International: All stories
Vatican in row at climate talks over gender rights
21 Nov 2024
The Vatican has blocked discussions over women’s rights at the UN climate summit following a row over gay and transgender issues, sources have told BBC News.
‘Underwhelming’: Poor countries push for way more climate funding than the EU is floating
21 Nov 2024
Privately, however, some conceded they may have to settle for the lower figures for now as COP29 talks amble toward the finish line.
Trump’s top staff choices could have far-reaching consequences for the climate
21 Nov 2024
Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s high-ranking staff choices have close ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Billionaires, frequent flyers, oil and gas: Who could fund COP29’s $1tn finance target?
21 Nov 2024
“It makes common sense to tax mega polluters and the mega-rich to ensure that we have the money needed for climate action at home and globally” according to one campaigner.
Australia commits additional $50 million to deal with climate change
21 Nov 2024
The Australian government has committed an extra $50 million towards a global fund to deal with the loss and damage caused by climate change.
World’s 1.5C climate target ‘deader than a doornail’, experts say
20 Nov 2024
Scientists say goal to keep world’s temperature rise below 1.5C is not going to happen despite talks at Cop29 in Baku.
UN climate lead says millions of lives are at stake and delegates should 'cut the theatrics'
20 Nov 2024
As COP29, the annual U.N. global climate conference, heads into its second and final week, the United Nations' top climate representative is reminding delegates of what's at stake if they fail to act now.
Climate skeptics urge Trump to boost coal, gut science in agencies
20 Nov 2024
Activists who downplay climate change delivered a wish list to Trump’s transition team, with one calling his win “a tremendous opportunity” to reverse US policy.
'Out of sync': The trillion-dollar climate puzzle that's become a diplomatic nightmare
20 Nov 2024
Climate negotiators at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, are discussing the details of how much money rich countries should provide to poor countries to help them mitigate emissions and cope with climate impacts. What they haven't decided yet is how much it will be – or many of the other details, such as the target date to deliver the money and who will contribute.
Australia accused of ‘exporting climate destruction’ on tiny Pacific neighbours with massive gas expansion plans
20 Nov 2024
Pacific governments at a UN climate summit are criticising Australia’s plans for a massive gas industry expansion in Western Australia, saying it could result in 125 times more greenhouse gas emissions than their island nations release in a year.
G20 talks in Rio reach breakthrough on climate finance, sources say
19 Nov 2024
Diplomatic tensions over global warming spilled over into the G20 summit negotiations in Brazil this week, with sources saying the 20 major economies reached a fragile consensus on climate finance that had eluded U.N. talks in Azerbaijan.
China concerned about Trump’s climate impact, says Beijing envoy
19 Nov 2024
“Everybody’s concerned about next steps,” Beijing’s top climate envoy Liu Zhenmin tells reporters.
What is the ‘new collective quantified goal’ on climate finance?
19 Nov 2024
Countries need to invest trillions of dollars to build clean-energy systems, prepare for an increasingly hotter world and deal with the aftermath of climate change-fuelled disasters, and the UN climate convention specifically requires developed nations to provide climate finance to help developing countries do this.
Fossil fuel giants paying thousands to sponsor COP29 events
19 Nov 2024
Oil and gas majors are splashing the cash in order to have a presence at the flagship climate talks in Azerbaijan.
Is Australia's migration system ready for rising numbers of climate refugees?
19 Nov 2024
Australia is now obligated to help Tuvalu when it calls for help to respond to "the devastating impacts of climate change."
The Guardian view on Cop29: 1.5C has been passed – so speed up the green transition
19 Nov 2024
Predictions that this will be the first calendar year in which the 1.5C warming limit enshrined in the Paris agreement is surpassed provide a stark backdrop to the UN’s 29th climate conference.
COP29: Six key reasons why international climate finance is a ‘wild west’
18 Nov 2024
Developed nations have committed to providing billions of dollars of “climate finance” to developing countries, as part of the global effort to tackle climate change.
The UN climate summit upends daily life in Baku
18 Nov 2024
For the millions living in and around Baku, hosting the COP29 climate summit has brought disruption — and even hardship — to their daily lives.
Barbados PM asks Donald Trump for face-to-face meeting on climate
18 Nov 2024
Mia Mottley, who has championed climate action, says she would seek common ground with the US president-elect.
