International: All stories
UN-backed group takes steps to establish new biofuel standard
15 Aug 2008
A United Nations-backed group of international experts has endorsed a first draft of a new global sustainability standard for biofuels to assess their economic, social and environmental effects.
Carbon credits undervalued, says report
15 Aug 2008
Latest figures from the northern hemisphere summer issue of the Global Carbon Report, researched and published by leading market intelligence provider IDEAcarbon, suggest that carbon is currently undervalued in light of changing market fundamentals.
Carbon sequestration has its problems, warns report
15 Aug 2008
Burying carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants could increase other pollutants, warns a new study.
BMW joins hydrogen cars on trail to nudge politicians
15 Aug 2008
The BMW Hydrogen 7 - the first hydrogen-powered luxury sedan – has hit the roads of the United States in an unprecedented cross-country journey.
Aussies vote $1 million to boost small wind-turbines
15 Aug 2008
The Australian Government is sinking more than $1 million into developing a stronger small wind-turbine industry.
UN chief urges young people to take active role in climate change fight
15 Aug 2008
Young people, who are adept at spreading new habits and technologies, are well placed to contribute to the fight against climate change, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he marked International Youth Day.
Round two of Garnaut report out early next month
15 Aug 2008
Australians will get more details early next month on their proposed emissions trading scheme.
Southern Ocean elephant seals dive deep for climate data
15 Aug 2008
Elephant seals are helping scientists to overcome a critical blind-spot in their ability to detect change in Southern Ocean circulation and sea-ice production and its influence on global climate.
New report paints bright future for second-generation biofuels
12 Aug 2008
Australia could develop a sustainable biofuels industry without forcing up food prices, according to a new report.
Japan sets date for power exchange to start carbon-credit trading
12 Aug 2008
The Japan Electric Power Exchange will start trading carbon credits in October on a trial basis as part of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's goal to cut greenhouse gases by more than half.
US companies can admit environmental violations on the web
12 Aug 2008
The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced a pilot project that allows regulated facilities nationwide to self-disclose environmental violations on the agency’s website.
New $27 million project will protect the birds and the bees
12 Aug 2008
A new project worth $26.45 million has been launched by the Global Environment Facility to better protect bees, bats and birds that are essential to the world’s crop production.
Flower growers face threat from EU emissions scheme
12 Aug 2008
Kenya’s horticulture industry is facing a new market access threat as the European Parliament prepares to vote on a new law that would see aviation included in the continental emissions trading scheme.
China grabs low-carbon export opportunities in clean tech race
8 Aug 2008
China is already the world’s leading renewable energy producer and is over-taking more developed economies in exploiting valuable economic opportunities, creating green-collar jobs and leading development of critical low-carbon technologies, says a new report to be published by the Britain-based Climate Group.
Dell comes under fire after carbon-neutral claim
8 Aug 2008
International computer giant Dell has been criticised after its claim that it is now officially a carbon-neutral company — five months ahead of its own projected schedule.
New UN report suggests how to boost cities’ resiliency to climate change
8 Aug 2008
With eight of the world’s 10 most populous cities situated near rivers or seas and already being exposed to such hazards as flooding, earthquakes and typhoons, a United Nations-backed report just released offers suggestions on how to enhance resiliency to threats emanating from climate change
Heavy-emitter label not fair, angry India tells NZ
8 Aug 2008
India is becoming increasingly angry at being labelled a major emitter of greenhouse gases.
ASX plans early futures market for emissions trading
8 Aug 2008
The Australian Securities Exchange has announced its intention to facilitate emissions trading at the earliest opportunity.
Asia emerging as centre of carbon trade programme
5 Aug 2008
Financial market analysts expect increased participation of Asian countries in the carbon credit trade, with most of them cornering big investments in clean development mechanism (CDM) projects.
Pro-coal energy minister calls UK protesters naïve
5 Aug 2008
Opponents of plans to build Britain’s first coal-fired power station in 20 years are naive, says UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.
Climate change puts Canadian seniors' health at risk
5 Aug 2008
Canada's elderly population - expected to double in the next 25 years - will be especially hard-hit by the dire effects of climate change, warns a sprawling study by Health Canada.
