flee inland
28 Apr 2017
The population of inland American cities will alter drastically if predictions of dramatic sea level rises by 2100 are correct, a new report suggests.
Bangladesh ... a climate tragedy waiting to happen
28 Apr 2017
A three-foot rise in sea level would submerge almost 20 per cent of Bangladesh and displace more than 30 million people - and the actual rise by 2100 could be significantly more.
Arctic melt increases fears of sea level rise
27 Apr 2017
Global sea level rise could happen at nearly twice the rate previously projected by the UN, according to a new report.
DRY DAYS: Good news for termites ... bad news for us
27 Apr 2017
In what may be good news only for cactus, termites and drought-resistant grasses, subtropical dry areas are going to expand over large parts of the Earth as the climate warms.
Ignore Trump, Bloomberg tells world leaders
26 Apr 2017
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has urged world leaders not to follow Donald Trump’s lead on climate change, and declared his own intention to stave off the “tragedy” that would be the collapse of the Paris climate deal.
Vulnerable nations call on G20 to end subsidies
26 Apr 2017
Ministers from countries on the front line of climate change have urged rich nations to stop pouring money into the coal, oil and gas industries.
One old rock has development of solar cells on a roll
26 Apr 2017
After a 170-year delay, the discovery of a strange, metallic-looking rock found in the Ural Mountains in Russia in 1839 has ignited a global technology race for a cheaper, more efficient solar cell.
Green Investment Bank sale a disaster, say critics
21 Apr 2017
The UK government’s decision to sell the Green Investment Bank to Australian bank Macquarie for £2.3bn has been attacked by critics including the Liberal Democrats and Greenpeace as “politically dubious” and a “disaster.
China gets tough on shipping emissions
21 Apr 2017
Every year, more than 60 per cent of the world’s seaborne cargoes and 30 per cent of the world’s shipping containers pass through China’s ports, creating an air pollution problem Beijing is now trying to solve.
Trump's people postpone Paris decision
21 Apr 2017
Trump administration officials have postponed a meeting scheduled for this week to discuss the US government’s position on the Paris climate change agreement.
Brazil MPs bid to cut protection for huge forest
20 Apr 2017
A committee of Brazil’s Congress has approved proposals to roll back protections on 1.1 million hectares of forest and national park.
CLOSE OF PLAY: Cricket is facing a climate crisis
20 Apr 2017
From the ochre-coloured Australian outback to the windswept Scottish coast, cricket is defined almost entirely by the weather conditions. If they change, so does the essence of the game.
22,000 years of history goes down the drain
20 Apr 2017
A freezer malfunction at a university has melted part of the world’s largest collection of ice cores from the Canadian Arctic, reducing some of the ancient ice into puddles.
Stop swooning over Justin Trudeau ... he's a disaster
19 Apr 2017
Donald Trump is a creep and unpleasant to look at, but at least he’s not a stunning hypocrite when it comes to climate change, says climate activist Bill McKibben.
DEATH METAL: Nickel had role in our worst mass extinction
19 Apr 2017
Around 250 million years ago, life on Earth nearly came to an end, in a mass extinction between the Permian and Triassic periods known as the Great Dying.
ON THE MARCH: Why angry scientists are fighting back
18 Apr 2017
Next Saturday, in Washington, and in hundreds of rallies around the world (including New Zealand), scientists and their supporters will stage what is likely to be the largest gathering of its kind in history.
White House showdown looms on Paris Agreement
18 Apr 2017
President Trump's most senior advisers will huddle this week to resolve long-simmering tensions over whether the United States should stay in the Paris climate change agreement.
Turnbull tells Adani native title won't stop mine
13 Apr 2017
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has assured the Indian billionaire hoping to build Australia’s largest coal mine in Queensland that native title issues will not stop the $16 billion project.
Whales could help to save Pacific from carbon pollution
13 Apr 2017
If conservation efforts pay off, whales could help Pacific islands to meet their emissions reductions targets.
Barrier bleaching could set back Queensland by $1b
13 Apr 2017
Queensland's economy and tourism sector could suffer a billion-dollar hit, if extreme coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef continues, says a new report.
More fish dinners now ... but not as much nutrition
13 Apr 2017
People in Bangladesh are eating 30 per cent more fish than they did 20 years ago, but they are getting a smaller amount of important nutrients from it.
Auckland says yes to ethical investments
12 Apr 2017
Auckland Council has joined the fossil-fuel divestment movement.
US causes delay in G7 climate statement
12 Apr 2017
Nations attending a G7 summit could not release a joint climate statement at the end of a meeting this week because the Trump administration is reviewing its policies.
Former climate chief sets 2020 as cuts deadline
12 Apr 2017
Global policymakers should set their sights on 2020 as the deadline for delivering the rapid emissions cuts needed to save the world from dangerous global warming, according to a new campaign spearheaded by former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.
US again shrinks electricity’s carbon footprint
12 Apr 2017
Carbon emissions from US electric power plants have fallen by about 5 per cent for the second year in a row.
Are neonicotinoids killing you?
12 Apr 2017
Traces of pesticides known as neonicotinoids for the first time have been found drinking water.
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.
