International: All stories
Deal or no deal … can China and the US deliver?
17 Nov 2014
It’s been called an historic agreement − a game changer in the battle to combat climate change. But can China and the US fulfill the promises in their announcement of plans to cut carbon emissions?
Does this climate deal let China do nothing for 16 years?
17 Nov 2014
“As I read the agreement it requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emissions regulations are creating havoc in my state and around the country.” – US Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, November 12, 2014.
G20 climate challenge calls for a rethink of economics
17 Nov 2014
Focusing on growth, the Brisbane G20 leaders' summit has not grappled with three key issues - how much more growth the planet can survive, how poorer nations can raise their living standards to parity with the developed world, and how can a fairer distribution of the benefits of growth be realised?
WORLD WEB: Coal industry costs Australia $8 billion in medical bills
17 Nov 2014
* New Commission floats first 'kill list' of green EU laws * India feels heat as pressure mounts to deliver climate target * Global meat demand ploughs up Brazil's 'underground forest' * Giant batteries connected to the grid: the future of energy storage? * Hyundai, Kia to triple range of green cars by 2020
Australia's green building review adds more uncertainty
17 Nov 2014
Australia's Commercial Building Disclosure programme is the latest federal environmental policy to be placed under review.
Election rout blow to US climate change role
10 Nov 2014
The role of the United States in confronting the global climate crisis has been cast into serious doubt after an election that stacked the deck in Congress in favor of fossil fuel industries.
Environment another casualty of war, says UN
10 Nov 2014
The environment has long been a “silent casualty of war, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday as he warned that the fast-changing dynamic of conflict required solutions to support peace and sustainable development.
WORLD WEB ... news from the world of carbon
10 Nov 2014
* Why the climate movement needs to get confrontational * Govt bid to strip Tasmanian forests of world heritage cover 'disappointing' * The world's 10 biggest tidal power projects * Energy storage slam dunk: Graphene + carbon canotubes + li-ion EV batteries * NASA rolls out enhanced, mobile-friendly climate site
Why warnings on climate spark aggressive denials
10 Nov 2014
If you don’t like the message on climate change, it seems that the answer is to shoot the messenger.
Leaders must act, says UN after dire climate report
3 Nov 2014
If left unchecked, climate change will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems, says a United Nations report.
At last, there's a glimpse of an ETS in Australia
3 Nov 2014
With the passage of the Emissions Reduction Fund through the Senate last week, Australia's federal government has taken a step toward achieving the country's minimum target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.
WORLD WEB: We can continue to burn coal, says Australia
3 Nov 2014
* Germany may cut coal-fired energy to protect climate * Banks invest record €66bn in coal sector * Airport solar farm will be world’s largest * Scotland to open remanufacturing hub to cash in on waste
Booming cities need sustainable urban planning
3 Nov 2014
Growing urban areas will need better planned and better managed environments or risk exacerbating negative trends, the United Nations has warned.
China-US links could spark emissions breakthrough
3 Nov 2014
Tentative steps have been taken by China and the United States towards co-operating on climate change − mainly focusing on relatively modest technological schemes connected with more efficient and less polluting power generation.
Insurance industry sleeps through climate alarm calls
3 Nov 2014
Insurance is all about assessing risk, so you might expect companies in the sector to be intimately involved with one of the most potent risks facing the world – the possibility of catastrophic climate change.
Why uncontrolled climate change might limit growth
3 Nov 2014
By JACK PEZZEY.- “But who do you think’s right, Prof? The optimists or the pessimists?” At the end of my sustainability economics course in 2007, students were challenging me to end 20 years of professional fence-sitting.
New EU emissions goal pits green business against industry
28 Oct 2014
A European Union goal to cut greenhouse gases by 40 per cent by 2030 sets the pace for a global deal to tackle climate change, pitting heavy industry against green business.
WORLD WEB: Sweden the greenest country ... so, where is NZ?
28 Oct 2014
* Carmakers prepare to shift to hydrogen fuel cells * New York Green Bank in debut clean energy transactions * Off-grid German village runs on wind and sun * UK to axe solar farm subsidies in favour of biomass crops
Oil boom prompts US to push for crude exports
28 Oct 2014
Oil and coal producers in the United States are planning to use mile-long tanker trains to transport vast quantities of fossil fuels to the coast through areas that environmental groups believe should be protected.
