International: Australia
Queensland plans “supergrid” and world’s biggest pumped hydro
29 Sep 2022
The Queensland government’s new 10-year energy and jobs plan includes plans for 22GW of new wind and solar, and 11.5GW of rooftop solar, and also includes a new “super grid” and what it says will be the biggest pumped hydro project in the world.
UN rights body rules Australia failed to protect from climate change
27 Sep 2022
The United Nations Human Rights Committee on September 23 found that the Australian government had violated the rights of Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders by failing to adequately protect them against the adverse impacts of climate change.
Victoria urged to shoot for net-zero by 2034, after 2020 emissions target “smashed”
21 Sep 2022
Victoria is being challenged to shoot for net-zero emissions more than 16 years ahead of schedule – an easy target according to modelling based on new data showing the government has beaten its 2020 target by nearly 10 per cent.
Climate change threatens up to 100% of trees in Australian cities, and most urban species worldwide
21 Sep 2022
A study published today in Nature Climate Change found climate change will put 90-100% of the trees and shrubs planted in Australian capital cities at risk by 2050.
SUVs and utes are overpowering electric cars in Australia’s vehicle emissions results
20 Sep 2022
Australia's surging appetite for large SUVs and diesel utes is countering any improvement in emissions from the growing number of electric cars on roads.
Japanese, Australian firms collaborate on world's tallest timber tower
19 Sep 2022
Construction firms from Japan and Australia have started work on a 182-meter-high skyscraper in central Sydney in a collaboration to build what will be the world's tallest hybrid-timber building using an eco-friendly wood product.
Will the food and livestock industry follow fossil fuels over the market cliff?
19 Sep 2022
We are generally pretty relaxed about this. Anyone miss Nokia? Kodak? Blockbuster Video? But when the drivers for change become politicised, or worse – ideological – an intense process unfolds to resist the market process.
Climate action could cure Australia's cost of living crisis, starting with 100 pct renewables
14 Sep 2022
Investment in climate change initiatives could be a solution to Australia’s cost of living pressures, with a new report subverting a decade’s worth of arguments that action on emissions would hurt back pockets.
Australia finally has new climate laws. Now, let’s properly consider the astounding social cost of carbon
9 Sep 2022
The Conversation | The federal government’s climate change bill passed the Senateon Thursday. Among the mandates in the new Climate Change Act are assessments of the social, employment and economic benefits of climate change policies.
"Meaningless" Aussie carbon credits increasing emissions
7 Sep 2022
Some of the biggest players profiting from Australia's carbon market are backing expert analysis saying the system is generating meaningless credits that actually result in Australia's emissions going up.
Can carbon capture and storage help Australia achieve net zero by 2050?
5 Sep 2022
Across Australia, 10 new offshore areas were last week approved for oil and gas exploration, as were permits for two new offshore greenhouse gas storage facilities.
Australia must cut consumption for successful transition to renewables: expert
26 Aug 2022
Energy Consumption – whether its heating your home, driving, oil refining or liquefying natural gas – is responsible for around 82% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions
A near 100% renewables grid is well within reach for Australia
25 Aug 2022
There have been many simulations of a 100% renewable electricity grid for Australia, including some ground-breaking studies from Beyond Zero Emissions, The University of New South Wales and the ANU
Flooding wetlands could be the next big carbon capture hack
24 Aug 2022
Arriving at the tidal wetlands of Mungalla Station on the coastline of northern Queensland, ornithologist Simon Kennedy from the not-for-profit BirdLife Australia is greeted by a welcome cacophony. “You start hearing honks and quacks and twitters and noises coming from there,” he says of the area’s diverse and thriving bird populations, “whereas it’s very quiet elsewhere.”
Australia’s biggest listed solar company to be wound up after selling US portfolio
23 Aug 2022
New Energy Solar, the biggest listed solar investor in Australia, is to be wound up after agreeing to sell its remaining portfolio of 14 US solar farms to a company run by US investment bank giant Goldman Sachs.
How a humpback whale superhighway is offering warnings about climate change
22 Aug 2022
During winter Australia's east coast becomes a migratory superhighway for humpback whales, a so-called "blue corridor".
