International: All stories
China hopes US will continue climate change collaboration whoever wins election, official says
5 Nov 2024
China hopes the United States will be able to continue to cooperate with other countries on climate change, whatever the outcome of the presidential election next week, a senior government official said on Friday.
We are in danger of forgetting what the climate crisis means: extinction
5 Nov 2024
COMMENT: The catastrophic floods in Valencia remind us that the fate of human beings and animals is what is truly important.
Heat-related deaths and diseases rising due to climate change, experts warn
5 Nov 2024
Lancet report says average person experienced 50 more days of dangerous temperatures than normal due to climate crisis.
Prince William begins a visit to South Africa that focuses on climate and the environment
5 Nov 2024
Prince William will speak with young environmentalists and local fishermen during a visit to South Africa starting Monday that will see his annual Earthshot Prize award $1.2 million in grants to five organisations for innovative environmental ideas.
Austria's alpine refuges and trails crumble as climate warms
5 Nov 2024
Experts say warmer temperatures across the Alps are accelerating glacier melt and thawing permafrost, the year-round ice that binds together giant slabs of rock.
Spain’s apocalyptic floods show two undeniable truths: the climate crisis is getting worse and Big Oil is killing us
4 Nov 2024
COMMENT: If past experience is any guide, the world’s reaction to the floods in Spain last week will be similar to that of motorway drivers at a crash scene: slow down, take in the horror, outwardly express sympathy, inwardly give thanks that fate picked someone else – and foot on the accelerator.
Climate-fuelled extreme weather is hiking up car insurance rates
4 Nov 2024
Home insurers have raised premiums after extreme weather events. Now car insurers in the U.S. are doing the same thing.
An overlooked solution for climate-friendly buildings: Better floor plans
4 Nov 2024
A new algorithm-based method of designing floor plans for apartment buildings could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring more efficient use of space, according to a new study.
Nine years after the Paris Agreement, the UN confronts the world’s failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
4 Nov 2024
In one of three new reports on emissions, UN officials went as far as saying that the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius may be out of reach.
UN report obscures meat’s true climate impact
4 Nov 2024
A United Nations climate report made headlines last week with a stark warning: the planet is on track to heat by 2.6 to 3.1 degrees Celsius within the century.
Deadliest weather made worse by climate change - scientists
1 Nov 2024
Human-caused climate change made the ten deadliest extreme weather events of the last 20 years more intense and more likely, according to new analysis.
BRICS countries reject global climate action
1 Nov 2024
Sovereignty was the theme of this year’s BRICS Summit, the 16th annual conference of major oil producing and rapidly developing countries.
Authoritarianism is on the rise. Is climate change to blame?
1 Nov 2024
There's evidence that global warming creates fertile ground for political strongmen to come to power.
The case for Kamala Harris in a burning world
1 Nov 2024
By Jeff Goodell | COMMENT: The race between Harris and Trump is not about saving the planet. It’s about saving ourselves.
California's schools are embracing vegan meals
1 Nov 2024
How have plant-based lunches spread so successfully? Credit environmentally conscious students — and a handful of state funding programmes.
COP29 must kickstart stalled progress on the lifeline that is adaptation
1 Nov 2024
Targets for adapting to climate change are meaningless without the means to act. It’s time for a clear adaptation finance goal.
Spain battles deadliest flood disaster in decades as death toll rises
31 Oct 2024
Spain is enduring its worst flooding disaster in decades, with at least 95 people dead and dozens more missing, after huge rains swept the eastern province of Valencia and beyond.
Planet-heating pollutants in atmosphere hit record levels in 2023
31 Oct 2024
Carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 10% in just two decades, reports World Meteorological Organization.
Fossil fuel transition pledge left out of COP16 draft agreement
31 Oct 2024
An earlier draft decision at the UN nature summit included a call to transition away from fossil fuels – but it has been cut from the latest version.
Mercedes-Benz opens Europe’s first battery recycling plant
31 Oct 2024
Mercedes-Benz has opened Europe’s first battery recycling plant with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process, making it the first car manufacturer to close the battery recycling loop with an in-house facility.
Microsoft clinches ocean-based carbon removal deal
31 Oct 2024
The tech giant will contract an initial 1,333 tons of carbon dioxide removal from Ebb Carbon, with options to purchase up to 350,000 tons of removal over 10 years.
Trump megadonor’s plan to change US democracy
31 Oct 2024
A Texas fracking billionaire wants to rewrite the US Constitution to advance climate denial and other extreme far-right priorities.
NZ adopts 'underwhelming' Commonwealth Ocean Declaration
30 Oct 2024
Commonwealth nations including Aotearoa and Pacific Island states have adopted the Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration.
UN COP16 nature talks gridlocked as conservation funding trickles in
30 Oct 2024
Advocacy groups said the pledges – which brings the total raised by the fund to about $400 million – fell far short of the billions of dollars envisioned for the fund.
Alarm call as world's trees slide towards extinction
30 Oct 2024
Scientists assessing dangers posed to the world’s trees have revealed that more than a third of species are facing extinction in the wild.
US and European hydrogen stock prices collapse as prospects deflate
30 Oct 2024
Projects face lower than expected demand, regulatory uncertainties and growing investor scepticism.
