International: All stories
Monsoon on the move brews trouble for tea
26 Apr 2016
Research in China shows that the changing monsoon pattern in East Asia and heavier rainfall is having a detrimental effect on the yield and quality of tea.
World Bank backs green energy in new climate plan
26 Apr 2016
The World Bank has unveiled its ambitious plan to support renewable energy development and fulfil its pledge under the Paris Agreement.
Exxon and allies invoke First Amendment
26 Apr 2016
Exxon, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and their allies are invoking free speech protections in a pugnacious pushback against subpoenas from attorneys general seeking decades of documents on climate change. Their argument is that the state-level investigations violate the First Amendment rights of those who question climate science. | Read more
Cool building ideas for hot cities of the future
22 Apr 2016
"Another hot and humid day in Sydney tomorrow with a maximum of 32 degrees in the city and 38 in the western suburbs." How many times have we heard that on TV or radio weather reports?
PARIS PACT: Look who will be the New York no-shows
22 Apr 2016
An unprecedented number of countries will be gathering in New York City this weekend to sign the Paris climate deal. But there are still some countries absent from the UN’s official list of attendees – including some pretty big emitters and fossil fuel producers.
How even a .5deg temperature rise could wreak havoc
22 Apr 2016
A difference of half a degree centigrade may be barely noticeable day to day, but the difference between 1.5C and 2C of global warming is a shift into a new, more dangerous climate regime.
Republicans warming up to renewable energy
22 Apr 2016
When world leaders gather in New York this weekend to sign the Paris climate accord, they will do so against a changing backdrop. As the cost of wind and solar power has plummeted, the solid consensus against alternative energy in the US Republican Party has begun to crack.
The Paris Accord is a $13 trillion opportunity
22 Apr 2016
Implementing the Paris Agreement will unlock at least $13.5 trillion of economic activity globally, according to a new analysis.
EU dropped climate policies after BP threat
22 Apr 2016
The EU abandoned or weakened key proposals for new environmental protections after receiving a letter from a top BP executive which warned of an exodus of the oil industry from Europe if the proposals went ahead.
Britain backs down on rule gagging scientists
22 Apr 2016
UK ministers have exempted thousands of scientists from a controversial “gagging clause” that would have prevented the academics from trying to influence government on public policy matters.
Key climate change pact dates for 2016
21 Apr 2016
The work of saving Earth's climate does not end with the pact to curb carbon emissions which countries adopted in Paris in December and will sign in New York this weekend. Here are key dates in 2016 toward the Paris agreement's ratification and implementation:
Nature is neglected in election at nation's peril
20 Apr 2016
Economic issues undoubtedly will dominate the looming Australian election, but are they highest priority on the political agenda?
US and China lead push to seal Paris deal
20 Apr 2016
The US and China are leading a push to bring the Paris climate accord into force much faster than even the most optimistic projections – aided by a typographical glitch in the text of the agreement.
ADB urges Asia-Pacific countries to cut emissions
20 Apr 2016
The Asian Development Bank has called on nations in the Asia-Pacific region to transition to low carbon energy systems to combat climate change.
Here's a six-point plan for getting Australia on track
19 Apr 2016
The past two years have been the hottest on record globally, yet Australian climate policy is frozen in the past.
How to have your spoon ... and eat it, too
19 Apr 2016
The spoon tastes like a cracker and its manufacturer hopes to expand into forks and chopsticks.
Will China’s fat wallet shape the planet?
19 Apr 2016
China’s overseas investments will increasingly shape the future nature of life on our planet, and nowhere more so than in the area of climate change.
Hot March smashes 100-year global record
18 Apr 2016
The global temperature in March has shattered a century-long record and by the greatest margin yet seen for any month.
Climate-threatened islands now facing the Big Dry
18 Apr 2016
Almost threequarters of a sample of island groups – atolls and archipelagos that are home to more than 18 million people − are expected to become increasingly more arid under a regime of climate change.
Apple takes business prize for best climate change policy
15 Apr 2016
Apple, the world’s most valuable company, boasts its most progressive climate policies, according to a study of 150 global firms.
North Korea set to sign Paris climate deal
15 Apr 2016
North Korea will be among 130 nations inking a new global warming pact next week, a UN spokesperson has confirmed.
Day of the industrials in next ERF auction
14 Apr 2016
Low-cost industrial projects are likely to out-bid many land-use projects in Australia’s next Emissions Reduction Fund auction, says analyst RepuTex.
Kids can sue over climate negligence, judge says
14 Apr 2016
A group of youngsters has won a major decision in their efforts to sue the US government over climate change. An Oregon judge ruled that their lawsuit, which alleges the government violated the constitutional rights of the next generation by allowing the pollution that has caused climate change, can go forward.
Sanders calls for ban on fracking
14 Apr 2016
Bernie Sanders, campaigning across New York State, called for a nationwide ban on fracking.
Saudi creating $2tn wealth fund by selling oil assets
13 Apr 2016
Saudi Arabia will end its dependence on fossil fuels by creating the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund from selling shares in a state oil company.
China, Japan, US leading solar energy boom
13 Apr 2016
The boom in solar energy development across the United States in recent years is part of a worldwide phenomenon.
Global warming changing how Earth wobbles
13 Apr 2016
Global warming is shifting the way the Earth wobbles on its polar axis, a new NASA study finds.
Could this be a fair dinkum climate policy for Australia?
12 Apr 2016
An Australian think-tank claims to have done the impossible – come up with an effective climate policy that both sides of the political divide can live with.
WANTED: Women in charge to take up climate issues
12 Apr 2016
Women working in financial services are opening a new front in the battle against climate change, with the launch of a UN-backed initiative to take global warming concerns into business boardrooms.
