International: Australia
Anxious investors plead for clear climate policy
6 Dec 2016
Australian investors want clear climate policy that delivers certainty – and access to international carbon markets, says the Investor Group on Climate Change.
Australian lines companies call for carbon trading
6 Dec 2016
Australia’s electricity and gas transmission industry is calling on the Turnbull government to implement a form of carbon trading in the national electricity market by 2022 and review the scope for economy-wide carbon pricing by 2027.
Canberra climate review to focus on emissions target
5 Dec 2016
The Turnbull government will maintain its blanket ban on the introduction of an emissions trading scheme and has ruled out an increase to the renewable energy target ahead of its long-awaited review of its climate change policy next year.
Sydney finds a use for billions of takeaway coffee cups
28 Nov 2016
Standalone bins for takeaway coffee cups could soon be a common sight in offices across Sydney as cups are collected and made into useful items.
How seasonal weather can affect human health
25 Nov 2016
Melbourne has suffered what appears to be the most lethal episode of thunderstorm asthma on record.
Australia welcomes Trump's fossil fuels vow
24 Nov 2016
Australia’s environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg has welcomed Donald Trump’s commitment to lift Obama administration’s restrictions on fossil fuel exploration within his first 100 days in the White House, saying the move will be a boon for consumers.
Emissions to jump under NSW land-clearing laws
22 Nov 2016
Australia’s rising carbon emissions are expected to rise even further after the NSW government successfully passed controversial land-clearing legislation in state parliament.
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.
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.
