International: Australia
Investment boom could follow Australia's net-zero carbon push
12 Oct 2020
Australia could unlock an investment boom of $A63 billion over the next five years if it aligns its climate policies with a target of net-zero emissions by 2050, according to new economic modelling.
The low-down on Australia's low-emissions roadmap
29 Sep 2020
Picking winners has been anathema to Australian policy-making for decades. The federal government’s technology investment roadmap bucks the trend, targeting public investments in specific low-emissions technologies.
Resources spokesman threatens to quit ALP over climate target
29 Sep 2020
Veteran New South Wales Labor right-winger Joel Fitzgibbon has threatened to quit the shadow cabinet if the opposition adopts a medium-term emissions reduction target he cannot live with.
ScoMo refuses to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050
21 Sep 2020
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declined to sign up to a net-zero target by 2050 because he is “more interested in the doing”.
Australia can hit net-zero by 2050 by investing in gas, says oil exec
17 Sep 2020
Corporate heavyweight Andrew Liveris, the Morrison government’s special adviser on manufacturing, has declared Australia and the world can hit net zero emissions by 2050 by significantly expanding the supply and domestic use of gas – despite gas being a fossil fuel with “roughly 60 per cent of the emissions of coal”.
Australia’s biggest solar farm sends first output to the grid
16 Sep 2020
What will be Australia’s biggest solar farm once commissioning is complete – the 275MW Darlington project in south-west NSW – has sent its first output to the grid as it begins the lengthy journey to full production.
Australia’s gas plans could use quarter of world’s carbon budget
11 Sep 2020
A push to develop Australia’s gas resources could jeopardise global efforts keep global warming to safe levels, eating up more than a quarter of the world’s remaining carbon budget, a new report suggests.
BHP chooses solar to power Queensland mines
3 Sep 2020
Global mining giant BHP has signed a five year contract to use wind and solar to deliver up to half of the power needs for its coal mining operations in Queensland.
Australia's biggest emitters offset only a fraction of emissions
1 Sep 2020
Only 1.2 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions released by Australia’s top 65 emitting companies had to be offset under federal and state laws last financial year, an analysis has found.
Australia 'woefully unprepared', say business, farming and environment heads
31 Aug 2020
Business, industry, farming and environmental leaders have joined forces to warn Australia is “woefully unprepared” for the impact of climate change over the coming decades and to urge the Morrison Government to do far more to cut emissions and improve the country’s resilience.
Australia's chief scientist rejects experts' letter warning him not to back gas
28 Aug 2020
Australia’s chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, has rejected a letter from leading scientists who warned his advocacy for increased use of gas-fired electricity was at odds with the Paris climate agreement.
New rules for big-battery storage
21 Aug 2020
The Australian Energy Market Commission is seeking feedback on potential changes to the status of large-scale battery storage systems and hybrid projects as the technologies begin to drive fundamental changes to the way electricity is bought and sold in the wholesale market.
BHP to sell coal mines within two years
19 Aug 2020
Australian mining giant BHP has announced it plans to sell off its thermal coal mines within two years as part of moves by the global mining giant to ready itself for a low-carbon future.
Australia's environment laws 'must mention climate change'
17 Aug 2020
Australia's 20-year-old national environmental laws need to be modernised to address climate change as part of the statutory review now under way, the chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory, Andrew Barr, has said.
Covid commission backs gas but not green development
12 Aug 2020
The head of Scott Morrison’s handpicked National Covid-19 Commission advisory board has confirmed that it has recommended that the federal government use taxpayer funds to underwrite new gas industry infrastructure while concluding that no support is needed for renewable energy.
Gillard says her carbon price proved climate policy isn't 'too hard'
6 Aug 2020
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned against a feeling of “received helplessness” that policies to reduce greenhouse gases are “all too hard”, citing the carbon price legislated by her government as proof climate policy “can get done”.
Cycling and walking can help drive Australia’s recovery
24 Jul 2020
What do bike paths and walk-friendly streets have to do with economic recovery from a pandemic-induced recession? How could removing a car parking space benefit a local business? Instead of considering such questions, building roads for cars is often seen as the obvious answer to “kick-start” the economy.
