International: All stories
Businesses must come clean on carbon, says Carney
15 Dec 2016
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned that the fight against climate change will be jeopardised unless companies with big carbon footprints come clean about their exposure to global warming risks.
SANTA SHOCK: Reindeer have become smaller and weaker
15 Dec 2016
It's climate change news the kids didn't want to hear ... Santa's reindeer might not be up to the job this Christmas.
Queensland plugs in largest solar farm
15 Dec 2016
Queensland’s largest operating solar farm has plugged into the national electricity grid and is set to generate enough power for almost 10,000 households by the end of 2016.
Addiction to big houses is blowing the energy budget
15 Dec 2016
Australia’s houses are getting bigger, but usually not more sustainable.
TRUMP TEAM 1: Exxon's Tillerson gets state job
14 Dec 2016
Donald Trump has officially tapped Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to run the State Department, raising concerns over how the US will approach international climate negotiations.
TRUMP TEAM 2: Perry heads outfit he pledged to scrap
14 Dec 2016
Donald Trump has chosen former Texas governor Rick Perry to head the US Department of Energy, putting him in charge of the agency he once proposed eliminating.
US solar power smashes records in 2016
14 Dec 2016
US solar power has just had its biggest quarter in history, and it’s about to get even bigger, according to a new report.
Shrinking glaciers tell the whole climate story
14 Dec 2016
Retreating glaciers clearly document regional climate change over decade-long periods of time, suggesting that today’s shrinking glaciers are conclusive evidence that the climate is changing, says a paper published in Nature Geoscience.
Methane’s rapid spurt puts pressure on climate fight
13 Dec 2016
One year ago today, with huge relief, scarcely able to believe their achievement, world leaders finally agreed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
Study shows global power of Antarctic ice
13 Dec 2016
A study published today in the journal Nature reveals just how sensitive the Earth’s climate might be to changes taking place in Antarctica.
Dear Green Climate Fund, Samoa needs you
13 Dec 2016
The board of the Green Climate Fund this week is meeting in the Samoan capital Apia. Here, the country’s ambassador to the UN outlines his hopes.
Anxious oil countries look at low-carbon future
13 Dec 2016
Squeezed budgets and rising energy demand will significantly heighten the demand and use of renewable and energy efficiency technologies across the Middle East, says a new white paper.
Canada sets first carbon price at $10 a tonne
12 Dec 2016
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that carbon pollution will cost $10 ($NZ10.63) a tonne in 2018, rising by $10 a year until it reaches $50 ($NZ53.16) in 2022.
Trump lines up ardent climate denier for key green post
12 Dec 2016
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a sixth-term Republican from Washington State who is a climate change denier and an ardent opponent of regulations for greenhouse gas emissions, has been nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump for Secretary of Interior.
Earth's bulging wasteline is becoming a problem
12 Dec 2016
In school, we learnt that the tropical zone is defined as the hot region of our planet – between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Climate deniers face scientific pushback
12 Dec 2016
People who argue that climate change is not happening or that the scientific case for it is overstated – climate deniers – should probably start preparing for a more robust response from scientists themselves.
Trump pick to head EPA is climate sceptic
9 Dec 2016
Donald Trump has reportedly nominated an attorney-general who has sued and reviled the Environmental Protection Agency to be the body’s new chief.
South Australia says states could go it alone
9 Dec 2016
States could go it alone on a carbon scheme for the electricity sector after the federal government ruled one out, South Australia’s premier says.
Chief scientist criticises climate policy chaos
9 Dec 2016
Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel says investment in the electricity sector has stalled because of “policy instability and uncertainty”. And he has warned that current federal climate policy settings will not allow Australia to meet its emissions reduction targets under the Paris agreement.
Indonesia bans destruction of peatlands
9 Dec 2016
In potentially one of the biggest climate commitments since the 2015 Paris deal was agreed, Indonesia has banned development on its remaining 15 million hectares of peatlands.
London to double funding to tackle air pollution
9 Dec 2016
Campaigners, health charities and neighbourhood groups have welcomed plans by London mayor Sadiq Khan to more than double funding to clean up the capital’s dirty air.
GLASS GIANTS: How cities are forcing skyscrapers to evolve
8 Dec 2016
Slick, glassy skyscrapers cast their shadows over the streets and spaces of cities all over the world.
Climate change threatens risk management
8 Dec 2016
The ability of the global insurance industry to manage society’s risks is being threatened by climate change, according to a new report.
Protesters get court to block plans for Polish coal plant
8 Dec 2016
Campaigners have won a court case to block construction of a 1.6GW coal plant in northern Poland.
Anxious states await extreme bushfire season
8 Dec 2016
New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory are bracing for another severe bushfire season, as climate change continues to drive extreme conditions, a new report says.
