International: All stories

Our solar powered future is already China’s reality

6 Oct 2022

Atop the Tibetan plateau in Qinghai province, northern China, sits the Longyangxia Dam facility, a 27-square-kilometer solar farm that is filled with a sea of four million deep blue-colored photovoltaic panels.

EVs add to electricity demand, but not as much as you might think

6 Oct 2022

California recently asked homeowners to reduce electricity consumption to help avoid blackouts as temperatures soared and the power system struggled to keep up. This specific brush with near-disaster had a new element that caught a lot of attention: a call to electric vehicle owners to avoid charging during peak demand hours.

How to ensure the world’s largest pumped-hydro project isn’t a disaster for the environment

6 Oct 2022

Queensland’s ambitious new plan involves shifting from a coal-dominated electricity grid to 80% renewables within 13 years, using 22 gigawatts of new wind and solar.

Ships release invisible contrails that slightly cool the climate

6 Oct 2022

Streaks of invisible air pollution from the world’s shipping industry, which are unseen on satellite imagery, are changing the reflectivity of clouds. This means clouds exposed to air pollution may reflect more of the sun’s light and heat than we thought, which will have to be taken into account for future climate models.

Climate reparations may be ethical, but they aren’t the best fix, climatologist says

6 Oct 2022

Calls for climate reparations for poorer countries hit hard by climate change are growing louder after catastrophic floods in Pakistan. But though they may be ethical, they aren’t the best solution to a complex problem, one climatologist said.

Almost 200 nations are set to tackle climate change at COP27 in Egypt. Is this just a talkfest, or does the meeting actually matter?

6 Oct 2022

By Matt McDonald - The Conversation |In a crucial meeting for tackling the climate crisis, almost 200 countries will come together in Egypt at the start of November for a “Conference of the Parties”, or COP27.

New Brazilian Congress not likely to address climate

5 Oct 2022

Brazil has a major role to play in addressing climate change as home to the world’s largest rainforest, but after Sunday’s election, the subject is less likely to come up than ever.

Wind, solar investors threaten to leave Europe because of revenue cap

5 Oct 2022

European wind and solar power industries associations warned that investments could go elsewhere after EU energy ministers voted to introduce revenue caps for wind, solar, nuclear and coal power generation.

China’s climate push could spawn new global players, even if Beijing falls short on its pledge

5 Oct 2022

Two years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping formally announced the world’s second largest economy would strive for peak carbon emissions in 2030, and carbon neutrality in 2060. These ambitions are spawning companies that could one day become global leaders in their fields.

WA project looks to produce ‘carbon-neutral gold’ with 13 MW solar, wind, battery hybrid solution

5 Oct 2022

Australian gold miner Bellevue Gold has entered an agreement with distributed energy provider Energy Developments Pty Ltd (EDL) for an off-grid solar, wind and battery hybrid power station for the flagship project it is developing in central Western Australia.

Vatican unveils new documentary on climate change

5 Oct 2022

A new documentary by filmmaker Nicolas Brown “highlights the key concept of dialogue,” Cardinal Michael Czerny explained on Tuesday, at the presentation of the film “The Letter” at the Holy See Press Office.

Carbon dioxide price surge 'could add £1.7bn to cost of UK groceries'

4 Oct 2022

The surging cost of carbon dioxide could add £1.7 billion to the cost of British groceries, according to new analysis. Research by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) suggests that the UK’s food and drink sector could end up footing the mammoth extra bill for liquid CO2 if gas prices remain high.

Gas production costs in Queensland's Lake Eyre Basin will be 'staggering', report claims

4 Oct 2022

Gas exploration projects in Queensland's Channel Country will be expensive to produce, generate "significant" carbon emissions and are likely to be abandoned, a report has found.

UN standard-setters turn their attention to carbon removal

4 Oct 2022

The spotlight on carbon removal is getting brighter. UN standard-setters have begun a crucial process to lay the groundwork for removals under the Paris Agreement. This has gone largely unnoticed by the carbon removal community, which has been mainly focusing on the voluntary carbon market.

Energy windfall tax offers much better economic relief than petrol excise, study finds

4 Oct 2022

As pressure mounts on the Albanese government to tax the super profits of oil and gas companies, a new Australian study says this kind of levy would be much more effective in delivering relief from high energy prices than a discount on petrol prices.

