International: Pacific
Are Australia’s climate wars ending?
21 Dec 2021
With big business backing Labor’s climate policy and net zero gaining bipartisan support, the climate battle is transitioning into a new phase.
Boost for Tuvalu's economic, social and climate resilience
10 Dec 2021
Tuvalu will receive a significant boost with the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approving a US$17.5 million commitment to support its ongoing climate adaptation efforts.
Pacific Islands demand global leaders bring action, not excuses, to UN summit
26 Oct 2021
The Pacific Islands are at the frontline of climate change. But as rising seas threaten their very existence, these tiny nation states will not be submerged without a fight, argues Australia Climate Council researcher Wesley Morgan in The Conversation.
How Australia got blindsided in the great Pacific climate coup
11 Oct 2021
As the Glasgow climate talks loomed closer last week Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama addressed an international forum hosted by the former US vice president Al Gore, with slightly more than customary bluntness.
The Tongan island using canoes to tackle climate change
6 Oct 2021
A job creation scheme on the Tongan island of 'Eua is not only teaching local youth traditional boat building skills it's helping combat climate change.
Vanuatu campaign for World Court ruling on climate change gathers momentum
5 Oct 2021
Vanuatu has called for the Hague-based International Court of Justice to weigh in on whether nations have a legal responsibility to prevent their greenhouse gas emissions from harming other countries.
Vanuatu to push international court for climate change action
27 Sep 2021
Vanuatu is asking the International Court of Justice to issue an opinion on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from the adverse effects of climate change.
Nature based solutions to tackle climate change in rural Tonga
9 Sep 2021
A NZD$7.2 million Climate Resilient Islands Programme focusing on nature-based solutions to climate change in rural communities in Tonga was launched, in Nuku'alofa on September 7.
Pacific islands call for zero carbon shipping by 2050
24 Aug 2021
Three climate vulnerable Pacific nations have asked the world’s governments to agree to aim to make international shipping emissions-free by 2050.
Wildfires take toll on Pacific islands
16 Aug 2021
A metal roof sits atop the burned remains of a homestead on the once-lush slopes of Hawaii's Mauna Kea—a dormant volcano and the state's tallest peak—charred cars and motorcycles strewn about as wind-whipped sand and ash blast the scorched landscape.
Pacific Island nations could be lost within the century
10 Aug 2021
Global heating above 1.5C will be “catastrophic” for Pacific island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century, experts have warned.
Pacific Island bid for carbon price on shipping fails to gain support
17 Jun 2021
Pacific island nations made the case for a carbon price to tackle shipping’s climate impact at the UN body responsible for seaborne transport yesterday, but found only tepid support.
Climate change a Pacific reality
16 Jun 2021
In the 1960s and ‘70s Pago Pago in American Samoa averaged 85 cool nights, that’s nights under 23c, per year, now they have just four. The number of days hotter than 32c has gone from nine to about 22.
Air Tahiti Nui offers CarbonClick offsets
3 Jun 2021
New Zealand tech company CarbonClick has signed up a second international airline to its offsetting programme.
Eighty two per cent of heat deaths in Honolulu due to global warming
2 Jun 2021
More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change.
Support for Rarotongan climate research
3 May 2021
International agencies Aqualink.org and View into the Blue have donated advanced marine monitoring equipment for deployment in Rarotonga.
Pacific plan to decarbonise shipping
27 Apr 2021
The Marshall Islands is calling for a greenhouse levy on gas to speed up the decarbonisation of shipping.
Marshall and Solomon Islands call for $100 levy on shipping emissions
12 Apr 2021
The Marshall and Solomon Islands are calling on the International Maritime Organisation to introduce a US$100 levy on GHG emissions.
Questions over Samoa flood defence project
22 Feb 2021
Flood walls in Samoa financed by the UN’s flagship climate fund are inadequate and could put people in danger, experts warn.
Is Pacific Forum Zoomed to fail?
2 Feb 2021
Pacific diplomacy hinges on in-person discussion but web-only meetings have fed a growing dispute over the forum’s leadership and purpose.
How Pacific nations can survive climate change
1 Jul 2020
They contribute only 0.03 per cent of global carbon emissions, but small island developing states, particularly in the Pacific, are at extreme risk to the threats of climate change.
Honolulu mayor wants to sue Big Oil
8 Nov 2019
Honolulu mayor Kirk Caldwell wants the city to sue major oil companies for the damage he says they have done to the island of Oahu.
Cook Islands sacked me, says opponent of seabed mining
22 Oct 2019
The public champion of the world’s largest marine reserve – the Cook Islands’ Marae Moana – has said she lost her job managing it because she supported a moratorium on seabed mining in the Pacific.
Rugby stars are losing their Pacific islands
2 Oct 2019
Whatever happens on the pitches, rugby stars from the Pacific islands face a battle back home to save their ancestral lands from rising sea levels.
Pacific nations seek cash to clean up shipping
25 Sep 2019
A coalition of Pacific island nations wants to raise $500m to make all shipping in the Pacific Ocean zero carbon by the middle of the century.
Surf's still up but climate is changing Hawaiian beaches
16 Aug 2019
Climate change is taking the fun out of surfing, swimming, and snorkeling in Hawaii.
Australia seeks to water down Tuvalu declaration
14 Aug 2019
Australia is trying to water down a declaration on the urgent need for climate action at the South Pacific Forum meeting about to get under way in Tuvalu.
Australia puts $500m into Pacific climate fund
13 Aug 2019
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil a $500m climate change and oceans funding package for the Pacific region when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu this week.
