International: Australia
Australia’s emissions show another surge
10 Jul 2019
Australia is falling further behind its Paris emission reduction targets. New figures show a surge in the first quarter of 2019, increasing the gap between emissions and the trajectory that the government insists will be met “in a canter”.
Coal waste 'ticking time bomb' across Australia
2 Jul 2019
A report by Environmental Justice Australia has found problems at coal ash dumps in every mainland state.
Australia's north has a powerhouse vision
21 Jun 2019
Australia's Northern Territory has a multi-billion dollar opportunity to invest massively in renewables, create a new hydrogen export industry, and create thousands of jobs, says a new report.
Can Australia avoid drifting into a slow, painful decline?
20 Jun 2019
Australia has been warned it risks "drifting into the future" if it fails to respond to challenges in a fast-changing world.
Australia gives go-ahead to Adani mine
14 Jun 2019
Australia has given the final approval for construction to begin on a controversial coal mine to be built by Indian company Adani.
Australia's rising emissions spark row
7 Jun 2019
Data showing the latest increase in Australia's greenhouse emissions was released late, in defiance of a Senate order, but leaked to a major newspaper.
Meet the coastal dwellers who don't fear rising seas
7 Jun 2019
Half of the people living in New South Wales’ coastal communities think rising sea levels will not affect them, and a quarter of accommodation businesses on the coast are unsure if sea-level rise is even occurring, new data shows.
Australian musicians band together to run solar farms
7 Jun 2019
Midnight Oil, Cloud Control, Vance Joy and Regurgitator have signed up to FEAT, a new platform encouraging their industry to back sustainability.
What happens now with Adani?
4 Jun 2019
By mid-June, if everything goes as expected, Adani Australia will receive the final environmental approvals for its proposed Carmichael coal mine and rail line development.
Rising seas threaten Australia’s major airports
30 May 2019
Most major airports in Australia are located on reclaimed swamps, sitting only a few metres above the present sea level.
Industry urges Morrison to build coal plants
24 May 2019
The Australian coal industry has begun lobbying the re-elected Morrison government to support hardline positions, including building new coal-fired power stations and weakening approvals processes for new mines.
Bob Hawke and a climate change 'what if'
20 May 2019
Since the news broke of his passing last week, former Australian leader Bob Hawke has been feted as the “environmental prime minister”.
Islanders sue Australia over climate inaction
15 May 2019
Torres Strait islanders are about to file an unprecedented legal complaint against Australia, accusing the government of breaching their human rights by falling short on its Paris Agreement pledges.
What Australian parties say about climate change
14 May 2019
Most Australians see climate change as the number one threat to national interests. But in 2018, Australia was ranked 55th out of 60 countries in climate change performance.
OPINION: Canberra wants business to sit tight
8 May 2019
By ERWIN JACKSON | With Australia’s current policy, the government is saying to business to sit on their hands and do little for another decade
Wesfarmers dumps coal and turns to e-cars
7 May 2019
Just months after selling the last of its thermal coal assets, Wesfarmers – one of Australia’s leading business conglomerates – has made a $776 million play to enter the lithium market and tap into the opportunities of the global switch to electric vehicles.
FUR WARS: Australia to cull over two million feral cats
2 May 2019
Australia will cull more than two million untamed cats over the next year, cutting their numbers to about four million.
How Australia can be 100% renewables by 2030s
1 May 2019
Australia could be powered 100 per cent by “intermittent” renewables by the early 2030s, says climate change policy expert Professor Ross Garnaut.
Rio Tinto ready to quit Minerals Council
15 Apr 2019
Rio Tinto has signalled it is prepared to quit its membership of industry associations, including the Minerals Council, if the council makes public statements inconsistent with Australia’s Paris climate agreement commitment.
Australia not ready, say expert firefighters
15 Apr 2019
More than 20 former fire and emergency chiefs from multiple states and territories say Australia is unprepared for worsening natural disasters from climate change and governments are putting lives at risk.
