International: Australia
Australia has 'probably the worst year in a century'
2 Apr 2020
Record heat and drought across Australia delivered the worst environmental conditions across the country since at least 2000, with river flows, tree cover and wildlife being hit on an unprecedented scale, says a new report.
Australian academics call for survival strategy
1 Apr 2020
A group of Australian scientists, business leaders, public servants and academics is calling for nations to work together to develop a strategy for humans to survive climate change, pandemics and other looming threats.
Smoke from bushfires killed hundreds
26 Mar 2020
Smoke from Australia’s recent bushfires killed hundreds of people and sent thousands to hospitals and emergency rooms, according to a new study.
Australian leaders told to get on with it
20 Mar 2020
Australia’s Government has been told to implement comprehensive climate-change policies in the national interest.
Green turns brown as the ecosystem suffers
17 Mar 2020
The drought in eastern Australia drove the recent bushfires but it also caused another, less well- known, environmental calamity: entire hillsides of trees turned from green to brown.
NSW makes life easier for electric vehicles
16 Mar 2020
New South Wales is aiming for a more-efficient transport future by encouraging electric vehicle uptake in its just-announced Net Zero Plan.
Burning gas “worse than coal” for climate
12 Mar 2020
Emissions from natural gas have been dangerously underestimated and it was wrong to treat gas as a “transition fuel” in the shift away from coal, according to an Australian think-tank.
Expert debunks myth about e-car emissions
10 Mar 2020
Dutch electric vehicle expert Auke Hoekstra has cut through the latest claims of renowned climate denialist Bjorn Lomborg, published at the weekend by The Australian, on the emissions from electric vehicles.
Morrison stops funding international collaboration
9 Mar 2020
The Morrison government has told researchers at two of Australia’s leading universities it will break a commitment to fund an international collaboration into what is required to shift to a zero emissions future.
Australia's summers getting longer
3 Mar 2020
Australia’s summers are getting longer and winters have become shorter as a result of global heating, according to a new report.
Logging is the last thing fire-forests need
2 Mar 2020
The New South Wales’ Forestry Corporation this week will start “selective timber harvesting” from two state forests ravaged by bushfire on the state’s south coast.
Morrison to encourage plastics recycling
2 Mar 2020
The Australian government will use its procurement policy to encourage the recycling of plastics, as well as committing financial assistance for upgrading infrastructure to boost the capacity for this waste to be reused.
Australia's carbon emissions fall just 0.3%
25 Feb 2020
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have dipped slightly on the back of new clean energy and a sharp fall from agriculture due to drought, but the decline was almost entirely wiped out by surging industrial pollution.
How these big polluters are free to up emissions
24 Feb 2020
The Australian Coalition Government's safeguards mechanism was meant to stop rises in industrial emissions cancelling out cuts paid for by taxpayers – but it’s a colossal failure.
Hydrogen gas study for towns wins funding
24 Feb 2020
By ANDREW SPENCE | Adelaide-based Australian Gas Networks has been awarded $1.28 million in Federal Government funding to support a study into introducing renewable hydrogen into South Australian and Victorian towns.
Morrison backs technology over taxation
19 Feb 2020
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described a report he might adopt a technology investment target to avoid signing up to a commitment of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as speculation, but confirmed his government will take a “technology over taxation” approach to climate change.
Climate change already hurting Aust, says reserve bank
17 Feb 2020
Australia’s leading economic regulator has warned that climate change is already having a “profound” effect on the Australian economy, dragging down production, the value of Australian exports and the confidence of Australian consumers.
Parcels might join people on city buses
17 Feb 2020
Sydney is looking at using its public transport system to cut the number of delivery vans clogging its streets.
Renewables to power outback mine
14 Feb 2020
By ANDREW SPENCE | Australian mining company Oz Minerals plans to power its proposed West Musgrave copper nickel mine in central Australia with up to 80 per cent renewables.
Record growth sends Australia's emissions soaring
12 Feb 2020
Emissions from Australia’s largest industrial emitters have surged to 60 per cent above 2005 levels, thanks to record growth in the oil and gas, transport and mining sectors, analysts say.
Bushfire towns find water contaminated
12 Feb 2020
Communities affected by the Australian bushfires are starting to reckon with a complex, expensive aftermath: the threat to their drinking water.
Give them a shot of the truth
4 Feb 2020
Australia’s bushfire crisis was remarkable for the deluge of disinformation spread by climate deniers.
Protesters ‘call bullshit’ on News Corp coverage
31 Jan 2020
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion have dumped a load of manure outside the Queensland office of News Corp to protest against the media giant’s coverage of climate change.
Conservation scientists grieving after bushfires
28 Jan 2020
For many conservation biologists and land managers, the unprecedented extent and ferocity of the Australian bushfires has incinerated much more than koalas and their kin.
Australians might be told to evacuate their drought towns
13 Dec 2019
The NSW state government is considering evacuating the residents of as many as 90 towns seriously affected by drought.
Australia risks being dumping ground for cars with potent gas
10 Dec 2019
Australia is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for cars pre-charged with a greenhouse gas 1400 times more potent than carbon dioxide, industry groups warn.
Cool ideas needed to sooth scorching cities
10 Dec 2019
International urban environment experts are gathering in Adelaide this week to tackle the challenge of climate change in increasingly hotter cities.
