International: All stories
EU climate negotiations set to strain unity
9 Jun 2016
A united Europe pushed for an ambitious global climate pact in Paris last December – and got it. Now it is time to deliver, that unity will be put to the test. Between a wayward Warsaw, refugee crisis and the Brexit threat, the European project is coming under strain.
Norway brings forward carbon neutral target to 2030
9 Jun 2016
Norway has agreed on a 2030 target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions to zero, 20 years earlier than the previous deadline.
Bennett reaffirms energy aid for islands
8 Jun 2016
Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett has repeated New Zealand’s commitment to helping Pacific communities to withstand the impacts of climate change, after witnessing them first-hand.
Cities need a clean-up as massive storms pump pollution into the sea
8 Jun 2016
The massive storms that have lashed Australia’s east coast over the past few days are not just a threat to lives and property, but also to marine wildlife.
Great Barrier Reef a catastrophe laid bare
8 Jun 2016
Australia’s natural wonder is in mortal danger. Bleaching caused by climate change has killed almost a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef's coral this year and many scientists believe it could be too late for the rest.
Korea looks for ways to boost carbon trading
7 Jun 2016
The Korean government is seeking ways to boost carbon emissions rights trading, which is failing to take root in the country.
EU companies embrace circular economy thinking
7 Jun 2016
A new survey says 70 per cent of EU companies are implementing a circular economy strategy, but there is still work to be done on renewable energy and water consumption.
Queensland bankrolls council climate projects
3 Jun 2016
The Queensland Labor government will bankroll projects by coastal councils to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels, less than two years after its Liberal National predecessor banned mentions of climate change impacts from planning policy.
Temperature records tumble in Australia
3 Jun 2016
Australia has posted its hottest autumn on record, with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane among the cities to post their warmest temperatures for the season, as the giant El Nino in the Pacific wound down.
Part two of carbon trading story out now
2 Jun 2016
The second chapter of From Kyoto to Paris, an oral history of the development of emissions trading, has been released.
Genghis could conquer anything … except climate change
2 Jun 2016
Climate fluctuation not only miight have paved the way for Genghis Khan’s conquests of Asia in the 13th century, sudden climatic change might also have halted the Mongol invasion of Europe, according to new research.
China hitting climate targets ahead of schedule
2 Jun 2016
China’s 13th five-year plan is quite possibly the most important document in the world in setting the pace of acting on climate change.
Temperature spiral has an update and it's not pretty
1 Jun 2016
The temperature spiral that took the world by storm has an update. If you think the heat is on in our current climate, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Indian army marches into climate change battle
1 Jun 2016
As part of its effort to improve forest cover and so soak up climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, the government in India has an unlikely partner – the Indian Army.
China set to blitz 2020 climate goal
1 Jun 2016
China expects coal use to fall and greenhouse gas emissions to flatline through 2016, according to analysis of the government’s energy strategy by Greenpeace.
Most Australian voters support renewable energy
1 Jun 2016
Battery storage technology has the potential to reshape not just the energy and transport sectors but also the upcoming Australian federal election, according to a new report.
TEN YEARS ON: How An Inconvenient Truth made its mark on climate debate
31 May 2016
Ten years ago, An Inconvenient Truth opened in cinemas in the United States.
G7 pledges to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2025
31 May 2016
The G7 nations have for the first time set a deadline for the ending most fossil fuel subsidies, saying government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025.
Is the real rich v poor climate battle about to start?
31 May 2016
Two weeks of UN talks in Bonn underline the scope and scale of the challenge facing governments as they work out the implications of the 2015 Paris deal.
Green Climate Fund has more money than projects
31 May 2016
The UN’s flagship climate fund says it will miss a target to approve $2.5 billion of new projects in 2016 unless more countries submit proposals.
We’re kidding ourselves if we think we can reset Earth’s damaged ecosystems
30 May 2016
Earth is in a land-degradation crisis.
Australia’s low-emissions roadmap a trip to nowhere
30 May 2016
The Australian Government on Friday made a low-key announcement of its new Low Emissions Technology Roadmap. To be developed by the CSIRO, it will aim to “highlight areas of growth in Australia’s clean technology sector”.
Under the sea, life's good in the octopus’ garden
30 May 2016
Squid are on the move, octopus are going up in the world, and cuttlefish have made themselves at home in a changing ocean.
Australia scrubbed from UN climate change report
30 May 2016
Every reference to Australia was scrubbed from the final version of a major UN report on climate change after the Australian government intervened, objecting that the information could harm tourism.
UP or OUT: Which way for our growing cities?
27 May 2016
We almost expect that any large-scale, big impact inner-city development will be a skyscraper, but for smaller cities in the UK these proposals can still appear as fairly extreme, and their approval contentious.
California cap-and-trade auction falls well short
27 May 2016
The latest auction in California’s cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases fell sharply below expectations, as buyers purchased just 2 per cent of the carbon credits whose sale funds a variety of state programmes -- notably, the proposed high-speed rail project.
Exxon tried to censor climate scientists
26 May 2016
ExxonMobil moved to squash a well-established congressional lecture series on climate science just nine days after the presidential inauguration of George W Bush, a former oil executive.
Bayer readies massive cash offer for Monsanto
25 May 2016
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer has announced its intention to offer $62 billion in cash to take over agrochemical company Monsanto, as the debate over the use of the pesticide glyphosate continues.
Climate groups join forces for election blitz
25 May 2016
An unprecedented level of coordination between Australian climate activists and conservation groups is aiming to raise the profile of climate change in this year’s election.
Coastal climate law shift is a landmark reform
25 May 2016
Coastal management in Australia is subject to competing interests and challenges. These range from land use and strategic planning issues to ecosystems preservation.
