International: All stories
Cyclone Jasper: how did it cause so much rain and could global heating be to blame?
21 Dec 2023
It hit the coast as a category two cyclone and took almost five days to move west, leaving a metre of rain and devastated communities in its wake.
Concerning rise in climate-fuelled conflicts: report
21 Dec 2023
A rise in climate-related conflict in the Indo-Pacific could have consequences for Australia as citizens in developing countries report the impacts of global warming as a leading cause of violence.
Farmers impoverished by climate change make 'lose–lose' choices, says researcher
21 Dec 2023
Climate change is pushing farmers in the Global South towards short-term choices that further increase their vulnerability, according to new research.
The surprising connection between eco-anxiety and loneliness
21 Dec 2023
Recent research shows that the unfolding crises in climate change and social isolation may actually be connected.
Americans abandoning neighbourhoods due to rising flood risk
21 Dec 2023
Rising risk of floods is hollowing out counties across the United States — creating abandoned pockets in the hearts of cities.
How climate change will impact the world's "natural capital"
21 Dec 2023
In a new study, researchers have uncovered the profound impact that climate change is expected to have on the world’s natural capital by 2100.
‘Food is finally on the table’: COP28 addressed agriculture in a real way
20 Dec 2023
Roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to food systems, but Cop had avoided agreements until now.
EU warns countries are off track for 2030 climate goal
20 Dec 2023
European Union countries are falling behind on their core climate change target and without stronger emissions-cutting policies risk missing the goal, the European Commission said.
Green shipping corridors gaining momentum
20 Dec 2023
The powerful diesel engine roars as the water taxi cuts through the choppy water that connects Rotterdam's gritty port areas to what remains of the city's historic maritime grandeur.
To save the climate, change the game for petrostates
20 Dec 2023
Future negotiations should focus more on reshaping incentives for oil and gas producing countries, and less on fulminating at their villainy.
Climate change outpaces the ability for trees to adapt
20 Dec 2023
A new study has found that the prevailing methods used to predict how tree species will respond to climate change are inaccurate and unreliable.
Solar bike paths go online in Netherlands
20 Dec 2023
Two new PV bike-path projects are now operating in the Netherlands under an initiative launched in 2018 by Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch water management agency.
COP28: Key outcomes for food, forests, land and nature at the UN climate talks in Dubai
19 Dec 2023
Agriculture and food were very much on the menu at COP28 in Dubai, with both voluntary pledges and negotiated texts beginning to reflect their central role in climate change.
Coal use hits record in 2023, Earth's hottest year
19 Dec 2023
Global consumption of coal reached an all-time high in 2023, the IEA energy watchdog said Friday, as Earth experienced its hottest recorded year.
Plan to stash planet-heating carbon dioxide under U.S. national forests alarms critics
19 Dec 2023
Around 140 groups have called for an extension of public comment period over U.S. Forest Service proposal amid questions about safety and impact.
Suriname preparing to clear Amazon for agriculture, documents suggest
19 Dec 2023
The government is weighing a series of land deals that would allow the Ministry of Agriculture and a group of private entities to carry out agriculture, livestock and aquaculture activities in the Amazon Rainforest.
Bollards and ‘superblocks’: how Europe’s cities are turning on the car
19 Dec 2023
In Paris, Barcelona and Brussels, authorities are adopting varied approaches to the task of reducing congestion and pollution.
Climate change destroys coastal Mexican town
19 Dec 2023
Flooding, driven by rapid sea-level rise and increasingly brutal winter storms, has all but destroyed El Bosque, leaving twisted piles of concrete where houses used to line the sand.
COP28 president says his firm will keep investing in oil
18 Dec 2023
Sultan Al Jaber says Adnoc has to meet demand for fossil fuels, and hails ‘unprecedented’ Cop deal.
From ‘depressed’ to a milestone: How the climate deal came together
18 Dec 2023
“There were times in the last 48 hours where some of us thought this could fail,” US climate envoy John Kerry said later.
Examining COP28's potential impact on climate change
18 Dec 2023
Once the gavel came down in Dubai, the warm words flowed - but will it really have an impact on climate change?
How COP28 fell short
18 Dec 2023
Two weeks of talks aimed at securing an international consensus on a phase-out of fossil fuels have ended with a statement that critics say does little to advance the urgent work of averting a climate catastrophe.
Genetically modified crops aren’t a solution to climate change, despite what the biotech industry says
18 Dec 2023
The European Commission launched a proposal in July 2023 to deregulate a large number of plants manufactured using new genetic techniques.
This start-up hopes to use old tyres to power electric cars
18 Dec 2023
According to a report from the Federal Highway Administration, in the United States alone, around 280 million used tires are tossed away each year, with only 30 million of those getting recycled, retreaded, or reused.
COP28 “frustrating” but some significant breakthroughs - experts
15 Dec 2023
Small island states facing the existential threat of climate change were particularly effective negotiators at the latest UN climate summit, according to a Kiwi expert.
NZ government swimming against the tide of history: Oil Change International
15 Dec 2023
Oil Change International campaign manager David Tong says the COP28 call to move away from fossil fuels shows the New Zealand government is trying to swim against the tide of history.
Failure of COP28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists
15 Dec 2023
Climate experts say the lack of an unambiguous statement is ‘tragedy for the planet and our future’.
