International: All stories
‘Historic milestone’: Ecuador nears vote to keep Amazon oil on the ground
11 Jul 2023
The fate of the Yasuní rainforest, at the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, will be decided at the polls this August, when the nation votes on whether to leave large oil reserves found within Yasuní on the ground.
At least 22 die in India as extra-heavy monsoon rains trigger severe flooding, landslides
11 Jul 2023
In the capital New Delhi, more rain was recorded in a single day than at any time in the past 40 years – a total of 15.3cm.
Turbulence has increased with climate change since 1979 - study
10 Jul 2023
Fasten your seat belts and get ready for yet another potential impact of climate change: bumpier airplane rides.
China is pumping out carbon emissions as if COVID never happened.
10 Jul 2023
Carbon emissions from China are growing faster now than before COVID-19 struck, dashing hopes the pandemic may have put the world’s most polluting nation on a new emissions trajectory.
UN says climate change ‘out of control’ after likely hottest week on record
10 Jul 2023
An unofficial analysis of data showed that average world temperatures in the seven days to Wednesday were the hottest week on record.
What makes South Asia so vulnerable to climate change?
10 Jul 2023
Extreme weather events in the world’s most populous and one of the poorest sub regions susceptible to food insecurity, displacement and diseases.
Shipping agrees net-zero goal but critics chide deal
10 Jul 2023
The global shipping industry has agreed to reduce planet warming gases to net-zero "by or around 2050", but critics say the deal is fatally flawed.
French court rejects NGOs' bid to compel TotalEnergies to curb emissions
10 Jul 2023
A French court declined to consider a case brought by a coalition of environmental groups and local authorities which was seeking to compel TotalEnergies to curb its greenhouse gas emissions.
Human adaptation to heat can’t keep up with human-caused climate change
7 Jul 2023
The last time the Earth was hotter than it is today was at least 125,000 years ago, long before anything that resembled human civilization appeared.
New methane source: groundwater springs of Norway
7 Jul 2023
Climate change has exposed a new source of methane in the Arctic: groundwater springs.
It’s time to prepare for the worst on climate change
7 Jul 2023
We cannot predict how extensive climate change will turn out to be over the coming decades, nor can we predict its economic and social impact.
Why are so many climate records breaking all at once?
7 Jul 2023
In the past few weeks, climate records have shattered across the globe.
Tracking ships' icy paths amidst climate change
7 Jul 2023
There has been much buzz about the warming planet's melting Arctic region opening shipping routes and lengthening travel seasons in ocean passageways that ice once blocked.
Preserving peatlands - slowing climate change with bogs
7 Jul 2023
Peatlands are very often the setting for chilling folklore. But they serve an important function - for the climate and biodiversity.
Controversial COP28 host UAE unveils $54bn push to triple renewables
6 Jul 2023
COP28 host the United Arab Emirates said it will aim to triple its renewables base by 2030 backed by $54bn of investments.
Two-thirds of fertilizer is lost to run-off. This invention could recycle it.
6 Jul 2023
Researchers fine tune smart farming with an ingenious gel that senses nitrate waste from fertilizer runoff and transforms it into ammonia—to produce healthier crops.
Does a new ‘global pact’ accelerate climate finance for developing countries?
6 Jul 2023
Climate hazards are escalating, nations are mired in debt and the costs of food and energy have soared around the world.
The cascading effects of bringing back sea otters
6 Jul 2023
In Oregon and California, efforts to repopulate these furry engineers could revive struggling ocean ecosystems.
To save the planet, should we really be moving slower?
6 Jul 2023
John Maynard Keynes once observed that dating from “say, to two thousand years before Christ—down to the beginning of the 18th century, there was no very great change in the standard of life of the average man living in the civilised centres of the earth.”
Climate change causes a communication breakdown in the animal world
6 Jul 2023
Some ant species are struggling to follow trails, as warming temperatures cause a certain pheromone they use to communicate to decay.
Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse - scientists call it the 'new abnormal'
5 Jul 2023
As smoky as the northern hemisphere summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change.
Future generations will view climate inaction as we view child labour
5 Jul 2023
Future generations will look at current older generations in the same way older generations now view those who sent children up chimneys, according to the head of The Wildlife Trusts.
Monday world's hottest day since records began
5 Jul 2023
The world's average temperature reached a new high on Monday 3 July, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time.
Seaweed may not be the climate solution we hoped for
5 Jul 2023
To sink just 1 gigaton of carbon emissions a year, recent simulations suggest massive seaweed farms would have to cover 1 million square kilometers of the ocean's most productive areas.
Threat of EU carbon tax prompts dubious “green aluminium” claims in Mozambique
5 Jul 2023
Mozambique’s biggest industry claims its aluminium is green, which would help it avoid European taxes – but those claims have been questioned.
Improving soil could keep world within 1.5C heating target, research suggests
5 Jul 2023
Marginal improvements to agricultural soils around the world would store enough carbon to keep the world within 1.5C of global heating, new research suggests.