ESSAY: Living with fire and facing the fear
9 Dec 2019
By DANIELLE CLODE | It is only mid-November but we have to walk early to avoid the heat.
Work begins on Adelaide green hydrogen plant
3 Dec 2019
Construction has begun on a pioneering hydrogen production facility in Adelaide, which will play a major role in South Australia’s bid to become a global leader in certified green hydrogen.
OPINION; Scott Morrison and the big lie
26 Nov 2019
By RICHARD FLANAGAN | Australians everywhere are ready to get on with the job of dealing with the climate crisis. We just need a prime minister to lead us.
Australians see wildlife vanishing
25 Nov 2019
Farmers, bird watchers and other Australians close to the land are noticing the impacts of climate change on the country’s wildlife.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Suburbs take to solar
18 Nov 2019
Australians are embracing the ‘virtual power plant’, which advocates say can protect the grid, save money and combat the climate crisis.
Australia (briefly) hits 50% renewables
8 Nov 2019
Australia’s main electricity grid was briefly powered by 50% renewable energy this week in a new milestone that experts say will become increasingly normal.
Australia looks to Aboriginals' land knowledge
5 Nov 2019
Australia’s indigenous academics are calling for a fresh look at the governance and practices of mainstream environmental management institutions.
Coastal homeowners don’t want to rock the boat
1 Nov 2019
Many coastal homeowners appear to be denying the need to act on rising sea levels for fear their property values will fall.
Engineers turn backs on new fossil fuel projects
22 Oct 2019
Engineering firms in Australia are under increased pressure from their own employees to abandon controversial fossil fuel projects, as the sector turns its attention to the climate crisis.
BARE FACTS: Australia's hidden climate crisis
17 Oct 2019
Farming communities in Australia are bitterly divided over an epidemic of land clearing they say is sabotaging efforts to address climate change.
Queensland wants to jail XR protesters
16 Oct 2019
Queensland has proposed two-year jail sentences for Extinction Rebellion protesters caught with a locking device used to fix people in public places.
It’s only October, so what’s with all these bushfires?
15 Oct 2019
Summer might be more than six weeks away, but out-of-control bushfires have already torn across parts of eastern Australia in recent days, destroying homes and threatening lives.
Jail climate protesters, says Australian minister
7 Oct 2019
Protesters who disrupt traffic should have their welfare payments cut and be subject to mandatory jail sentences, Australia's home affairs minister Peter Dutton has declared.
NSW considers laws to stop courts blocking coalmines
3 Oct 2019
The New South Wales government is considering legislation that could limit the ability for planning authorities to rule out coalmines projects based on the climate change impact of emissions from the coal once it is burned.
Towns prepare for 'unimaginable' water crisis
1 Oct 2019
Livelihoods in Australia are now at risk from drought worsened by climate change, a predicament more familiar to developing countries.
Queensland plans huge hydrogen projects
1 Oct 2019
Two huge renewable hydrogen projects have been planned for the heart of Queensland’s major coal and gas regions.
'It's heartbreaking': A town watches its beach wash away
30 Sep 2019
Stockton beach in New South Wales is being washed away by dramatic coastal erosion which has already claimed a childcare centre.
Mining magnate puts millions into war on plastics waste
26 Sep 2019
An Australian mining billionaire has launched a business-driven initiative to try to tackle the hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste produced every year.
Canberra switching to 100% renewable energy
23 Sep 2019
Canberra will become the first city outside Europe to shift from fossil fuel to 100% renewable energy.
Protest-rubbish photo is just that ... rubbish
23 Sep 2019
A hoax photo that claims to show rubbish left behind by Australian climate strike protesters is circulating on Facebook, despite being revealed as fake months ago.
Mine protesters tackle All Blacks on eve of World Cup
18 Sep 2019
A petition launched just days before the World Cup opens in Japan calls on the All Blacks to dump their principal sponsor AIG over ties to a controversial Australian coal mine development.
More Australians drown as summers heat up
17 Sep 2019
More Australians are drowning as the country faces record high temperatures, lifesavers have warned.
Australia launches emergency relocation of fish
12 Sep 2019
Faced with a ferocious summer with little rain forecast, the New South Wales government has embarked on a Noah’s Ark type operation to move native fish to safe havens.
Climate scientists and republican lawyers are taking aim at Big Tech’s emissions
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Technology companies have long been one of the biggest investors in clean energy, but new accounting rules could upend that.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
Thu 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.
'Not up for discussion': Brussels rejects Washington's pressure on climate rules
Mon 13 Oct 2025
In response to US demands to roll back the EU's environmental legislation, the European Commission defended its autonomous power to adopt laws.
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
Thu 16 Oct 2025
The UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have said.
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.
Indonesia restarts international carbon trade after four years
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has issued a new decree to restart international carbon emission trading after a four year hiatus.
Familiar tensions emerge at the Pacific Islands Forum
26 Sep 2025
With China-Taiwan rivalry, China-Western competition, and big carbon emitters at odds with the islands on climate policy, there is plenty of tension to go around.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
Mon 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
Tue 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.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
UN agency says CO2 levels hit record high last year, causing more extreme weather
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilisation and “turbo-charging” the Earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather.
