International: All stories
‘Worse than predicted’: G7 meets to keep climate action on track
27 May 2022
Environmental groups warn nations risk undermining their green goals by scrambling to secure new sources of natural gas to make up for shortfalls in supplies from Russia.
Finland's nuclear free moment
27 May 2022
Finland could soon become the first country in the world to legally commit to carbon negativity.
Carbon credit standards body Verra suspends blockchain, crypto tokenization
27 May 2022
Yesterday Verra, the Washington-based non-profit that sets voluntary carbon credit standards, said it is immediately stopping the practice of creating blockchain tokens or instruments based on retired credits
Vanguard refuses to end new fossil fuel investments
27 May 2022
The world’s second-largest asset manager Vanguard has refused to stop new investments in fossil fuel projects and end its support for coal, oil and gas production.
No done deal on EU carbon market reform
26 May 2022
Lawmakers in the European Parliament’s environment committee voted on a major overhaul of the EU’s carbon market last week, but it’s a long and possibly bumpy road to EU legislators shaking hands on the final deal.
Think climate action is expensive? Inaction could cost $178 trillion.
26 May 2022
For centuries, fossil fuels have been associated with prosperity, progress, and growth. But more and more economists say that the continued use of coal, oil, and gas is now driving the world in the opposite direction — toward a lower standard of living and a global economic slump.
The U.S. has spent more than $2 billion on a plan to save salmon. The fish are vanishing anyway.
26 May 2022
The U.S. government promised Native tribes in the Pacific Northwest that they could keep fishing as they’d always done. But instead of preserving wild salmon, it propped up a failing system of hatcheries. Now, that system is falling apart.
Massachusetts climate change case against Exxon can proceed, court rules
26 May 2022
A lawsuit by the state of Massachusetts accusing ExxonMobil of misleading the public about climate change can go forward, the state's highest court has ruled. Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by ExxonMobil to dismiss the lawsuit.
In Tanzania, carbon offsets preserve forests and a way of life
26 May 2022
Carbon offsets have been criticised for failing to provide carbon savings and ignoring the needs of local communities. But in Tanzania, hunter-gatherer tribes are earning a good return for their carbon credits and protecting their forests from poachers and encroaching agriculture.
G20 climate goals just won't do the job, claims new report
25 May 2022
None of the G20 countries have made climate commitments consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as the Paris Agreement stipulates, data from a new report showed
Island states back Vanuatu’s quest for climate justice at the UN
25 May 2022
Pacific and Caribbean nations have joined Vanuatu in calling for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ legal obligations to protect people from climate harm.
'A sign of things to come': India and Pakistan heatwave made 30 times more likely by climate change, study finds
25 May 2022
The savage heatwave that has scorched India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely by climate change and is a harbinger of the region's future, scientists have said in a new study.
How San Francisco cracked the urban composting code
25 May 2022
California’s environmental achievements are something to behold. The state ranks first in the U.S. for growth in solar power generation and battery storage. It’s the national leader in cumulative electric vehicle sales and public EV charging stations. And it’s one of a growing number of states that aim to run entirely on carbon-free energy in the coming decades – a goal it briefly met, for about 15 minutes, on April 30.
“Under-prepared on all fronts:” Australian renewables exposed to supply and cost crunch
25 May 2022
Despite a federal election result that promises a new era of political support for the Australian renewable energy industry, a major report warns of a tough road ahead for a market still feeling the effects of supply-chain “long Covid.”
UK’s net zero target is under threat because there’s no plan to pay for it
25 May 2022
The UK government’s plan for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is at a serious risk of sinking before it’s been fully launched. With the Treasury having rejected a request by MPs to come up with a “clear funding plan”, there’s now every chance that an already bad plan will turn into no plan at all.
Fossil fuel industry loses its grip over Australia’s climate and energy policies
24 May 2022
Australia has a new Labor government and a significant climate-focused cross bench, and it might just mark the beginning of the end of an almost decade-long grip the fossil fuel industry has held over national climate change and energy policy.
UN body makes ‘breakthrough’ on carbon price proposal for shipping
24 May 2022
Countries have agreed on the need to put a carbon price on shipping emissions after more than a decade of resistance, which campaigners have hailed as a “major breakthrough”.
Failure to save the Congo Basin forest ‘would mean world loses climate fight’
24 May 2022
Failing to conserve the carbon-rich forests of the Congo Basin would mean the world loses the fight against climate change, officials in Gabon have warned.
