International: All stories
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.
Oslo to reduce emissions by 50% in four years
19 Oct 2016
Norwegian capital Oslo has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent compared to 1990 in four years – which would be the fastest change a city has ever had.
Millions more facing extreme poverty by 2030
19 Oct 2016
Up to 122 million more people worldwide could be living in extreme poverty by 2030 as a result of climate change and its impacts on small-scale farmers’ incomes, a major UN report warns.
What if nature had the protections of a person?
19 Oct 2016
The world has taken notice of a radical approach taken by New Zealand in 2014 when it adopted the Te Urewera Act which granted an 821-square-mile forest the legal status of a person.
It's been another hot one
18 Oct 2016
September set a record with temperatures 1.6deg above normal, besting the previous mark set in September 2014. It’s the latest in a run of months — and years — where freakish global warmth has become the norm.
Why poorer suburbs are more at risk in warming cities
18 Oct 2016
Australian cities are getting hotter. But some areas and some residents of cities are more exposed to heat than others.
Climate change could crunch Auckland housing market
17 Oct 2016
Auckland’s soaring house prices could be brought down to earth by climate change, the insurance industry is warning.
EU parliament backs carbon market reform
17 Oct 2016
The industry committee of the European Parliament has voted 45 to 13 in favour of a compromise for reforming the EU’s carbon market.
Global ‘bright spots’ offer climate change hope
17 Oct 2016
We are constantly bombarded with bad news about climate change and the state of the planet – to the point where problems can seem so great that we feel powerless to do anything about them.
Comet collision could have caused rapid carbon rise
17 Oct 2016
Evidence collected along the New Jersey coastline suggests that the collision of a comet or other extraterrestrial body 55 million years ago coincided with an intense warming period that is the closest comparison to today’s climate change.
Australian to head Green Climate Fund
14 Oct 2016
The job of steering the world’s major climate finance fund through its troubled toddler phase has been given to an Australian.
The best idea is not to put up new buildings
14 Oct 2016
Making heritage buildings sustainable is just as important as preserving their history – and they can offer energy-efficiency lessons of their own.
What do you think you're doing, UN asks Australia
13 Oct 2016
Australia is facing renewed international pressure to explain what it is doing to tackle climate change, with a UN review finding its emissions continue to soar and several countries calling for clarity about what it will do after 2020.
Industry calls for support in coolant crisis
13 Oct 2016
Financial support and technology transfer are critical to tackling a climate timebomb in the chemical coolants sector.
Al Gore rides to Clinton's rescue on climate change
13 Oct 2016
Retired Democratic warhorse Al Gore was trotted out at a rally in Miami with Hillary Clinton to highlight an issue he has long championed — combating climate change.
State lays out cost-neutral path to renewables
13 Oct 2016
The panel appointed by the Queensland government to canvass options for its renewable energy target has outlined three cost-neutral pathways for the state to achieve 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
Climate impacts double number of forest fires
13 Oct 2016
Climate change has already doubled the number of forest fires in the western US since the 1980s − and it is a trend that will continue to increase, according to new research.
Australian firms accept role of carbon prices
12 Oct 2016
Most major Australian companies are factoring carbon prices into their budgets, despite the fact the country no longer has a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
Why renters are being left out in the cold
12 Oct 2016
Australia has found that improving energy efficiency is not an option for a significant number of people – renters.
Queensland fast-tracks Carmichael coal mine
11 Oct 2016
The Queensland government has declared the massive Carmichael coal mine and port proposed for the state’s Galilee Basin as “critical infrastructure”, in an effort to fast-track its development.
Australia declares El Nino set to be strongest in decades
Wed 17 Jun 2026
Australia's weather bureau warned on Tuesday that an El Nino weather pattern has formed in the tropical Pacific and could intensify in the second half of 2026 to become one of the strongest in seven decades.
US defence spending on critical minerals surges in the last decade
Today 11:00am
Members of communities affected by some of these projects said that U.S. state backing has meant projects are being fast-tracked without the necessary social and environmental checks or meaningful consultation.
China to raise power prices for energy-intensive sectors in green transition push
Fri 19 Jun 2026
Beijing’s latest road map aims to cut carbon emissions by 200 million tonnes by 2028 – but analysts say implementation may vary across regions.
EU greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2025, data shows
Fri 19 Jun 2026
The European Union did not manage to reduce its planet-warming emissions last year, with preliminary data showing a slight increase in pollution levels compared to 2024.
Record-breaking heat expected across UK this week, says Met Office
Today 11:00am
The Met Office forecasts that extremely high temperatures could last from Monday until Thursday, leading to health concerns for elderly and vulnerable people.
Canada signs landmark LNG energy deal with Germany
29 May 2026
Canada has announced a landmark energy agreement with Germany that will see the first-ever long-term shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Europe in the coming years.
Asia warming nearly twice as fast as before
Fri 19 Jun 2026
A new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlights record ocean heat, accelerating glacier loss and a series of extreme weather events causing significant human and economic losses across Asia.
The Pacific made history in the courts – now we must do it in the negotiations
12 Jun 2026
Legal clarity alone will not lead to reduced emissions, more finance or stronger national climate plans – political will is key to meeting states’ obligations.
Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average
Tue 16 Jun 2026
A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’.
Aid cuts and climate change drive deadly malaria surge in Zimbabwe
29 May 2026
A surge in malaria cases in Zimbabwe is exposing fragile health systems and growing treatment shortages in rural areas.
Colombia’s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle
26 May 2026
Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking?
Bonn climate talks end in “gridlock” on adaptation and emissions-cutting
Today 11:00am
After two weeks of climate negotiations riven by arguments over finance and science, the UN climate chief expressed disappointment and denounced governments for “cherry-picking” commitments they have already made and waiting for others to move first.
