International: All stories
Young trees are not responding well to climate change
8 Nov 2023
In the depths of verdant forests, where the tranquility is often only disturbed by the sounds of wildlife and rustling leaves, a silent crisis is unfolding amongst young trees.
Aotearoa could make a real impact on cutting greenhouse gas emissions internationally: Thomas Pogge
7 Nov 2023
By Jeremy Rose | The director of Yale University’s Global Justice Program, Thomas Pogge, says for a relatively small investment of, say, US$100 million, New Zealand could make a significant impact on cutting the greenhouse gas emissions of the developing world.
We can now only stay under 1.5°C target if we achieve net zero by 2034
7 Nov 2023
The amount of carbon dioxide we can still emit to have just a 50 per cent chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C is even smaller than previously thought.
Banks pumped more than $150bn in to companies running ‘carbon bomb’ projects in 2022
7 Nov 2023
Projects that risk 1.5C heating target operated by companies receiving financing from European, Chinese and US banks.
What the ‘underwhelming’ Three Basins Summit means for tropical forests
7 Nov 2023
Rainforest countries from three continents agreed at the Three Basins Summit in Brazzaville to work together to finance and protect their ecosystems – but failed to firm up a unified alliance.
Capturing carbon with seaweed: what we do and don’t know, and what we’re unsure about
7 Nov 2023
Towering underwater kelp forests are often likened to trees, but seaweed carbon sequestration is far more complex than in soil-bound ecosystems.
Pope says he will attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai, a first by a pontiff
7 Nov 2023
Pope Francis said that he will attend the COP28 climate conference starting next month in Dubai, the first time a pontiff will be at the U.N. environmental meeting since they began in 1995.
Why can’t we just quit cows?
7 Nov 2023
Eating less beef, cheese, and ice cream would slash emissions. If only it were that easy.
Global heating is accelerating, warns scientist who sounded climate alarm in the 80s
6 Nov 2023
Study delivers dire warning although rate of increase is debated by some scientists amid a record-breaking year of heat.
Scientists say only transformational change will avoid environmental tipping points
6 Nov 2023
Ahead of COP28, UN-backed scientists warn that to avoid six irreversible climatic and ecological changes, the root causes must be addressed.
Australia’s bid to host climate talks is welcome but its words must be matched with action
6 Nov 2023
The climate minister of Pacific Island Vanuatu says those choosing the Cop31 host should examine Australia’s gas expansion plans.
Pasifika activists say climate inaction is a violation of human rights
6 Nov 2023
The Pacific Islands are on the frontline of climate change, with the future for many living there becoming increasingly uncertain.
As climate threats grow, poor countries still aren't getting enough money to prepare
6 Nov 2023
The world is facing more extreme weather that scientists say is fueled by human-driven climate change.
Climate scientists are working with indigenous tribes
6 Nov 2023
Native peoples have long collected environmental data. Now scientists are cataloguing these observations and learning how they're affecting indigenous communities globally.
COP28 Presidency launches net zero transition charter
3 Nov 2023
Charter launched to drive corporate climate action amid flurry of pre-COP activity, including confirmation that King Charles will attend climate talks.
Levy on aviation and maritime firms should be considered
3 Nov 2023
Ireland’s environment minister made the case for the World Bank to administer any agreed climate loss and damage funding.
Cigarette-style climate warnings on food could cut meat consumption, study suggests
3 Nov 2023
Durham University research found warnings of environmental or health impacts reduced choice of meals containing meat by 7-10%.
Philanthropic giving to climate change stayed flat in 2022
3 Nov 2023
Despite increased urgency of reducing emissions, a new analysis shows that total philanthropic giving by foundations and individuals remained essentially flat from 2021 through 2022.
California startup to 'sponge' CO2 from atmosphere
3 Nov 2023
Scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air is imperative if humanity is to limit global warming, experts say, and a California startup says it can do just that, using limestone as a carbon-sucking sponge.
New approach: save tropical forests by restoring faith in carbon credits
3 Nov 2023
Valuing the carbon storage potential of natural habitats aims to help restore faith in offset schemes, by enabling investors to directly compare carbon credit pricing across projects.
