International: All stories
The EU’s ‘fantasy’ $750B energy promise to Trump
31 Jul 2025
The EU has narrowly avoided a full-blown trade war with Donald Trump by pledging to buy $750 billion of U.S. oil and gas by the end of his term. But achieving that will be almost impossible.
Earth’s wetlands are disappearing and global efforts to save them are unravelling
31 Jul 2025
More than 170 countries have gathered to save critical ecosystems. But the U.S. was a no-show for most of the summit and Russia said it will withdraw from the wetlands treaty.
Tilting at windmills? Trump’s claims about turbines fact-checked
31 Jul 2025
The US president has taken a swipe at wind power as the blades visible from his Turnberry golf course turn.
At least 30 killed and several missing as heavy rains and floods lash northern China
30 Jul 2025
Thousands of people were evacuated as the region, including the capital Beijing, braced for more rainfall overnight.
Tax on AI and crypto could fund climate action, says former Paris accords envoy
30 Jul 2025
Laurence Tubiana urges governments to consider levies on energy-hungry technology.
A third of ‘slum residents’ in global south are exposed to disastrous flood risks
30 Jul 2025
One in three people in informal settlements in the global south live in floodplains and are at risk of a “disastrous flood”.
As US climate data-gathering is gutted, Australian forecasting is now at real risk
30 Jul 2025
As damage from climate change intensifies, political change overseas is threatening Australia’s ability to track what’s happening now, and predict what will happen next.
320 million trees die each year from lightning, and climate change is making it worse
30 Jul 2025
Every year, lightning kills around 320 million trees across the globe, not with raging wildfires but through direct strikes that often go unseen.
The World Court finally opens the door to 'climate reparations'
30 Jul 2025
COMMENT: The International Court of Justice’s landmark opinion means big polluters must answer for climate harm.
UN climate chief urges Australia to 'go big' on 2035 emissions target
29 Jul 2025
One of the world's top climate diplomats has urged the federal government to commit to an ambitious 2035 target to cut carbon emissions, saying Australia can reap "colossal" economic rewards if it embraces clean energy.
Climateflation could push up UK food prices by more than a third by 2050, report says
29 Jul 2025
Increasingly extreme weather threatens production and supply chains in Britain and elsewhere.
Wildfires rage in Greece and Turkey as extreme heat persists
29 Jul 2025
Greece continued to battle major wildfires across the country amid a severe heatwave, but firefighters have brought many outbreaks under control.
Toxic algae are turning South Australia’s coral reefs into underwater graveyards
29 Jul 2025
Since March, a harmful algal bloom, fueled by a marine heat wave, has been choking South Australia’s coastline.
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.
Dire warning aid cuts are stopping vulnerable nations from preparing for climate disaster
29 Jul 2025
Funding cuts plus the failure to agree a financial target to help poorer countries adapt to climate change is already having a stark impact.
Europe and China agree to take action on climate change and nothing else in tense Beijing summit
28 Jul 2025
China and the European Union have issued a joint call to action on climate change during an otherwise tense bilateral summit in Beijing on Thursday riven with major disagreements over trade and the war in Ukraine.
‘Total infiltration’: How plastics industry swamped vital global treaty talks
28 Jul 2025
Petrostates and well-funded lobbyists at UN-hosted talks are derailing a deal to cut plastic production and protect people and the planet.
India misses chance to tackle UK carbon tax in trade pact
28 Jul 2025
India’s efforts to secure a concession for its small and medium enterprises under the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism did not materialise, as the text of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement made no mention of a resolution on the contentious issue.
World’s largest carbon projects unlikely to deliver emissions cuts despite reforms
28 Jul 2025
So far, carbon markets have not led to a promised decrease in planet-heating emissions – and efforts to tighten standards have yet to prove their worth.
China's carbon emissions may have peaked thanks to renewables push
28 Jul 2025
Climate experts say China's carbon emissions may have peaked, which could affect global climate targets, the fight against global warming – and the Australian coal industry.
$22B in US clean energy projects canceled so far this year
28 Jul 2025
Thousands of jobs and billions in investments have been ditched in the first half of this year as President Trump’s administration has pushed back on new green energy investments, according to a new report.
