International: All stories
Ban urges adoption of green technologies
16 Oct 2009
Green technologies generate not only environmental advances but also promote economic growth, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.
G8 countries could face class actions on climate change
9 Oct 2009
The US and other G8 countries could face class actions on behalf of people in the developing world if they fail to take convincing steps to cut the emissions blamed for causing climate change, a lawyer has warned.
What's to become of the Kyoto Protocol?
9 Oct 2009
Whether to tweak, bolster or bury the Kyoto Protocol - the only binding global agreement for curbing greenhouse gases - has become a red-hot issue as UN negotiators in Bangkok try to lay the groundwork for a successor treaty.
Rich countries’ pledges not enough, says report
9 Oct 2009
Rich countries' pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are up to 15 per cent short of what scientists warn is needed to avoid a two-degree temperature rise.
Obama orders agencies to slash emissions
9 Oct 2009
US President Barack Obama ordered federal agencies to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions.
Apple latest to jump ship from US Chamber
9 Oct 2009
The US Chamber of Commerce has been hemorrhaging members in recent weeks after opposing legislation curtailing greenhouse gas emissions.
Humans undermine nature’s help in climate war
9 Oct 2009
Humankind is undermining a crucial natural ally in the battle against climate change through its activities in the world’s oceans and marine ecosystems, a UN agency warns.
Brazilian beef giants agree to moratorium
9 Oct 2009
Four of the world's largest cattle producers and traders have agreed to a moratorium on buying cattle from newly deforested areas in the Amazon rainforest.
Maldives ministers take a dive for climate change
9 Oct 2009
The president of the Maldives, who last year proposed relocating his entire country, is set to chair an underwater Cabinet meeting this month to highlight the threat global warming and rising sea levels pose to his low-lying nation.
US Senate bill toughens emissions target
2 Oct 2009
The first draft of a US Senate climate bill, released yesterday by senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, includes a tougher 2020 target than its companion bill passed by the House of Representatives.
Forget ‘cap and trade,’ it's now all about PRI
2 Oct 2009
US Senate Democrats tried out a new catch phrase yesterday to sell their global warming bill: pollution reduction and investment, or PRI.
Back me or sack me, says troubled Turnbull
2 Oct 2009
Australia's conservative opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has threatened to quit unless opposition lawmakers end divisions over climate policy and avert a possible snap election on carbon-trade laws.
G20 countries to phase out fossil fuel subsidies
2 Oct 2009
G20 government leaders have agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies over the medium term while providing targeted support for the poorest households.
China eyes emission trading as part of economic plan
2 Oct 2009
China plans to include a pilot emissions trading system in its five-year plan for economic development from 2010-15, although it is unclear whether carbon dioxide would be covered.
Bank issues dire warning to Asia-Pacific countries
2 Oct 2009
Asia-Pacific countries face food and energy shortages, worsening poverty and declining crop yields if they ignore climate change, according to studies released yesterday.
Climate catastrophe 50 years away, say experts
2 Oct 2009
Catastrophic climate change could happen with 50 years, five decades earlier than previously predicted, according to a UK Met Office report.
Science drills deep to unlock polar climate secrets
2 Oct 2009
Scientists are taking a more in-depth view of how climate change could affect Antarctica’s ice, and how even a small change in temperature could lead to a global rise in sea levels.
Big words, little action from world climate leaders
23 Sep 2009
China has taken a step forward in the delicate diplomatic dance of international climate change talks by committing to an unspecified carbon target.
Airlines plan to halve emissions by 2050
23 Sep 2009
The world’s airlines have unveiled plans to halve emissions by 2050, to fend off calls for new taxes on flying and criticism that they are failing to act quickly enough in the fight against climate change.
Shipowners back expensive global trading net
23 Sep 2009
Shipowners are backing a global carbon trading scheme that could add as much as £5.4 billion in extra cost on to maritime transport and push weaker shipping companies out of business.
