International: All stories
Big EU countries push expanded carbon border tax to help repay Covid debt
3 Mar 2025
France, Italy and Poland support the move, but others fear it might prompt Donald Trump to retaliate in anger.
COP16: Key outcomes agreed at the resumed UN biodiversity conference in Rome
3 Mar 2025
Countries have agreed at the resumed COP16 talks in Rome to a strategy for "mobilising" at least $200bn per year by 2030 to help developing countries conserve biodiversity.
Trump's war on climate science is pushing us into a dystopian future
3 Mar 2025
US President Donald Trump's latest war on the climate includes withdrawing support for any research that mentions the word.
Glacial melting is accelerating, driving sea level rise and depleting freshwater: study
3 Mar 2025
Accelerating glacial melting is causing the world's oceans to rise year after year and is causing a loss of regional freshwater, new research led by scientists at the University of Zürich shows.
From drill to grill: Continued fossil fuel use puts us all in the hot seat
3 Mar 2025
The Climate Council is warning that Australia's biggest cities could face dangerously hot temperatures, unless action is taken to slow down climate change. The Council has released a 'heat map' which also shows that continuing to cut climate pollution can safeguard Australians from the worst impacts of soaring heat.
The far right just made huge gains in a country once seen as a climate champion. It's a pattern happening across the world
28 Feb 2025
Germany was once seen as a climate champion, setting ambitious targets to slash planet-heating pollution.
US officials absent from global climate forums during Trump 2.0
28 Feb 2025
US officials have missed recent international climate forums sparking concerns about a potentially significant shift from Donald Trump's first term.
Countries use more land for golf courses than for solar or wind energy: study
28 Feb 2025
The amount of land needed for renewable energy projects is sometimes criticised, but a new study points out that, in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, much more land gets allocated for golf courses than renewable energy facilities.
China aims to eliminate severe air pollution this year
28 Feb 2025
China aims to effectively eliminate severe air pollution by the end of 2025, a senior environment official said, as authorities ramp up efforts in pollution control and emissions reduction in the "battle for blue skies."
Kerala's early heat surge signals climate shift
28 Feb 2025
Kerala, known for its clear skies and balmy weather during the early part of the year, which attracts tourists, has been grappling with an early start of unusually hot weather this season. Scientists attribute this to a mix of local weather conditions and long-term climate change impacts.
America's "first car-free neighborhood" is going pretty good, actually?
28 Feb 2025
Since breaking ground in 2021, Culdesac Tempe has had its share of detractors and skeptics. But none of them live there.
Companies urged to pay into new UN fund to help protect nature
27 Feb 2025
Companies who use the genetic coding of the natural world to design products ranging from weight-loss drugs to cosmetics faced renewed calls on Tuesday to help pay to protect it as a dedicated fund was launched at a U.N. conference in Rome.
Nauru sells citizenship to help fund relocations as sea levels rise
27 Feb 2025
A new 'golden passport' scheme aims to raise funds to relocate people inland as climate change raises sea levels.
How much do rich nations owe Africa for climate damage?
27 Feb 2025
Wealthy nations owe African countries some 50 times more for climate damage than the debt Africa owes them, ActionAid report says.
Europe's impossible choice: Which industries should survive the green transition?
27 Feb 2025
One German aluminum factory decided to go green and close its smelter. The EU faces a similar choice, with Europe's future at stake.
RFK Jr., onetime environmentalist, kills climate change programs
27 Feb 2025
In 1999, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an environmental lawyer, was named by Time magazine as a "hero of the planet" for his pioneering work to clean up America's waterways. On February 14 of this year, his second day as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he ended HHS funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health, a move that will likely terminate this work.
Coffee grounds and mushroom spores can be 3D printed into a compostable plastic alternative, researchers say
27 Feb 2025
In a new study, researchers have made a promising discovery: a compostable material that can serve as an alternative to plastic. The material is made from a combination of used coffee grounds and spores from Reishi mushrooms that are made into a paste, then 3D printed.
EU to make most companies exempt from carbon border levy, draft shows
26 Feb 2025
The European Commission will propose exemptions for "the vast majority" of companies covered by the European Union's carbon border levy on the grounds that they produce only 1% of emissions in the scheme, a draft proposal showed.
In Rome, talks to protect Earth's biodiversity resume with money topping the agenda
26 Feb 2025
An annual United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year will resume its work Tuesday in Rome with money at the top of the agenda.
After US retreat, countries clash over who should make up Green Climate Fund shortfall
26 Feb 2025
At this week's board meeting, Germany and Sweden encouraged wealthier developing nations to step up - an idea rejected by Saudi Arabia.
