International: All stories
PLEASE EXPLAIN: NZ under scrutiny in Marrakech
10 Nov 2016
New Zealand's progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions will come under international scrutiny at climate talks in Marrakech on Monday.
Marrakech climate talks have no Plan B
10 Nov 2016
Delegates gathered at the COP22 United Nations climate conference in Morocco did not expect a United States election upset.
In Trump, US puts a climate denier in its highest office and all climate action in limbo
10 Nov 2016
Donald Trump's astonishing victory has turned the world of climate action upside down, setting back US environmental policy and threatening the international drive to cut carbon pollution and slow global warming.
Today's record heat will be normal by 2030
10 Nov 2016
Generation Y has grown up in a rapidly warming world. According to the US National Climate Data Centre, every month since February 1985 has seen above average global temperatures, compared with the 20th century.
Deforestation forces up Brazil’s carbon emissions
10 Nov 2016
In 2015, Brazil told the world it would make significant reductions in its emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving global warming. Its emissions are, however, heading in the opposite direction.
Churches call for fossil fuel funds divestments
9 Nov 2016
The world’s churches – including some in New Zealand – are calling on governments to get their countries’ pension funds out of fossil fuels.
Choice of president not the only critical vote today
9 Nov 2016
The odd and often bitter battle for the White House has for months overshadowed the fact that, today voters won’t just elect the next president -- they will also shape the Senate at a critical time for addressing climate change.
Aust industry finally sees potential in wind and solar
9 Nov 2016
It has taken years of fierce resistance and catastrophising about the supposed cost and economic impacts from the shift from fossil fuels, but it seems that Australian industry is finally waking up to the possibilities of wind and solar.
Global 'greening' has slowed rise of CO2 in atmosphere
9 Nov 2016
A global “greening” of the planet has significantly slowed the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the start of the century, according to new research.
Climate change momentum begins today with Marrakech
8 Nov 2016
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech has started - just three days after the Paris Agreement entered into force.
The day the world shut the door on disaster
8 Nov 2016
PATRICIA ESPINOSA, UNFCCC Executive Secretary and SALAHEDDINE MEZOUAR, President of COP22 and Morocco Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation look at the UN climate conference which opened today in Marrakech:
Fossil fuel majors strut their stuff for Marrakech
8 Nov 2016
The oil industry has been in damage limitation mode ahead of this week’s climate change talks in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
Australian unions call for 'just transition' from coal
8 Nov 2016
Australian unions have thrown their weight behind a transition away from coal-generated electricity, calling for a new statutory authority to manage a “just transition”, supporting workers and communities that rely on fossil fuel-related jobs.
Paris will not kill fossil fuels, says ex-Saudi oil chief
8 Nov 2016
The oil and gas industry will thrive despite the UN’s new greenhouse gas slashing pact, says former Saudi oil chief and lead climate negotiator Ali Al-Naimi.
Rio's famed beaches take battering from storm surge
8 Nov 2016
Scientists in Rio de Janeiro have warned that the city’s sea defences might not be able to cope with the effects of climate change after a record storm surge swamped beaches, dumping hundreds of tonnes of sand across roads and buildings.
China pledges 18% cut in carbon emissions
7 Nov 2016
China has issued a new climate plan targeting an 18 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared with 2015 levels.
Canada's official buildings to go green by 2025
7 Nov 2016
The Canadian federal government has pledged to run all its operations on renewable energy by 2025, says environment minister Catherine McKenna.
What nations need to achieve in Marrakech
4 Nov 2016
The past 12 months have been a relatively good year for global climate policy. Next week, the world’s countries meet in Marrakech to follow up on the gains made at Paris last year and to try to reconcile these two facts.
UK government loses air pollution court case
4 Nov 2016
Environmental campaigners in the United Kingdom have won a High Court legal battle over the government’s failure to tackle air pollution and meet European standards.
US election outcome likely to dominate Marrakech summit
3 Nov 2016
After a year of celebrating the Paris climate agreement, the hangover is about to kick in for the 195 countries who helped to deliver the deal last December.
Climate on the ballot in Washington and Florida
3 Nov 2016
As US election day nears, voters in two states will weigh in on climate-related ballot measures that could reverberate throughout the country.
Climate champion Carney to stay at Bank of England
2 Nov 2016
Canadian banker Mark Carney's climate risk warnings have won him praise from campaigners, criticism from sceptics – but he’s with us for a while longer.
UNICEF: 300 million children breathe toxic air
2 Nov 2016
One in every seven children, 300 million, endure the world’s most toxic levels of outdoor air pollution – six or more times higher than international guidelines – and many die as a result, finds a new report.
Will US policy push fossil fuels or clean energy?
2 Nov 2016
The United States is blessed with many energy resources: huge fossil fuels reserves and substantial renewable energy potential, from offshore wind to geothermal power.
Why aren’t Washington greenies supporting a carbon tax?
