International: All stories
Extreme heat is the biggest threat to insurers and businesses
18 Jun 2025
Deadly temperatures put great stress not just on human life but also on the economy, infrastructure, agriculture and health care
Congo death toll hits 77 after extreme weather brings floods and sinks boats, 107 remain missing
18 Jun 2025
Authorities in Congo said the death toll following devastating floods and separate boat accidents has reached 77, with more than 100 people missing.
Bonn Bulletin: Climate talks delayed by agenda fight
18 Jun 2025
Start of mid-year negotiations held up by push to add finance for developing countries and trade measures as formal discussion items.
Why we’re barely keeping track of this growing climate problem
18 Jun 2025
Fossil fuel sites can emit a powerful greenhouse gas long after they shut down.
'Glimmer of hope' for marine life at UN Ocean conference
17 Jun 2025
The UN Ocean conference has been heralded a success, with more countries ratifying a key treaty to protect marine life and more progress on curbing plastics and illegal fishing in our seas.
Macron visits Greenland to show European support for the strategic Arctic island coveted by Trump
17 Jun 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Greenland is “not to be sold” nor “to be taken” in a key visit Sunday to the strategic Arctic territory coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he’s conveying a message of French and European solidarity.
Bank unveils green loans plan to unlock trillions for climate finance
17 Jun 2025
IADB’s proposals involve lenders using public money to buy up renewable energy loans in poor countries.
New climate study highlights dire sea level warnings
17 Jun 2025
A new set of detailed clues gleaned from ancient fossil reefs on the Seychelle Islands shows an increasing likelihood that human-caused warming will raise the global average sea level at least 3 feet by 2100, at the high end of the projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Bonn climate summit a key test ahead of UN meet
17 Jun 2025
The Bonn meeting is critical to thrash out differences before the parties meet in November for a climate deal.
Decarbonising Europe’s heavy industry, it’s not ‘Mission Impossible’
17 Jun 2025
Balancing climate ambitions with competitiveness is a challenge for every industrial sector. Heavy industry faces an even tougher time, but a new report says net-zero is possible.
World leaders’ failure to act is pushing Earth past 1.5°C
16 Jun 2025
Based on mounting evidence, some scientists now fear we’ve entered a new era of the climate emergency, characterized by accelerated warming and amplified disasters.
Global oil prices soar after Israel attacks Iran
16 Jun 2025
Global oil prices jumped after Israel said it had struck Iran in a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
Why the EU is about to cripple its next climate target
16 Jun 2025
The European Commission is about to release a controversial new climate milestone, setting the bloc’s economic course for the next 15 years. Most EU governments, however, would prefer Brussels drop the issue.
Why the global area for regrowing trees is 71% smaller than thought
16 Jun 2025
Over the past decade, research has emerged suggesting that ramping up reforestation around the world could make a substantial contribution to tackling climate change.
Australian opposition poised for protracted brawl over climate targets
16 Jun 2025
The financial cost to reach net zero by 2050 may shape the Coalition’s decision on whether to retain or abandon the target, the new shadow minister, Dan Tehan, says, as he prepares to lead a heavily contested internal review of the policy.
Countries increasingly embracing carbon pricing to drive emission reduction, raise revenue: World Bank
16 Jun 2025
The number of operational carbon pricing instruments has grown significantly, from 5 in 2005 to 80 today, with India, Brazil, and Türkiye actively developing them.
Ocean current ‘collapse’ could trigger ‘profound cooling’ in northern Europe – even with global warming
13 Jun 2025
A “collapse” of key Atlantic ocean currents would cause winter temperatures to plunge across northern Europe, overriding the warming driven by human activity.
UN University report warns against carbon credits from REDD, tree planting, and improved forest management
13 Jun 2025
But the report stops short of recommending banning the trade in carbon temporarily stored in trees.
World Bank nuclear ban, RIP
13 Jun 2025
COMMENT: The decision from the World Bank board - which almost didn’t happen - could have profound implications for developing countries’ ability to industrialise without burning planet-warming fossil fuels.
Pará’s Amazon forest carbon deal in doubt as prosecutors move to block it
13 Jun 2025
The Brazilian state’s contract with foreign governments and companies has run into trouble over concerns it was premature and agreed without consulting Indigenous communities.