Australia may be heading for emissions trading between big polluters
19 Aug 2022
Could Australia soon have a form of emissions trading? Yes, if Labor's much-anticipated paper on fixing Australia's mediocre emissions-reduction framework, released yesterday, is any guide.
“More emissions than coal:” Pressure mounts on Australia to rule out forest biomass
18 Aug 2022
Pressure is mounting on the Australian government to rule out the use of native forest biomass for renewable energy generation – particularly as a replacement for coal in ageing coal generators – with one green group arguing that it “fails even the most basic common sense test.”
US investment giant BlackRock in $1 billion big battery play in Australia
17 Aug 2022
US investment giant BlackRock is planning to invest at least $1 billion in big battery projects in Australia after agreeing to buy out Melbourne-based Akaysha Energy and its portfolio of at least nine projects in the country’s main grid.
Carbon market could offset Australia’s huge fire recovery bill
16 Aug 2022
\Australian scientists have put a dollar figure on the cost of recovery and restoration of native flora and fauna after the 2019-2020 summer bushfires.
Australia calls for US-China to keep climate talks ‘ring-fenced’ from Taiwan tensions
15 Aug 2022
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has called for China and the United States to resume climate talks despite rising tensions between the countries over the status of Taiwan.
Bushmaster goes electric: Australia unveils silent, electrified personnel vehicle
12 Aug 2022
The Australian defence force is going green – and we’re not talking about a new shade of camouflage paint. We’re talking about the electrification of its famous Bushmaster protected military vehicle.
Warning that labour shortages could harm Australia’s green energy transition
12 Aug 2022
Australia’s Clean Energy Council has warned that the country runs the risk of throttling the success of its clean energy transition unless the current and growing labour shortages and skills gaps across the clean energy industry are filled.
Gravity storage start-up says it has “multi gigawatt hour” plans for Australian zinc refiner
11 Aug 2022
Gravity storage start-up Energy Vault says it has begun site planning for what it now describes as a “multi-gigawatt hour” project for long and short term storage to support the green energy plans for Australian zinc refiner Sun Metals.
Experts say the net zero concept is often used to delay taking action against emissions
11 Aug 2022
As large parts of Europe and North America swelter and then ignite, a future of endless climate destruction seems inevitable.
Green hydrogen has a leakage problem that may cancel out some of its climate gains
9 Aug 2022
Hydrogen has emerged as the great white (or green) hope of the clean energy transition due to its potential use in decarbonising hard-to-abate industries like shipping, steel production, and even transport.
Good news on climate change? Australia's Great Barrier Reef has healthiest coral in 36 years
8 Aug 2022
Australian Institute of Marine Science says results in north and central regions are a sign the reef could still recover, but loss elsewhere highlights risks
New 2030 climate target has Australian scientists excited
27 Jul 2022
Australia’s Chief Scientist has challenged the science and business community to figure out how to reach Australia’s new climate target.
Australia’s three richest men are spending their billions on green energy transition
26 Jul 2022
The surprise bid for renewables and storage developer Genex Power announced on Monday morning by billionaire Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson tells two interesting stories about Australia’s green energy transition.
Australia leads world in green hydrogen hype and hope, but not in actual projects
22 Jul 2022
Australia, you will read almost anywhere, aims to be a global renewable energy superpower, even a renewable hydrogen superpower – in much the same way it does in fossil fuels, where it is one of the world’s three biggest exporters.
Octopus launches $10 billion renewables platform, buys Australia’s biggest solar farm
21 Jul 2022
Octopus Investment Australia has officially launched its new $10 billion renewables “platform”, that will seek to finance big solar, wind and battery storage projects and has already bought the biggest operating solar farm in Australia.
Australia's environment in 'shocking' decline, report finds
21 Jul 2022
Australia's environment is in a shocking state and faces further decline from amplifying threats, according to an anticipated report.
How Canberra avoided the global energy crisis
20 Jul 2022
The “Canberra bubble” is something of a derisive term in Australia, referring to the niche interests of politicians, lobbyists and media insiders in the country’s capital — the equivalent of being entrenched “inside the Beltway” of Washington D.C.
