International: Australia
Australia's green energy push, Pacific ties face setback from COP31 impasse
Fri 14 Nov 2025
Australia risks undermining efforts to establish itself as a leader in the green energy transition and letting down its vulnerable Pacific island neighbours if its bid to host next year's biggest climate summit fails, diplomats and analysts say.
Liberal Party formally abandons net zero by 2050 climate target
Fri 14 Nov 2025
The Liberal Party has agreed to scrap its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, which was first set under the Morrison government.
EV and hybrid sales soar in Australia as internal combustion cars fall below 70% market share for first time
Thu 13 Nov 2025
Data from peak motoring body shows battery-electric vehicles accounted for 9.7% of new cars sold in September quarter, the highest proportion on record.
Forty per cent of Australian women without kids hesitant to have children because of climate change, survey finds
Tue 11 Nov 2025
The survey, on attitudes about the impacts of global heating, also found that half of Australians were very or extremely concerned about climate change and two in five believed the climate would be “much hotter” in 2050.
We have more renewable energy than ever before. Why are we switching it off?
Tue 11 Nov 2025
Experts say until more storage is installed to soak up the waves of renewable energy flooding the grid, much of that power will occasionally have to be curtailed.
“Dirty and expensive:” City of Sydney bans gas as it votes to electrify all new big buildings
6 Nov 2025
The City of Sydney has followed the example of the ACT and Victoria governments and voted unanimously to require all newly built residential buildings, medium to large commercial buildings, hotels, and serviced apartment buildings, to be all-electric.
Australian Nationals formally abandon commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050
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.
Companies could have profits from breaking environment laws stripped under Australian reforms
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.
US, Australia to invest $2 billion in critical minerals, advance Alcoa gallium project
23 Oct 2025
The United States and Australia extended financial support to several Australian companies as part of a wide-ranging critical minerals agreement aimed at countering China's hold over the industry.
Australian rainforests no longer a carbon sink – study
17 Oct 2025
Australia's tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, scientists said Thursday, linking the "very concerning" trend to climate change.
For Australia to get moving on electric vehicles, we must ban petrol and diesel cars by 2035
17 Oct 2025
COMMENT: If nothing is done, transport is projected to be Australia’s largest emissions source by 2030.
Solar panel efficiency record broken in big boost for renewable energy
10 Oct 2025
Scientists in Sydney have smashed the efficiency record for a new type of solar panel.
Media and political attacks on Australia’s emissions targets ‘straight out of the climate obstruction playbook’
9 Oct 2025
Recent political and media attacks on renewable energy and climate action in Australia have come “out of the climate obstruction playbook” that has been honed over decades around the world by fossil fuel interests, according to professor Christian Downie.
Transport will make or break Australia’s new climate plan – and time is running out to fix it
1 Oct 2025
Australia has a new climate target: cutting emissions by 62-70% below 2005 levels by 2035. Meeting even the lower end means halving emissions in a decade.
Chris Bowen meets Turkey’s first lady as lobbying to hold Cop31 intensifies
26 Sep 2025
Climate minister, who is trying to persuade Turkey to allow Australia to host the summit, appears with Emine Erdoğan at New York event.
With 2035 emissions targets set, what Australia does next will help shape global efforts to keep 1.5°C alive
24 Sep 2025
This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. He will bring something important: Australia’s new 2035 emission cut target of 62–70% on 2005 levels.
Nations’ plans to ramp up coal, gas and oil extraction ‘will put climate goals beyond reach’
23 Sep 2025
New data shows governments now planning more fossil fuel production in coming decades than they were in 2023.
Govt has not set 2035 renewables target, downplays 90 per cent
23 Sep 2025
Chris Bowen has declined to offer a timeline for setting a 2035 renewables target, despite the Climate Change Authority's projection that more than 90 per cent renewables would be needed to achieve its recommended climate target.
Cut emissions 70% by 2035? There’s only one policy that can get us there
22 Sep 2025
To cut emissions fast, the Australian government will have to dial back its command-and-control approach – and put a price on carbon.
Australia's 2035 climate targets on path to net zero judged by the experts
19 Sep 2025
After much anticipation, Australia has set its new climate targets: a reduction of 62 to 70 per cent within the next 10 years.
Climate risk suburbs: The shocking truth about Aussie house prices
18 Sep 2025
Australia’s property market is hurtling towards a climate reckoning, with billions of dollars in potential losses looming.
Australia: Cost of years of inaction on climate change is now revealed
17 Sep 2025
OPINION: In recent weeks, alarming glimpses into the contents of the federal government’s National Climate Risk Assessment have leaked out.
Rising seas will threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050 – report
16 Sep 2025
One and a half million Australians living in coastal areas are at risk from rising sea levels by 2050, a landmark climate report has warned.
Australia’s biggest gas project greenlit to 2070 with ‘partial’ protection for Indigenous rock art
15 Sep 2025
Approval met with fury from conservation groups and the Greens, who called it a ‘betrayal’ of Australians who want climate action.
Australian Labor Party under internal pressure to commit to at least 70% emissions reduction by 2035
12 Sep 2025
The party’s grassroots campaigners have urged its leadership to ignore business warnings about the cost of setting an ‘ambitious’ target.
Fortescue rejects ‘credibility’ of business council modelling on Australia's 2035 emissions target
8 Sep 2025
A fight over climate policy has broken out within a major Australian business lobby, with mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue sharply criticising the Business Council of Australia over its modelling of the costs of making emissions cuts.
Darwin methane leak ‘covered up’ by gas companies and regulators
2 Sep 2025
At the heart of the project that heralded northern Australia’s gas boom — Darwin’s first liquefied natural gas plant — was a storage tank that operators hailed as a major feat of engineering.
