International: All stories
Australian saltmarshes sequestered 10m tonnes of carbon in 2021
2 Dec 2022
Saltmarsh ecosystems are protecting more than 88,000 homes from storm surges and are sequestering carbon at a rapid rate, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Vanuatu publishes draft resolution seeking climate justice at UN court
1 Dec 2022
Vanuatu has published a draft UN resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on states’ legal obligation for climate action and the consequences of causing harm.
Young Swedes take their country to court over climate inaction
1 Dec 2022
The Swedish capital is the birthplace of the international movement Fridays for Future, which has galvanized thousands of youngsters to skip school and march in the streets in protest against a lack of political action to stop global warming and recognize the climate crisis.
How an early oil industry study became key in climate lawsuits
1 Dec 2022
For decades, 1960s research for the American Petroleum Institute warning of the risks of burning fossil fuels had been forgotten. But two papers discovered in libraries are now playing a key role in lawsuits aimed at holding oil companies accountable for climate change.
China, covid and climate
1 Dec 2022
The protests erupting across China deserve international solidarity. The future of the planet could be determined by their success - or failure.
Europe's alpine villages producing their own power
1 Dec 2022
Small hydropower plants have long sustained remote communities in the Alps – but there is a growing debate over their environmental impact.
EU climate plan sacrifices carbon storage and biodiversity for bioenergy
30 Nov 2022
Incoming policies will cause the European Union to harvest more wood, shift one-fifth of cropland to bioenergy and outsource deforestation, analysis shows.
South Africa turns to solar to help stop power cuts
30 Nov 2022
Young engineer Nolwazi Zulu says that when she was a teenager she decided that she would "go out and do something" about the regular power cuts that bedevil her community.
Australians shun climate-led diet changes
30 Nov 2022
Most Australians are refusing to say goodbye to meat despite a growing concern about climate change.
Should China be let off the hook for climate finance?
30 Nov 2022
The most important outcome of COP27, the climate summit in Egypt earlier this month, was the creation of a new UN-administered fund to compensate developing countries for the costs they incur from climate change-related disasters.
Locally grown school meals can help children, farmers and the climate
30 Nov 2022
According to UNICEF, school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic brought a decade's growth in school feeding programmes to a dramatic halt, leaving about 370 million school children without access to their one reliable meal a day.
Europe to rely on carbon sinks to boost climate ambition
29 Nov 2022
The EU will increase its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target thanks to a new law aimed at boosting the amount of carbon held in Europe’s nature, according to the EU’s climate chief Frans Timmermans.
China petrochemicals sector likely to miss 2030 peak carbon target
29 Nov 2022
China’s petrochemical sector may reach peak carbon emissions only by 2035 – five years later than the national target – a Peking University report has found.
Victoria votes to end coal and make radical shift to renewables
29 Nov 2022
We are used to hearing crowds chant for their country, and for their heroes: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie”, “U-S-A, U-S-A,” or “Me-ssi, Me-ssi,” But when was the last time you heard a group of adults chant for a now disbanded public utility?
Decarbonising real estate: How to price the net zero transition to avoid a 'carbon bubble'
29 Nov 2022
Real estate is the largest asset class in the world and it’s also one of the most significant contributors to global carbon emissions.
Energy crunch dims Christmas holiday glimmer in Europe
29 Nov 2022
From Paris to London, officials in cities across Europe are limiting hours of holiday illumination, and many have switched to more energy-efficient LED lights or renewable energy sources as high energy prices bite consumers in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A treaty to end the age of plastic
28 Nov 2022
In March, there was a collective cheer when United Nations member states adopted a historic resolution to end plastic pollution during the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi.
Climate change: Could centuries-old wheat help feed the planet?
28 Nov 2022
Could the key to feeding the world with a changing climate be hiding in a 300-year-old museum collection? That's one of the hopes of scientists combing through 12,000 specimens of wheat and its relatives held in the Natural History Museum's archives.
Rural Aussie properties going off-grid with renewables
28 Nov 2022
When Roxanne and Luke Hinton started planning their finger lime farm on the idyllic Capricorn Coast several years ago, they had little idea it would double as a highly successful off-grid wedding venue in just a few years. The entire operation is operated by solar, with self-sufficient watering systems, sewerage and power.
Civil disobedience only way to protest climate change: French activists
28 Nov 2022
While some climate activists have been throwing food at famous paintings, a French group has been shutting down roads. Their acts of civil disobedience have drawn anger and criticism, but they say it is the only way to get people to pay attention to what they see as an existential threat.
