International: All stories
Could permeable pavement ease flooding woes in New York City?
2 Sep 2024
It can’t help cities control the weather, but by slowing the flow of stormwater, permeable pavement can lessen flooding from big storms.
Changing how the rich eat would free up two times the emissions required for the diets of the poor to grow
2 Sep 2024
If we changed the world’s consumption patterns to focus more on plants and less on meat, we could reduce global emissions by almost 20%, a new study shows.
‘Immoral and unacceptable’: Tuvalu calls on Australia to set urgent deadline to end fossil fuels
30 Aug 2024
A day after agreement was ratified at the Pacific Island Forum, the country’s climate minister says ‘root cause of climate change’ must be addressed.
Canada wildfires last year released more carbon than several countries
30 Aug 2024
Wildfires that swept Canada's woodlands last year released more greenhouse gases than some of the largest emitting countries, calling into question national emissions budgets that rely on forests to be carbon stores.
GOP-led states urge Supreme Court to pause EPA plan meant to cut methane emissions by 80%
30 Aug 2024
Republican officials in 24 states asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to halt a Biden administration effort to reduce emissions of the planet-warming gas methane, adding to a series of emergency appeals challenging environmental regulations.
Record number of Americans killed by heat in 2023: Research
30 Aug 2024
Extreme heat killed more Americans in 2023 than any other year over nearly a quarter century of records, according to research.
New £38 million centre to study ‘alternative proteins’ launched in UK
30 Aug 2024
Scientists will explore whether lab-grown meat or proteins from sources such as insects, plants, fungi, and microbes could form part of the UK diet.
BBC accused of doing PR for major polluters
29 Aug 2024
The broadcaster’s in-house content studio has been paid to promote fossil fuel firms and petrostates with a history of persecuting journalists.
EU faces lawsuits over emissions rules, 'green' label for planes
29 Aug 2024
Environmental campaigners have taken the European Commission to court, seeking to force Brussels to upgrade its emissions rules for 2030 and, in a second case, scrap rules that label some planes as climate-friendly investments.
Expect energy shocks if producers assume oil demand dip by 2050, says Exxon
29 Aug 2024
The world is in for an energy shock if oil producers start assuming that a dip in global demand will occur by 2050, according to ExxonMobil.
More than 40% of world’s electricity came from zero-carbon sources in 2023
29 Aug 2024
Investments in renewables continue to outpace fossil fuels, a BloombergNEF report finds.
UN chief issues climate SOS, warns of ‘unimaginable’ catastrophe
28 Aug 2024
Speaking at a meeting of Pacific Island leaders in Tonga, Antonio Guterres warned the region was ‘uniquely exposed’.
Caribbean islands hope UN court will end ‘debt cycle’ caused by climate crisis
28 Aug 2024
The outcome of an international court case on climate change obligations could strengthen the legal position of Caribbean islands claiming damages from developed countries after natural disasters, lawyers say.
Thwaites Glacier won’t collapse like dominoes as feared, study finds, but that doesn’t mean the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is stable
28 Aug 2024
Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier got its nickname the “Doomsday Glacier” for its potential to flood coastlines around the world if it collapsed.
Australian homeowners struggling to afford insurance as climate risks grow, report says
28 Aug 2024
Home insurance is becoming unaffordable for a growing number of Australian households as increased climate threats drive up their premiums.
China coal plant approvals plunge as green power grows: Study
28 Aug 2024
China approved the building of nine gigawatts of coal power generation in the first half of 2024, down by more than 80 per cent compared with a year earlier as the nation adds renewable energy capacity in record amounts.
Solar above, batteries below: here’s how warehouses and shopping centres could produce 25% of Australia’s power
27 Aug 2024
Imagine if Australian cities became major producers of clean energy, rather than relying on far-flung solar and wind farms.
Floods swamp Bangladesh as nation finds its feet after protests
27 Aug 2024
Floods triggered by torrential rains have swamped a swath of low-lying Bangladesh, adding to the new government's challenges after weeks of political turmoil.
1,500 policies to fix global warming were implemented in 41 countries. Here are the ones that worked best
27 Aug 2024
As the need for effective global climate action becomes ever more urgent, a “first-of-its-kind” analysis has identified policies around the world that have done the most to rein in planet-heating pollution.
Communicating consensus strengthens beliefs about climate change, finds 27-country study
27 Aug 2024
Climate scientists have long agreed that humans are largely responsible for climate change.
Will we be ready? Geoengineering policy lags far behind pace of climate change
27 Aug 2024
The history of geoengineering policymaking has been piecemeal over past decades, with U.N. bodies failing to create or implement rigorous binding international regulatory frameworks.
Five charts: How climate change is driving up food prices around the world
26 Aug 2024
Global food prices have seen huge fluctuations in recent years, soaring to record highs in 2022 before dropping in 2023 and rising again slowly this year.
Australia passes landmark bill mandating climate risk disclosures for companies
26 Aug 2024
New reporting standards require climate resilience assessments under both 1.5°C and 2.5°C warming scenarios.