Angry city draws a line in the (fracking) sand
20 Oct 2014
A college town in southern Minnesota is taking action against the frac-sand industry that's booming amid America's drilling revolution.
WORLD WEB: Global shipping emissions set to soar unchecked
20 Oct 2014
* Pacific Islanders blockade Australian coal port to protest rising sea levels * Sweden calls on EU to agree 50% carbon cuts for 2030 * Impacts of climate change to now be included in UK's military planning * South Africa's Eskom powers up wind farm * China to phase out financial support for solar power sector by 2020
Australia's big emitters might yet be billed
13 Oct 2014
Australian companies could yet face a financial penalty for excessive greenhouse gas emissions.
VOILA! A simple new way to put a price on global carbon
13 Oct 2014
A team of French academics has proposed an international carbon trading system, whereby countries with the highest average CO2 emissions pay the most.
WORLD WEB: Why is Antarctic sea ice at record levels despite global warming?
13 Oct 2014
* Australian Labor Party leader rules out carbon tax return * European businesses split over urgency of EU carbon market fix * Canadian watchdog castigates government climate strategy * Walmart owners backing campaigns to limit rooftop solar power * 25 Devastating Effects Of Climate Change * Climate consensus: scientists and sceptics suspend hostilities
Sick seas could cost us billions, UN warns
13 Oct 2014
The global economy could be losing as much as $1 trillion annually by the end of the century if countries do not take urgent steps to stop ocean acidification, says a new report.
Human handprint marks Australia’s hottest year
6 Oct 2014
Despite the Australian prime minister’s climate science scepticism, research funded by taxpayers has unanimously found man-made climate change guilty of causing the country’s record-breaking temperatures last year.
E-cars could make British carmakers great again
6 Oct 2014
British-owned car manufacturing has been in decline for decades, but the shift to electric cars might be just what is needed for a revival.
CARBON WEB ... Global clean energy investment sustains its recovery
6 Oct 2014
* Australia's investment in renewable energy slumps 70% in one year * UK delivers £9.4 million to boost low-carbon heating * World’s first major power plant with carbon capture opens in Canada * Europe targets greater role for ocean renewable energy by 2020 * Five surprising ways climate change can kill you * Carbon-credit trading scandal unfolds in Italian court
Party pact blocks environmental one-stop move
6 Oct 2014
Australia's Greens have secured a deal with the Palmer United Party and Labor that effectively kills the federal government's plan to hand its environmental approval powers to the states under its "one-stop shop" policy.
Protesters say no to waste-burning power plant
6 Oct 2014
Protests against a proposed waste incinerator power plant involving thousands of residents took place in southern China over two weekends in mid-September.
New York talked the talk, but we’ll have to wait and see who heard
29 Sep 2014
At the end of his summit meeting on the climate crisis, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put out a list of accomplishments festooned with 46 bullet points, some of them marking concrete new pledges, others diaphanous phrases.
MIA ... but it doesn't mean China's not interested
29 Sep 2014
There were a few notable absentees among the more than 120 world leaders gathered in New York for last week's United Nations Climate Summit - and perhaps most notable of all was the head of the world’s highest-emitting nation, China’s President Xi Jinping.
Cities in the spotlight at Climate Week summit
29 Sep 2014
Even as nations gathered in New York to discuss global-level action on climate change, there was strong recognition that cities, not countries, have so far played the pivotal role in the world's fight against climate change—and will continue to do so.
WORLD WEB ... Obama’s drive for carbon pricing fails to win at home
29 Sep 2014
* Chile becomes the first South American country to tax carbon * UK to introduce fracking drilling law despite 99% opposition * US Homeland Security moves to tackle climate change risks * Hawaii's solar industry in precarious situation * The top 10 greenest cities in America * Avatar director James Cameron talks climate change
New market pact keeps Australians on the ball
29 Sep 2014
Australian businesses wanting to keep up to date with the international carbon market during their country’s retreat from carbon pricing have formed a new regional agreement.