Global Innovation Co-op Summit explores co-op solutions to global challenges

4 Oct 2022

What can co-ops do to address global challenges such as climate change, digitisation or inequality? The Global Innovation Co-op Summit in Paris (25-26 September) suggested many co-operative solutions while showcasing best practices from various sectors.

A Nord Stream disaster every day

4 Oct 2022

A half-mile wide maelstrom is swirling in the Baltic Sea as an estimated 300,000 metric tons of gas violently erupts from the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines. Most of this gas is likely methane, a gas normally invisible to the eye that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over 20 years. The swirling froth recalls Hurricane Ian, another catastrophe that’s just devastated Florida.

Melbourne considering zero-carbon building rules

3 Oct 2022

A recent proposal suggests around 77 of the Melbourne CBD’s buildings would need to be “retrofitted” each year if the city is to meet its net-zero carbon emissions goals for 2040. The paper is being considered by the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee this week.

Climate change is a class issue

3 Oct 2022

By Max Lawson - head of inequality Oxfam |As Europe is crippled by high gas and energy prices this winter, there are some who have been saying that this is an opportunity to speed a green transition, a kind of shock treatment to get us all somehow ‘used’ to high energy prices and forced to consume less.

The US ban on hydrofluorocarbons is a climate game-changer

3 Oct 2022

A lot of climate change-fighting strategies focus on removing air pollutants, or preventing them from reaching the atmosphere at all. While pretty much everybody these days can recognize carbon dioxide and methane as two of them, the US just joined around 130 other nations to take a big step in knocking out a third: hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs.

‘South Asia, Himalayan region witness 40% of all climate disasters’

3 Oct 2022

The world’s largest carbon removal project will break ground in Wyoming

3 Oct 2022

A pair of climate tech companies is set to break ground on what will become the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project to help industries meet their net-zero goals and slow down the Earth’s rapidly warming climate.

Nord Stream pipeline leaks are ‘catastrophic for the climate’

30 Sep 2022

Methane leaking from yet-to-be explained damage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines is likely to be the biggest burst of the potent greenhouse gas on record, raising new fears of the effect on the climate emergency.

The climate crisis is making the pacific islands uninhabitable. Who will help preserve our Nations?

30 Sep 2022

The climate crisis is creating an increasingly uncertain future for people in most parts of the world. Paradoxically in the Pacific, it is making the future increasingly certain—but not in a way that gives any kind of comfort.

Hurricane Ian: When the power grid goes out, could solar and batteries power your home?

30 Sep 2022

Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic winds and flooding are likely to bring long-lasting power outages to large parts of Florida. The storm is the latest in a line of hurricanes and extreme heat and cold events that have knocked out power to millions of Americans in recent years for days at a time.

As carbon dioxide grows more abundant, trees are growing bigger, study finds

30 Sep 2022

Trees are feasting on decades of carbon dioxide emissions and growing bigger as a result, according to a new study of U.S. forests.

COP27: Why is addressing ‘loss and damage’ crucial for climate justice?

30 Sep 2022

The death and destruction that can result from climate change is not evenly distributed around the world

Rising interest rates only a mild snag in climate battle

29 Sep 2022

Rising interest rates present no significant barrier to the world's transition to net zero emissions by 2050 despite the high levels of investment in green energy needed, according to a strong majority of climate economists polled by Reuters.

Queensland plans “supergrid” and world’s biggest pumped hydro

29 Sep 2022

The Queensland government’s new 10-year energy and jobs plan includes plans for 22GW of new wind and solar, and 11.5GW of rooftop solar, and also includes a new “super grid” and what it says will be the biggest pumped hydro project in the world.

How the EU's new energy plans impact Southeast Asia

29 Sep 2022

As European countries turn to energy suppliers in Southeast Asia, driving up global prices, there are concerns that other developing countries are being forced to spend more on increasingly expensive liquified natural gas or coal.

Grasslands: the unsung carbon hero

29 Sep 2022

What's in a grassland? There are all sorts of wildflowers, many insects, animals like prairie dogs, bison and antelope — and beneath the surface, there's a lot of carbon.