Pacific Islands delegates leave COP28 climate summit disappointed and miss out on final say
15 Dec 2023
After COP28's central document was approved, Samoa's lead delegate delivered a critical assessment of the agreement's flaws — and pointed out the Pacific Islands delegates were not even in the room when the deal was done.
The COP28 climate agreement is a step backwards on fossil fuels
15 Dec 2023
The COP28 climate summit in Dubai has adjourned. The result is “The UAE consensus” on fossil fuels.
COP28, where is the dough?
15 Dec 2023
A transition away from fossil fuels seems as good as a commitment as you can expect from the 198 countries taking part in the United Nations climate conference.
‘Car without wheels’: Adaptation playbook lacks finance target
15 Dec 2023
Developing nations got agreement to set targets for food and water security, but rich nations were unwilling to plug a huge funding gap.
Instagram influencers paid to boost UAE’s climate credentials over COP28
15 Dec 2023
The individuals who spoke to DeSmog said they were ‘deeply disappointed’ by the summit and had not fully understood the relationship between UAE and the organisers.
COP28: Article 6 failure avoids a worse outcome
14 Dec 2023
Media Release - Carbon Market Watch | Torn between countries demanding that Article 6 carbon markets be available with virtually no restrictions and countries insisting on upholding transparency, human rights, and climate ambition, negotiators at COP28 failed to break the deadlock.
Nations strike deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels
14 Dec 2023
Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, signalling the eventual end of the oil age.
Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Dubai
14 Dec 2023
Nearly every country in the world has agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the main driver of climate change – at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
COP28 climate summit signals the end of fossil fuels — but is it enough?
14 Dec 2023
Nations make historic pledge to 'transition' energy systems away from fossil fuels — some scientists are disappointed by the softened wording.
Carbon credits talks collapse at Cop28 over integrity concerns
14 Dec 2023
The EU and allies rejected proposed carbon trading rules that followed a “light-touch” approach favoured by the US.
Endangered species list grows by 2,000 - climate change is part of the problem
14 Dec 2023
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the leading tracker of global biodiversity, released their new Red List of Threatened Species at COP28.
Pakistan's children are feeling the human toll of climate change: stunted growth and school dropouts
14 Dec 2023
At three years old, Suleman Ali is meant to weigh at least 11 kilograms. But with a dire food shortage in Pakistan, he's so malnourished he's not even 1kg.
COP28: Australia, US and UK say they won’t sign agreement that would be ‘death certificate’ for small islands
13 Dec 2023
Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, says umbrella group of countries is united in saying draft agreement is too weak.
The 12-year-old who halted COP28
13 Dec 2023
The United Arab Emirates has severely restricted protest activity at this year’s U.N. climate summit, placing harsh limits on what activists are allowed to say, as well as where and when demonstrations can occur.
NASA's new 'Greenhouse Gas Center' tracks humanity's contribution to climate change
13 Dec 2023
The center will track greenhouse gas emissions and help the public be more attuned to the impacts of climate change.
Mongolia's nomadic herders are now enduring the worst of climate change
13 Dec 2023
For thousands of years, Mongolia's nomadic herders have survived at the mercy of the country's brutal winters — where temperatures drop below -30 degrees Celsius.
Here’s why climate change in Afghanistan has global repercussions
13 Dec 2023
Severe droughts are exacerbating Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, but funding for climate change adaptation is frozen.
How the war changed Russia’s climate agenda
13 Dec 2023
Ahead of the UN's COP28 climate summit, Russia spoke against the "phasing out" of fossil fuels, while its recently updated climate doctrine makes no mention of fossil fuels and their impact on climate change.
Cop28 draft climate deal criticised as ‘grossly insufficient’ and ‘incoherent’
12 Dec 2023
Text now being considered by governments calls for ‘reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels’.
Building wind power, canceling coal — it’s all drowning under borrowing costs
12 Dec 2023
Central banks’ efforts to tame inflation have made it harder for both wealthy and poor nations to shift away from fossil fuels.
UN climate chief slams opponents of fossil fuel phase-out at COP28
12 Dec 2023
Talks intensify over calls to phase out fossil fuels, as oil producers led by Saudi Arabia put up tough resistance.
The coloured stripes that explain climate change
12 Dec 2023
In 2017, Ellie Highwood, then professor of climate physics at the University of Reading, posted a photograph on Twitter of a "global warming blanket" she had crocheted, in which rows of colour represented average global temperature changes across time.
Coral scientist predicts massive bleaching events in 2024
12 Dec 2023
Following what is expected to be the warmest year on record, next year could bring massive coral bleaching events that disrupt marine ecosystems.
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.
Some inconvenient truths in bringing climate science to the judiciary
Today 11:45am
OPINION: Climate science had been knocking on the courthouse doors for quite some time when the Supreme Court of the United States finally invited it into the realm of legal action in 2007.
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.
Risk of drought in UK grows after unusually dry start to spring
Today 11:45am
The risk of drought is rising after an unusually dry start to spring has pushed river flow, groundwater and reservoir stores below normal levels across much of the country, especially in central and southern England.
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.
While the world hesitates, India must continue leading on climate
Today 11:45am
India’s updated climate targets must translate into systems that secure growth, resilience, and autonomy.
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.