Queensland upsets with new solar rules
12 Apr 2019
Queensland has confirmed plans to put in place controversial new regulations for solar farm construction that will restrict the installation or removal of PV panels to licensed electricians.
Australia sitting pretty on hydrogen
11 Apr 2019
With demand set to rise across the world, Australia is set to become a global primary producer of hydrogen.
Tasmania's bushfires raise mercury scare
11 Apr 2019
Tasmania’s bushfires might have resulted in the release of significant amounts of mercury from burnt trees into the atmosphere.
Australia's fire forests might be changed forever
9 Apr 2019
Parts of Australia’s climate change-impacted forests might never be the same again, scientists say.
Coalition tailors budget for climate denial
4 Apr 2019
The Australian government has delivered its last budget before May elections with long-term climate and clean energy policies and technologies being ignored.
Labor climate policy is to hit big polluters
3 Apr 2019
A Bill Shorten Labor government in Australia would add about 100 high polluters to those subject to an emissions cap, and drastically slash the present cap’s level.
Japan to oppose new coal-fired power plants
2 Apr 2019
Japan’s environment minister has announced he will “in principle” oppose any new plans to build or expand coal-fired power stations, as further signs emerge of a dramatic energy pivot by Australia’s top export market for thermal coal.
Canberra gets blame for failure to cut vehicle emissions
1 Apr 2019
Cuts to carbon emissions from vehicle efficiency standards have been left out of government projections for meeting Australia’s Paris climate commitments, indicating the policy has been shelved.
Top companies accused of undermining Paris deal
26 Mar 2019
New analysis shows 22 of Australia’s largest companies are actively working to undermine the Paris Agreement targets, betting shareholders’ money on strategies that assume global climate change action fails.
More gas mining threatens climate, water and health
22 Mar 2019
Australia, like its competitors Qatar, Canada and the US, aspires to become the world’s largest exporter of gas, arguing this helps importing nations reduce their greenhouse emissions by replacing coal.
Toyota's Melbourne plant to make hydrogen
22 Mar 2019
Toyota and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency will kick in $7.4m to transform part of the carmaker’s decommissioned Melbourne car manufacturing site into a commercial-grade hydrogen production and refuelling site.
Scientists call for stronger land-clearing laws
14 Mar 2019
Australia’s high rates of forest loss and weakening land clearing laws are increasing bushfire risk, and undermining the country's ability to meet national targets aimed at curbing climate change.
Western Australia watchdog gets tough
12 Mar 2019
Western Australia’s environmental protection authority has announced tough new measures aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions from large projects.
HORROR HEAT: Australia looks back on its angriest summer
8 Mar 2019
Australians will remember the past few months as the angriest summer they have known - a time so hot that fruit cooked on the trees.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF LUCK: Hidden victims of heatwaves
5 Mar 2019
Extreme weather events are causing severe damage to native flora and fauna, but the casualties are slipping under the radar.
Australian emissions reach new peak
1 Mar 2019
Australia's greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, reaching their highest on a quarterly level since mid-2011.
Morrison adopts $2b 'climate solutions' fund
25 Feb 2019
Australian leader Scott Morrison will attempt to appeal to voters by rebadging Tony Abbott’s emissions reduction fund as a “climate solutions” fund – with $2bn to be rolled out over 10 years.
Angry islanders reject rights swap idea
19 Feb 2019
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga has angril rejected the idea that islanders would exchange maritime rights for Australian citizenship, telling Canberra to focus on breaking its coal addiction
Scientists feel under attack over Adani work
19 Feb 2019
Australian scientists say relentless, sustained, and needlessly personal media attacks on those analysing the impacts of the Adani coalmine undermines the role of science.
Why Australia won’t meet Paris targets
15 Feb 2019
There’s no way Australia achieve the targets five years early without major policy changes, which are unlikely under the current government, says a leading climate scientist.