Fossil fuel billionaires are bankrolling the anti-trans movement
13 Jun 2025
An investigation found that 80% of anti-trans organisations received fossil fuel funding.
‘Win-win’: new maps reveal best opportunities for global reforestation
13 Jun 2025
New study shows regions with the best potential to regrow trees and suck climate-heating CO2 from the air.
18 new countries ratify High Seas Treaty at 2025 UN Ocean Conference
12 Jun 2025
On the first day of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, on Monday, 18 new countries ratified the High Seas Treaty for a total of 49 — just 11 shy of the 60 needed for the agreement to be enforced.
EPA to propose rolling back climate rule for power plants Wednesday
12 Jun 2025
It marks an escalation in President Donald Trump’s effort to purge climate initiatives from the federal government.
Ahead of UN climate talks, Brazil fast-tracks oil and highway projects that threaten the Amazon
12 Jun 2025
Months before hosting the U.N.'s first climate talks held in the Amazon, Brazil is fast-tracking a series of controversial decisions that undercut President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s lofty environmental rhetoric and show widening divisions within his cabinet.
Israel deports activist Greta Thunberg after military seized Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship
12 Jun 2025
Israel deported activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday, the country's Foreign Ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on with 11 other people was seized by the Israeli military.
With the right support, green solutions can thrive and power a better world
12 Jun 2025
COMMENT: Clean-energy enterprises do far more than cut emissions; they create jobs, increase food security and farmers' incomes.
Explainer: How human-caused aerosols are ‘masking’ global warming
12 Jun 2025
Human-caused emissions of aerosols – tiny, light‑scattering particles produced mainly by burning fossil fuels – have long acted as an invisible brake on global warming.
New Zealand is failing to protect its vast ocean resources. We owe it to the world to act
11 Jun 2025
Less than 1% of our country’s seas are highly protected and the damaging practice of bottom-trawling must be restricted.
A credible UN carbon market needs rules that count – we’ve just set them
11 Jun 2025
COMMENT: The broad standards for a more ambitious market are now in place. But without a steady flow of investment, this progress will remain largely on paper.
US declares Biden fuel economy rules exceeded legal authority
11 Jun 2025
The agency last year said the rule for passenger cars and trucks would reduce gasoline consumption by 64 billion gallons.
Carbon capture projects promise a climate fix – and a fossil fuel lifeline
11 Jun 2025
Governments across Southeast Asia are looking at carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as a way to meet climate targets.
Planet-warming emissions dropped when companies had to report them. EPA wants to end that
11 Jun 2025
The rule is now on the chopping block, one of many that President Donald Trump’s EPA argues is costly and burdensome for industry.
China's approvals of coal power plants grow after 2024 decline
11 Jun 2025
China approved 11.29 gigawatts of new coal power plants in the first three months of 2025, already exceeding the 10.34 GW approved in the first half of 2024.
Carbon capture ‘not going to happen,’ top fossil fuel advocate predicts
10 Jun 2025
In audio obtained by DeSmog, Bjorn Lomborg told a Fraser Institute event in Vancouver that the technology is way too expensive to be viable.
UN ocean summit opens in Nice with calls to boost marine protections
10 Jun 2025
A global summit on the dire state of the oceans opened Monday in France, with demands to ban bottom trawling and expand marine protections.
NASA scientists describe ‘absolute sh*tshow’ at agency as Trump budget seeks to dismantle top US climate lab
10 Jun 2025
NASA scientists are in a state of anxious limbo after the Trump administration proposed a budget that would eliminate one of the United States’ top climate labs – the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, or GISS – as a standalone entity.
Ziploc faces class action lawsuit over microplastics shedding concerns
10 Jun 2025
A lawsuit alleges that Ziploc bags shed microplastics when microwaved or frozen.
Earth's atmosphere hasn't had this much CO2 in millions of years
10 Jun 2025
New data shows that CO2 levels have broken through 430 parts per million, an indication that human-caused global warming will continue to warp the environment.
How ‘feedback loops’ and ‘non-linear thinking’ can inform climate policy
10 Jun 2025
The global shift towards a clean-energy system is much more than just a technological switch – it is a profound transformation of markets, industries and societal behaviours.