Sri Lanka university aims to be the country’s first to go carbon neutral
28 Nov 2022
The University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) in Sri Lanka has assessed its carbon footprint under ISO standards and has now become the country’s first university to be carbon audited.
UK blue carbon venture plans to remove billions of tonnes of carbon off West Africa
25 Nov 2022
An aquaculture business aims to remove billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with a seaweed farm off West Africa. It has announced it will tokenise its annual goal of one billion carbon removal credits in a deal with a blockchain-based carbon marketplace.
Climate extremes hitting Australia, more intense weather to come
25 Nov 2022
Global warming is leading to more extreme weather in Australia, like the ongoing flooding in the southeast — and these extremes are happening at an increased pace across the country, per a new climate report.
Coal-driven climate change is becoming a big problem – for coal
25 Nov 2022
Wide-scale floods have plagued eastern Australia throughout 2022. As the climate continues to change – driven to a large extent by the burning of coal – such events can be expected to occur more frequently, significantly impacting unit costs for coal miners.
7 in 10 young people are worried about the climate crisis - but they also want to make a difference
25 Nov 2022
More than two thirds of children between the ages of seven and twelve are worried about climate change, a new survey reveals.
Switzerland passes law to require mandatory climate reporting
25 Nov 2022
Large Swiss companies and financial institutions will be required to disclose information on their climate-related risks, impacts and plans following new legislation passed.
Hong Kong exchange carries out first carbon credit trades
25 Nov 2022
The Hong Kong stock exchange has carried out the first batch of carbon credit trades on its new voluntary carbon market, joining a handful of Asian exchanges in tapping opportunities resulting from governments' push to achieve climate goals.
The world could be entering a new era of climate war
24 Nov 2022
By Robinson Meyer - The Atlantic | Back in 2015, when I started covering climate change, climate war meant one thing. At the time, if someone said that climate change posed a threat to the world order, you would assume they were talking about the direct impacts of warming, or its second-order consequences.
The World Cup in Qatar is a climate catastrophe
24 Nov 2022
When the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), the world’s governing body for soccer, proclaimed that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar would be “a fully carbon-neutral event,” the collective chortle that emerged from environmentalists could have powered a wind farm.
New York cracks down on carbon fuel-based crypto-mining operations
24 Nov 2022
New York State has banned a practice becoming more common in the crypto-mining industry – the rescuing and repurposing of mothballed fossil fuel plants to exclusively provide energy for mining digital currency.
The climate case against Elon Musk
24 Nov 2022
This newsletter has written a lot about so-called “climate billionaires”—billionaires who claim to be doing a lot for the climate. But we’ve never said much about Elon Musk.
EU’s carbon removal certification could be global trend setter after COP delay: expert
24 Nov 2022
If done well, the EU’s new certification for carbon removals, due on 30 November, could provide vital clarity for international discussions following a failure to agree on a key text for removals at the COP27 climate conference, according to Kathy Fallon, director of land and climate at the Clean Air Task Force.
Aussie Greens rule out hybrids in clean car discount scheme
23 Nov 2022
Australian federal government legislation proposing to exempt a range of low emissions vehicles from the fringe benefits tax looks set to prioritise battery electric vehicles, after a deal was struck between Labor, the Greens and independent senator David Pocock.
World’s largest soil carbon removal project enlists Kenyan pastoralists
23 Nov 2022
When Andrew Dokhole, a community leader in Isiolo, northern Kenya, took on the task of explaining a proposed soil carbon removal project a decade ago, he had to convince largely illiterate people about the benefits of a “foreign” concept.
Canada’s oil-sands companies reap windfall profits while lobbying against real climate action
23 Nov 2022
COP27 exposed some realities about the oil and gas sector’s climate ambitions. A UN report released during the summit called out the sector’s greenwashing and weak net-zero commitments as the industry had a massive lobbying presence at COP that outnumbered almost all other nations and likely impaired the negotiations around phasing out fossil fuels.
How Japan is preparing for the global energy crisis
23 Nov 2022
The global energy crisis impacts everything from our daily lives to corporate activities. In Japan, there are growing fears that the supply and demand of electricity will be strained this winter.
Tracking CO2 emissions from space could help support climate agreements
23 Nov 2022
A global network of ground-based CO2 measurements began in 1957 and now consists of over one hundred stations around the world. Accurate and precise measurements from these stations have revealed a lot about changes in global atmospheric CO2 and Earth’s overall carbon cycle, but we can’t place these stations everywhere on Earth.
UN climate boss settles for no cuts on emissions
22 Nov 2022
Given an energy crisis in Europe and progress made in helping climate victims, the new climate chief for the United Nations said he'll settle for a lack of new emissions-cutting action coming out of the now-concluded climate talks in Egypt.