Greenpeace risks bankruptcy at US pipeline trial
26 Feb 2025
Greenpeace has said that a lawsuit brought by an energy company over the Dakota Access Pipeline could wipe it out.
In Trump's shadow, IPCC set to make key decision on timing of climate science review
26 Feb 2025
With the US not expected to show up at the IPCC meeting, countries have a final chance to agree whether assessment reports could inform the next UN scorecard of climate action.
BP to ditch renewables goals and return focus to fossil fuels
26 Feb 2025
BP's chief executive will scrap a target to increase renewable generation 20-fold by 2030, returning the focus to fossil fuels, as part of a strategy shift announced on Wednesday to tackle investor concerns over earnings, two sources told Reuters.
Countries warn against delaying global climate assessment after US exit
25 Feb 2025
The European Union, Britain and climate-vulnerable developing countries have raised concerns about delays to the next global assessment of climate change, by the U.N.'s climate science panel, after the U.S. administration withdrew from the process.
Conservative election victory set to narrow climate policy focus in Germany
25 Feb 2025
Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz' conservatives have won Germany's snap election, while the current government parties booked significant losses, indicating a reduced focus on climate policies in a future government.
More than half of nations fail to protect 30% of land and sea in UN nature plans
25 Feb 2025
More than half of countries have not committed to protecting 30% of their land and sea for nature by 2030 in plans submitted to the UN - despite signing a global agreement to do so less than three years ago.
Nuclear path would blow out Australia's emissions targets, new modelling shows
25 Feb 2025
Australia's peak climate body has published new modelling showing the Coalition's proposed nuclear pathway would result in an additional 2 billion tonnes of emissions in the atmosphere.
How Trump gutted climate policy in 30 days
25 Feb 2025
President Donald Trump's promised assault on federal climate policies is sweeping across Washington, state capitals and private industry with a speed that's surprising even some of his supporters and critics -- and could leave an impact on the planet's future well after his presidency.
Britain's net zero economy 'booming'
25 Feb 2025
Green sector growing at triple the rate of the UK economy, providing high-wage jobs and increasing energy security.
South African leader urges unity to tackle global challenges
24 Feb 2025
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has told G20 foreign ministers that a commitment to multilateralism and international law is vital to solving global crises.
Renewable energy is a less costly, more efficient climate solution than carbon capture, study finds
24 Feb 2025
The benefits of investing in clean energy, including solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower, make renewables a more cost-effective option compared to carbon capture technology, according to a new study.
Why the Science Based Targets initiative should not allow carbon offsets
24 Feb 2025
The Science Based Targets initiative is currently reviewing its Corporate Net-Zero Standard. In April 2024, SBTi's Board of Trustees announced that carbon offsets "could function as an additional tool to tackle climate change".
The Tories set the UK net zero target. Now they are dumping it
24 Feb 2025
The 2050 goal "leaves us economically worse off," Conservative energy chief Andrew Bowie said.
US to pull delegation from UN climate science meeting
24 Feb 2025
State Department officials won't participate in next week's meeting of the top UN climate science panel, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.
How 'digital sequence information' can generate funds for biodiversity
24 Feb 2025
Public and private databases - headquartered mainly in the global north - often source this genetic information from plants, animals, bacteria and fungi found in biodiversity-rich, global-south countries.
Funding for Pacific Islands to help manage tuna threatened by climate change
21 Feb 2025
The New Zealand government is stumping up a $25 million grant to help 14 Pacific Island nations manage one third of the world's tuna in the face of the climate crisis.
World's glaciers melting faster than ever recorded
21 Feb 2025
The world's glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded under the impact of climate change, according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date.
EU eyes funding foreign LNG projects to lower prices
21 Feb 2025
Brussels is exploring whether to back overseas fossil fuel infrastructure amid trade talks with the U.S.
'I'm not a scientist': Net Zero opponent Nigel Farage admits climate ignorance
21 Feb 2025
The Reform UK leader reiterated false climate claims at Jordan Peterson's Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event in London.
The vicious cycle pushing Bangladeshi climate migrants into modern slavery
21 Feb 2025
More than nine in 10 migrants who left some of Bangladesh's most climate-affected areas to find work experienced forms of forced labour, researchers have found.
The climate crisis is a cost-of-living issue for Australia. My generation will be the first to pay for it
21 Feb 2025
OPINION: Politicians have divorced the issue of global heating from soaring prices - Australians must take bold action at the ballot box.
Bison are bringing back biodiversity to Britain
21 Feb 2025
In just a few years, the only free-roaming bison herd in the U.K. has already made a tangible difference in the surrounding ecosystem.