How forest managers might pick the brains of clever trees
15 Feb 2019
The discovery that some trees can “remember” heatwaves could help forest managers to deal with the impacts of climate change.
Savage heat engulfs temperate Tasmania
15 Feb 2019
Australia has been going through one of its hottest and stormiest summers on record and usually temperate Tasmania, its island state (https://tinyurl.com/y4snt4pg), has taken a battering.
Australia could be 100% renewables by 2032
12 Feb 2019
Australia could reach the equivalent of 100 per cent renewables by 2032, if the current rates of installation of wind and solar continue, says a new report.
NSW court rejects coal mine in landmark call
11 Feb 2019
Environmental groups are cheering a decision in NSW's Land and Environment Court that found the emissions of greenhouse gases and resulting climate change from a proposed coal mine were among the reasons to reject the project.
Overheated Aussies might have to sideline favourite sports
7 Feb 2019
Australia's summer sports obsession could face interruptions as extreme weather events increase.
Australia heat sign of things to come, say scientists
4 Feb 2019
AUSTRALIA sweltered through the hottest month in its history in January and climate experts say temperatures are rising faster than predicted.
AUSSIE OVEN: ‘It’s like hell here’
22 Jan 2019
It was 48.9C last Tuesday in Port Augusta, South Australia, an old harbour city that now harvests solar power.
Believe it or not, Australia's going to get hotter and drier
20 Dec 2018
Australia will experience more extreme heat, longer fire seasons, rising oceans and more marine heatwaves.
Sydney and Melbourne vow to ditch coal power
17 Dec 2018
Sydney and Melbourne have committed themselves to phasing out coal, in a move at odds with the Australia’s aggressively pro-coal national government.
Why Whyalla faces a bright new future
14 Dec 2018
Whyalla’s death notice has been written a number of times but the South Australian industrial town's future took a big step forward in 2017 when British-based industrialist Sanjeev Gupta bought the steelworks.
California, Connecticut preparing 'attack' against Trump's repeal of basis of US climate regulation
Fri 20 Feb 2026
California and Connecticut are working together on a multi-state "plan of attack" against President Donald Trump's repeal of the foundation of federal climate regulation of vehicles, the states' attorneys general told Reuters on Tuesday.
As Trump retreats from climate goals, China is becoming a green superpower
Thu 19 Feb 2026
How the world's biggest carbon emitter is now at the helm of a renewables revolution.
EU countries back stronger price curbs on new carbon market
Fri 20 Feb 2026
European Union countries on Wednesday backed plans to strengthen price curbs in the bloc's upcoming carbon market, EU diplomats told Reuters, in response to concerns from some governments that the policy could raise fuel bills.
Britain strengthens ties with California as new clean energy and climate agreement signed
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Britain has forged a deeper alliance with California on clean energy and climate action, as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new agreement aimed at boosting transatlantic investment and environmental protection.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
Tue 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.
Modi's rooftop solar push slowed by reluctant lenders, states
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to accelerate the rollout of rooftop solar power is falling short of targets despite heavy subsidies due to loan delays and limited support from state utilities, vendors and analysts say.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Warming climate threatens Greenland's ancestral way of life
12 Feb 2026
The Arctic region is on the frontline of global warming, heating up four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to a 2022 study in scientific journal Nature, causing the sea ice to retreat.
Africa leads growth in solar energy as demand spreads beyond traditional markets, report says
Mon 16 Feb 2026
A report shows that Africa has emerged as the world's fastest-growing solar market even as global growth slowed last year, driven by a 60% surge in imports of solar panels from China.
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity
4 Feb 2026
The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
Why Trump might be onboard with a UN carbon-offset programme for airlines
12 Feb 2026
The president’s team has backed the rollout of an initiative that calls for the use of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon credits, even as Trump has pulled back from other international emissions-reduction efforts.
