International: Australia
Australia is unlikely to hit its renewable energy goal, Wood Mackenzie says
20 May 2025
Australia is set to fall far short of its target of 82% renewable generation by 2030 due to state-level rollbacks, grid connection delays and inadequate investment, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Thursday.
Energy Australia is in court accused of greenwashing. What is the case about and why is it significant?
16 May 2025
Climate group alleges energy giant misled 400,000 customers about ‘Go Neutral’ product, arguing that carbon credits don’t actually remove emissions.
Five huge climate opportunities await the next Australian parliament – and it has the numbers to deliver
12 May 2025
Australians have returned an expanded Labor Party to government alongside a suite of climate-progressive independents. Meanwhile, the Coalition – which promoted nuclear energy and a slower renewables transition – suffered a historic defeat.
Cost of emissions from five major Australian resource companies more than $900bn, study finds
6 May 2025
US researchers link BHP, Rio Tinto, Santos, Whitehaven Coal and Woodside Energy to specific climate harms over three decades.
Australia’s centre-left Labor Party retains power in vote seen as test of anti-Trump sentiment
5 May 2025
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has secured a second term in office in a disastrous night for his conservative rivals, as voters chose stability over change against a backdrop of global turmoil inflicted by US President Donald Trump.
Where Labor and the Coalition stand on nature and environment policies this federal election
2 May 2025
So what are political parties offering when it comes to our nature laws?
Australia: Coalition under fire for planning to scrap Labor climate policies
22 Apr 2025
With Peter Dutton’s views on climate change in the spotlight, the focus has turned onto whether there will be any policies to reduce emissions in the next decade.
Australia: Climate change pushing up insurance risk
17 Apr 2025
With flood waters rising, there are warnings of a “climate-induced credit crunch” as natural disasters threaten the viability of home insurance.
Garbage bag giant fined $8.25m for falsely claiming products were recycled plastic
16 Apr 2025
The company behind GLAD garbage bags has been fined $8.25m for falsely claiming the products were made from recycled ocean plastics.
Australia: Coalition clarifies commitment to Paris Agreement after confusion on climate targets
14 Apr 2025
The federal Coalition has clarified it remains committed to the Paris climate accord, despite earlier comments from the shadow energy minister indicating it could leave the agreement.
Australia urgently needs to get serious about long-term climate policy – but there’s no sign of that in the election campaign
11 Apr 2025
The federal election should be an earnest contest over the fundamentals of Australia’s climate and energy policies.
Labor’s home batteries policy could help Australians who will never take it up. Here’s how
9 Apr 2025
The government’s promise to slash the cost of household batteries should be welcomed – it could drive a change that benefits everyone who uses the power grid.
Properties destroyed as ‘horrendous’ waves batter Sydney coast
3 Apr 2025
Residents have been evacuated, properties flooded and coastal infrastructure damaged after a large swell combined with a king tide to batter the Australian shore.
Rain records to fall in Queensland with Townsville to set new annual high
1 Apr 2025
Queensland cities and towns are dealing with the effects of flooding – including extensive stock losses and widespread damage – after a year’s worth of rain fell in a matter of days.
Hosting the UN climate summit is far from ‘madness’ – here’s how Australia stands to benefit
1 Apr 2025
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would withdraw Australia’s bid to co-host next year’s global climate summit if the Coalition wins the federal election.
Green hydrogen has stalled in nearly every corner of Australia. So why is the government still revving it up?
28 Mar 2025
The green hydrogen revolution wasn’t supposed to go like this. In September, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, declared Australia “the green hydrogen capital of the world” with “50-plus companies on the ground” and a pipeline of investments worth $200bn.
$800m pledge keeps Australia's green hydrogen dream alive
21 Mar 2025
The Albanese Labor government has pledged more than $800 million in production incentives to a green hydrogen development in remote Western Australia, defying mounting scepticism over the future of the country's green fuel industry.
Mining head calls 'net' in net zero a 'weasel word'
17 Mar 2025
Fortescue chair wants companies to focus on 'real zero' as he explains $6.2bn plan to transform business.
Ex-Cyclone Alfred sends 'phenomenal' levels of rainfall to Brisbane and Gold Coast
11 Mar 2025
About 240,000 homes and businesses are without power in Queensland in the wake of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, according to the state's premier.