PNG will not attend UN COP29 summit: Foreign Minister Tkatchenko
30 Oct 2024
Tkatchenko said: “Papua New Guinea is making this stand for the benefit of all small island nations. We will no longer tolerate empty promises and inaction, while our people suffer the devastating consequences of climate change.”
Landmark court case sees activist group sue gas giant Santos for allegedly misleading investors
30 Oct 2024
Gas giant Santos told investors it had a clear plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 but had no evidence to back it up, the Federal Court has heard during the first morning of litigation against the gas giant.
COP this – gas is not a climate solution
30 Oct 2024
Hosting COP31 climate talks is an opportunity to showcase South Australia to the world, writes Belinda Noble, but not if we allow it to promote gas.
Planet will warm as much as 3.1°C under current policies: UN Report
29 Oct 2024
Without greater action, the planet will warm as much as 3.1 degrees Celsius, with a “massive gap between rhetoric and reality” that must be closed by new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement, according to the UN.
UK’s next Paris pledge should commit to ‘81% emissions cut by 2035’: govt advisors
29 Oct 2024
The UK should make an international pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 81% below 1990 levels by 2035, according to the government’s advisory Climate Change Committee.
More companies ditch junk carbon offsets but new buyers loom
29 Oct 2024
Corporate purchasers are moving away from projects rated ineffective by a watchdog even as dealmaking at the UN climate summit offers potential for a comeback.
Do bike lanes really cause more traffic congestion? Here's what the research says
29 Oct 2024
Studies from around the world show bike lanes ease congestion, reduce emissions and are a boon to businesses.
Japanese youth sue utilities over climate impact
29 Oct 2024
A group of 16 Japanese young people is suing utility firms over their carbon emissions, in the latest case worldwide of activists using courts to press for action on climate change.
Investors are ramping up climate advocacy, with all eyes on COP29
29 Oct 2024
Investors the world over are calling on governments to use every tool in their toolbox, from fiscal carrots to regulatory sticks, to ensure industries can pivot and prosper in a clean energy future.
A wind power crisis is holding back the world’s green energy goal
25 Oct 2024
While solar deployment is accelerating, bottlenecks in the wind industry are jeopardising the chance to meet a global target to triple renewable capacity by 2030.
Earth is likely to have its hottest year on record – again
25 Oct 2024
NASA’s top climate scientist says the planet is being tested and ‘we have not yet passed that test.’
Why the time is right for Australia’s second shot at carbon pricing
25 Oct 2024
By Ross Garnaut | OPINION: Australia now has a government and parliament wanting to build Australia as the renewable energy superpower of the zero-carbon world economy.
China's Q3 economic losses from natural calamities surge
25 Oct 2024
China's third-quarter economic losses due to natural disasters, from super typhoons to floods, more than doubled from the first six months of 2024, reaching $32.3 billion.
Eighty-eight countries to present oral arguments in international court’s climate hearing
25 Oct 2024
The International Court of Justice will determine the existing financial liability of countries for their contribution to climate change, with over 100 countries and organisations presenting over 12 days at the hearing starting in December.
United States: 'Worrying confluence' of flood risk, social vulnerability and climate change denial
25 Oct 2024
In certain parts of the United States, especially Appalachia, New England and the Northwest, the ability of residents to prepare for and respond to flooding is being undercut on three different levels.
Key Atlantic current could collapse soon, 'impacting the entire world for centuries to come,' leading climate scientists warn
24 Oct 2024
Forty-four of the world's leading climate scientists have called on Nordic policymakers to address the potentially imminent and "devastating" collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents.
Four lessons from 30 years of US-China climate cooperation
24 Oct 2024
A look back reveals four crucial lessons for future engagement and global progress.
Greek PM deplores worst climate conditions in four decades
24 Oct 2024
Wildfire-plagued Greece has suffered its worst year in terms of climate conditions in four decades in 2024, its prime minister told parliament on Wednesday.
US disaster loan program exhausts funds after Hurricane Helene
24 Oct 2024
The U.S. Small Business Administration said on Tuesday it has exhausted funds for its disaster loan program following increased demand from Hurricane Helene, with the U.S. Congress being in recess.
American university requires students to take a class on climate change
24 Oct 2024
To better prepare students for a future shaped by climate change, University of California, San Diego is requiring students to take at least one course relating to climate change in order to meet graduation requirements.
King Charles to face climate protests as he heads to Samoa for Commonwealth summit
23 Oct 2024
King Charles just faced a protest in Australia and he could be confronted with another at the upcoming Commonwealth summit, where the UK is under mounting pressure to provide financial reparations for its role in the climate crisis as well as slavery.
Germany earmarks $3 billion for decarbonisation subsidies
23 Oct 2024
The German government has earmarked up to 2.8 billion euros to support 15 industrial companies in their bid to decarbonise under its first round of "climate protection contracts".
Pacific and Caribbean island nations call for the first universal carbon levy on international shipping emissions
23 Oct 2024
The International Maritime Organization has been asked to enact a carbon levy of $150 per ton of emissions from large freight and passenger ships. The IMO’s 175 member nations have until next year to vote.
Cities face ‘severe degradation’ without meaningful climate action, warn experts
23 Oct 2024
Cities that fail to take meaningful climate action face a future of severe degradation with infrastructure collapse and environmental deterioration, climate and health experts warn.
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.