Schools ditch textbooks that question climate change
25 May 2016
Schools in Portland, Oregon, have voted to abandon textbooks that “express doubt about the severity of the climate crisis or its root in human activities”.
EATING AUSSIES: Dining on kangaroos and camels could help the environment
24 May 2016
We might be what we eat, but our dietary choices also affect the health of the environment, and farmers' back pockets.
World could warm by 10deg if all fossil fuels are burned
24 May 2016
The planet would warm by searing 10degC if all fossil fuels are burned, according to a new study, leaving some regions uninhabitable and wreaking profound damage on human health, food supplies and the global economy.
Cities ‘woefully unprepared’ for rising disaster risk
24 May 2016
Cities around the world are failing to plan for fast-increasing risks from extreme weather and other hazards, particularly as population growth and surging migration put more people in the path of those threats, the World Bank says.
Early oil company records show patents for e-cars
23 May 2016
The forerunners of ExxonMobil patented technologies for electric cars and low emissions vehicles as early as 1963 – even as the oil industry lobby tried to squash government funding for such research, according to a trove of newly discovered records.
ELECTION 2016: Climate politics off to a chilly start
23 May 2016
One week into Australia's extended federal election campaign, climate has not featured prominently.
Want to know if the Paris climate deal is working?
23 May 2016
The Paris climate agreement has been praised for sending a strong signal to the world that we are now serious about cutting greenhouse emissions.
Norway's gas emissions rise despite promised cuts
23 May 2016
Norway's greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.5 per cent last year, lifted by the oil and gas sector and industry, making it harder for Oslo to keep promises of deep cuts to limit global warming.
What does Trump really think about climate change?
23 May 2016
So far, Donald J. Trump has said very little about climate change and energy policy beyond his Twitter posts on the issues. But more clues about Trump’s views on environmental issues have emerged from a four-page briefing on energy policy prepared him by Republican Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota.
We might never again see CO2 levels drop below 400ppm
20 May 2016
Just three years ago this month, the carbon dioxide monitoring station atop Hawaii's Mauna Loa reached a significant milestone: the first measurement of CO2 concentrations that exceeded the benchmark of 400 parts per million. Now, they may never again dip below it.
The Earth is not flat, it is urban, says UN report
20 May 2016
The urban population of developing countries will double by 2030, while the area covered by cities could triple, says a new United Nations report.
It looks like this year will be the hottest ever recorded
20 May 2016
Odds are increasing that 2016 will be the hottest year on the books, as April continued a remarkable streak of record-warm months.
Carney backs insurance drive for Paris climate deal
20 May 2016
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has added his name to a high-level list of leading insurers who have committed to help developing countries to cope with climate impacts.
Queen's Speech: Govt will do something, just don't ask what
20 May 2016
The near complete absence of climate change from the UK's annual parliamentary set piece only underscores the sense of drift within government on a host of environmental and energy issues.
Go-ahead Ontario adopts carbon trading scheme
19 May 2016
The Canadian province of Ontario is going carbon trading.
Future climate could cast shade on renewables
19 May 2016
Fighting climate change will involve massive changes to the way Australia produces and distributes energy.
France sets kickstart carbon price floor at almost $50
18 May 2016
France will set a carbon price floor of about €30 ($NZ49.88) a tonne in its 2017 finance bill as the government seeks to kickstart broader European action to cut emissions and drive forward last year’s landmark international climate accord.
Climate adaptation gap grows wider
18 May 2016
The cost of coping with climate change in the developing world has just gone up. According to a report from the United Nations Environment Programme, it may have increased five-fold.
UN urges speed as records show wild warming
18 May 2016
Record global temperatures, raging forest fires and multiple droughts should spur countries to start ramping up greenhouse gas cuts, the UN’s climate chief warned in Bonn yesterday.
Vanuatu wants to be 100% renewable by 2030
18 May 2016
Vanuatu is planning to source 100 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.
Battery subsidy scheme set for 'urgent' overhaul as costs run out of control
16 Dec 2025
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced big changes to the government's battery subsidy scheme amid claims most of its $2.3 billion budget has been spent in just six months.
EPA erases references to human-caused climate change from websites
19 Dec 2025
EPA has scrubbed references to people’s contribution to rising temperatures from some of its climate change webpages.
Verra cancels four tree planting projects in China. And starts reviews of 45 more projects
16 Dec 2025
“Multiple carbon projects in China are facing serious allegations regarding the authenticity of government approval documents."
France updates its 2050 carbon neutrality roadmap
17 Dec 2025
To mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, France released a revamped climate plan promising to phase out oil and gas and sharply increase electricity use.
Net-zero scenario is ‘cheapest option’ for UK, says energy system operator
15 Dec 2025
A scenario that meets the “net-zero by 2050” goal would be the “cheapest” option for the UK, according to modelling by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The ecological havens flourishing beneath power lines
19 Dec 2025
Initiatives to foster native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs are turning utility corridors into wildlife corridors.
‘Not normal’: Climate crisis supercharged deadly monsoon floods in Asia
12 Dec 2025
Cyclones like those in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia that killed 1,750 are ‘alarming new reality’.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
18 Dec 2025
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say.
Are rainforests now a cause of, rather than the answer to, climate change?
15 Dec 2025
A new study finds that Africa’s forests, responsible for one-fifth of global carbon removal, are beginning to generate carbon as the result of human activity.
Thousands of climate disasters are not included in official reports from Amazonian countries
12 Dec 2025
More than 12,500 extreme weather events impacted the Amazon and its population in 10 years, but countries have not generated enough information about it, according to a new scientific study.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
