International: All stories

Australia among donors pledging $6b to climate change funds
30 Sep 2008
Australia is among 10 industrialised countries which have pledged more than $6.1 billion to international investment funds aimed at helping developing countries to adopt cleaner technologies and mitigate growth in greenhouse gas emissions.

Eco-friendly Aussie farmers at a loss in no-agriculture ETS
30 Sep 2008
Leaving agriculture out of an emissions scheme could cost farmers using environmentally friendly methods of production, the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) says.

US states, Canadian provinces announce emissions pact
26 Sep 2008
Seven US states and four Canadian provinces have announced recommendations for the design of a regional market-based cap-and-trade programme.

Clean coal is like healthy cigarettes, says Gore
26 Sep 2008
Former US vice-president Al Gore has urged the world to stop burning coal and says the idea of clean coal is “a lie,” likening it to the concept of “healthy cigarettes.”

US eastern states start obligatory carbon trading
26 Sep 2008
Ten northeast US states today will take part in the nation's first mandatory carbon auction, one of a series of quarterly auctions that in time will reduce the region's power-plant emissions, linked to global warming.

Australia launches climate change super fund initiative
26 Sep 2008
What the Australian government is calling the world’s most comprehensive initiative designed to assist super funds manage the risks and maximise the opportunities associated with climate change was launched yesterday by Superannuation Minister Nick Sherry.

UK emissions bill about to become law, says minister
26 Sep 2008
The Climate Change Bill introduced by Britain's ruling Labour Party is about to become law, British Secretary of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn said yesterday.

America unwise to pin its hopes on the Chevy Volt
26 Sep 2008
America’s bid for a share of the burgeoning car-of-the-future market has come with the birth of the Chevy Volt electric vehicle. Will it save the world? Not likely, says Fortune magazine senior editor Alex Taylor:

Ban urges faster efforts to expand access to safe drinking water
26 Sep 2008
Warning that a world without water will be very unstable, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called for a three-pronged strategy to ensure that the poorest inhabitants of the developing world have access to clean water and basic sanitation within seven years.

Australian carbon credit price doubles as emissions scheme looms
23 Sep 2008
The price of credits in the Australian carbon market has more than doubled over the past 12 months.

EU offers first analysis of carbon leakage risk
23 Sep 2008
Parts of Europe's aluminium, steel and cement industries are likely to qualify for free carbon allowances to compensate them for lost international competitiveness under plans to revise the EU's emission trading scheme, the European Commission suggests in a new analysis.

Copenhagen most important meeting since WWII, says Stern
23 Sep 2008
The UN climate change meeting to be held in Copenhagen next year is the “most important gathering since the Second World War”, according to Nicholas Stern, author of the influential Stern Review on the economics of climate change.

UK names date to run first emissions trading auction
23 Sep 2008
The first auction of carbon trading allowances in the United Kingdom will take place on November 18, the British Government has confirmed.

Leading ad agencies join UN in climate change campaign
23 Sep 2008
Nearly two dozen global advertising giants have joined the United Nations in a partnership to support UN-led efforts to reach agreement on slashing greenhouse gas emissions at a major international conference next year in Copenhagen.

Chinese consumers score highly in care for the environment
23 Sep 2008
Chinese consumers out rate their American and British counterparts in their concern for the environment, recent surveys show.

Canadians will pay Rwandans to plant trees
23 Sep 2008
A Canadian carbon offset development company plans to invest $US17m on reforestation projects in Rwanda over the next 20 years.

Be careful of giving heavy emitters more, Australia told
19 Sep 2008
Australia’s government has been told heavy emitters’ claims for assistance to cushion the impact of that country’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme are “highly contestable".

UK scheme unlikely to reduce carbon on target, says new study
19 Sep 2008
The UK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment, slated for launch in April 2010, is unlikely to cut carbon emissions before 2013, according to a new report from an independent business research firm.

FUTURE AMERICA: What the candidates say about emissions and climate change
19 Sep 2008
U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain say that if they are elected in November, they will fight global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020, using methods that include a cap-and-trade system.

Cambodia pioneering carbon trading cooperative
19 Sep 2008
With the global carbon trade booming, environmental projects in developing countries have joined forces to finance their poverty reduction efforts by selling carbon credits collectively.

South Korea to set up first carbon trading company
19 Sep 2008
South Korea this month will set up its first carbon trading company to help to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Failed Lehman Brothers closes carbon desk
16 Sep 2008
The collapse of United States investment bank Lehman Brothers has led to the closure of its carbon desk.

Carbon trading band-aid solution, report tells Philippines
16 Sep 2008
The Philippines has been told it must not over rely on the carbon credits scheme in pursuing clean energy projects because the scheme is a short-term approach to the problem.

US names climate change, newtech as high security risks
16 Sep 2008
US intelligence agencies in December will brief the new president on new threats to his country - including a list of emerging technologies that will have a major impact on the US and the world.