Airlines under pressure to reduce freighter flight emissions
5 Aug 2008
The question of just how big a carbon footprint air cargo creates and what can the industry do to lessen its impact on the environment are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Patience a virtue when Prius battery supply chains go flat
5 Aug 2008
Waiting lists for the Toyota Prius have expanded sharply as demand outstrips the Japanese carmaker's capacity to build the petrol-electric hybrid vehicles.
Cook’s weather-watching pays off for climate change scientists
5 Aug 2008
Legendary navigator Captain James Cook, whose careful cartography in the 1700s put New Zealand on the map, is now helping 21st century scientists to chart the course of climate change.
China enters pact with UK carbon trading player
1 Aug 2008
British carbon exchange specialist Climate Exchange has confirmed that it has signed an agreement with the Chinese authorities to start an emissions trading scheme in the country.
South Africa vows to shift energy policy from coal to nuclear
1 Aug 2008
The South African government says it will move away from cheap coal - long the engine of its economic growth - and embrace nuclear and renewable energy in a bid to combat climate change.
Australians strongly back carbon trade scheme, poll shows
1 Aug 2008
Australians overwhelmingly back government plans to introduce one of the world's biggest carbon trading schemes, a poll found this week.
Firms found to be ill-prepared for cap-and-trade scheme
1 Aug 2008
Many UK firms remain unprepared for the introduction of a cap-and-trade scheme, and have little experience of the IT systems and trading processes that will be required to comply with the new legislation.
Farmers backed with $26.5 million for climate change training
1 Aug 2008
Australian primary producers and industries will have access to specialised training to help them to deal with the impacts of climate change under a $26.5 million FarmReady fund just announced by the Rudd Government.
American judge rejects proposed coal-fired power plant
29 Jul 2008
A benchmark decision by a Georgia judge to revoke the building permit for a coal-fired power plant marks the first time in the US that a court has based a ruling on concerns over CO2 emissions.
Aussie opposition plans response to Rudd's green paper
29 Jul 2008
Liberal and National MPs will gather in Canberra today and tomorrow to hammer out a response to the Rudd government's green paper on an emissions trading scheme.
Battle-weary US soldiers told to cut carbon bootprint
29 Jul 2008
As if they didn’t have enough on their hands fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, American soldiers are now being told they must reduce their carbon bootprint to ease the pain of climate change.
California comes down hard on ships’ diesel exhaust emissions
29 Jul 2008
Foreign-flagged and US ships sailing off California will face the world’s toughest rules on marine fuel-use under new regulations just adopted by the state’s Air Resources Board.
Two children enough in climate-changing world, experts argue
29 Jul 2008
Family planning experts have urged couples to limit themselves to two children as a contribution to combating climate change.
Schwarzenegger vetoes climate change teaching in schools
29 Jul 2008
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a that would have required climate change be added to the state school curriculum.
Finland joins 26-country partnership to curb methane emissions
29 Jul 2008
Finland is the latest country to join the Methane to Markets Partnership, whose 26 members aim to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas and clean energy source.
Australians singing the same old song
29 Jul 2008
New Zealanders watching debate across the Tasman in the wake of the Australian Government's release of its draft emissions trading scheme can be forgiven a sense of deja vu.
California joins major North American effort to curb greenhouse gases
25 Jul 2008
California, six other Western states and four Canadian provinces will launch a market-based carbon trading system in a major North American effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, according to a draft proposal released yesterday.
Report details huge climate change cost for US states
25 Jul 2008
Climate change will carry a price tag of billions of dollars for some US states, researchers have said.
Hungary joins us in international carbon trading scheme
25 Jul 2008
Hungary has joined New Zealand and three other countries in linking to a carbon trading scheme under the Kyoto Protocol, allowing the country to sell government-level emissions permits, a Hungarian ministry spokesman said.
Indonesia eyes $700 million in aid to fight climate change
25 Jul 2008
Indonesia needs at least $US728 million in assistance to address climate change, including dealing with extreme weather events linked to global warming and helping local farmers boost crop production, a report says.
Indian businesses reluctant climate change players, says report
25 Jul 2008
Indian corporates are not ready to tackle climate change despite a wide awareness of the issues, says a study just released by global consultancy KPMG.