Deep divisions ahead of crucial UN climate talks
2 Nov 2023
There are already signs that deep divisions could hamper progress at the UN's crucial COP28 climate summit.
What is a 'carbon bomb' project? Examples and climate impact
2 Nov 2023
Recent reports have revealed that banks pumped more than $150 billion into companies with “carbon bomb” projects that could destroy humanity’s last chance to stop the climate crisis in the past year.
This California desert oasis has lessons for climate change
2 Nov 2023
Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is so green right now it’s hard to believe it’s in the middle of the desert.
When idiot savants do climate economics
2 Nov 2023
How an elite clique of math-addled economists hijacked climate policy.
Engineers create cool water patches to protect fish from climate change
2 Nov 2023
Cold-loving fishes, like Atlantic salmon, may get their own version of air conditioning to cope with high summer water temperatures.
A new hope for concentrating solar power
2 Nov 2023
Concentrating solar power systems are getting an energy efficiency makeover and a new job: producing solar fuels.
A critical meeting before the big COP28 summit will tackle thorny issues
1 Nov 2023
Set against the backdrop of heightened Middle Eastern tensions, the United Arab Emirates is hosting a series of key meetings this week to prepare for the upcoming UN Climate Summit in Dubai.
US pushes to ensure nuclear “is not forgotten” in COP renewables pledge
1 Nov 2023
The United States is working behind the scenes to ensure nuclear power is not excluded from an expected global pledge to boost renewables at the upcoming climate summit in Dubai.
Why many scientists are now saying climate change is an all-out ‘emergency’
1 Nov 2023
Escalating rhetoric comes as new study shows there’s just six years left to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius at current CO2 emissions rate.
The Beetaloo gas field is a climate bomb. How did CSIRO modelling make it look otherwise?
1 Nov 2023
As Australia braces for a summer of projected extreme heatwaves and bushfires, the fossil gas industry is gearing up for a truly enormous new fracking project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.
Who were the worst of the worst climate polluters in 2022?
1 Nov 2023
US Environmental Protection Agency’s annual greenhouse gas report for large emitters show some facilities slashed their emissions while others polluted more than ever.
Caterpillars struggle to survive climate changes: study
1 Nov 2023
Research on nature reserves and at an allotment has revealed how susceptible caterpillars are to climate change.
Inside the campaign that put an oil boss in charge of a climate summit
31 Oct 2023
Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the UAE’s national oil company, secured the COP28 presidency despite questions over his green credentials.
Calling this "climate change" is not enough
31 Oct 2023
Journalists and meteorologists must go further, and call rapid hurricane intensification a symptom of fossil fuels.
The climate and nature crisis: one indivisible global health emergency
31 Oct 2023
Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations, political leaders, and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe.
Leaders convene to protect tropical forests
31 Oct 2023
Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, had the privilege of hosting the summit of the three major tropical forest basins on the planet.
Shipping contributes heavily to climate change. Are green ships the solution?
31 Oct 2023
On a bright September day on the harbour in Copenhagen, several hundred people gathered to welcome the official arrival of Laura Maersk.
The carbon-offset market’s broken promises
30 Oct 2023
As businesses come under pressure to meet net-zero targets, they are increasingly investing in forest-protection projects to cancel out their carbon emissions.
Texas bets big on undersea carbon storage
30 Oct 2023
Over the last century, the State of Texas has reaped billions of dollars by allowing companies to burrow into the floor of the Gulf of Mexico to extract oil and gas.
How Hurricane Otis shocked forecasters in a "nightmare scenario"
30 Oct 2023
Hurricane Otis' extremely rapid intensification — so close to the Mexican coast — was one of the biggest, most high-stakes hurricane forecasting failures in years.
World far off track on pledges to end deforestation by 2030 - report
30 Oct 2023
The world is moving too slowly to meet pledges to end deforestation by 2030, with the destruction worsening in 2022, according to a report by a coalition of environmental organizations.
Bolivia forest fires shutter thousands of schools
30 Oct 2023
Tens of thousands of Bolivian pupils had their classes suspended as schools closed their doors due to air pollution caused by massive forest fires, the education minister.