Australia's biggest coal-fired power station is 'driving up energy bills'
10 Mar 2025
Australia's largest coal-fired power station is unreliable and driving up electricity prices, according to a new report that argues against the viability of keeping coal plants open beyond their scheduled closure dates.
Rare cyclone threatens millions on Australia's east coast
6 Mar 2025
Millions of residents along Australia's eastern coast are preparing for the impact of the most southerly cyclone to threaten the region in more than five decades.
Albanese Government vows to secure future of Australia's food supply chain by developing new national strategy
6 Mar 2025
The Albanese Government has promised to help secure the future of Australia's food supply chain by developing a new national strategy if it wins the election.
From drill to grill: Continued fossil fuel use puts us all in the hot seat
3 Mar 2025
The Climate Council is warning that Australia's biggest cities could face dangerously hot temperatures, unless action is taken to slow down climate change. The Council has released a 'heat map' which also shows that continuing to cut climate pollution can safeguard Australians from the worst impacts of soaring heat.
Nuclear path would blow out Australia's emissions targets, new modelling shows
25 Feb 2025
Australia's peak climate body has published new modelling showing the Coalition's proposed nuclear pathway would result in an additional 2 billion tonnes of emissions in the atmosphere.
The climate crisis is a cost-of-living issue for Australia. My generation will be the first to pay for it
21 Feb 2025
OPINION: Politicians have divorced the issue of global heating from soaring prices - Australians must take bold action at the ballot box.
Australian activists fined for plans to damage energy CEO's home
17 Feb 2025
Three activists who planned to damage the home of Woodside boss Meg O'Neill were fined at their sentencing hearing in a Perth court.
'A house battery you can drive around': how a handful of Australians are selling power from their cars back to the grid
14 Feb 2025
Our cars sit unused most of the time. If you have an electric vehicle, you might leave it charging at home or work after driving it. But there's another step you could take. If you have a bidirectional charger, you can set it to sell power back to the grid when demand is high.
Australians are being misled by 'dodgy' offsets, say Fortescue
13 Feb 2025
Australians are being misled into believing that low-quality carbon offset schemes will lead to a net zero future, despite evidence that only reducing fossil fuels will work, iron ore mining giant Fortescue says.
Thousands flee homes as floods hit Australia
4 Feb 2025
A woman has died in Australia and thousands have been forced to flee their homes after torrential rainfall caused flooding in northern Queensland.
Developers abandon applications to build wind farm off Australia's South West coast
28 Jan 2025
Two of the earliest proponents of an offshore wind farm in WA's South West are among several developers who are no longer applying to work on the project.
Great Barrier Reef hit by its most widespread coral bleaching, study finds
23 Jan 2025
More than 40% of individual corals monitored around a Great Barrier Reef island were killed last year in the most widespread coral bleaching outbreak to hit the reef system, a study has found.
Saving the ‘kidneys’ of the Great Barrier Reef
20 Dec 2024
In Queensland, Australia, once-unlivable wetlands are now attracting birds and fish while also reconnecting Indigenous youth with the land.
No glue, chains or locks: Victoria’s antisemitism crackdown a smokescreen to target climate protesters, critics say
20 Dec 2024
The Victorian government has been accused of “shoehorning” new anti-protest measures that could be used to crack down on the climate movement into reforms touted as necessary to combat antisemitism.
As the heat soars, dangers mount in Sydney’s parks and playgrounds
18 Dec 2024
In the state’s far west, the temperature was oppressive on Monday, reaching well into the 40s as residents braced for the prospect of Australian heat records being shattered.
Australia leads the world in arresting climate and environment protesters
17 Dec 2024
Australian police are world leaders at arresting climate and environmental protesters.
Australia accused of undermining landmark climate change case brought by Pacific nations in international court
4 Dec 2024
Vanuatu leads the charge of several nations arguing developed nations have a legal responsibility beyond UN commitments.
‘Unprecedented’ climate extremes are everywhere. Our baselines for what’s normal will need to change
4 Dec 2024
Extreme temperature and rainfall events are increasing around the world, including Australia. What makes them extreme is their rarity and severity compared to the typical climate.