Canadian PM under pressure as major province signs up with US emissions group
22 Jul 2008
The Canadian government faces new pressure to adopt a more aggressive climate-change plan after its largest province threw its considerable political weight behind a North American initiative to tackle global warming.
BBC TV about to air climate change the thriller
22 Jul 2008
Climate change joins mainstream television this week with the screening in Britain of the environmental thriller Burn Up.
Holden's Commodore top polluter - and the costliest
22 Jul 2008
ONE of the most popular cars in Australia and New Zealand, the Holden Commodore, has topped a new Federal Government list of bad environmental performers.
US scientists issue dire new warning on effects of climate change
22 Jul 2008
Climate change threatens the health and well-being of every American but could widen the divide between people who can adapt to a more hostile environment and society's youngest, oldest and poorest, a US government report says.
Global action needed for food and energy crises - UN Assembly head
22 Jul 2008
Reducing subsidies, lifting tariffs and other trade barriers would stimulate food production and offer a route to development for 180 million small farmers in Africa, UN General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim told member states as the Assembly met to discuss the two global crises.
Smog-clogged Mexico City promises to reduce greenhouse gases
22 Jul 2008
The government of notoriously polluted Mexico City is promising to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions 12 per cent by 2012.
'Carbon bomb' lies waiting in world's wetlands, warn scientists
22 Jul 2008
New Zealand’s wetlands are part of a world-wide chain that could release a planet-warming "carbon bomb" if they are destroyed, ecological scientists say.
For animals, it might be a case of relocation, relocation, relocation
22 Jul 2008
ANIMALS threatened with extinction because of climate change should be moved to parts of the world where they are more likely to survive, a team of scientists has suggested.
Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow mining company to clear threatened indigenous forest
23 Feb 2026
The Australian government’s decision to allow the US mining giant Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of Western Australian jarrah forest despite past illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.
Repeal of endangerment finding is part of a systematic effort by US to dismantle climate policy
Tue 3 Mar 2026
COMMENT: Climate policy expert and founder of the NewClimate Institute in Cologne, Germany, explains what the step means for the US and for global climate diplomacy.
3,600 times faster: China is shaking up the steel industry
25 Feb 2026
For over a century, making steel meant coal, heat, and hours of waiting. A Chinese research team now reports collapsing that process into just three to six seconds; no coal, near zero emissions, and a vortex lance already moving toward commercial production. The technology is called flash ironmaking, and in February 2026, its implications are still unfolding.
Spain defends EU’s flagship climate law against attacks from other capitals
Tue 3 Mar 2026
Spain has come to the defense of the European Union's bedrock climate law, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warning fellow European leaders against dismantling the embattled Emissions Trading System.
UK Greens win by-election as anti-data centre protests mount
Tue 3 Mar 2026
The Green Party's Hannah Spencer won the contest for the vacant parliamentary seat of Gorton and Denton, with Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party coming second, and Labour pushed into third place.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
17 Feb 2026
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
South Korean farmers sue utility giant KEPCO over climate damage to crops
25 Feb 2026
As harvest season approached last November, farmer Ma Yong-un walked through his apple orchard in southern South Korea with a growing sense of dread.
World leaders invited to see Pacific climate destruction before COP31
Tue 3 Mar 2026
The leaders and climate ministers of governments around the world will be invited to meetings on the Pacific islands of Fiji, Palau and Tuvalu in the months leading up to the COP31 climate summit in November.
Limiting warming to 2C is ‘crucial’ to protect pristine Antarctic Peninsula
24 Feb 2026
Keeping global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial temperatures is “crucial” for limiting damage to the Antarctic Peninsula’s unique ecosystems, according to a new study.
Africa primed for solar breakthrough after record capacity growth
Tue 3 Mar 2026
The continent of Africa looks set to emerge as a key driver of global solar power production over the rest of the 2020s thanks to a potent mix of policy support, rapid economic growth and declining component costs.
Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 30 after record rainfall
Thu 26 Feb 2026
Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.
UN approves first carbon credits under Paris Agreement market mechanism
Fri 27 Feb 2026
The United Nations has approved the first credits to be issued under a carbon market established by the Paris climate accord, aimed at reducing emissions – a mechanism that has faced scrutiny over greenwashing concerns.
