International: All stories
Four questions for COP28 to settle about a global carbon market
1 Dec 2023
As carbon credits face intense scrutiny, negotiators will wrangle over how to ensure the integrity of a new global carbon market.
COP28: How seven policies could help save a billion lives by 2100
1 Dec 2023
In a recent review of more than 180 peer-reviewed articles — which I conducted with fellow researcher Richard Parncutt — we found that a scientific consensus has formed around the so-called 1,000-ton rule.
From tree planting to ‘sponge cities’: why nature-based solutions are crucial to fighting the climate crisis
1 Dec 2023
Nature could hold the key to protecting humanity as the planet heats, but scientists say it is still an underused option.
US expected to reach new record for fossil fuel production this year
1 Dec 2023
The year 2023 is already expected to be the hottest on record, following a record-hot summer. But despite this, the US is expected to reach record numbers in fossil fuel production for the year.
Climate change ambassador explains why Australia won't back Pacific's calls to urgently phase out fossil fuels
1 Dec 2023
Australia's climate change ambassador says the federal government cannot yet back the Pacific's call to rapidly phase out fossil fuels because it's grappling with "complex" and "difficult" issues thrown up by decarbonisation.
Big meat unveils battle plans for COP28
30 Nov 2023
Polluting livestock companies and lobby groups will target pavilions in a coordinated campaign at the UN climate summit, documents show.
Can a climate summit in an oil state change anything?
30 Nov 2023
The world's most important climate meeting, which starts today, is being hosted in Dubai by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - one of the world's top ten oil producers.
Climate change is the biggest human health risk, says Africa's disease boss
30 Nov 2023
Climate change is the biggest threat to human health in Africa and the rest of the world, the head of the continent's public health agency said.
Has wind power blown it?
30 Nov 2023
Financial headwinds could be a passing storm or a long-term headache for the carbon-free energy source.
US moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges
30 Nov 2023
The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal released in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely push them toward extinction.
We can’t address the climate crisis without nature
30 Nov 2023
At a climate summit, Bill Gates sparked controversy by dismissing tree planting as a climate crisis solution, calling it “complete nonsense.”
Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil
29 Nov 2023
Climate scientists say fossil fuel use needs to fall rapidly – but oil-rich kingdom is working to drive up demand.
Biden not scheduled to attend COP 28 climate summit
29 Nov 2023
US President Biden is not expected to attend the opening of COP 28 this week but will send top US officials to the UN climate summit in Dubai, the White House confirmed.
Who wants what at COP28?
29 Nov 2023
As a year of record-breaking temperatures and climate change-fuelled disasters draws to a close, nations are once again preparing to gather for another round of UN climate talks.
World's biggest iceberg three times the size of New York City is escaping Antarctica after almost 40 years
29 Nov 2023
The gigantic iceberg A23a, which broke off from Antarctica in 1986, is finally moving away from the icy continent after being stuck on the seafloor for decades.
Leaks reveal how McKinsey drives African climate agenda
29 Nov 2023
Whistleblowers raise alarm over American consultancy’s growing influence in pushing carbon markets and developing energy transition plans.
No easy way to communicate the impacts of climate change, says study
29 Nov 2023
A new study outlines how researchers sought to reduce the psychological distance of climate change by showing a 3D virtual simulation of a storm surge to see if it would change their behaviours and attitudes regarding climate change.
COP28: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals
28 Nov 2023
The United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals, the BBC has learned.
The green battery of the future is right under your feet
28 Nov 2023
As the world transitions to renewable energy, some researchers are looking for a more Earth-friendly alternative to lithium ion batteries.
Portugal just ran on 100 percent renewables for six days in a row
28 Nov 2023
For nearly a week, the country of 10 million met customer needs with wind, hydro and solar — a test run for operating the grid without fossil fuels.
Heat, disease, air pollution: how climate change impacts health
28 Nov 2023
Growing calls for the world to come to grips with the many ways that global warming affects human health have prompted the first day dedicated to the issue at crunch UN climate talks.