1 Nov 2016
Legislation known as Initiative-732 would make Washington the first US state to have a carbon tax. The tax would be levied on refineries and utilities, who would then pass the tax on to consumers in the form of higher gasoline, electricity and natural gas prices.
DEAD MED: Deserts might spread as sea warms
1 Nov 2016
Global warming is on track to disrupt the Mediterranean region more than any droughts or heatwaves in the past 10,000 years, turning parts of southern Europe into desert by the end of the century.
WANTED: Strategies to put climate change into reverse
1 Nov 2016
Cities that mimic forests, bricks made from converted carbon dioxide and highways lined with wind turbines powered by traffic. These are ideas for when the world’s focus can be turned from halting runaway climate change to actually reversing it.
STERN WORDS: We need negative emissions to avoid 2deg warming
31 Oct 2016
Top climate economist Lord Stern reflects on challenges and opportunities a decade after his seminal review into implications of a warming world.
World's largest marine park created in Ross Sea
31 Oct 2016
A landmark international agreement to create the world’s largest marine park in the Southern Ocean has been brokered in Australia, after five years of compromises and failed negotiations.
Skies darken over Iraq as Isis torches desert oil fields
31 Oct 2016
Even at the height of the day, the skies in many parts of northern Iraq are dark as Isis torches oil wells and oil-filled defensive trenches in its retreat.
Is permafrost giving up deadly diseases?
31 Oct 2016
Scientists are witnessing the theoretical turning into reality: infectious microbes emerging from a deep freeze.
PHEW! Australia is getting hotter and dryer
28 Oct 2016
Australia is heating up and drying out as the country experiences more extreme and prolonged heat events, according to a new report.
Japan backs Apia climate change centre
28 Oct 2016
A Pacific Climate Change Centre, jointly funded by the Governments of Japan and Samoa as well as the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program, will be based in Apia.
World on track to lose two-thirds of wild animals by 2020
28 Oct 2016
The number of wild animals living on Earth is set to fall by two-thirds by 2020, according to a new report, part of a mass extinction that is destroying the natural world upon which humanity depends.
Is this the year governments protect Antarctic seas?
28 Oct 2016
The odds world governments will finally agree to establish marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean are looking better than ever.
EU drops law to limit cancer-linked chemical in food
28 Oct 2016
The European Commission has dropped plans to legally limit a pervasive but naturally occurring chemical found in food, that is linked to cancer, just days after lobbying by industry.
Coal seam gas emissions Australia’s new carbon bomb
27 Oct 2016
Australia could be underestimating its annual greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to the output of the nation’s entire transport sector, a new report says.
Coal won’t solve poverty, but it might save PM's career
27 Oct 2016
As the world’s carbon emissions passed a critical threshold, and Australia’s Coalition government re-boots plans to limit the activities of environmental activists, another new study has been released that demolishes claims by fossil fuel proponents that coal will end poverty.
Dreaded polar vortex might be shifting
27 Oct 2016
A the Arctic wind pattern migrates toward Europe it could allow frigid air to descend upon the US.
Backyard battery recycling biggest chemical polluter
26 Oct 2016
The backyard recycling of lead-acid car batteries is the number one source of chemical pollution in the world’s poorer nations and leads to millions of years of healthy life being lost, according to a new report.
Britain becomes nuclear showroom to the world
26 Oct 2016
The UK has laid out a welcome mat for any nuclear operators in the world who want to showcase their latest designs in Britain − the one exception being the Russian state company Rosatom.
Pope's climate message falls flat in America, says report
26 Oct 2016
Pope Francis' landmark statement on climate change and his call for more work on the issue failed to sway conservative American Catholics, according to a new study.
Antarctic glacier biggest threat for rising sea levels
25 Oct 2016
US and British science agencies have announced a multimillion-dollar research mission to study an enormous and exceedingly remote Antarctic glacier, one that they say could hold the potential for major sea level rise before the end of the century.
The world meets in Quito to discuss the future of cities
25 Oct 2016
As the global population grows from seven billion to nearly 10 billion by 2050, we will need to build the equivalent of a city of one million people every five days to house them.
UN approves urgent global warming report
21 Oct 2016
Top climate scientists have just under two years to deliver assessment of dangers and avoiding strategies for warming of 1.5deg.
UN tells Bangladesh to halt coal plant
21 Oct 2016
The UN’s world heritage body has made an urgent intervention to stop the construction of a coal power station in Bangladesh.
Why has climate been ignored in US election debates?
21 Oct 2016
Climate change has been the elephant in the room during the three US presidential debates. Ignoring this issue would be more understandable if this metaphorical pachyderm weren’t about to rampage through the lives of Americans, causing upheaval on a scale not seen since the start of human civilization.
Emissions fall as EU cuts surplus carbon quotas
20 Oct 2016
Greenhouse gas emissions from the main sectors covered by the European carbon market fell between 2014 and 2015, according to the European Environment Agency.
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.
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.