Cars are vanishing from Paris

29 Sep 2022

Bright parasols, wooden sun loungers and expanses of golden sand suddenly appear every summer on what was once a traffic-clogged, 3.3 kilometer road along the banks of the River Seine in the heart of Paris

Corporate pushback against climate action is getting desperate

29 Sep 2022

It’s not every day that professors are told they risk breaking the law for articulating basic scientific facts. But that’s the reality of giving expert advice in the deepening climate crisis.

Nations seek aviation climate pact despite global tensions

28 Sep 2022

A United Nations body has begun global talks to hammer out a consensus on reducing airline emissions in the face of lingering discord over climate change and the impact of war in Ukraine.

Tracking climate through ship exhaust

28 Sep 2022

A total of 99,800 commercial ships sail the seas, carrying around 90% of the world’s trade in goods. Their operation is vital—the transport of COVID-19 vaccines, for instance, wouldn’t have been possible without them.

Europe’s energy crisis is destroying the multipolar world

28 Sep 2022

The energy crisis provoked by the war in Ukraine may prove so economically destructive to both Russia and the European Union that it could eventually diminish both as great powers on the world stage.

Four ways carbon crediting is improving

28 Sep 2022

The age-old mantra with carbon credits is that some are good, some are bad and it’s hard to know which is which. The core issue is that we need to encourage the right kinds of projects that are actually reducing emissions and stop funding the ones that aren’t.

Reducing beef’s carbon footprint is key to achieving net-zero in Latin America and the Caribbean

28 Sep 2022

In Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the biggest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in the region — and its best hope for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 — remains the food system.

UN rights body rules Australia failed to protect from climate change

27 Sep 2022

The United Nations Human Rights Committee on September 23 found that the Australian government had violated the rights of Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders by failing to adequately protect them against the adverse impacts of climate change.

Young protesters demand climate action worldwide

27 Sep 2022

Young activists staged a coordinated “global climate strike” to highlight the effects of global warming and demand more aid for poor countries hit by weather chaos.

Countries try to dodge EU's carbon market fundraising plan

27 Sep 2022

European Union countries are hunting for alternatives to an EU plan to use a carbon market reserve to help finance their exit from Russian gas, as some fear the proposal would undermine the bloc’s main climate change policy.

How carbon calculators can help rail customers

27 Sep 2022

Among the freight transportation modes, the railroads are considered to be a more environmentally friendly option for shippers or customers seeking to transport higher volumes of goods while emitting fewer carbon emissions.

New report reveals organic dairy farming stores carbon, reduces greenhouse gas emissions

27 Sep 2022

A recent study published in the Journal of Cleaner Productions finds greenhouse gas emissions to be 24% lower on organic dairy farms when compared to conventional dairy farms in the United States.

What many progressives misunderstand about fighting climate change

27 Sep 2022

Since the 1960s, fighting for the environment has frequently meant fighting against corporations. To curb pollution, activists have worked to thwart new oil drilling, coal-fired power plants, fracking for natural gas, and fuel pipelines. But today, Americans face a climate challenge that can’t be solved by just saying no again and again.

What if carbon border taxes applied to all carbon – fossil fuels, too?

23 Sep 2022

The European Union is embarking on an experiment that will expand its climate policies to imports for the first time.

Offsets aflame: The risk of wildfires to tree-planting carbon credits

23 Sep 2022

Recent fires at reforestation projects raise the question, can the carbon-capture claims of a booming offset industry hold up?

Puerto Rico is in the dark again, but solar companies see glimmers of hope

23 Sep 2022

Much of Puerto Rico is still without power after Hurricane Fiona battered the island on Sept. 19. The storm laid bare how vulnerable the territory's power system still is five years after Hurricane Maria plunged it into an 11-month blackout — the longest in American history — and led to the deaths of almost 3,000 people. Yet, some see hope.

China tells Europe to not backslide on climate commitments

23 Sep 2022

China has accused some European nations of a “backswing” in the implementation of urgent climate change goals as geopolitical turmoil grips the continent.

World Bank chief walks back on climate skepticism in note to staff

23 Sep 2022

World Bank President David Malpass said in a note to staff Thursday that it is "clear" that humans are causing the planet to heat up by emitting greenhouse gases

Salesforce will launch carbon credit marketplace

22 Sep 2022

Business software provider Salesforce is bringing a new platform to the carbon market, where businesses will be able to buy carbon credits from a trusted partner with a third-party verification.