The ICJ’s ruling means Australia and other major polluters face a new era of climate reparations
25 Jul 2025
By Harj Narulla | OPINION: Australia has found itself on the wrong side of history.
Ocean heatwaves may signal climate tipping point
25 Jul 2025
A recent study that tapped into satellite data has revealed that 2023 marked an unprecedented year for marine heatwaves, with record-breaking levels of duration, reach and intensity across the world's oceans.
Greenpeace hails Italy court ruling allowing climate lawsuit against energy company to go ahead
25 Jul 2025
Italy’s highest court has ruled that a lawsuit brought by climate activists against Italian energy company ENI and its government shareholders can go ahead.
India to issue climate risk disclosure rules for banks in the next few months, sources say
25 Jul 2025
India's central bank is close to finalising rules for banks and financial institutions to disclose and manage risks from climate change, three sources aware of the matter said.
Trump and the energy industry are eager to power AI with fossil fuels
25 Jul 2025
At a Pittsburgh summit, the Trump administration, energy executives, and tech barons joined as one to promote AI as the future of fossil fuels.
Dad concerned about climate change shifts company away from oil and gas
25 Jul 2025
Jordi Zonneveld says his first decade in the oil and gas industry was great. But in 2015 he realised he could pull his company toward a greener future by working on hydrogen to replace fossil fuels.
Top UN court singles out fossil fuels as part of states’ climate duty
24 Jul 2025
Landmark opinion says those that fail to prevent climate harm could be liable for compensation and restitution.
COP30 must make good on past climate commitments
24 Jul 2025
By Jacinda Ardern, Carlos Lopes, and Laurence Tubiana | COMMENT: COP presidencies tend to seek fresh agreements and ambitious initiatives, but when the celebrations are over, implementation often falls short. That is why Brazil’s COP30 presidency must eschew flashy results in favour of pragmatic pathways to deliver on past agreements.
Switching to renewables is ‘smart economics’ - Guterres
24 Jul 2025
The global energy transition is now “unstoppable” due to “smart economics”, UN secretary-general António Guterres has said in an online speech titled: “A moment of opportunity.”
SBTi releases Net Zero Standard for banks, investors
24 Jul 2025
The Science Based Targets initiative announced the release of its finalised Financial Institutions Net-Zero Standard, aimed at enabling banks and investors to set net zero-aligned targets for their lending, investing, insurance and capital markets activities.
Extreme weather events are the new frontline of online climate denial – report
24 Jul 2025
Climate science deniers are flooding social media with false claims during extreme weather events, drowning out reliable information and putting lives at risk.
Root intelligence: How old trees learn to suck more CO2 from the air
24 Jul 2025
New research finds that centuries-old oaks can dynamically rewire how they absorb nutrients—suggesting forests may be more resilient allies in the climate fight than once believed.
Global oil and gas emissions standard put on pause after Shell and others walk away
23 Jul 2025
Shell and other leading energy groups have abandoned a six-year-long attempt to define a net zero emissions strategy after being told that such a standard would require them to stop developing new oil and gas fields.
The tiny Pacific nation of Vanuatu turns to the world court as climate disasters mount
23 Jul 2025
The International Court of Justice will issue an advisory opinion on what legal obligations nations have to address climate change and what consequences they may face if they don’t.
Heatwave causes water shortages in Iran as temps top 50C
23 Jul 2025
Reservoirs of the dams supplying water to Tehran are currently at their lowest level in a century.
Climate denial is tearing our nation apart — we can’t wait much longer to act
23 Jul 2025
OPINION: The United States currently tolerates a national government whose climate and energy policies are diametrically opposed to what most Americans say they want.
Africa wants climate compensation, not loans
23 Jul 2025
The $1.3 trillion pledged by rich nations to the developing world to combat climate change should be in the form of compensation rather than loans, an African ministerial conference argued.
Climate catastrophes are creating a ‘new market reality’ for insurance carriers
23 Jul 2025
Raging wildfires and severe storms contributed to record-high global insurance losses — totalling an estimated US$84 billion — for the first six months of the year.