Albanese government says Australia on target to reduce emissions – but campaigners say it could do more
2 Dec 2024
Departmental analysis includes contentious measurements but climate minister says government is cleaning up after ‘decade of denial, delay, dysfunction and utter neglect’.
Carbon footprint of a total knee replacement in Australia on par with driving a car from Brisbane to Sydney
27 Nov 2024
Researchers have calculated the greenhouse gas impact from a single knee replacement. A three-hour operation has similar emissions compared to a 914-kilometre car trip.
170 climate protesters arrested after allegedly disrupting shipping in New South Wales
26 Nov 2024
Two protesters have been granted bail after facing court on charges relating to an anti-fossil fuel demonstration that allegedly disrupted the shipping channel leading into the world's largest coal port.
Australia commits additional $50 million to deal with climate change
21 Nov 2024
The Australian government has committed an extra $50 million towards a global fund to deal with the loss and damage caused by climate change.
Australia accused of ‘exporting climate destruction’ on tiny Pacific neighbours with massive gas expansion plans
20 Nov 2024
Pacific governments at a UN climate summit are criticising Australia’s plans for a massive gas industry expansion in Western Australia, saying it could result in 125 times more greenhouse gas emissions than their island nations release in a year.
Is Australia's migration system ready for rising numbers of climate refugees?
19 Nov 2024
Australia is now obligated to help Tuvalu when it calls for help to respond to "the devastating impacts of climate change."
Australian engineer says Elon Musk, JD Vance key to US climate policy under Donald Trump
13 Nov 2024
An Australian engineer says billionaire Elon Musk and vice-president-elect JD Vance could become unexpected climate allies under the Trump administration.
Dams have taken half the water from Australia’s second biggest river – and climate change will make it even worse
7 Nov 2024
The largest wetland on Australia’s second longest river, the Murrumbidgee in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, is drying up. This is bad news for the plants, animals and people who rely on the vast Lowbidgee Floodplain.
Landmark court case sees activist group sue gas giant Santos for allegedly misleading investors
30 Oct 2024
Gas giant Santos told investors it had a clear plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 but had no evidence to back it up, the Federal Court has heard during the first morning of litigation against the gas giant.
COP this – gas is not a climate solution
30 Oct 2024
Hosting COP31 climate talks is an opportunity to showcase South Australia to the world, writes Belinda Noble, but not if we allow it to promote gas.
Why the time is right for Australia’s second shot at carbon pricing
25 Oct 2024
By Ross Garnaut | OPINION: Australia now has a government and parliament wanting to build Australia as the renewable energy superpower of the zero-carbon world economy.
Qantas accused of greenwashing as climate advocates lodge complaint over sustainability, net zero claims
17 Oct 2024
An environmental advocacy group has lodged a complaint with the consumer watchdog over claims Qantas makes on sustainability and climate.
Electric car sales have slumped. Misinformation is one of the reasons
16 Oct 2024
Battery electric vehicle sales in Australia have flattened in recent months.
Climate scientists and republican lawyers are taking aim at Big Tech’s emissions
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Technology companies have long been one of the biggest investors in clean energy, but new accounting rules could upend that.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
Thu 16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
'Not up for discussion': Brussels rejects Washington's pressure on climate rules
Mon 13 Oct 2025
In response to US demands to roll back the EU's environmental legislation, the European Commission defended its autonomous power to adopt laws.
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
Thu 16 Oct 2025
The UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have said.
Renewables are a global economic engine, not a culture war threat
2 Oct 2025
Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Indonesia restarts international carbon trade after four years
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has issued a new decree to restart international carbon emission trading after a four year hiatus.
Familiar tensions emerge at the Pacific Islands Forum
26 Sep 2025
With China-Taiwan rivalry, China-Western competition, and big carbon emitters at odds with the islands on climate policy, there is plenty of tension to go around.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
Mon 13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Angola lowers climate ambition in blow to spirit of Paris Agreement
Tue 14 Oct 2025
Angola has scaled back its targets for reducing emissions in its new national climate plan, saying it chose “realism and implementability” over the Paris Agreement's calls for governments to set progressively more ambitious goals.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
UN agency says CO2 levels hit record high last year, causing more extreme weather
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilisation and “turbo-charging” the Earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather.