Sharp cut in methane now could help avoid worst of climate crisis
24 May 2022
Cutting methane sharply now is crucial, as focusing on carbon dioxide alone will not be enough to keep rising temperatures within livable limits, scientists have warned.
How a French bank set the gold standard for climate action
24 May 2022
The headquarters of La Banque Postale resemble a towering greenhouse in a quiet residential neighborhood of Paris, about a mile east of the Eiffel Tower.
HSBC suspends senior banker for dismissing 'nut job' climate change warnings
24 May 2022
Banking giant HSBC has reportedly suspended a senior banker after he dismissed climate change warnings as "unsubstantiated" and accused bankers of overstating global warming risks.
Australian climate election leaves Liberal Party demolished in the capital cities
23 May 2022
Australians have voted overwhelmingly for stronger action on climate change, with stunning results across the country for both teal independents and the Greens delivering a harsh rebuke to the Morrison government’s years of foot-dragging on emissions reduction.
HSBC AM global head of responsible investing: 'Who cares if Miami is six metres under water in 100 years?'
23 May 2022
HSBC Asset Management global head of responsible investing Stuart Kirk has questioned the risk climate change plays for financial markets, arguing that it is not one investors should worry about.
Your money is your carbon
23 May 2022
If you've got $125k in the financial system, it's doing as much damage as your cooking and your heating and your flying. These are the most important new climate numbers for many years
Farmer sues VW over climate change; German court has doubts
23 May 2022
A court in Germany cast doubt Friday on claims by a German farmer that automaker Volkswagen is partly responsible for the impact that global warming is having on his family business.
Biden commits $3.5 billion to carbon capture
23 May 2022
The US government is investing in machines that suck giant amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air in the hopes of reducing damage from climate change.
Despite mining ban, Russia scours Antarctica for massive fossil fuel deposits
20 May 2022
The Kremlin’s mineral explorer says it has found a stunning 500 billion barrels of oil and gas below the Southern Ocean’s climate-threatened waters. Tapping these mooted reserves would not only hamper global efforts to fight the climate crisis. Known for flouting major agreements, a defiant Russia in the Antarctic could destroy the decades-long protected status of Earth’s last unmined frontier.
Trees are dying much faster in northern Australia
20 May 2022
The rate of trees dying in the old-growth tropical forests of northern Australia each year has doubled since the 1980s, and researchers say climate change is probably to blame.
This gas would have stayed in the ground if it wasn’t for bitcoin
20 May 2022
In Pennsylvania, Big Dog Energy LLC has installed 30 gas-fired generators at one of its gas well pads in Beccaria Township, using the electricity they produce in an ingenious, profitable, and possibly environmentally-damaging pursuit—mining the cryptocurrency known as bitcoin.
Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?
20 May 2022
Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which gets released when livestock operations pool manure in open-air lagoons.
Suicides indicate wave of ‘doomerism’ over escalating climate crisis
20 May 2022
It was a stunning, grisly act. A man, a climate activist and Buddhist, had set himself on fire on the steps of the US supreme court. He sat upright and didn’t immediately scream despite the agony. Police officers desperately plunged nearby orange traffic cones into the court’s marbled fountain and hurled water at him. It wasn’t enough to save him.
Air pollution "largest existential threat to human and planetary health"
19 May 2022
Since the turn of the century, global deaths attributable to air pollution have increased by more than half, a development that researchers say underscores the impact of pollution as the “largest existential threat to human and planetary health.”
Four key measures of climate change set records in 2021
19 May 2022
Four key measures of climate change hit record highs last year, the United Nations said yesterday.
The simple act of spreading rock dust on farms is an overlooked but tantalizing climate solution
19 May 2022
The simple act of sprinkling rock dust—an abundant byproduct of mining—on farmland could capture 45% percent of the carbon dioxide required to help the UK meet its 2050 net-zero targets.
After renewables frenzy, Vietnam’s solar energy goes to waste
19 May 2022
For up to 12 days every month, Tran Nhu Anh Kiet, a supermarket manager in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province, is forced to turn off his solar panels during the most lucrative peak sunshine hours.
Will swapping out electric car batteries catch on?
19 May 2022
Without even a touch of the steering wheel, the electric car reverses autonomously into the recharging station.
Studio MOM creates eco-friendly cycle helmet from mycelium and hemp
19 May 2022
Dutch design office polystyrene (https://www.dezeen.com/tag/studio-mom/">Studio MOM has developed a bicycle helmet from biomaterials that, unlike
German giant targets Australian green hydrogen market with new base in Perth
18 May 2022
A German green hydrogen technology company behind 10GW of electrolyser capacity installed globally is setting up shop in Perth, to catch the wave of Australia’s emerging renewable hydrogen industry.