Gas flaring created 389m tonnes of carbon pollution last year, report finds
22 Jul 2025
Rules to prevent ‘enormous waste’ of fuel are seen as weak and poorly enforced and firms have little incentive to stop.
Only three years left – new study warns the world is running out of time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change
22 Jul 2025
We are living in a world that is warming at the fastest rate since records began. Yet, governments have been slow to act.
At least 17 dead in South Korea floods and landslides
22 Jul 2025
At least 17 people have died in floods and landslides caused by days of torrential rain in South Korea, the country's disaster management office has said.
China embarks on world's largest hydropower dam, capital markets cheer
22 Jul 2025
China's Premier Li Qiang announced construction had begun on what will be the world's largest hydropower dam, on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau, at an estimated cost of at least $170 billion.
16 times extreme weather drove higher food prices since 2022
22 Jul 2025
UK potatoes, South Korean cabbage and west African cocoa are just some of the foods that became markedly more expensive after extreme weather events in recent years, according to new research.
US: Environmental Protection Authority slashes science division
22 Jul 2025
The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans on Friday afternoon to shut down its research arm and fire hundreds of biologists, chemists, toxicologists, and other scientists whose work helps determine safe pollution levels for regulations.
Brazil’s Congress passes ‘devastation bill’ in major environmental setback
21 Jul 2025
In the early hours of July 17, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to ease environmental licensing, which NGOs and environmentalists have dubbed the “devastation bill” and consider the nation’s most significant environmental setback in nearly 40 years.
A ‘Himalayan tsunami’ has just devastated Nepal. It should be a wake-up call
21 Jul 2025
Massive glacial bursts are becoming more frequent and more dangerous due to the climate crisis, experts tell , warning: ‘They are not going to stop anytime soon’.
He helped Microsoft build AI to help the climate. Then Microsoft sold it to Big Oil.
21 Jul 2025
A former Microsoft project manager reveals how the tech giant is using AI to help Big Oil drill—and how he and his partner are now pushing for change.
Why the hurricane season hasn’t heated up — even though the Atlantic has
21 Jul 2025
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, yet we've seen remarkably little activity compared to the hyperactive seasons of recent years.
Torres Strait leaders lost their landmark case. How can governments be held to account on climate?
21 Jul 2025
Experts and advocates say it’s time for the law to change after judge says matters based on climate policy cannot be decided by courts.
Australian Nationals formally abandon commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Nationals leader David Littleproud said the party would shift its focus to climate adaptation instead of being "focused solely" on reducing emissions, noting Australia's small share of the global effort.
No high-level US representatives will go to UN climate talks, Trump officials say
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Decision to stay away from Cop30 meeting in Brazil underscores administration’s hostility to climate action.
How ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology could boost China’s electricity system
Fri 31 Oct 2025
China’s surging electric vehicles ownership – now exceeding 25.5m – is opening the door to a new technology that can help to enhance the flexibility of electricity supply.
Norway faces European Court climate ruling over oil licences
Wed 29 Oct 2025
The European Court of Human Rights will decide on Tuesday if Norway breached its climate obligations when it awarded Arctic oil exploration licenses in 2016.
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.
Devastation on repeat: How climate change is worsening Pakistan's deadly floods
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Rescuers and relatives searched knee-deep in water for the body of one-year-old Zara. She'd been swept away by flash floods; the bodies of her parents and three siblings had already been found days earlier.
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".
Nigerian billionaire plans expansion of Africa’s biggest oil refinery
Fri 31 Oct 2025
The billionaire owner of Africa’s largest refinery plans to expand its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day to meet growing fuel needs in the continent and beyond.
Police raids in Brazil’s Rio kill 64 ahead of events related to COP30 climate summit
Thu 30 Oct 2025
At least 64 people died on Oct 28 in Rio de Janeiro’s most deadly police operation ever, which targeted a major gang days before the city hosts global events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
Most countries fail to submit new climate pledges ahead of summit
Wed 29 Oct 2025
Only 64 countries have submitted new plans to cut carbon, the UN says, despite all being required to do so ahead of next month's COP30 summit.