BlackRock is off Texas’ blacklist. Where the ESG battle stands now
9 Jun 2025
The world’s largest asset manager can now do business with Texas—here’s where it stands in other states.
Brazil’s civil society pledges tested as COP30 climate summit approaches
9 Jun 2025
Hopes of real civil influence at November’s UN negotiations in Belém are being undermined by costs, bureaucracy and mixed messaging.
Greenpeace Denmark complaint accuses dairy giant of 'systemic greenwashing'
9 Jun 2025
"Greenwashing and false marketing will not be tolerated, no matter how big you are and where you are based," said one Greenpeace Denmark campaigner.
Oil giant funds computer game that promotes fossil fuels to schoolchildren
9 Jun 2025
Equinor, the company looking to develop the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea, has funded a computer game aimed at UK school children, promoting the idea that fossil fuels are part of a green energy mix.
Treaty to protect seas short on support ahead of UN ocean summit
9 Jun 2025
Once the High Seas Treaty enters into force, experts say it will boost the health of oceans and their role in tackling climate change.
Labor accused of ‘gaslighting’ Australians on climate crisis as fossil fuel projects keep getting approved
9 Jun 2025
‘They offer sympathy and then just go and approve massive fossil fuel projects anyway,’ one advocate says.
Global energy investment set to hit record $3.3 trillion in 2025, IEA says
6 Jun 2025
A surge in clean energy spending is expected to drive a record $3.3 trillion in global energy investment in 2025, despite economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
British farmers 'making a change' to cut carbon emissions
6 Jun 2025
It follows the UK experiencing the warmest spring on record and predictions of a hotter-than-normal summer, with an increased chance for heatwaves.
UK’s solar power surges 42% after sunniest spring on record
6 Jun 2025
The UK’s solar farms and rooftops generated more electricity than ever before in the first five months of 2025, as the country enjoyed its sunniest spring on record.
Top ocean experts sound the alarm over growing marine crisis due to climate change
6 Jun 2025
On the opening day of a global science conference, French fishery scientist Clea Abello presented research showing that marine protected areas could protect commercially valuable fisheries.
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine
Thu 26 Jun 2025
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians’ recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters — driven by a hotter climate — are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future.
US government cuts key data used in hurricane forecasting
Today 10:30am
Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defense satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting.
Floods swamp cities in Southwest China with more storms due
Thu 26 Jun 2025
Citizens in Guizhou and other parts of southern China have been swamped by days of record-breaking rainfall as the East Asia monsoon kicked into high gear over the past week.
Next EU climate target to allow carbon offsets from 2036, draft shows
Today 10:30am
The European Commission will permit countries to outsource a portion of their climate efforts to poorer countries from 2036, according to a draft proposal.
UK can reach net zero by 2050, climate report finds
Thu 26 Jun 2025
Climate Change Committee says current targets could be met provided country takes ‘steps forward’ to achieve them.
Is Mark Carney turning his back on climate action?
23 Jun 2025
The G7 summit in Alberta, hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has ended with only passing mention of fighting climate change, including a statement on wildfires that is silent on the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Pakistan slams climate ‘injustice’ as deadly floods hit country again
Today 10:30am
Pakistan’s climate minister says country facing ‘crisis of injustice’ as more deadly flooding and extreme weather events hit the country.
Nearly a third of Tuvaluans have applied for climate migration visa
Fri 27 Jun 2025
With their country threatened by sea level rise, the people of Tuvalu have been offered an escape route through an agreement with Australia, and many are contemplating leaving their home.
I just returned from Antarctica: climate change isn’t some far-off problem – it’s here and hitting hard
13 May 2025
Antarctica is often viewed as the last truly remote place on Earth – frozen, wild and untouched. But is it really as untouched as it seems?
Congo death toll hits 77 after extreme weather brings floods and sinks boats, 107 remain missing
18 Jun 2025
Authorities in Congo said the death toll following devastating floods and separate boat accidents has reached 77, with more than 100 people missing.
‘We are perilously close to the point of no return’: climate scientist on Amazon rainforest’s future
Today 10:30am
Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached.
How UN climate negotiations can end fossil fuel-industry influence
Today 10:30am
COMMENT: Climate COPs remain alarmingly exposed to lobbyists, unlike most global health and anti-corruption bodies that have safeguards to limit interference.