Climate law will slash emissions—maybe halving them by 2035
4 Jul 2023
The Inflation Reduction Act could drive down U.S. emissions by as much as 48 percent by 2035, according to a new analysis in the journal Science.
Asparagopsis seaweed: scientists call for stricter oversight in livestock sector
4 Jul 2023
Safety concerns have been raised about the native seaweed asparagopsis, which is now being commercialised to help farmers reduce methane emissions in sheep and cattle.
White House: study blocking sun’s rays to slow global warming
4 Jul 2023
The White House offered measured support for the idea of studying how to block sunlight from hitting Earth’s surface as a way to limit global warming, in a congressionally mandated report.
Climate change spells 'terrifying' future: UN rights chief
4 Jul 2023
Climate change threatens to deliver a "truly terrifying" dystopian future of hunger and suffering, the United Nations' human rights chief warned.
Kenya: President Ruto lifts logging ban
4 Jul 2023
Despites concerns from environmental organisations, Kenyan president William Ruto announced he will lift a logging ban which has been in place since 2018.
Aus sides with China, Russia in bid to sink Pacific nations’ climate plan
4 Jul 2023
Australia has been criticised for siding with China and Russia to oppose a popular plan from a group of Pacific Island nations to tackle carbon emissions from the shipping industry.
Britain overhauling planning to meet net zero targets
3 Jul 2023
Britain is planning to overhaul the country's planning system to make it easier to install overhead cables and pylons, to help the government reach its net zero targets.
Latin America leads resistance to global shipping emission tax
3 Jul 2023
At crunch talks in London, Latin American nations led by Brazil have fought against a tax on the emissions of the global shipping sector.
Germany must consider climate risks during LNG buildout – govt advisors
3 Jul 2023
Germany’s quest for liquefied natural gas as a substitute for halted Russian pipeline supplies entails significant risks regarding climate change mitigation, as the country’s demand could lead to new extraction projects and lock-in effects abroad.
Energy security: China doubles down on renewables and coal
3 Jul 2023
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupting fossil fuel supplies and prices, global attention to energy security has heightened.
UK police have new expanded powers to crack down on protests
3 Jul 2023
New and expanded powers for British police took effect on Sunday, including measures targeting activists who stop traffic and major building works with protests.
Finance barriers are hurting Global South’s climate transitions
3 Jul 2023
It is more expensive to borrow money for climate action projects in poor countries than in wealthy countries.
Climate crisis linked to rising domestic violence in south Asia
30 Jun 2023
As deadly heatwaves sweep through cities in India, China, the US and Europe amid the climate crisis, new research has found that rising temperatures are associated with a substantial rise in domestic violence against women.
Climate change is fueling an insurance crisis. There’s no easy fix.
30 Jun 2023
In California, State Farm and Allstate recently stopped selling new home insurance policies after years of catastrophic wildfires.
Legal protection essential for people displaced by climate change: UN expert
30 Jun 2023
“The effects of climate change are becoming more severe, and the number of people displaced across international borders is rapidly increasing,” said Ian Fry, independent human rights expert on climate change, who took up the new post last year.
Climate change is turning snow to rain and raising risk of floods
30 Jun 2023
Warmer temperatures increase the amount of precipitation that falls as rain instead of snow, leading to more extreme rainfall in snowy places.
China’s solar is now at twice the capacity of its coal power – report
30 Jun 2023
Solar is growing at 33.7% year-on-year and is now at twice the capacity of coal power in China, according to a new report.
"World's largest wooden city" set to be built in Stockholm
30 Jun 2023
A Scandinavian architecture studio is designing Stockholm Wood City, which will become the world's largest mass-timber development and have the "serenity of a forest".
New code of conduct for buying carbon credits launches
29 Jun 2023
The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative has released its Claims Code of Practice for corporate buyers of carbon credits.
UK Climate Change Committee says country no longer a world leader
29 Jun 2023
Government backing for new oil and coal, airport expansion plans and slow progress on heat pumps show that the UK has lost its leadership on climate issues, a government watchdog warns.
Ecosystem collapses may occur much sooner than expected – new research
29 Jun 2023
Across the world, rainforests are becoming savanna or farmland, savanna is drying out and turning into desert, and icy tundra is thawing.
Oil, gas companies urged to pursue relatively cheap fix on emissions
29 Jun 2023
The International Energy Agency says spending $75 billion, or 2% of oil and gas companies’ combined annual earnings, on lowering methane emissions would yield big results.
Big herbivores could help save the tundra from rising heat and shrinking ice—if they can survive themselves
29 Jun 2023
Scientists in Greenland found that tundra vegetation fares better when caribou and muskoxen are around to dine on encroaching, heat-loving shrubs.
Canada wildfires release record 160 million tonnes of carbon
29 Jun 2023
The EU's Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service said wildfires burning through large swathes of eastern and western Canada have released a record 160 million tonnes of carbon.
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
Thu 14 May 2026
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
Thu 14 May 2026
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
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
Thu 14 May 2026
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.