How Trump's 'drill, baby, drill' pledge is affecting other countries
20 Feb 2025
The UN climate summit in the United Arab Emirates in 2023 ended with a call to "transition away from fossil fuels". It was applauded as a historic milestone in global climate action.
China's clean energy investments nearing scale of global fossil investments
20 Feb 2025
China's clean energy investments in 2024 amounted to 6.8tn yuan ($940bn), nearing the scale of $1.12tn global investment in fossil fuels, according to a new analysis by UK-based Carbon Brief.
Brazil will join OPEC+, group of oil-exporting nations, months before hosting UN climate summit
20 Feb 2025
Brazil's government on Tuesday approved joining OPEC+, a group of major oil-exporting nations, signalling the country's evolution into a major oil state just nine months ahead of hosting the United Nations' annual climate summit.
US: Senior Department of Justice prosecutor quit after being told to investigate Biden climate spending
20 Feb 2025
The top criminal prosecutor in the Washington, DC, US Attorney's Office, Denise Cheung, resigned Tuesday after declining a request from her Trump-appointed superiors to open a grand jury investigation she viewed as premature.
Conserving land in wealthy countries may be making things worse somewhere else: research
20 Feb 2025
Researchers provide a detailed account of how "biodiversity leakage" happens--and how to tackle the often overlooked problem.
There are many ways Trump could trigger a global collapse. Here's how to survive if that happens
20 Feb 2025
OPINION: It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers - the rest of us will have to fend for ourselves.
Was the world's most influential climate target doomed from the start?
19 Feb 2025
As the world passes 1.5 degrees C of warming, a Cambridge scholar argues that putting a deadline on climate action was the wrong way to frame it.
Brazil asks UN to ditch proposed levy on global shipping
19 Feb 2025
Brazil has asked the UN to throw out plans for a new levy on global shipping that would raise funds to fight the climate crisis, despite playing host to the next UN climate summit.
Datacentres should be forced to invest in wind and solar energy, all states agree – except Queensland
Wed 13 May 2026
Power hungry datacentres that are growing to meet the demands of artificial intelligence could be forced to invest in enough new solar and wind generation to completely cover their electricity needs.
US EPA moves to speed clean air permits for power plants, industry
Wed 13 May 2026
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would speed up the process for large polluters to obtain clean air permits, the latest move by the Trump administration to ease regulatory burdens on American power plants and industry.
China’s leadership calls for ‘strict control’ of fossil fuels
28 Apr 2026
Chinese government leaders published a policy document on 22 April – Earth Day – calling for stricter controls on fossil-fuel consumption and greater oversight of heavy emitters.
Inequality causing 100,000 extra deaths a year from heat and cold in Europe
Tue 12 May 2026
Economic inequality adds more than 100,000 deaths to the vast toll from heat and cold in Europe each year, research has found.
Nature recovery zones inspired by Attenborough
Tue 12 May 2026
A wildlife trust has been inspired by Sir David Attenborough's climate change mantra to designate 11 nature recovery zones in honour of the broadcaster's 100th birthday.
Carbon capture ‘doesn’t work’: Former British Columbia premier
Fri 8 May 2026
Former British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell warned the costly, troubled technology has failed to deliver, undercutting a central justification for billions in public subsidies and new oil infrastructure.
Climate change, socioeconomic shifts threaten Nepal’s yak herding traditions
7 May 2026
According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), warming temperatures are fundamentally altering Himalayan high-altitude ecosystems.
How climate change threatens the economic backbone of the Pacific
4 May 2026
The vast Pacific Ocean and the islands dotted within it produce more than half of the world's tuna.
‘Triple whammy of climate chaos’: Why Antarctica's sea ice collapse is no longer a mystery
Mon 11 May 2026
Scientists have finally identified the ‘triple whammy’ behind Antarctica’s dramatic collapse, shedding new light on the chain reaction that has pushed its sea ice to record lows.
With its first marine reserve, Ghana protects its ocean to secure its future
5 May 2026
Comment: Last month, Ghana made news when it declared its first marine reserve and sited it in one of the nation’s most ecologically and biologically significant marine environments.
The country where lethal hantavirus cases are on the rise. Experts blame climate change
Wed 13 May 2026
Experts believe environmental degradation caused by climate change and human activity is contributing to its spread by allowing the rodents that transmit the virus to thrive in new areas.
UN methane alert system expanded to coal and waste sectors after Indian landfill named among world’s top emitters
6 May 2026
The United Nations is expanding its methane monitoring system to cover coal mines and waste facilities, after satellite analysis identified a landfill in India among the world’s three largest methane-emitting sites.