How insect farms could spawn a food revolution
12 Apr 2016
With meat prices expected to soar, agricultural entrepreneurs believe invertebrate livestock can provide the protein we need. But will the mainstream ever be ready to eat mealworms?
Ratification critical test for Paris climate deal
12 Apr 2016
The recent fuss over who will sign the UN’s new climate pact is a distraction. The real test will come when countries have to pass the deal into domestic law
Israel to slash emissions by 26%
12 Apr 2016
Israel has announced plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent.
To help to curb climate change, stop wasting food
12 Apr 2016
Reducing food waste around the world would help to curb emissions of planet-warming gases, lessening some of the impacts of climate change such as more extreme weather and rising seas, scientists said in a new study.
How big oil spends millions on obstructing climate change
11 Apr 2016
ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, and three oil-industry groups together spend $115 million a year on advocacy designed to “obstruct” climate change policy, according to new estimates released by Influence Map, a British nonprofit research organisation.
Clouds could mean climate crisis worse than we think
11 Apr 2016
Climate change projections have vastly underestimated the role that clouds play, meaning future warming could be far worse than is currently projected, according to new research.
Pressure builds in EU on climate disclosure for investors
11 Apr 2016
Pressure is building on global regulators and the European Commission to “stress-test” portfolios of large institutional investors against long-term objectives to reduce climate change, in a move that could shift billions in investment away from fossil fuels.
Banks pledge $7bn for clean-energy investment
11 Apr 2016
A group of eight banks and investors pledged $7 billion to join Bank of America Corp’s initiative that plans to raise at least $10 billion for investments in clean energy and sustainable development.
Renewables grew at record pace last year
11 Apr 2016
Installations of renewable power plants registered their biggest leap on record last year as costs tumbled, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
China green bonds market to reach $46bn in 2016
8 Apr 2016
China’s green bonds market will reach $46 billion)this year, according to one of the country’s leading economists.
Panasonic unveils ‘smart town’ plan in Japan
8 Apr 2016
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic has launched the concept plans for a new ‘smart town’ that will be built in the city of Yokohama.
Kerry calls for climate action from private sector
8 Apr 2016
US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on businesses to drop fossil fuels to combat climate change and boost global economic growth.
CSIRO cuts were about making money, emails show
7 Apr 2016
The CSIRO’s decision to sack about 120 climate scientists was motivated by an intention to move some of the organisation’s focus from science done in the public good, like climate change, toward science that makes money, internal emails suggest.
Weather men want to do CSIRO climate work
7 Apr 2016
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has offered to save climate research that CSIRO plans to axe under a plan that would see long-term programnes and dozens of jobs transfer between the two national science agencies.
Vancouver chases crown as world's greenest city crown
7 Apr 2016
Vancouver wants to be the greenest city in the world - and it’s given itself until 2020 to do it.
Belgium ends era with closure of last coal plant
7 Apr 2016
Belgium has losed its last coal power plant, marking the end of an era for a dirty fuel that accounted for 27 per cent of the country’s electricity generation in 1994. The EU country becomes the seventh to quit coal, joining Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta.
Countries show how to grow GDP while cutting emissions
7 Apr 2016
Twenty-one counties have expanded their economies while slashing carbon emissions over the past 15 years. Nearly all are European, bar the United States and Uzbekistan.
Climate change threat to public health worse than polio
7 Apr 2016
Climate change poses a serious danger to public health – worse than polio in some respects – and will strike especially hard at pregnant women, children, low-income people and communities of color, an authoritative US government report warns.
Hyundai green cars to take on Toyota
6 Apr 2016
Hyundai Motor Group, which comprises Hyundai and Kia, believes that launching a blitz of 26 green models through 2020 could place the Korean automaker among the leaders in the segment. Only Toyota would be larger in the electrified vehicle market if Hyundai's plan works.
Carbon capture needs massive investment
6 Apr 2016
Combating climate change successfully will require massive investments in technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide, new research has found.
Burma finds cheap coal hard to ignore
6 Apr 2016
Burma's new government is set to mushroom coal’s share of its energy mix, despite manifesto pledges to boost clean energy and cut air pollution.
Australian rainforests no longer a carbon sink – study
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Australia's tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, scientists said Thursday, linking the "very concerning" trend to climate change.
Climate scientists and republican lawyers are taking aim at Big Tech’s emissions
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Technology companies have long been one of the biggest investors in clean energy, but new accounting rules could upend that.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
Thu 16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
'Not up for discussion': Brussels rejects Washington's pressure on climate rules
Mon 13 Oct 2025
In response to US demands to roll back the EU's environmental legislation, the European Commission defended its autonomous power to adopt laws.
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
Thu 16 Oct 2025
The UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have said.
Renewables are a global economic engine, not a culture war threat
2 Oct 2025
Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Indonesia restarts international carbon trade after four years
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has issued a new decree to restart international carbon emission trading after a four year hiatus.
Familiar tensions emerge at the Pacific Islands Forum
26 Sep 2025
With China-Taiwan rivalry, China-Western competition, and big carbon emitters at odds with the islands on climate policy, there is plenty of tension to go around.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
Mon 13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Angola lowers climate ambition in blow to spirit of Paris Agreement
Tue 14 Oct 2025
Angola has scaled back its targets for reducing emissions in its new national climate plan, saying it chose “realism and implementability” over the Paris Agreement's calls for governments to set progressively more ambitious goals.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
UN agency says CO2 levels hit record high last year, causing more extreme weather
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilisation and “turbo-charging” the Earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather.
