International: Australia
Australia ranked among worst for climate action
18 Nov 2016
Australia has been singled out as a climate laggard, being ranked fifth-worst for emissions and policies among developed countries and among the six worst countries in the G20 when it comes to climate action.
Sydney solar power project seeks public money
16 Nov 2016
The company responsible for Australia’s biggest CBD solar installation has invited public investment, making it the first community renewables project in Australia with a public share offering.
Australia ratifies, under a large Trump-shaped shadow
11 Nov 2016
Australia has announced that it is to ratify the Paris climate agreement, which entered into force last Friday.
Aust industry finally sees potential in wind and solar
9 Nov 2016
It has taken years of fierce resistance and catastrophising about the supposed cost and economic impacts from the shift from fossil fuels, but it seems that Australian industry is finally waking up to the possibilities of wind and solar.
Australian unions call for 'just transition' from coal
8 Nov 2016
Australian unions have thrown their weight behind a transition away from coal-generated electricity, calling for a new statutory authority to manage a “just transition”, supporting workers and communities that rely on fossil fuel-related jobs.
PHEW! Australia is getting hotter and dryer
28 Oct 2016
Australia is heating up and drying out as the country experiences more extreme and prolonged heat events, according to a new report.
Coal seam gas emissions Australia’s new carbon bomb
27 Oct 2016
Australia could be underestimating its annual greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to the output of the nation’s entire transport sector, a new report says.
Coal won’t solve poverty, but it might save PM's career
27 Oct 2016
As the world’s carbon emissions passed a critical threshold, and Australia’s Coalition government re-boots plans to limit the activities of environmental activists, another new study has been released that demolishes claims by fossil fuel proponents that coal will end poverty.
Divestment not the best approach, says AMP
19 Oct 2016
One of Australia's biggest investment companies, AMP Capital, says dumping fossil fuel assets is not the answer to climate change, despite acknowledging the significant financial risks associated with rising global temperatures.
Why poorer suburbs are more at risk in warming cities
18 Oct 2016
Australian cities are getting hotter. But some areas and some residents of cities are more exposed to heat than others.
Australian to head Green Climate Fund
14 Oct 2016
The job of steering the world’s major climate finance fund through its troubled toddler phase has been given to an Australian.
The best idea is not to put up new buildings
14 Oct 2016
Making heritage buildings sustainable is just as important as preserving their history – and they can offer energy-efficiency lessons of their own.
What do you think you're doing, UN asks Australia
13 Oct 2016
Australia is facing renewed international pressure to explain what it is doing to tackle climate change, with a UN review finding its emissions continue to soar and several countries calling for clarity about what it will do after 2020.
State lays out cost-neutral path to renewables
13 Oct 2016
The panel appointed by the Queensland government to canvass options for its renewable energy target has outlined three cost-neutral pathways for the state to achieve 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
Australian firms accept role of carbon prices
12 Oct 2016
Most major Australian companies are factoring carbon prices into their budgets, despite the fact the country no longer has a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
Why renters are being left out in the cold
12 Oct 2016
Australia has found that improving energy efficiency is not an option for a significant number of people – renters.
Queensland fast-tracks Carmichael coal mine
11 Oct 2016
The Queensland government has declared the massive Carmichael coal mine and port proposed for the state’s Galilee Basin as “critical infrastructure”, in an effort to fast-track its development.
Is this the dawn of Australia's hydrogen economy?
4 Oct 2016
The hydrogen economy has been a long time coming. The use of hydrogen as a replacement energy source for oil and gas has been talked about since the early 1970s when the term was first coined by an engineer at General Motors in the US.
As lights go out, Turnbull switches on peak stupid
3 Oct 2016
One big storm and Australia's climate and energy debate is surging back to peak stupid.
Why storing carbon in land can’t solve climate change
3 Oct 2016
Australia should develop a firewall between its policies to reduce fossil fuel emissions and those designed to increase carbon uptake on land, a new Climate Council report has recommended.
Australia admits it's in the dark over Paris pledges
30 Sep 2016
Government officials have acknowledged that Australia’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledged at Paris in 2015 were made without any modelling to show whether existing policies could achieve those targets.
A green and happy holiday? You can have it all
27 Sep 2016
When you’re on holiday, relaxing on a beach or soaking up a vibrant city’s culture, the last thing you want to think about is your responsibility to the planet.
The fossil fuel divestment game is getting bigger
13 Sep 2016
Fossil fuel divestment is gathering pace around Australia and the world. More and more individuals and organisations are pulling their investment assets out of companies involved with the exploration, extraction, production or financing of fossil fuels.
Renewables are getting cheaper all the time
13 Sep 2016
The stars are aligning for Australia to transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity.
Energy leaders call on MPs to save funding
9 Sep 2016
Some of Australia’s best-known energy companies including AGL, GE and Tesla, have joined calls to halt plans to cut $1.3bn from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
Australia backs large-scale solar plants
9 Sep 2016
The Australian government will help to fund a dozen large-scale solar projects worth $A1 billion.
PACIFIC PARIAH: Australia’s love of coal has left it out in the diplomatic cold
8 Sep 2016
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will have some explaining to do when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting in Pohnpei, Micronesia, this week.
Sydney to dump $500m in fossil fuels investment
7 Sep 2016
The City of Sydney council has unanimously passed a motion calling for a policy that would remove more than $500m from banks that invest in fossil fuels.
Dissenting academics write own climate report
7 Sep 2016
The Climate Change Authority’s latest report on Australia’s climate goals has divided its membership – so much so that two authority members have divorce themselves from the report and written their own version.