EU lists industries exempted from carbon trading
23 Sep 2009
The European Union has agreed on a list of industries ranging from plastics manufacturing to iron and food processing that will be largely exempted from CO2 trading after 2013 for fears that their inclusion would move production abroad.
Carbon emissions post biggest drop in 40 years
23 Sep 2009
Global carbon emissions are expected to post their biggest drop in more than four decades this year as the global recession froze economic activity and slashed energy use around the world.
Contraceptives cut climate change impact, says Lancet
23 Sep 2009
Greater use of contraceptives could help to reduce the global impact of climate change, according to medical journal The Lancet.
Climate leaders set to give up on Copenhagen
18 Sep 2009
Top US energy and climate leaders have begun to openly plan for international global warming talks to trickle into 2010.
Big spenders throw weight behind US bill
18 Sep 2009
Industry, economic and environmental groups are making a final push to influence a climate bill that might go before the United States Senate within weeks.
EU calls on US to do more on climate change
18 Sep 2009
The United States must do more to tackle climate change, says the European Union presidency, in a challenge to President Barack Obama ahead of a key international summit in Pittsburgh.
‘Carbon bully’ Canada gets a caning
18 Sep 2009
Oil production in Alberta’s tar sands has made Canada into a “global carbon bully”, says a new report from Greenpeace.
India, China could join the big league of traders
18 Sep 2009
India and China may join the league of carbon trading hot spots in a few years, along with Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, that should soon make the grade, says a major international trader.
Catastrophe ahead, doctors tell politicians
18 Sep 2009
A weak response to climate change could be catastrophic for international health, leading doctors say in two British medical journals.
Sarkozy sets carbon tax to 'save human race'
11 Sep 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to lead the fight to "save the human race" from global warming, launching a carbon tax to encourage families and industry to cut their use of fossil fuels.
Japan target could change the carbon game
11 Sep 2009
Japan’s announcement of its intention to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent could be a game-changer at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December, observers say.
Copenhagen talks in danger, warns Miliband
11 Sep 2009
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband believes there is a “real danger” that a UN summit in Copenhagen in December could fail to produce an effective treaty on cutting greenhouse gases.
Irish might need cow tax to meet EU targets
11 Sep 2009
The Irish Government might have to introduce a “cow tax” to help it to meet new tough targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions laid out in the European Union’s climate change strategy.
Climate goal needs dramatic rise in renewables
11 Sep 2009
The share of renewable energy will have to rise "dramatically" if the world is to have a chance of limiting global warming to a maximum 2C temperature rise, says an expert.
Senate Democrats sceptical about climate bill
11 Sep 2009
Several US Senate Democrats have questioned whether it would be possible to vote on a climate change bill this year, especially with healthcare reform eating up so much of the lawmakers' time.
EU plans fix to carbon tax fraud threat
11 Sep 2009
The European Commission will propose a temporary solution to the threat of tax fraud in the European carbon emissions market later this month
Cities better carbon traps than forests, says study
11 Sep 2009
Compared with tropical rain forests - the densest natural ecosystems - cities store more carbon, acre for acre, in their trees, buildings, and dirt, a new study says.
Climate change could slash crop yields
11 Sep 2009
Even if global temperatures rise slowly, climate change could slash the yields of some of the world's most important crops almost in half, according to a new United States study.
US climate change bill faces fresh delays
4 Sep 2009
The Obama administration has reportedly been meeting with clean-technology executives to help flesh out a new energy strategy to be unveiled later this month.
Prepare to pay extra $120 in airfare pollution charges to Europe
4 Sep 2009
Including aviation in the European ETS could mean a pollution charge of about $120 on long haul flights to New Zealand.
PNG carbon scandal snares Australian company
4 Sep 2009
An Australian company has been swept up in a $100 million carbon trading scandal in Papua New Guinea.
French carbon tax debate turns toxic for Sarkozy
4 Sep 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan for a carbon tax on fuel has threatened to backfire as critics slammed it as unfair and his own camp fretted it will anger voters already hit by the crisis.