Oil and gas are a 'gift of God', says COP29 host
18 Nov 2024
President Aliyev accused the West of hypocrisy for criticising country’s fossil-fuel dependence while buying its oil and gas.
‘COP Fatigue’: Experts warn that size and spectacle of global climate summit is hindering progress
18 Nov 2024
Streamlining the process by breaking up the annual climate conference into smaller events could speed progress toward limiting dangerous global warming.
Ultra-rich using jets like taxis, climate scientists say
18 Nov 2024
The mega-rich are using private jets like taxis, warn climate scientists who tracked flights to calculate the planet-warming gases they release.
Global carbon emissions inch upwards in 2024 despite progress on EVs, renewables and deforestation
15 Nov 2024
Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels continue to increase, year on year. This sobering reality will be presented to world leaders at the international climate conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
We study climate change. We can’t explain what we’re seeing
15 Nov 2024
The Earth has been exceptionally warm of late, with every month from June 2023 until this past September breaking records. It has been considerably hotter even than climate scientists expected.
UK unveils principles for voluntary market in nature credits
15 Nov 2024
The UK is setting out its own principles for the voluntary market for nature credits, representing a vote of confidence in a largely experimental financial product that’s intended to protect biodiversity.
US ‘likely’ to pledge new climate target, says White House
15 Nov 2024
Donald Trump’s return raised doubts over whether the Biden administration would still produce the plan ahead of a February deadline.
Poorer nations need $1tn a year by 2030 in climate finance, top economists find
15 Nov 2024
Study says funding to cope with climate breakdown needed five years earlier than expected.
The 100 most influential climate leaders in business for 2024
15 Nov 2024
Finance is the climate story of 2024, with decision makers, executives, researchers, and innovators around the world working to help unlock the necessary funding and resources needed to drive successful and equitable climate action.
EU all but guaranteed to miss global deadline for climate targets
14 Nov 2024
Europeans want other countries to promise ambitious action but are behind on their own plans.
Authoritarian fossil fuel states keep hosting climate conferences – how do these regimes operate and what do they want?
14 Nov 2024
For the third year in a row, the United Nations Climate Change Conference will be hosted by an authoritarian state that sells fossil fuels.
What 1.5C overshoot would mean for climate impacts and adaptation
14 Nov 2024
With average global temperatures set to see another record high this year, the chances of holding warming to no more than 1.5C continue to dwindle.
Shell wins landmark climate case against green groups in Dutch appeal
14 Nov 2024
Oil giant Shell has won a landmark case in the Dutch courts, overturning an earlier ruling requiring it to cut its carbon emissions by 45%.
Extreme weather events linked to climate change have cost the world $2 trillion over the past decade, report finds
14 Nov 2024
According to a new report by the International Chamber of Commerce and consultancy firm Oxera, extreme weather events over the past 10 years have cost a total of $2 trillion globally. The countries that have faced the biggest losses include the U.S., China and India.
New research reveals that microplastics could be changing Earth’s climate
14 Nov 2024
Scientists discovered that microplastics act as ice nucleating particles in clouds, potentially influencing weather, climate, and even aviation safety. Microplastics in the atmosphere may alter precipitation and cloud formation, affecting climate patterns.
Critics say approval of ‘climate credits’ rules on day one of COP29 was rushed
13 Nov 2024
Agreement on rules paving way for rich countries to pay for cheap climate action abroad breaks years-long deadlock.
The world’s best hope to beat climate change is vanishing
13 Nov 2024
To have a chance against global warming, key economies and industries need to hit crucial emissions targets by 2030. They’re far off track.
Frontline countries must not be stuck with the climate bill at UN conference
13 Nov 2024
Someone will have to pay for the rising costs of the climate crisis – will it be those causing the damage, or those that suffer it? 
Australian engineer says Elon Musk, JD Vance key to US climate policy under Donald Trump
13 Nov 2024
An Australian engineer says billionaire Elon Musk and vice-president-elect JD Vance could become unexpected climate allies under the Trump administration.
Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilising temperatures
13 Nov 2024
Letting countries or companies neutralize fossil fuel emissions with temporary carbon removal fundamentally breaks the math of net zero.
