International: Australia
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.
Australia eyes role as clean-energy exporter
6 Dec 2018
Politicians around Australia are proposing ambitious plans to export renewable energy from Australia, using high-voltage power lines laid under the oceans.
Adani will fund mini-version of its mega-mine
5 Dec 2018
Indian mining multinational Adani has announced that it will self-fund a significantly smaller coal mine in Queensland, after failing to secure finance from more than 30 domestic and international banks and lenders.
Cheap drainage nets keep water pollution at bay
4 Dec 2018
The Western Australia city of Kwinana is using a somewhat obvious, simple and cost-effective system of nets to prevent waste from entering its waters.
Thousands of Aussie kids take to the streets
3 Dec 2018
Thousands of schoolchildren across Australia walked out of class on Friday to demand action by the federal government on climate change.
Happy birthday, big battery
3 Dec 2018
By most accounts, Adelaide's giant lithium-ion battery - the world's largest - has been a remarkable success. But there are some concerns that have so far escaped scrutiny.
Labor’s smashing win tonic for clean energy
27 Nov 2018
The relief from Victoria’s stunning election result last weekend was palpable.
Morrison tells striking schoolkids to butt out
27 Nov 2018
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been labelled “out of touch” for angrily condemning a national student strike to protest government inaction on climate change.
Aussie schoolkids take action over climate change inaction
8 Nov 2018
Hundreds of students around Australia are preparing to strike from school because of what they say is a failure by politicians to recognise climate change as an emergency.
Unseasonably hot, you say? Not any more
7 Nov 2018
The record hot weather being experienced across prts of Australia is now the new normal as the effects of climate change become baked-in.
Living normally, a platypus could ingest 69 drugs a day
7 Nov 2018
Insects near waste water could give a platypus or trout half a daily human dose of antidepressants, a new study reveals.
Is corporate Australia facing a 'tipping point'?
6 Nov 2018
In the parlance of climate science, a "tipping point" is a dire prospect – a critical threshold breach that triggers an abrupt and rapid change in climate.
NSW launches emerging energy programme
2 Nov 2018
New South Wales has launched one of the most significant energy transition projects in Australia designed to help to replace most of the state’s ageing coal plants with wind, solar and storage.
Clean energy is surging – and headed for a fall
31 Oct 2018
The relentlessly corrosive nature of Australian political debate about climate change can sometimes mask that this is a golden moment for the clean energy industry.
How boiling Darwin could keep the people and regain its cool
29 Oct 2018
July 2018 in Darwin was 2deg hotter than any previous July and the record heat has continued. Surveys show that it's the reason people are leaving the city.
Coalition digs deeper into coal and climate denial
26 Oct 2018
If the Wentworth and Wagga Wagga by-elections in Austraia were supposed to send a message to the Coalition government about the need to act on carbon emissions and embrace renewables, it hasn’t worked.
Australia shows interest in hydrogen power
25 Oct 2018
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced funding to produce renewable hydrogen from wind and solar power.
Coalition could help out new power projects
24 Oct 2018
Energy minister Angus Taylor has signalled the Australian government could indemnify new power generation projects against the future risk of a carbon price, and says it could also support the retrofitting of existing coal plants.
Australia to have ultra-fast charging network
24 Oct 2018
Drivers travelling between Australia’s major cities could soon charge their electric vehicles in just 15 minutes with a super-fast network being rolled out across the country.
Australia should be 'exporting sunshine, not coal'
17 Oct 2018
Economist Jeffrey Sachs has criticised successive Australian governments for “defending a 19th or 20th century industry” rather than taking decisive action on climate change, saying Australia should be “exporting sunshine, not coal”.
Australia needs a plan, says chief scientist
16 Oct 2018
Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel says the question facing the nation’s energy future is not about renewables versus coal but how best to create “a whole-of-economy emissions reduction strategy”.
Reality bites for Australian farmers
15 Oct 2018
A new study shows that 43 per cent of Ausralian farmers accept climate change poses a risk to their region, compared with just 32 per cent five years ago.
Australia rejects IPCC call to dump coal
10 Oct 2018
The Australian government has rejected the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s call to phase out coal power by 2050, claiming renewable energy cannot replace baseload coal power.
Morrison says no more money for climate fund
9 Oct 2018
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has resisted conservatives’ calls to withdraw Australia from the Paris Climate Agreement but ruled out providing more money to the global climate fund.
Labor says Australia can remain energy 'superpower'
5 Oct 2018
Australia is in a position to replace thermal coal exports with the export of renewable energy technologies if the parliament can settle an energy policy and end a decade of policy chaos, Labor frontbencher Pat Conroy says.
Victoria renewables boom opens up jobs
3 Oct 2018
The renewable energy construction boom in Victoria is on track to create more than 6000 annual jobs, according to a new analysis.
Australia’s gas emissions climb again
1 Oct 2018
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, fuelled by expansion in gas exports and production, according to new figures.
WE'RE BEING HELD HOSTAGE, SAYS FLANNERY
25 Sep 2018
Five years since the Abbott government scrapped the Climate Commission, the environmentalist Tim Flannery says Australia's energy policy remains hostage to lobbyists, political self-interest and “mad ideologues”.
Investors voice concern at lack of risk disclosure
21 Sep 2018
Investors are calling on Australian businesses to lift their game in the wake of a report showing they are failing to disclosure their carbon exposure to the market.
Australian emissions soar over Paris targets
17 Sep 2018
New studies show Australia is on track to miss its Paris Agreement emissions target by nearly a billion tonnes.
MEMO AUSTRALIA: The Kiwis have a good plan
14 Sep 2018
As Australia prepares for another climate policy reset, it's easy to look to New Zealand and wonder what might have been.
Australia stuck in the slow lane on transport
14 Sep 2018
Australia is stuck in the slow lane on transport pollution as one of the only OECD countries without greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles, says a new report.
How Australia could be 100% renewable by 2030s
12 Sep 2018
Australia could reach the equivalent of 100 per cent renewables for its electricity needs by the early 2030s by doing nothing more than maintaining the current pace of wind and solar development, a new report has found.
Sylvia tackles Australia in her Tesla ... and look what it cost
12 Sep 2018
Sylvia Wilson, a 70-year-old retired farmer, drove around Australia in an electric car. It cost her $150.90.
Morrison says national energy guarantee 'dead'
10 Sep 2018
Australia's new government remains committed to meeting its Paris emissions targets even as it moves to dump climate change moves that led to the demise of the previous leadership.
Australian Greens back Labor and climate action
5 Sep 2018
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale will promise to work with a new Labor government to get action on climate change back on track.
Australia rolls out roll-out solar panels
31 Aug 2018
Australia has installed its first solar cells made using a conventional reel-to-reel printer.
Morrison names anti-wind man as energy minister
28 Aug 2018
New Prime Minister Scott Morrison has appointed one of Australia's most prominent anti-wind campaigners as energy minister and a former mining industry lawyer as environment minister.
Sunshine Coast to try smart street lighting
28 Aug 2018
A scheme to use intelligent street lighting is to be given a two-year trial on Australia’s Sunshine Coast.
Does ScoMo mean slo-mo for climate change action?
27 Aug 2018
Australia's new Prime Minister Scott Morrison in February last year brandished a lump of coal in Parliament and told members: "This is coal. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared.”
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.