Rich Norway fund moves toward green investments
4 Sep 2009
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the largest in the world with about $400 billion in assets, plans to commit about $3.5 billion dollars over a period of five years to companies it deems environmentally sound and engaged in sustainable growth.
UN chief calls for action from polar ice rim
4 Sep 2009
Standing on rapidly melting polar ice, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to the world for urgent measures to be taken to combat climate change to protect the planet for future generations.
Glaciers melting faster than ever, says Greenpeace
4 Sep 2009
Greenland's glaciers are melting into the sea faster than ever before, says environmental pressure group Greenpeace.
People won't change lifestyle for planet, says poll
4 Sep 2009
Britons want to save the planet but are unwilling to make radical lifestyle changes like giving up air travel or red meat to reduce the effects of climate change, a straw poll by Reuters shows.
China gets serious with climate change resolution
28 Aug 2009
China's top legislative body approved its first climate change resolution yesterday and announced plans to draw up new laws to combat global warming, according to the state media.
World airlines stung by European CO2 limits
28 Aug 2009
Thousands of airlines are set to face problems in flying into the European Union from 2012 unless they join the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the European Commission has said.
African leaders want $67b-a-year in climate aid
28 Aug 2009
African leaders meeting in Libya next week will consider a plan to ask industrialised nations to pay developing countries $67 billion a year as part of a common negotiating position for December’s climate talks in Copenhagen.
Carbon trading to be China's new financial product
28 Aug 2009
Carbon emission trading will become a new financial product and be traded on China's exchanges, a senior government official says.
NSW government, energy company under fire after native bird habitat cleared for renewables project
Today 11:45am
A New South Wales government-backed renewable energy project has been accused of environmental vandalism after dozens of threatened birds were found in native trees it had cleared.
Rare win for renewable energy: Trump administration funds geothermal network expansion
Today 11:45am
A first-in-the-nation heating and cooling network in Massachusetts is set to double in size.
China’s BEV trucks and the end of diesel’s dominance
Thu 4 Dec 2025
Cheap Chinese battery electric heavy trucks are no longer a rumor. They are real machines with real price tags that are so low that they force a reassessment of what the global freight industry is willing to pay for electrification.
Spain announces $1.5 billion package to boost electric vehicle market
Today 11:45am
Spain's plan includes 400 million euros in direct subsidies in 2026 for consumers to buy EVs.
UK farmers lose £800m after heat and drought cause one of worst harvests on record
Today 11:45am
Many now concerned about ability to make living in fast-changing climate after one of worst grain harvests recorded.
Canada rolls back climate rules in energy deal with Alberta
Mon 1 Dec 2025
Under the agreement, the federal government will scrap a planned emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and drop rules on clean electricity.
Families on rooftops, homes buried by mud: Asia floods show water is overtaking wind as main threat
Thu 4 Dec 2025
The fallout marks a grim escalation in deadly weather across the region that has been aggravated by the blanket of carbon pollution heating the planet.
Asia-Pacific faces ‘$500bn-a-year’ hit from rising seas if current policies continue
Thu 4 Dec 2025
Coastal flooding could bring $500bn of annual damages to the Asia-Pacific by the year 2100, if countries do not adapt to rising sea levels.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
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".
European Investment Bank pledges over 2 billion euros for African renewables projects
26 Nov 2025
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is pledging more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of financing for renewable energy projects on the African continent over the next two years.
In blow to Lula, Brazil Congress revives controversial environmental bill
Tue 2 Dec 2025
Brazil's conservative-led Congress on Thursday reinstated much of a bill that makes it easier for companies to secure environmental permits, infuriating the leftist government and green groups.
Analysis: Why COP30’s ‘tripling adaptation finance’ target is less ambitious than it seems
Today 11:45am
One of the headline outcomes to emerge from COP30 was a new target to “at least triple” finance for climate adaptation in developing countries by 2035.