Most people don’t realise how much progress we’ve made on climate change
28 Nov 2023
The rapid rise of renewables and EVs has already put us on a safer path.
Indigenous peoples and local communities can make the voluntary carbon market work for them
28 Nov 2023
The voluntary carbon market has the potential to address $4.1 trillion in nature financing gap by 2050 and support Indigenous peoples and local communities — when done right.
Oil and gas industry needs to let go of carbon capture as solution to climate change, IEA says
27 Nov 2023
The oil and gas industry faces a reckoning over its role in the clean energy transition, according to an International Energy Agency report.
Australia climate change activists disrupt shipping at coal port
27 Nov 2023
A climate change protest off Australia's east coast disrupted operations at the country's biggest coal export port on Saturday.
Green growth or degrowth: what is the right way to tackle climate change?
27 Nov 2023
Nearly all the world’s governments and vast numbers of its people are convinced that addressing human-induced climate change is essential if healthy societies are to survive.
Brazil to propose mega fund to conserve forests at COP28 climate summit
27 Nov 2023
Brazil plans to propose a “huge” fund to pay for the conservation of tropical forests at the United Nations COP28 climate change summit, the country’s top climate negotiator said.
Devastating flooding in East Africa
27 Nov 2023
Heavy rainfall led to extensive flooding in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya in October and November.
China engineers complete largest solar farm on Earth in UAE ahead of Cop28
27 Nov 2023
The 4 million panels in the desert outside Abu Dhabi will reduce carbon emissions by 2.4 million tonnes per year and power 200,000 households.
Thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists attend COP meetings: NGOs
24 Nov 2023
Delegates openly affiliated with oil, gas and coal firms have attended the UN climate talks to address the escalating global impacts of human-induced climate change at least 7,200 times over the last 20 years.
In numbers: The state of the climate ahead of COP28
24 Nov 2023
Annual emissions may have just peaked but the world’s temperature will keep rising until we reach net zero.
Pacific women are among the most vulnerable to extreme weather
24 Nov 2023
Roughly 90 kilometres from northern Bougainville, the Carteret Islands were the first place in the world to move people due to climate change-related sea level rise.
China rolls out product carbon footprint directive in bid to meet global standards
24 Nov 2023
State planner NDRC sets new policy to calculate, label carbon footprints for ‘key products’ as EU moves toward carbon border tax.
Shell to face human rights claims in UK over chronic oil pollution in Niger delta
24 Nov 2023
More than 13,000 Nigerian villagers can bring legal claims against oil firm, rules high court.
The case for climate neuroscience
24 Nov 2023
In a new paper, brain scientists lay out how their field could probe the reciprocal relationships between the changing climate and the brain.
Is it too late to keep global warming below 1.5C? The challenge in seven charts
23 Nov 2023
Chances are rapidly disappearing to limit Earth’s temperature rise to the globally agreed mark, but researchers say there are some positive signs of progress.
US carbon emissions set to fall again, a key sign of progress
23 Nov 2023
A projected drop in US greenhouse gas emissions—one of the largest of the past decade—is still not enough to meet the country’s commitments under the Paris climate accord.
Why deals at COP28 to ‘triple renewables’ and ‘double efficiency’ are crucial for 1.5C
23 Nov 2023
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber has urged governments to agree on global goals to triple renewables capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
Iraqis displaced by climate change fall into poverty
23 Nov 2023
In a country of 43 million people, nearly one Iraqi in five lives in an area suffering from water shortages.
Ban private jets to address climate crisis, says Thomas Piketty
23 Nov 2023
French economist says class inequality must be at centre of climate response and calls for progressive carbon taxes.
The Galapagos are going green
23 Nov 2023
In recent years, there has been a growing movement to transform the archipelago into a beacon of sustainability.
Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 66%, report says
22 Nov 2023
‘Polluter elite’ are plundering the planet to point of destruction, says Oxfam after comprehensive study of climate inequality.
