International: Australia
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.
Half Australia’s oceans to be protected - more than any other country
11 Oct 2024
Little-known Australian islands that teem with emperor penguins and elephant seals, and have the country’s only two active volcanoes, will be protected with an additional 300,000 square kilometres of marine park.
Coalmines and gasfields may be emitting twice as much methane as declared, report warns
11 Oct 2024
Australia’s coalmines and gasfields may be emitting twice as much methane as they currently declare, underscoring the need to introduce independent reporting of the potent greenhouse gas, an energy thinktank has warned.
Australia suffers setback in green hydrogen race
10 Oct 2024
Australia’s bid to become a global hydrogen superpower has been dealt a blow, with the nation’s biggest energy utility pulling out of building a large-scale green hydrogen hub despite the project being shortlisted for a share of $2 billion of funding from the Albanese government.
Australian Security Leaders Climate Group calls on federal govt to overhaul climate threat preparedness
9 Oct 2024
The danger of climate change has led to calls for a radical overhaul of how the federal government is planning to manage climate threats.
Our leaders are collaborating with fossil fuel colonialists
4 Oct 2024
By Tim Winton | COMMENT: The lassitude that distinguishes our moment is born of sorrow and buried rage. We act like colonial subjects because, in effect, that’s what we are
Australia’s ‘immoral’ coalmine decision akin to drowning its Pacific neighbours, Tuvalu’s climate minister declares
1 Oct 2024
Tuvalu’s climate minister says Australia’s decision to approve three coalmine expansions calls into question its claim to be a “member of the Pacific family”, and undermines the Australian case to co-host the 2026 UN climate summit with island nations.
Define ‘tree’: The fight over Woolworths’ eco-beef pledge
27 Sep 2024
Woolworths’ ban on beef reared on deforested land has prompted Australian farmers to campaign for rules to define the practice that would allow them to chop down trees as part of their land management.
Not enough demand: Big batteries in Aus may be told to stand by on empty to avoid rooftop solar switch-off
26 Sep 2024
The Australian Energy Market Operator is poised to introduce a significant shift in operating protocols that would involve instructing big batteries to stand by on empty to help address periods of extremely low or even negative operating demand.
'Why are carbon offsets not dead yet?'
26 Sep 2024
Journalist and environmental activist George Monbiot discusses neoliberalism, nature, and negative consequences with the Australia Institute's Climate and Energy program director.
New book exposes just how long, and hard, the fossil fuel industry has worked to advance its interests
25 Sep 2024
As freelance journalist Royce Kurmelovs points out in his new book Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil, most people underestimate just how far in advance the fossil fuel industry plans not only its new projects, but its PR and lobbying efforts, as well.
Climate change threatens Australian tourism more than is widely believed. Here’s why
23 Sep 2024
Right now, Australia is one of the top five tourist destinations in the world, a distinction the World Economic Forum says it shares with only the United States, France, Spain and Japan.
Cop31 is a chance for Australia to go from climate laggard to global leader
20 Sep 2024
OPINION: Australia’s bid to co-host the UN’s climate conference is not just a diplomatic event; it is a pivotal opportunity to redefine the nation’s role in the global fight against climate change.
Almost 68% of Australia’s tourism sites at major risk if climate crisis continues, report says
13 Sep 2024
Uluru, the Daintree and Bondi beach among locations that could be impacted if planet hits even 2C of warming by 2050.
Australian city stands to receive $200m economic boost if bid to co-host UN climate talks succeeds
12 Sep 2024
Australia and Pacific countries are vying with Türkiye to host the annual United Nations climate change talks in 2026.
Australia may delay release of 2035 climate target as world awaits outcome of US election
6 Sep 2024
Experts urge Australia not to delay target too long as report by Climate Change Authority identifies six barriers to net zero.
How climate change accelerated Australia's spring winds
4 Sep 2024
Strong winds in eastern Australia this week are being driven by climate change interfering with jet streams, the powerful high-altitude winds that encircle the globe.
Australian homeowners struggling to afford insurance as climate risks grow, report says
28 Aug 2024
Home insurance is becoming unaffordable for a growing number of Australian households as increased climate threats drive up their premiums.
Australia passes landmark bill mandating climate risk disclosures for companies
26 Aug 2024
New reporting standards require climate resilience assessments under both 1.5°C and 2.5°C warming scenarios.
Summer heat arrives in August, threatening to break all-time Australian winter temperature records
26 Aug 2024
Extraordinary August heat is developing across Australia, causing temperatures to spike up to 16 degrees Celsius above average while threatening all-time seasonal records in multiple states.