How to move a country: Fiji’s radical plan to escape rising sea levels
22 Nov 2022
The government of Fiji makes a daunting plan to move communities in villages that have been gravely affected by the harsh impacts of the climate crisis even though many are hesitant to leave their homes.
A green wave of climate activism is cresting — companies must be 'all in'
22 Nov 2022
Companies ignore young people’s concern over climate change at their peril, as evidenced by the U.S. midterm elections.
How herbivores can help tackle climate change
22 Nov 2022
Large grass-eating mammals such as yak and ibex play a crucial role in stabilising the pool of soil carbon in grazing ecosystems that are a big part of the Earth’s land surface, new research shows.
Pacific nations face certain disaster as COP27 fails to deliver: expert
21 Nov 2022
A climate diplomacy historian says the end of COP27 marks a historic day for Pacific diplomacy, but also a disaster for Pacific nations.
An end to plastic pollution
21 Nov 2022
By Robert McLachlan - Planetary Ecology | This week the climate news has all been COP27, and as usual, it sounds discouraging, with delegates staying up all night wrangling over words, a process in which ‘phasing out fossil fuels’ gets progressively watered down to the (virtually meaningless) ‘phasing down unabated coal’.
COP27: Climate costs deal struck but no fossil fuel progress
21 Nov 2022
A historic deal has been struck at the UN's COP27 summit that will see rich nations pay poorer countries for the damage and economic losses caused by climate change.
Is COP27 the end of hopes for limiting global warming to 1.5 Degrees?
21 Nov 2022
The COP27 climate conference in Egypt may be remembered as the moment when the world gave up on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most ambitious goal set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Indonesia forest loss released carbon equal to Ukraine fossil-fuel use in 2021
21 Nov 2022
Destruction of forests in Indonesia released more greenhouse gases than Ukraine’s consumption of fossil fuels last year, even after taking into account newly sequestered carbon in the Southeast Asian nation’s trees, according to data non-profit CTrees released at the COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
NSW plans massive solar and battery virtual power plant across 2,200 public schools
21 Nov 2022
Plans to establish Australia’s largest school-based solar and battery virtual power plant in New South Wales are underway, with the launch of an expression of interest process by the state government.
Is Patagonia the end game for profits in a world of climate change?
21 Nov 2022
Many brands are aligning profits with purpose, but Patagonia’s decision in September to convert its for-profit business to one under which all the profits flow through to fighting climate change is the most complex move yet by a U.S.-based company in the realm of sustainable capitalism. Is it a model for other companies to pursue in the future?
The West will not act on climate change until it feels its pain: opinion
21 Nov 2022
If there is anything that has been true in the history of the world, it is that states, and especially Western states, rarely if ever act out of a sense of moral compulsion, when such acts could impose hardships back home. Look at the rhetoric around support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion as an example.
The interwoven fortunes of carbon markets and indigenous communities
18 Nov 2022
Across the world, private investors, governments, NGOs and businesses are increasingly purchasing carbon credits from REDD+ and other offsets projects to negate their own emissions – but this increased interest from international carbon markets comes with risks.
Companies could have profits from breaking environment laws stripped under Australian reforms
Thu 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.
ExxonMobil sues California over climate disclosure laws
Today 11:30am
Exxon Mobil Corporation is suing the state of California over a pair of 2023 climate disclosure laws that the company says infringe upon its free speech rights, namely by forcing it to embrace the message that large companies are uniquely to blame for climate change.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
EU leaders set conditions for new climate goal
Today 11:30am
The EU is trying to pass a new target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040 to put the bloc on track for net-zero emissions by 2050.
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.
Philippines storm victims to seek damages from Shell in “unprecedented” climate claim
Today 11:30am
The case is the first civil claim to directly link an oil firm’s climate impact to deaths and personal injury in the Global South, its backers say.
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".
Angola lowers climate ambition in blow to spirit of Paris Agreement
14 Oct 2025
Angola has scaled back its targets for reducing emissions in its new national climate plan, saying it chose “realism and implementability” over the Paris Agreement's calls for governments to set progressively more ambitious goals.
Brazil's Indigenous battle with a dry Amazon rainforest
Thu 23 Oct 2025
As pastures and thirsty crops dry up the Amazon, Indigenous people try to adapt traditional farming methods.
UN report: Five charts showing how global deforestation is declining
Today 11:30am
The amount of forest lost around the world has reduced by millions of hectares each year in recent decades, but countries are still off track to meet “important” deforestation targets.