Australia’s biggest gas advocates are quietly swapping out peaking gas plans for big batteries
1 Sep 2025
Big batteries are rapidly displacing plans for gas peaking plants, as cost and commercial factors prompt a rethink on how much the owners of these sites want to spend.
“There was so much death.” A toxic algal bloom is ravaging Australia’s southern coast – warming waters are to blame
29 Aug 2025
Three ingredients are required for an algal bloom to get going – temperature, the right conditions and food. South Australia had all the preconditions necessary, thanks to climate change.
‘Off like a rocket’: Battery rebate prompts massive rooftop power surge
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.
500 Australian businesses back 75% climate target
27 Aug 2025
Atlassian, Canva and Fortescue are among a coalition of more than 500 businesses operating in Australia that are backing a 75% emissions reduction target for 2030, which modelling from Deloitte found was technically achievable.
No room for the timid: setting Australia’s 2035 emissions target is a daring tightrope act
26 Aug 2025
Any week now, Australia will set its 2035 emissions target. It must signal the nation’s strong ambition on climate action, to drive policy and investment. And it must avoid being seen as either unrealistic or too costly.
Australian academics concerned about local research amid US funding cuts
26 Aug 2025
Scientists in regional Australia warn that major policy and funding changes in the United States will have a significant impact on critical research locally.
Sydney records most rain since weather station opened in 1858
20 Aug 2025
Sydney's wettest August in 27 years has tipped the city's recent climate into uncharted territory.
Forget net zero. We need ‘real zero’ – and these companies prove it’s profitable
15 Aug 2025
OPINION: Three huge global companies – IKEA, Lendlease and Fortescue Mining – are heading towards real zero. If they can do it, so can everyone.
Climate crisis risks to Aus economy and environment ‘intense and scary’, unreleased govt report
14 Aug 2025
Sources say delayed risk assessment includes modelling of effects of climate crisis in ways that have been little discussed in political debate so far.
Australia can hit an 85% emissions cut by 2035 – if government and business seize the moment
13 Aug 2025
Discussions are hotting up over Australia’s 2035 emission reduction target, which the federal government is due to reveal by September this year. It will be a crucial announcement, for several reasons.
Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching
11 Aug 2025
Researchers warn reef may reach tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events
What’s in a number? New carbon target sparks new climate warfare
4 Aug 2025
Casual observers of Australia's federal parliament might this week have been startled by a sudden resumption of conflict over climate, but the timing was no accident.
Reintroducing a carbon price the 'most economically efficient tax reform' to repair Australia's budget
1 Aug 2025
Economist Ross Garnaut has warned of "tragic consequences" for productivity and the federal budget, as well as climate change, unless Australia reintroduces a carbon price "as a matter of urgency".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rio Tinto urges Albanese govt to reimpose carbon tax, boost green energy subsidies
17 Jul 2025
The mining giant has used it’s submission to the Productivity Commission ahead of the Albanese government’s economic roundtable to lobby for the re-imposition of a carbon pricing scheme and bolstered green energy subsidies.
Indigenous elders lose landmark climate battle against Australian government
16 Jul 2025
The Australian government has won a landmark climate case against residents of islands under siege from the impacts of climate change.
Warmer seas fuel dangerous ‘weather bomb’ in New South Wales
3 Jul 2025
If the storm shapes up as predicted, we can expect to see damage to houses and trees as well as significant beach erosion – especially in heavily populated areas exposed to the storm’s southern flank.
Australia's red meat industry drops 2030 carbon neutral goal
2 Jul 2025
An Australian livestock industry body said on Tuesday it had abandoned its goal to make the sector, a significant emitter of planet-warming methane, carbon neutral by 2030 but that reducing emissions would remain a priority.
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine
26 Jun 2025
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians’ recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters — driven by a hotter climate — are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future.
Trump is said to propose opening California coast to oil drilling
Fri 14 Nov 2025
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief critic of the president and an opponent of oil exploration in the Pacific, called the proposal “dead on arrival.”
Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months
Wed 12 Nov 2025
China’s carbon dioxide emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, extending a flat or falling trend that started in March 2024.
EU countries seek another year-long deforestation law delay
Thu 13 Nov 2025
European Union member states are seeking to postpone the implementation of the bloc's anti-deforestation law by another year, an EU negotiating draft dated November 10 shows.
Scotland's first wind farm 'supercharged' after upgrade
Tue 11 Nov 2025
Scotland's first commercial wind farm will be able to deliver five times more clean power than before after being upgraded.
Canada’s new budget has billions in fossil subsidies disguised as climate action
Mon 10 Nov 2025
Ottawa's new CCS and hydrogen credits extend to 2035, but most of the billions go to oil sands and refining, not clean industry.
From mapping high-risk areas to building ‘sponge cities’: How Vietnam is adapting to climate extremes
6 Nov 2025
Vietnam is rethinking how it copes with floods after a year of relentless storms has collapsed hillsides and turned streets into rivers.
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".
What do African countries want from COP30?
Tue 11 Nov 2025
At the UN climate summit, African negotiators are seeking more “debt-free” financing that would allow them to implement climate solutions – from adaptation to just transition.
COP30: Brazil tries to find a home for tricky issues
Fri 14 Nov 2025
Brazil is trying to craft a compromise package on several contentious issues and has dismissed the idea of a roadmap away from fossil fuels.
Ethiopia set to host UN's 2027 climate summit, 2026 undecided
Thu 13 Nov 2025
Uncertainty still surrounds which country will host next year's UN climate conference: Australia or Turkey. But for 2027, there's little mystery: it will almost certainly be Ethiopia, an African diplomatic powerhouse.