Pacific Islands leaders to meet as region faces ‘polycrisis’ of threats
26 Aug 2024
The last time UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held a summit with the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum, he made international news as he stood thigh-deep, dressed in a suit and tie, in the sea off the coast of Tuvalu.
Summer heat arrives in August, threatening to break all-time Australian winter temperature records
26 Aug 2024
Extraordinary August heat is developing across Australia, causing temperatures to spike up to 16 degrees Celsius above average while threatening all-time seasonal records in multiple states.
Kamala Harris avoids getting specific on climate change — for now
26 Aug 2024
Harris has backed away from past climate policies to avoid breaking with Biden. How long will that last?
Heat deaths in Europe may triple by end of the century, study finds
26 Aug 2024
Countries in south most at risk, with rise likely to outstrip fall in cold-related deaths if global heating hits 3C or 4C.
Which governments are backpedalling on climate commitments?
23 Aug 2024
New Zealand, Australia, the US and the UK are among countries that have revised, or may revise, climate commitments for fiscal ends.
Millions broil as southern US heat dome causes record highs and wildfires
23 Aug 2024
Extreme heat affecting nearly 23m people across US south-west and pushing Texas’s electrical grid to the limit.
The scientist who proposes pumping sulfuric acid into the atmosphere to cool the planet
23 Aug 2024
American physicist David Keith is the best-known promoter of solar geoengineering, a controversial alternative in the fight against climate change.
The 1.5°C target is dead, but climate action needn't be
23 Aug 2024
For the first time, climate scientists have explicitly said it will be impossible to limit peak warming to 1.5°C. Now our focus should be on taking action, not meaningless platitudes and slogans.
Global warming may be factor in deadly Italian shipwreck, climatologist says
23 Aug 2024
Global warming may have contributed to the freak storm that sank a luxury British-flagged yacht off the coast of Sicily, Italian climatologist Luca Mercalli told Reuters.
Democratic platform calls for net-zero agricultural emissions by 2050
22 Aug 2024
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the climate-smart initiative will spur the development of sustainable farm products and markets for them.
How ‘green’ electricity from wood harms the planet — and people
22 Aug 2024
Many nations have embraced burning wood pellets to produce electricity — under the assumption that it is carbon neutral.
China is backing off coal power plant approvals after a 2022-23 surge that alarmed climate experts
22 Aug 2024
Approvals for new coal-fired power plants in China dropped sharply in the first half of this year, after a flurry of permits in the previous two years raised concern about the government’s commitment to limiting climate change.
You can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C
22 Aug 2024
Like the proverbial frog in the heating pan of water, we refuse to respond to the climate and ecological crisis with any sense of urgency.
The livestock lobby is waging war on ‘lab-grown meat’
22 Aug 2024
OPINION: These new proteins could be our best hope of averting catastrophe. But governments are trying to have them banned.
China reports record high flood incidents with frequent, heavy rainfall across north and south
21 Aug 2024
Since the start of this year's flood season, China's major rivers have experienced 25 significant flood events, the highest number recorded since data collection began in 1998.
I’ve cancelled my holiday because of climate change
21 Aug 2024
OPINION: Extreme heat and the associated effects of climate change will stop us going to traditional resorts.
Azerbaijan raises alarm over Caspian Sea's 'catastrophic' shrinking
21 Aug 2024
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin his concern over what he said was the "catastrophic" shrinking of the Caspian Sea.
Humans can work with nature to solve big environmental problems – but there’s no quick fix
21 Aug 2024
“Nature-based solutions” are gaining momentum in environmental policy, including in Australia.
Climate change is making the Middle East uninhabitable
21 Aug 2024
ANALYSIS: It’s been a brutal summer for the region—and the effects are spreading to the rest of the world.
EVs are starting to overtake gas-powered cars in a surprising place
20 Aug 2024
Ethiopia has banned the import of all gas-powered passenger vehicles — becoming the first nation in the world to do so.
How methane emissions are pushing the Amazon towards environmental catastrophe
20 Aug 2024
As the world heats up, methane released from thawing permafrost and warming tropical wetlands is intensifying climate breakdown. But curbing it is achievable.
The Mediterranean Sea reaches new record temperatures
20 Aug 2024
The daily median surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea reached 28.9°C, beating the record of 28.71°C measured on July 24, 2023.
Switzerland and Canada propose ways to expand climate finance donors
20 Aug 2024
Detailed criteria would include China and Gulf States in the donor base. But experts recommend incentives not coercion.
Harris stirs hope for a new chapter in climate action
20 Aug 2024
Although expected to follow in Biden's pragmatic footsteps, her record as a prosecutor and voice for justice has environmentalists looking to the future.
Countries' climate obligations could be legally defined at top UN court in December
20 Aug 2024
A date has been set for public hearings at the International Court of Justice which could help define countries' legal obligations to fight climate change.
Nearly 68 million people reeling from drought in Southern Africa
19 Aug 2024
Seventeen percent of people across the region need aid amid the climate change-fuelled drought.
‘The wells are salty’: how the invading ocean is contaminating Vanuatu’s water
19 Aug 2024
As the climate crisis causes the Pacific to rise, the archipelago’s water is increasingly unsafe to drink.
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.