Survey reveals costs and benefits of climate-related disclosure for companies and investors
18 May 2022
A new survey reveals what private sector US organisations are currently spending on measuring and managing key climate change data and disclosure activities
Report highlights risk of climate-induced statelessness and nationality loss in the Pacific
18 May 2022
Kiribati-born Tiibea Baure moved to Australia in 2008 as a nursing student with a plan for her extended family's future.
EU climate emissions higher than before pandemic
18 May 2022
The EU's greenhouse gas emissions in the last quarter of 2021 were higher than any quarter since late 2018, scrubbing out the apparent gains made during the pandemic.
MEPs raise ambition on EU carbon market reform
18 May 2022
The European Parliament environment committee on Tuesday (17 May) agreed on reform of the European carbon market — including its expansion to buildings and transport.
UK carbon tax on imports could stop firms from outsourcing CO2 emissions as nations tackle climate crisis
18 May 2022
The UK has moved a step closer to imposing a carbon tax on all imports to stop companies from outsourcing their CO2 emissions to foreign countries.
Berlin pushes for a €60 minimum price on EU carbon markets
17 May 2022
Discounting allegations of speculation on the EU carbon market, Berlin is throwing its weight behind a minimum price of €60 per tonne of CO2, saying it will ensure this through national measures if the EU does not take action.
Water crisis, power cuts worsen misery in Pakistan’s hottest city
17 May 2022
By the time Pakistani schoolboy Saeed Ali arrived at the hospital in one of the world’s hottest cities, his body was shutting down from heatstroke.
Australian carbon market splits as buyers pay more for “high integrity” units
17 May 2022
Australia’s carbon offset market is showing signs of splitting in two, analysts say, as buyers show they are willing to pay a premium for “higher integrity” offsets.
Australian election 2022: What the manifestos say on energy and climate change
17 May 2022
As Australians head to the polls on 21 May, voters face a decision that could have significant consequences for the nation’s efforts to cut emissions and transition its energy system.
Zero-carbon flat glass made for the first time by Saint-Gobain
17 May 2022
In a world first, France’s Cie. de Saint-Gobain said it produced carbon-neutral flat glass by using recycled materials and green energy.
IEA expects record renewable growth despite cost, supply problems
16 May 2022
Rising concerns over energy security and climate change will galvanize record new capacity to generate renewable power in 2022, the International Energy Agency has forecast.
Over 90 million Indians at risk of hunger due to climate change: report
16 May 2022
The effects of climate change will put 9.06 crore [90 million] Indians at risk of hunger in the next eight years, according to the Global Food Policy Report 2022 on ‘Climate change and food systems’ by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
‘Off like a rocket’: Battery rebate prompts massive rooftop power surge
Thu 28 Aug 2025
The federal government’s home battery rebate has proved so popular it is adding the equivalent to South Australia’s big battery to the grid every 8.7 days.
Ørsted shares at all-time low after Trump halts work on US windfarm
Wed 27 Aug 2025
Shares drop by 17% after stop-work order on $1.5bn project off Rhode Island, which was 80% complete.
China's carbon market to introduce absolute emissions caps from 2027
Wed 27 Aug 2025
China will tighten its carbon trading market by introducing absolute emissions caps in some industries for the first time starting by 2027.
Apple Watch not a 'CO2-neutral product,' German court finds
Thu 28 Aug 2025
Apple can no longer advertise its Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany, following a court ruling on Tuesday that upheld a complaint from environmentalists, finding that the U.S. tech company had misled consumers.
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive?
20 Aug 2025
When climate change undermines the climate plan.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
Singapore seals carbon credit deal with Thailand, its first South-east Asian partner
Thu 28 Aug 2025
The agreement, the eighth for Singapore, helps both nations meet climate targets under the Paris Agreement, directing finance to Thai projects.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Is Africa about to see the solar energy boom it needs?
Thu 28 Aug 2025
African countries imported a record number of solar panels in the past year, which could be the beginning of a green energy boom on the continent.
Lessons from the Incas: How llamas, terraces and trees could help the Andes survive climate change
Thu 28 Aug 2025
New research suggests solutions may lie in environmental knowledge that the Incas and their predecessors developed centuries ago.
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of COP30
20 Aug 2025
Only 28 countries have submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters yet to produce plans.