Power prices need to rise to tackle climate change
6 Sep 2016
It's time for the Australian government to acknowledge the obvious: electricity prices will have to rise if the counry is to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions.
Why Direct Action didn't work for big emitters
2 Sep 2016
Australia’s largest carbon intensive companies say management lost focus on carbon matters, abandoned energy projects and didn’t have the commercial imperative to produce long-term strategic action on reducing emissions after the carbon tax was repealed, new research finds.
G20 talks climate while Australia cuts energy funding
2 Sep 2016
Australia’s climate bona fides will be exposed again as the prime minister sits with G20 leaders to discuss green investment while stripping more than $1bn from renewable funding at home.
Climate Change Authority gambles on political pragmatism
2 Sep 2016
The Climate Change Authority¡¯s latest report outlining a recommended climate policy ¡°toolkit¡± is a reflection of what is seen by many as politically feasible in Australia now.
CAPITAL CASE: Strong policies will attract investment
1 Sep 2016
Capital will flow to clean investments when strong policies tell them to, says a group representing more than $1 trillion worth of investment in Australia and New Zealand.
Bennett all ears as Canberra talks about Paris
1 Sep 2016
New Zealand climate change minister Paula Bennett was in Australia’s Parliament yesterday when the Paris Agreement on climate change was tabled.
Minister plays down climate watchdog calls
1 Sep 2016
Australia's energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has hit back at a report from the Climate Change Authority calling for the country to toughen its climate policies.
Victoria first state to ban fracking
31 Aug 2016
The state of Victoria has become the first Australian state to ban fracking and coal seam gas exploration.
Climate sceptic to chair environment body
30 Aug 2016
Australian climate sceptic Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been appointed chairman of the backbench environment and energy committee.
Paris check: Australia’s climate plans in focus
29 Aug 2016
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said tackling climate change “inspires and energises” him, but has he delivered?
Experts demand Turnbull take climate action
26 Aug 2016
More than 150 Australian experts have signed on open letter to the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, demanding urgent action on climate change that matches the dire warnings coming from climate scientists.
Let's give ecosystems a helping hand
26 Aug 2016
Australia’s ecosystems are already showing the signs of climate change, from the recent death of mangrove forests in northern Australia, to the decline in birds in eastern Australia, to the inability of mountain ash forests to recover from frequent fires.
How Australia could blow its carbon budget
25 Aug 2016
Australia will blow its carbon budget with either the Coalition’s emissions reduction targets, or those suggested by the Labor opposition, highlighting the urgent need for negative-emissions technology.
Australia home the Bear Grylls of desert plants
22 Aug 2016
It was in the mid-20th century when the American agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug showed us how to make wheat and rice stems shorter, to increase their yield.
Scientists must have Plan B for climate change
22 Aug 2016
Fertilising the oceans, painting the deserts white or sending umbrellas into orbit are some of the real things being explored by scientists as a Plan B for dealing with climate change.
BARRIER BLUES: See the reef while you can
16 Aug 2016
The health of the Great Barrier Reef is declining – a fact that has not been lost on the world’s media.
'Virtual' battery storage plant will ease price spikes
8 Aug 2016
A 5MW battery storage ‘virtual power plant’ will be established in South Australia in a bid to stabilise volatile power prices and support renewable energy.
Turnbull orders CSIRO jobs u-turn
5 Aug 2016
Only 20 climate science positions will be lost from Australia's CSIRO, down from an initial 96, after the Turnbull government intervened, issuing a ministerial directive to the independent agency.
UN asked Australia to cover up Barrier Reef lobbying
2 Aug 2016
The UN asked the Australian government to cover up details of lobbying that lead to all mention of Australia being scrubbed from a major report on climate threats to world heritage sites.
Australians face loss of rooftop solar payments
2 Aug 2016
About 275,000 people across Australia will have their solar energy payments reduced by up to 80 per cent over the next six months.
Frydenberg: Australia's use of coal is falling
28 Jul 2016
Australia’s new environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says coal will be a declining part of Australia’s energy mix because of inexorable market forces – but he insists the Coalition’s much criticised Direct Action policy is up to the mark, and will allow Australia to meet its international emissions reduction targets.
A call to merge the climate and immigration movements
Fri 22 Aug 2025
On Hurricane Katrina's 20th anniversary, a Louisiana native makes the case for solidarity.
Record solar growth keeps China’s CO2 falling in first half of 2025
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Clean-energy growth helped China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fall by 1% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, extending a declining trend that started in March 2024.
Spain battles one of its most destructive fire seasons even as its heat wave eases
Thu 21 Aug 2025
Spain tackled several major wildfires on Tuesday in one of the country’s most destructive fire seasons in recent decades, despite temperatures dropping across the Iberian Peninsula.
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive?
Wed 20 Aug 2025
When climate change undermines the climate plan.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
Death toll from northern Pakistan monsoon floods rises to almost 400
Thu 21 Aug 2025
Torrential rains across the country's north have caused flooding and landslides that have swept away entire villages.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Africa’s top climate change challenges: a fairer deal on phasing out fossil fuels and mobilising funds
Fri 22 Aug 2025
African countries have made binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, they will need to shift to renewable energy and stop mining and using fossil fuels like oil and coal.
Bolivia will choose a new president but environmental activists see little hope of progress
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Many Indigenous and environmental leaders doubt the election will bring progress in stopping deforestation, wildfires or pollution in the Amazon.
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of COP30
Wed 20 Aug 2025
Only 28 countries have submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters yet to produce plans.