Chevron to lay out millions for more credits to cover another Gorgon carbon capture shortfall
18 Jul 2022
Chevron faces a renewed multimillion-dollar buy-up of carbon credits to cover another shortfall by the world’s biggest carbon capture and storage scheme at the Gorgon LNG project off northern WA.
Integrated wind and solar still cheapest, and green hydrogen costs falling fast: CSIRO
12 Jul 2022
Australia’s main scientific body and the country’s energy market operator have again underlined the fact that “integrated” wind and solar – including the cost of storage and transmission – is still by far the cheapest source of new electricity generation in Australia.
Industry calls on Aussie government to support household batteries
6 Jul 2022
Another emerging player in Australia’s energy market has called on energy regulators to ditch plans for a capacity mechanism, arguing that installing more energy storage capacity would be a better way to solve the current crisis facing electricity markets.
Review of Australia’s carbon credit units announced
5 Jul 2022
The Australian government has announced the appointment of an independent panel (Panel) to review the integrity of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).
Sydney is flooded, again, as climate crisis becomes new normal for Australia's most populous state
5 Jul 2022
On a fine day, locals arrive on boats that motor up the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales to dine on the back deck of the Paradise Café.
Australia prioritizes reducing emissions and cheaper EVs
4 Jul 2022
Australia’s new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper
Rooftop solar and household batteries to take centre stage in Australia's rapid energy transition
1 Jul 2022
The solar and storage resources of Australian households and businesses will have the capacity to meet nearly one-fifth of national electricity market demand by 2050, and rooftop solar alone could provide twice as much generation as coal in a decade.
Australia reconsiders methane emissions cut pledge
30 Jun 2022
The Labor-led Australian federal government, which was elected last month, said it was looking at joining the global methane pledge that seeks a collective 30% cut in methane emissions by 2030 relative to 2020 levels. The previous conservative coalition government rejected the pledge when it was unveiled last year.
Sun Cable clears new hurdle for world’s biggest solar and battery project
27 Jun 2022
Sun Cable’s Australia-Asia PowerLink, the massive solar and battery project backed by Australia’s two richest men, Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes, has cleared another important hurdle with a ringing endorsement of its economic merits from Infrastructure Australia
Methane-spewing coal mines are climate test for Australia's new leader: report
21 Jun 2022
Australia's coal mines cause more planetary warming in a typical year than emissions from all of the country's cars.
Heavy industries in Australia’s regions could cut emissions by 80% and create a jobs bonanza: report
20 Jun 2022
The regional powerhouses of Australia’s industrial economy could slash their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% and become centres for multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy, according to a report backed by some of the country’s biggest companies.
Albanese locks in Australia’s higher 2030 emissions reduction target
17 Jun 2022
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has formally committed Australia to a stronger 2030 emissions reduction target, to cut emissions by 43 per cent by the end of the decade.
BP takes major position in one of world’s biggest green hydrogen hubs in Pilbara
16 Jun 2022
Oil giant BP has taken a 40.5% stake in the $30 billion Australian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara, one of the biggest renewable and green hydrogen projects in the world.
Tasmania's native forest logging sector the state's highest carbon emitting industry: report
15 Jun 2022
Based in Tasmania's Derwent Valley, Fiona Weaver's adventure tourism business trades on the reputation of Tasmania's pristine wilderness.
Gas industry regulator sued by Tiwi Islands traditional owners over Barossa gas project approvals
9 Jun 2022
First Nations traditional owners have launched a Federal Court challenge to Santos’ plans to drill for gas off the coast of the Northern Territory, arguing approvals granted to the Barossa project are invalid because the oil and gas giant never consulted with the group.
Using Indigenous knowledge and Western science to address climate change impacts
9 Jun 2022
Traditional Owners in Australia are the creators of millennia worth of traditional ecological knowledge—an understanding of how to live amid changing environmental conditions. Seasonal calendars are one of the forms of this knowledge best known by non-Indigenous Australians. But as the climate changes, these calendars are being disrupted.
Researchers push for carbon credit payments for Australian farmers who fence their dams
8 Jun 2022
Scientists are lobbying for farmers to be financially rewarded in the form of carbon credits for cleaning up their dams.
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.