Student accuses Australia of misleading investors on climate risk
23 Jul 2020
A Melbourne university student has launched what has been described as a world-first legal case against the Australian government, accusing it of misleading investors in sovereign bonds by failing to disclose the financial risk caused by the climate crisis.
Don’t abandon plans for high-speed rail in Australia
20 Jul 2020
The Grattan Institute’s call to abandon plans for any high-speed rail network in Australia fails to look at the wider benefits such a project can bring by way of more productive economies and more sustainable towns and cities.
Plunge in mass transit ridership deals huge blow
20 Jul 2020
Transit agencies are asking Congress for relief as commuters return to their cars and fare revenues tank. Meanwhile, driving direction requests - and carbon emissions - soar.
Australian flying car wins $1m grant
20 Jul 2020
The New South Wales government has awarded almost $1m from a regional grants fund to a company developing what deputy premier John Barilaro describes as an electric flying car.
VERTICAL CRUISE SHIPS: How to remake housing towers
16 Jul 2020
After 3000 people in nine public housing towers in Melbourne were placed under the harshest coronavirus lockdown in Australia so far, acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly referred to the towers as “vertical cruise ships”.
First State to divest thermal coal assets
10 Jul 2020
One of Australia's biggest industry superannuation funds plans to sell down its investments in thermal coal miners in a bid to protect its members from the financial impact of climate change.
Aussies score on covid but limp on climate change
7 Jul 2020
Australia has been ranked third behind South Korea and Latvia in a global report on the effectiveness of its response to the covid-19 pandemic -- but 37th in in the fight against climate change.
Australia claims climate success
2 Jul 2020
Despite three decades of relative inaction on climate change and stalling from successive Australian Governments, the Morrison Government has claimed success in meeting Australia’s targets under the Kyoto Protocol, which came to an end on Wednesday.
Minister rejects Queensland wind farm project
11 Jun 2020
Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has rejected a $100m wind farm proposal in central Queensland on the ground it would clear old-growth forest important to vulnerable species, including the koala.
Climate change the most important mission for unis
4 Jun 2020
The future of universities will involve articulating their unique role as embedded, ethical generators of crucial knowledge and skills, well-equipped to handle coming contingencies and helping others to do the same - and that means climate change.
One project exposes Morrison's gas plan as folly
28 May 2020
Every few years, the idea that gas will help Australia transition to a zero-emissions economy seems to re-emerge, as if no one had thought of it before.
It’s time to let the ‘fire people’ care for the land
28 May 2020
Since last summer’s bushfire crisis, there’s been a quantum shift in public awareness of Aboriginal fire management.
Act now, says former fossil fuel company exec
26 May 2020
Ian Dunlop - the former head of the Australian Coal Association - worries about his grandchildren. He worries time is running out.
United push for Australia to target emissions in covid recovery
25 May 2020
Australian businesses, unions, investors and environmentalists are joining forces in a call for a covid-19 pandemic economic recovery programme based on energy efficiency.
Fires and pandemic a sign of things to come, letter warns
25 May 2020
Leading health professionals, including a Nobel laureate and a former Australian of the Year, say the Australian Government must put human health “front and centre” in a new generation of environment laws in the aftermath of the Covid-19 and bushfire crises.
Australian oil and gas producers push back
22 May 2020
Australia’s oil and gas producers have warned against the Morrison government underwriting a massive expansion of the domestic industry, saying the country does not have a gas shortage and intervention could reduce supply and raise prices.
Scott Morrison is still Coal-Mo to the core
20 May 2020
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has just celebrated the first anniversary of his surprise election win in May, 2019. And he’s been getting some glowing reviews from some predictable quarters.
Australia ... further to fall, harder to rise
20 May 2020
"Pestilence is so common," writes Albert Camus in The Plague: There have been as many plagues in the world as there have been wars, yet plagues and wars always find people equally unprepared. When war breaks out, people say: ‘It won’t last. It’s too stupid.’ And war is certainly too stupid, but that doesn’t prevent it from lasting.