There’s a secret UN climate summit taking place in Mexico
8 Dec 2016
There’s a UN climate change meeting involving nearly 200 governments taking place right now in the Mexican holiday resort of Cancun.
Japan's emissions drop to five-year low
7 Dec 2016
Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fell 3 per cent to a five-year low in the financial year through March due to lower power demand, growing renewable energy and the restart of nuclear power plants.
Frydenberg backtracks on emissions trading
7 Dec 2016
Australia's energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has folded in the face of internal pressure, declaring the Turnbull government will not pursue emissions trading as part of adjusting its climate policy.
Climate change will stir ‘unimaginable’ crisis
7 Dec 2016
Climate change is set to cause a refugee crisis of “unimaginable scale,” according to senior military figures, who warn that global warming is the greatest security threat of the 21st century.
Fiji turns beauty queen into climate queen
7 Dec 2016
Miss Pacific Islands 2016, 23-year-old law graduate Anne Dunn, has been appointed Fiji’s ambassador for climate change and the environment.
Anxious investors plead for clear climate policy
6 Dec 2016
Australian investors want clear climate policy that delivers certainty – and access to international carbon markets, says the Investor Group on Climate Change.
Australian lines companies call for carbon trading
6 Dec 2016
Australia’s electricity and gas transmission industry is calling on the Turnbull government to implement a form of carbon trading in the national electricity market by 2022 and review the scope for economy-wide carbon pricing by 2027.
GORE on TRUMP: No time for despair
6 Dec 2016
The urgent threat of climate change means there is “no time to despair” over the election of Donald Trump, according to former vice-president Al Gore.
China sets 2020 target for clean air in big cities
6 Dec 2016
China aims to provide clean air in its largest cities for 80 per cent of each year, or more than nine-and-a-half months, by 2020, up from a figure of 76.7 per cent last year.
GRITTY GIFT: Windborne dust is Africa's export to the world
6 Dec 2016
Climate scientists have identified Africa’s single biggest export – the windborne dust that fertilises the Amazon forests, nourishes life in the Atlantic ocean and softens the noonday blaze of the sun.
Denmark slashes food waste by 25 per cent in just five years
6 Dec 2016
Denmark has cut food waste by 25 per cent in five years, thanks to a new approach to damaged and out-of-date food.
Canberra climate review to focus on emissions target
5 Dec 2016
The Turnbull government will maintain its blanket ban on the introduction of an emissions trading scheme and has ruled out an increase to the renewable energy target ahead of its long-awaited review of its climate change policy next year.
Soil holds 50 trillion kilograms of carbon
5 Dec 2016
More than 50 trillion kilograms of carbon could be released into the atmosphere from the soil by mid-century if no moves to mitigate climate change are successful, says a new report.
More and more people are getting into bigger trouble
2 Dec 2016
On average, one person is displaced each second by a disaster-related hazard. In global terms, that’s about 26 million people a year.
Why the world's cities need to go on a resource diet
2 Dec 2016
The importance of cities is only going to increase in coming decades as another 2.5 billion people move to urban centres.
Trading group hails EU climate strategy move
2 Dec 2016
The European Commission’s Winter Package is a further step toward harmonising the bloc’s climate and energy strategy, says the International Emissions Trading Association.
Antarctic search begins for world's oldest ice
1 Dec 2016
As the short Antarctic spring ends and long summer days approach, geoscientists are flocking to the frozen continent to start a new kind of exploration.
EU targets energy waste and coal in new climate deal
1 Dec 2016
Europe will begin phasing out coal subsidies and cut its energy use by 30 per cent before the end of the next decade, under a major clean energy package just announced.
Cement giants get €5b carbon market windfall
1 Dec 2016
The EU carbon market's generous handouts to industries deemed at risk of losing business abroad are undermining the system, a watchdog has warned.
How two clothing tycoons saved Patagonia
1 Dec 2016
Alongside her husband, Doug, Kris McDivitt Tompkins bought up vast swaths of Patagonia to save it from developers.
Paris deal needs US, warns White House
30 Nov 2016
The world will not achieve its climate goals without an active US administration leading on greenhouse gas cuts, the White House has warned.
Americans begin to fear for public lands
30 Nov 2016
Donald Trump’s election portends a major shift in how one of America’s greatest bulwarks against the impacts of climate change will be protected and used for fossil fuel development.
Antarctic ice sheet breaking from the inside out
30 Nov 2016
An ice sheet in West Antarctica is breaking from the inside out.
As envoys bicker, it’s time to focus on real climate action
29 Nov 2016
Countries have two years of arguing over the fine-print of the Paris climate deal ahead of them: it’s time to focus on what’s happening in the real world.
Weapons of war litter the ocean floor
29 Nov 2016
At least one million tonnes of chemical weapons were dumped in the oceans between 1919 and 1980. Now what?
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.