Garrett launches ‘solar suburb’ on Barrier Reef island
16 Sep 2008
The $32 million Solar City in Townsville will help the local community to save energy, save money and reduce carbon pollution, according to Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

Dusty Spain to set up climate change research institute
16 Sep 2008
Spain, among the nations in Europe most affected by desertification, will set up a climate change research institute in the northeastern city of Zaragoza.

Industry group tries to scrap EU emissions scheme
12 Sep 2008
The European Parliament’s industry committee is trying to ditch the EU emissions trading scheme and to boycott 2020 climate targets, environmental groups said following a vote overnight on how the carbon market should operate after 2012.
Public strongly behind EU policies on climate change
12 Sep 2008
Europeans are highly concerned about climate change and clearly are willing to take action against it.

Britain votes $130 million climate aid for Bangladesh
12 Sep 2008
Britain will give $US130 million dollars to help at-risk Bangladesh to fight the effects of climate change.

Greenhouse gas emissions: What others are doing
12 Sep 2008
Companies and governments, including New Zealand, are turning to emissions trading as a weapon to fight climate change, in a carbon market worth $64 billion last year.

Cool idea: Paint your roof white
12 Sep 2008
If the 100 biggest cities were to whiten the roofs of all of their buildings and use more reflective pavement, the global cooling effect would be huge, a new study has concluded.

Thawed permafrost massive contributor to gas emissions
12 Sep 2008
Permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and rapid thawing could make it a huge contributor to global climate change.

Go global, UN chief tells students
12 Sep 2008
In an ever increasingly interdependent world, where challenges such as climate change, development and security transcend national boundaries, it is in everyone’s best interest to think globally, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told students at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where the United Nations chief received an honorary degree yesterday.

Google Earth puts you in the cockpit for hotspots flyover
12 Sep 2008
People can “fly” to some of the world’s most dramatic environmental hotspots courtesy of the UN Environment Programme innovative use of the popular mapping tool Google Earth.

Displaced islanders again appeal to NZ for help
9 Sep 2008
New Zealand is again being asked to help the people losing their home from rising sea-levels in the wake of the failure of money from Papua New Guinea to materialise.

China launches large-scale renewable energy plan
9 Sep 2008
China has released an ambitious plan to develop renewable energy to cut its surging carbon dioxide emissions.

World's first carbon capture pilot fires up clean-coal advocates
9 Sep 2008
The world's first complete demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will begin next week at a coal-fired power station in Germany.

$50 million alliance to map future of Australian water resources
9 Sep 2008
A $50 million joint initiative between Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO will be the largest water information research project in the southern hemisphere.

Japan eyes home greenhouse gas savings in emission trading system
9 Sep 2008
The Japanese government is considering including greenhouse gas emissions from homes, farms and public facilities in the carbon emission trading system scheduled to launch on a trial basis next month.

Researchers pinpoint world's climate change 'hotspots'
9 Sep 2008
A report looking at probable humanitarian consequences of climate change has identified climate change “hotspots” around the globe.

Carbon forum helps Africa profit from greenhouse gas offset scheme
9 Sep 2008
Three days of deal-making and networking has wrapped up at the United Nations-backed Africa Carbon Forum in Senegal, aimed at improving the continent’s standing in the global carbon marketplace.

Garnaut sets top target of 80% emissions cut by 2050
5 Sep 2008
Australia should have an emissions reduction target of 10 per cent by 2010 and 80 per cent by 2050, the latest Garnaut report is recommending.

Australians told to shoulder their burden of Kyoto
5 Sep 2008
Australia’s emissions reduction guru Professor Ross Garnaut has delivered a sharp lecture to his countrymen on why they should shoulder their share of the Kyoto burden.

How the Australian ETS will work
5 Sep 2008
Earlier, the Australian Government’s green paper set out its thinking how its cap and trade scheme will work.
Garnaut's latest report
5 Sep 2008
The latest report from the adviser on climate change to the Australian Government, Professor Ross Garnaut, puts the numbers on his earlier draft work.

We’ve slashed carbon dioxide emissions, claim US airlines
5 Sep 2008
US airlines have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of what 18.7 million cars produce annually, an industry group says.

Climate forecasts crucial to water resources, say weather watchers
5 Sep 2008
The chief of the UN meteorological agency has called for weather forecasts to play a greater role in planning for economic development and poverty reduction because of the impact climate change has on water resources.

India must brace for the worst, warns UN agency
5 Sep 2008
Climate change is likely to have a much greater impact on India than other countries in similar positions, according to an assessment by the South Asia regional office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.

Pachauri to head IPCC for further five years
5 Sep 2008
Rajendra Kumar Pachauri has been elected chairman of the UN body Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a second term.

Honda brings back Insight to fight for hybrid market share
5 Sep 2008
Honda is bringing back the Insight name for its newest hybrid model, which will make its world debut in concept form at the Paris auto show in October.