... but critic says report fails to back up core message
22 Sep 2014
A new report called Better Growth, Better Climate draws the seductive conclusion that “we can create lasting economic growth while also tackling the immense risks of climate change”.
Let's do for climate change what we did for apartheid, says Tutu
22 Sep 2014
WORLD WEB: Largest-ever climate change march rolls through NYC * China cautious on fresh commitments ahead of climate change summit * Will the new EU Commission assure Europe’s leadership on sustainable development? * It's time to teach climate change in school * After An Inconvenient Truth: the evolution of the climate change film
Population explosion lowers chance of managing climate change
22 Sep 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- New projections say the population of the planet will not stabilise at 9 billion sometime this century. In fact, there is an 80 per cent likelihood that, by 2100, it will reach at least 9.6 billion − and maybe rise as high as 12.3 billion.
China goes up a gear but still has a lot of work to do
22 Sep 2014
In the lead-up to the UN leaders’ summit on climate change (http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit), China is shifting up a gear in its drive towardsnational emissions trading.
New York summit could be the turning point
16 Sep 2014
A United Nations chief dismayed at the lack of resolve toward the climate crisis; a daunting deadline for negotiating a new treaty; 125 or so heads of state; a sprawling agenda of fossil fuels, food, forestry and finance; a train of think tanks hauling gigabytes of green data; countless teach-ins, press conferences, art shows - plus tens or even hundreds of thousands of activists marching through midtown Manhattan, demanding action now.
Stage set for the biggest climate march of all
16 Sep 2014
Activists next week will try to seize an opportunity to put the climate movement alongside the Civil Rights and the Vietnam anti-war movements.
WORLD WEB ... Richard Branson fails to deliver on $3b climate change pledge, says author
16 Sep 2014
* More than 500 Korean firms face CO2 emissions cap * Carbon markets gaining momentum in the US * Fracking workers exposed to dangerous amounts of benzene, study says * France aims for ‘energy positive’ public buildings * Do we tax carbon emissions or trade them? Economists dig into the problem * Solar-powered ambulances awarded Government funding
Drought bites as Amazon’s ‘flying rivers’ dry up
16 Sep 2014
The unprecedented drought affecting São Paulo, South America’s giant metropolis, is believed to be caused by the absence of the “flying rivers” - the vapour clouds from the Amazon that normally bring rain to the centre and south of Brazil.
Healthy diet guidelines hard to swallow for greenies
16 Sep 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- The news is enough to make climate campaigners choke on their high-fibre breakfast cereal: if Americans adopted the dietary guidelines suggested by their own Department of Agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions would actually go up by 12 per cent.
Island states celebrate $2 billion conference
8 Sep 2014
With nearly $2 billion pledged in sustainable development partnerships, the United Nations last week wrapped up its small island developing states conference in Samoa and kicked off a drum roll of action on climate change.
Doors open at Ban Ki-moon's Last Chance Saloon
8 Sep 2014
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is attempting to prevent world leaders sleepwalking into disaster by asking them to make new pledges at his climate summit this month on cutting greenhouse gases.
WORLD WEB: China eyes ETS launch in 2016
8 Sep 2014
* Clinton: America can be clean-energy superpower * High-level shale gas study calls for moratorium on fracking * Chile set to pass Latin America’s second carbon tax * Judge rules BP was grossly negligent in oil spill * Aircraft emissions may be next for US climate rules * Hopes for independent Scottish voice at climate talks * They were the last word in glamour, but has the sun set on LA's swimming pools?
New book exposes Malaysian logging crimes
8 Sep 2014
An explosive new book about logging is about to rock Malaysia’s corridors of power.
Is the Mosul Dam start of the water wars?
8 Sep 2014
Exactly a year ago, the world was wrestling with the possibility of another US-led military assault on an Arab state, following the horrific gas attacks in Damascus, Syria.
Scientists give Australia the really bad news
8 Sep 2014
The Australian government has just received a vitally important report to guide its decisions on the future of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target.
Australian rainforests no longer a carbon sink – study
Today 11:30am
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
Today 11:30am
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
Today 11:30am
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
Today 11:30am
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.