How a former ExxonMobil employee confronted the climate disinformation machine
13 Nov 2024
Former ExxonMobil climate scientist Lindsey Gulden: “It was after I was fired for reporting a garden variety fraud that I really sat back and thought about the implications for climate change.”
COP29 countries endorse global carbon market framework
12 Nov 2024
Countries at the two-week COP29 climate summit gave the go-ahead on Monday to carbon credit quality standards which are critical to launching a U.N.-backed global carbon market that would fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite likely setback for climate action at the US election, new climate champions set to enter Congress
12 Nov 2024
Across the US, voters elected new members to Congress who have promoted climate action at the state level and could prevent environmental laws from being weakened under Republican leadership.
Multilateral banks are key to financing the fight against global warming. Here is how they work
12 Nov 2024
As climate change leads to a seemingly endless stream of weather disasters around the world, countries are struggling to adapt to the new reality. Preparing to better withstand hurricanes, floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires will take hundreds of billions of dollars.
Want food security? Eat less meat, major report says
12 Nov 2024
Europe’s top farming university is calling for smaller livestock herds and a shift toward plant-based diets.
Fifty-year extension for one of Australia’s biggest CO2 emitters likely after WA ditches emissions-reduction rules
12 Nov 2024
Extending life of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant on Burrup Peninsula could result in billions of tonnes of climate pollution, critics say.
COP29 chief exec filmed promoting fossil fuel deals
11 Nov 2024
A senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appears to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals.
‘A total waste of time’: why Papua New Guinea pulled out of Cop29 and why climate advocates are worried
11 Nov 2024
Country’s foreign minister says UN climate summits have produced ‘no results’ as Pacific nation takes the rare step of withdrawing from upcoming Cop29.
Donald Trump is likely to scale back America's climate targets - will other countries follow suit?
11 Nov 2024
The US had been a major diplomatic force in climate talks under previous administrations, but Donald Trump's election will likely usher in a new era.
'Sin City could be called Solar City': How Las Vegas is going green
11 Nov 2024
From conserving water to scaling up solar, Sin City is investing millions in sustainability measures.
The frozen carbon of the northern permafrost is on the move – we estimated by how much
11 Nov 2024
Among the most rapidly changing parts of our planet are the coldest landscapes near the top of the globe, just south of the Arctic. This region is warming two to four times faster than the global average.
Sydney records most rain since weather station opened in 1858
Wed 20 Aug 2025
Sydney's wettest August in 27 years has tipped the city's recent climate into uncharted territory.
A coal-fired plant in Michigan was to close. But Trump forced it to keep running at $1m a day
Mon 25 Aug 2025
Donald Trump has made several unusual moves to elongate the era of coal, such as giving the industry exemptions from pollution rules. But the gambit to keep one Michigan coal-fired power station running has been extraordinary – by forcing it to remain open even against the wishes of its operator.
Is historically arid Beijing ready for a wetter future?
Mon 25 Aug 2025
Beijing's mountainous northern Huairou district and neighbouring Miyun district received a year's worth of rain in a single week, triggering flash floods that devastated entire villages and killed 44 people in the deadliest flood since 2012.
EU wildfires hit new record as flames scorch area larger than Cyprus
Mon 25 Aug 2025
The area burned this year has exceeded the 1 million hectare mark for the first time since records started in 2006.
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive?
Wed 20 Aug 2025
When climate change undermines the climate plan.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
India needs $467 billion climate finance by 2030 to decarbonise 4 key sectors
Mon 25 Aug 2025
India will need to mobilise USD $467 billion in climate finance by 2030 to put four of its most carbon-intensive sectors – power, steel, cement and transport – on a low-carbon pathway.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Africa’s top climate change challenges: a fairer deal on phasing out fossil fuels and mobilising funds
Fri 22 Aug 2025
African countries have made binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, they will need to shift to renewable energy and stop mining and using fossil fuels like oil and coal.
Bolivia will choose a new president but environmental activists see little hope of progress
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Many Indigenous and environmental leaders doubt the election will bring progress in stopping deforestation, wildfires or pollution in the Amazon.
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of COP30
Wed 20 Aug 2025
Only 28 countries have submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters yet to produce plans.