How Australia can build a green economy
14 May 2020
As the Australian government prepares plans for economic recovery, investors and green groups alike say this is a once-only opportunity to move towards zero emissions.
Shareholders call for Rio Tinto to make stand
11 May 2020
Shareholders in global miner Rio Tinto have rebuked the company over its climate stance, with 37 per cent voting at a meeting in Australia for a resolution that would require it to set binding emissions targets.
How will we fly, drive, commute and ride?
11 May 2020
Social distancing rules will kill cities, experts warn – and the future of mass transit hangs in the balance.
Judge rules feral horses must go
11 May 2020
The Australian federal court has ruled that feral horses can be removed from the Victorian high country.
Businesses see climate and virus recovery as one
7 May 2020
A leading Australian business group is calling for the two biggest economic challenges in memory – recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and cutting greenhouse gas emissions – to be addressed together, saying it would boost growth and put the country on a firm long-term footing.
Westpac to stop funding coal for power
5 May 2020
Westpac says it will stop funding mining projects for coal to be used for power generation by 2030, as part of a broader commitment to reach a net-zero emissions business model by 2050.
Coal industry uses enough water for 5 million people
5 May 2020
Coal mining and coal-fired power stations in New South Wales and Queensland use the same amount of water as 5.2 million people, or more than the entire population of Greater Sydney, says a new report.
Morrison offers $300m to boost hydrogen
4 May 2020
The Morrison government will change the investment mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, directing it to make up to $300m available for a new Advancing Hydrogen Fund as part of the national hydrogen strategy.
Australia closes in on hydrogen economy
8 Apr 2020
Australia says it is a step closer to a hydrogen economy, with new research into a “nanobelt” catalyst for breaking down water.
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.
Trump’s budget would cut billions from climate programs while boosting military spending
Wed 8 Apr 2026
Trump’s 2027 budget proposal targets what the administration calls the “Green New Scam” through budget cuts to energy and environment programs.
China's Xi urges faster development of new energy system as Middle East war continues
Wed 8 Apr 2026
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for accelerated planning and construction of a new energy system to safeguard the country's energy security, weeks into the Iran war that has triggered global energy shocks.
The European Commission has published the first quarterly price for CBAM certificates
Thu 9 Apr 2026
The European Commission has officially set the reference price for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism certificate for the first quarter of 2026 at €75.36 per ton of CO2.
Britain hits renewable power record in 2025, but fossil fuel use also up
Wed 8 Apr 2026
Renewable power such as wind and solar provided a record 52.5% of Britain’s electricity generation in 2025, government data showed on Thursday, but fossil fuel use also rose.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
17 Feb 2026
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
How Pakistan’s solar boom is shielding it from worst of Iran war crisis
Thu 9 Apr 2026
A quarter of Pakistani households are now using solar panels. This insulates millions of families from the energy supply crunch prompted by the US-Israel war on Iran.
Vanuatu Indigenous leaders raise concerns over plans to build resort for cruise tourists
1 Apr 2026
Indigenous community leaders in Vanuatu have raised concerns over plans by the cruise operator Royal Caribbean to build a private beach club on the island of Lelepa, arguing environmental impact assessments by the company are “incomplete” and “misleading”.
China's huge push to reduce air pollution had an unexpected consequence in the Arctic
2 Apr 2026
China's cuts to aerosol emissions reduced sea ice loss, but it may have revealed a bigger story about climate change.
Rationing power and diluting petrol – how African countries are coping with effects of Iran war
30 Mar 2026
Countries across Africa have taken measures such as diluting petrol and restricting electricity consumption to cope with the fuel crisis triggered by the US and Israel's war in Iran.
Beef production drives 40% of agriculture-linked forest destruction, Brazil leads
26 Mar 2026
Beef production is the leading driver of agriculture-linked deforestation, accounting for 40% of all forest clearing done to open space for food production, according to details of a study released on Tuesday.
Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says
18 Mar 2026
The disruption to energy markets caused by the Iran war is a lesson on the risks of relying on fossil fuels which should drive governments to wean their economies off oil and gas faster, the U.N. climate secretary told Reuters on Monday.