Earth is hurtling toward nearly 3°C of warming
22 Nov 2023
The globe is headed for nearly 3°C (5.4°F) of warming compared with preindustrial levels through 2100, new data finds, even if current policies to cut planet-warming emissions are met.
Does the Amazon’s drought mean the forest is at a tipping point?
22 Nov 2023
Scientists say deforestation is compounding the effects of climate change, threatening to turn parts of the forest into savannah.
UK government plans radical shake-up of foreign aid for climate change disasters
22 Nov 2023
The UK government is to spend millions of pounds helping countries prepare for future humanitarian disasters in a radical shake-up of its development policy.
US plans to push for curbs on methane emissions worldwide at key UN meet
22 Nov 2023
Curbing methane is the fastest and cheapest way to keep average temperature rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius, a US state department official said.
COP28 must not repeat the mistakes of the Africa Climate Summit
22 Nov 2023
Lobbyists for big emitters in the Global North must not be allowed to push false solutions on COP28.
Anti-green backlash hovers over COP climate talks
21 Nov 2023
War, a fossil fuel boom and populist revolts are sapping the optimism from the fight against climate change. And then there’s Trump.
Oil and gas companies are digging in. That’s why COP28 must force a phase-down of fossil fuels
21 Nov 2023
COP28 is just a few weeks away, and if we are to have any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees and a positive outcome at the conference, we must see the oil and gas sector start to move the needle.
Warming of 2C would trigger ‘catastrophic’ loss of world’s ice, new report says
21 Nov 2023
Global warming of 2C would see “extensive, long-term and essentially irreversible” losses from the Earth’s ice sheets and glaciers, warns a new report.
Security group warns Australia’s democracy is being threatened by ‘anti-climate-action propaganda’
Today 11:00am
Australia’s democracy and sovereignty is being threatened by a propaganda machine aiding climate change deniers, a security group has warned.
California sues Trump energy department over revival of controversial oil pipeline
Today 11:00am
California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said he has sued the US energy department to stop it from using a cold-war-era law to restart the long-disputed Sable Offshore pipeline system linking the Santa Ynez offshore platform to California refineries.
China tells oil refiners to suspend exports
Fri 20 Mar 2026
China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing unidentified sources, as the war in the Middle East risks an energy supply crunch.
Spain’s Sánchez attacks other EU leaders for exploiting energy prices to gut climate policies
Mon 23 Mar 2026
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez said his country was on “the right side of history” when it comes to how it has handled the economic and social costs of previous energy crises.
Heat pumps for all new homes and plug-in solar in England green tech drive
Today 11:00am
Developers will be required to install solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes in England as part of updated planning requirements published by the government.
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.
Philippines declares national emergency over high fuel prices
Today 11:00am
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines declared a national energy emergency on Tuesday, saying that high oil prices caused by the war in the Middle East were threatening the country’s energy security.
Pacific Nations fear fuel shortages as Middle East war sends oil prices soaring
Fri 20 Mar 2026
Leaders of Samoa and Tonga appealed for help this week as the import-reliant Pacific nations raised fears over possible fuel shortages and escalating costs caused by war in the Middle East.
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.
'Blackwater' lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are now emitting ancient carbon into the atmosphere
16 Mar 2026
Carbon that has been buried in the Congo Basin's peatlands for millennia is seeping into lakes and rivers. Why this is happening remains unclear, but researchers warn that tropical peatlands could be nearing a tipping point.
Surfing’s big break: how climate crisis insurance may save El Salvador’s waves
Thu 19 Mar 2026
Fearing that extreme weather threatened its epic breaks, Oriente Salvaje is piloting the first surf insurance policy to protect livelihoods and ecosystems.
Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says
18 Mar 2026
The disruption to energy markets caused by the Iran war is a lesson on the risks of relying on fossil fuels which should drive governments to wean their economies off oil and gas faster, the U.N. climate secretary told Reuters on Monday.
