International: Australia
Australian coal move carries $62b bill
1 Feb 2017
Replacing Australia’s current coal fleet with new ultra-supercritical coal-fired power stations in order to reduce carbon emissions would come at a cost of approximately $62 billion.
Australia might have to make deeper emissions cuts
1 Feb 2017
Australia can meet its 2030 emissions target without an emissions intensity scheme, but it means deeper emissions cuts will be needed from industrial facilities, new research shows.
Melbourne trams to be powered by solar energy
31 Jan 2017
Melbourne’s tram network will become entirely powered by solar energy under a new proposal by the state government to build large-scale solar farms in northern Victoria.
'Clean coal’ power is not the answer in Australia
31 Jan 2017
So-called “clean coal” being pushed by Australia's Coalition government would be expensive and would not meet long term emission reduction goals.
This threat to animals should provoke shame in our hearts
26 Jan 2017
By TIM FLANNERY | While Australia bakes through another hot, angry summer, its precious wildlife is increasingly under threat, not just from the extreme weather of fires and floods but by the growing reality of a changing climate.
Queensland plugs in largest solar farm
15 Dec 2016
Queensland’s largest operating solar farm has plugged into the national electricity grid and is set to generate enough power for almost 10,000 households by the end of 2016.
Addiction to big houses is blowing the energy budget
15 Dec 2016
Australia’s houses are getting bigger, but usually not more sustainable.
South Australia says states could go it alone
9 Dec 2016
States could go it alone on a carbon scheme for the electricity sector after the federal government ruled one out, South Australia’s premier says.
Chief scientist criticises climate policy chaos
9 Dec 2016
Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel says investment in the electricity sector has stalled because of “policy instability and uncertainty”. And he has warned that current federal climate policy settings will not allow Australia to meet its emissions reduction targets under the Paris agreement.
Anxious states await extreme bushfire season
8 Dec 2016
New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory are bracing for another severe bushfire season, as climate change continues to drive extreme conditions, a new report says.
Frydenberg backtracks on emissions trading
7 Dec 2016
Australia's energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has folded in the face of internal pressure, declaring the Turnbull government will not pursue emissions trading as part of adjusting its climate policy.
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.
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.