Humans can work with nature to solve big environmental problems – but there’s no quick fix
21 Aug 2024
“Nature-based solutions” are gaining momentum in environmental policy, including in Australia.
‘Unacceptable’: Red flag for huge Australian gas project
6 Aug 2024
Australia's federal government could be forced into a potential choice between environmental protection and its commitment to long-term gas supply to Australia’s trading partners.
Tasmanian 'Eco-Milk' tests shoppers' thirst for climate-friendly dairy
26 Jul 2024
A small dairy in Tasmania is stocking supermarket shelves with what it says is the world's first branded milk produced by cows fed with a seaweed that makes them emit lower levels of environmentally damaging methane gas.
Climate activists have received months-long sentences. Are tougher laws eroding Australians’ right to protest?
23 Jul 2024
NSW enacts highest number of new laws among states, with climate protesters disproportionately affected, report finds.
Methane leaking out of old mining site in Dharawal National Park near Sydney that closed decades ago
23 Jul 2024
In the heart of what appears to be a pristine national park, a greenhouse gas is leaking out of an underground coal mine more than 30 years after it was last used.
Australian Super accused of greenwashing by investing funds from ethical option in coal, oil and gas industries
19 Jul 2024
Australia's largest super fund has invested money from its 'Socially Aware' option in the coal, oil and gas industries.
Gas giant Woodside buys grazing properties in southern NSW to offset carbon emissions
18 Jul 2024
Woodside has bought four sheep and cattle farms in NSW for $40 million to help offset emissions from oil and gas projects.
‘Knowledge keeps the fires burning’: how ancient Indigenous wisdom can transform our battle against climate change
15 Jul 2024
As climate change worsens, Indigenous peoples can offer valuable insights into sustainability and resilience, Australian researchers say.
Rising risks of climate disasters mean some Australian communities will need to move
9 Jul 2024
Many Australians live in areas increasingly exposed to climate change and associated extreme weather such as floods, fires, coastal erosion, cyclones and extreme heat.
Women 14 times more likely to die in natural disasters: Australian study
8 Jul 2024
Women faced increased rates of violence and homelessness after climate disasters in Australia, researchers say.
From 'carbon-based economies' to renewable energy hubs, regions face their future
5 Jul 2024
While a small coal mining town is facing thousands of job losses, a farming region is picturing renewable energy being generated on its fertile cropping land.
Australia’s ‘carbon budget’ may blow out by 40% under the coalition’s nuclear energy plan
3 Jul 2024
The Coalition’s pledge to build seven nuclear reactors, if elected, would represent a huge shift in energy policy for Australia.
Depleted Tennessee farmland is now teeming with wildlife
Today 11:15am
Middle Fork Bottoms State Park demonstrates the benefits that flow when ecology is left to do what it does naturally.
China’s BEV trucks and the end of diesel’s dominance
Thu 4 Dec 2025
Cheap Chinese battery electric heavy trucks are no longer a rumor. They are real machines with real price tags that are so low that they force a reassessment of what the global freight industry is willing to pay for electrification.
Seven EU countries pressure European Commission to rethink 2035 diesel and petrol car ban
Today 11:15am
Pressure from EU countries, lawmakers and the automotive industry is likely pushing the European Commission to delay the revision of the bloc's ban on diesel and petrol cars by 2035.
UK farmers lose £800m after heat and drought cause one of worst harvests on record
Fri 5 Dec 2025
Many now concerned about ability to make living in fast-changing climate after one of worst grain harvests recorded.
Canada rolls back climate rules in energy deal with Alberta
1 Dec 2025
Under the agreement, the federal government will scrap a planned emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and drop rules on clean electricity.
Politicians in South-East Asia ignore climate change at their own political peril
Today 11:15am
Anger and frustration are growing in devastated communities, as governments botch their response to the climate crisis.
Storms in the Southern Ocean are producing more rain – and the consequences could be global
Mon 8 Dec 2025
Storms in the Southern Ocean influence weather patterns across Australia, New Zealand and the globe.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
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".
European Investment Bank pledges over 2 billion euros for African renewables projects
26 Nov 2025
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is pledging more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of financing for renewable energy projects on the African continent over the next two years.
In blow to Lula, Brazil Congress revives controversial environmental bill
2 Dec 2025
Brazil's conservative-led Congress on Thursday reinstated much of a bill that makes it easier for companies to secure environmental permits, infuriating the leftist government and green groups.
Analysis: Why COP30’s ‘tripling adaptation finance’ target is less ambitious than it seems
Fri 5 Dec 2025
One of the headline outcomes to emerge from COP30 was a new target to “at least triple” finance for climate adaptation in developing countries by 2035.