The world solved acid rain. We can also solve climate change.
30 Oct 2023
The world feels like it’s being set alight; wildfires in Canada and Europe, floods in China, and a never-ending stream of recording-breaking heat waves have garnered numerous headlines.
Earth close to ‘risk tipping points’ that will damage our ability to deal with climate crisis
27 Oct 2023
Analysis also warns of further tipping points on horizon such as drying up of groundwater vital for food supplies.
Bangladesh cyclone forces nearly 275,000 to evacuate
27 Oct 2023
Cyclone Hamoon, the latest of the numerous and deadly weather events affecting the country and creating climate refugees, has killed at least 2 and left at least 10 injured.
Rapidly intensifying hurricane slams Acapulco, Mexico
27 Oct 2023
Hurricane Otis made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph with and higher gusts, after rapidly intensifying from a tropical storm into a ferocious Category 5.
New US House Speaker a pro-oil climate change sceptic
27 Oct 2023
Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson, is a longtime ally of the oil industry and will be perhaps the most vocal skeptic of the scientific consensus on climate change ever to hold the speakership.
Chasing big mergers, oil executives dismiss peak oil concerns
27 Oct 2023
Exxon Mobil and Chevron are spending tens of billions of dollars buying oil and gas assets, betting that the International Energy Agency’s predictions of declining oil demand are wrong.
Toyota aims to put 1000 km-range Lexus EV on the road by 2026
27 Oct 2023
Toyota unveiled a Lexus concept car with a roughly 1,000 kilometre range that it aims to roll out by 2026, part of the Japanese automaker's strategic pivot to EVs reliant on advanced battery technology.
Deforestation increased in 2022 despite pledges to save forests
26 Oct 2023
The world is going “in the wrong direction” on forests, say campaigners. But some countries have reduced deforestation rates, and actions such as trade reform could yet turn the tide.
Companies could have profits from breaking environment laws stripped under Australian reforms
23 Oct 2025
The Albanese government wants the power to strip companies of any financial gains made from breaking environment laws, as part of a package of landmark reforms to be put before parliament in the next two weeks.
Judge says Greenpeace must pay $345 million in pipeline lawsuit, cutting jury amount nearly in half
Fri 31 Oct 2025
A North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay damages of $345 million, reducing an earlier jury award after it found the environmental group and related entities liable for defamation and other claims in connection with protests of an oil pipeline nearly a decade ago.
How ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology could boost China’s electricity system
Fri 31 Oct 2025
China’s surging electric vehicles ownership – now exceeding 25.5m – is opening the door to a new technology that can help to enhance the flexibility of electricity supply.
Norway faces European Court climate ruling over oil licences
Wed 29 Oct 2025
The European Court of Human Rights will decide on Tuesday if Norway breached its climate obligations when it awarded Arctic oil exploration licenses in 2016.
UK Prime Minister will attend Brazil climate summit
21 Oct 2025
Keir Starmer will travel to the Amazon rainforest for the COP30 United Nations climate summit next month, Downing Street has confirmed, after weeks of speculation that he would not.
Renewables are a global economic engine, not a culture war threat
2 Oct 2025
Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Thousands evacuated in Vietnam after record rain triggers floods
Thu 30 Oct 2025
Thousands of people in Vietnam were evacuated from their homes after record rainfall of more than one metre in 24 hours submerged a central city.
Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
21 Oct 2025
The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Nigerian billionaire plans expansion of Africa’s biggest oil refinery
Fri 31 Oct 2025
The billionaire owner of Africa’s largest refinery plans to expand its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day to meet growing fuel needs in the continent and beyond.
Police raids in Brazil’s Rio kill 64 ahead of events related to COP30 climate summit
Thu 30 Oct 2025
At least 64 people died on Oct 28 in Rio de Janeiro’s most deadly police operation ever, which targeted a major gang days before the city hosts global events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
Most countries fail to submit new climate pledges ahead of summit
Wed 29 Oct 2025
Only 64 countries have submitted new plans to cut carbon, the UN says, despite all being required to do so ahead of next month's COP30 summit.