Fiji calls world leaders selfish and irresponsible
8 Aug 2019
Fiji will introduce one of the world’s most ambitious legislative programmes to tackle the climate crisis, and has labelled the global community grossly irresponsible and selfish.
NZ stays out of islands' beef with Australia
2 Aug 2019
New Zealand is not joining other Pacific countries in criticising Australia’s plans to use Kyoto credits to meet its Paris Agreement target.
Pacific leaders serve Australia with blunt warning
1 Aug 2019
Pacific leaders have called on Australia to abandon plans to use carry-over credits to meet Paris climate targets and to immediately stop new coalmining, warning some of their countries could be uninhabitable as soon as 2030.
Energy company brings solar to islands
22 Jul 2019
New Zealand sustainable energy company Infratec has successfully completed a $16 million project to deliver reliable renewable energy to four islands in the Cooks.
Migration can't be only option on drowning islands
5 Jul 2019
The story of Kiritimati atoll sheds light on the issues facing those living on such islands all around the world, and the inadequacy of current international policy.
Vanuatu eyes ban on disposable nappies
24 Jun 2019
Vanuatu, which has already introduced one of the toughest single-use plastic bans , is believed to be the first nation to propose a ban on disposable nappies.
Pacific sucks up more anthropogenic emissions
5 Jun 2019
The rate that the Pacific Ocean takes up human-caused emissions of carbon has increased between 1991 and 2017, a new study finds.
Pacific leaders urge Morrison to act
23 May 2019
Pacific leaders have urged Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do more to fight the climate crisis.
Heat makes ocean winds and waves more fierce
6 May 2019
The great swells of the Pacific are beginning to swell even more as fiercer ocean winds and waves leave their mark.
More than 80 Fiji villages on relocation list
2 May 2019
More than 80 Fiji communities have been earmarked by the government for potential future relocation.
Pacific cities call for rethink of climate resilience
24 Apr 2019
Climate change planning for Pacific Islands cities and towns has been limited, despite their rapid growth.
Climate no laughing matter, Fiji warns Australia
23 Jan 2019
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama used the Australian leader’s visit to call out his promotion of fossil fuels, showing Scott Morrison is on the wrong side in the Pacific as well as at home.
Vanuatu eyes climate action against fossil fuel companies
23 Nov 2018
Vanuatu says it will explore whether it can take legal action against fossil fuel companies and countries for their role in causing climate change.
Marshalls first to submit new climate targets
22 Nov 2018
The Marshall Islands is the first country to submit new, binding climate targets to the United Nations this week, sending a signal to other countries to commit to more ambitious emissions cuts.
Ardern talks climate on Asia-Pacific swing
20 Nov 2018
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used international talks in Papua New Zealand and Singapore to push for action on climate change, her office says.
Palau bans sunscreen to protect coral reefs
8 Nov 2018
Palau is set to become the first country to ban reef-toxic sunscreen.
Nauruans (and refugees) have nowhere to hide
23 Oct 2018
Everyone on Nauru – indigenous Nauruans and refugees alike – is experiencing the impacts of one the greatest social, economic and political threats faced by the world today: global environmental change.
Marshalls vow to be carbon neutral by 2050
27 Sep 2018
The Marshall Islands have released a comprehensive climate strategy to go carbon-neutral by 2050, becoming the first island nation to do so.
Australia tried to water down Pacific stand, says PM
7 Sep 2018
Australia tried to water down a resolution on climate change agreed by country representatives at the Pacific Islands Forum, a leader attending the event has claimed.
NZ backs Pacific call for UN to do more
6 Sep 2018
New Zealand is backing other Pacific nations calling for the United Nations to up its game over the security threats posed by climate change.
Mental hospital best for some leaders, says Samoa PM
3 Sep 2018
Samoan leaderTuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has called climate change an “existential threat ... for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should be taken to a mental hospital.
STORM SURGE: Hurricane Lane carries warning for the Pacific
27 Aug 2018
Warming water in the Central Pacific as global temperatures rise is likely to boost tropical storm activity in a region largely spared in the past.
Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow mining company to clear threatened indigenous forest
Mon 23 Feb 2026
The Australian government’s decision to allow the US mining giant Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of Western Australian jarrah forest despite past illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.
Trump’s plan for rising energy costs: Pump oil, make data centers pay
Thu 26 Feb 2026
Energy affordability was in the spotlight during President Trump’s lengthy and at times rambling State of the Union address Tuesday evening as the president promised to bring down electricity prices in an effort to assuage voter concerns about rising costs.
3,600 times faster: China is shaking up the steel industry
Wed 25 Feb 2026
For over a century, making steel meant coal, heat, and hours of waiting. A Chinese research team now reports collapsing that process into just three to six seconds; no coal, near zero emissions, and a vortex lance already moving toward commercial production. The technology is called flash ironmaking, and in February 2026, its implications are still unfolding.
This city turned its rooftops into a climate shield
Today 11:45am
As cities struggle with heat, Zürich offers a masterclass in using vegetation to cool streets, manage stormwater and restore biodiversity.
‘Tinderbox’ UK may be one shock away from food riots, experts say
Wed 25 Feb 2026
A series of issues are making access to food vulnerable in the UK, including the climate crisis, low incomes, poor farming policy and fragile just-in-time supply chains.
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.
South Korean farmers sue utility giant KEPCO over climate damage to crops
Wed 25 Feb 2026
As harvest season approached last November, farmer Ma Yong-un walked through his apple orchard in southern South Korea with a growing sense of dread.
Limiting warming to 2C is ‘crucial’ to protect pristine Antarctic Peninsula
Tue 24 Feb 2026
Keeping global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial temperatures is “crucial” for limiting damage to the Antarctic Peninsula’s unique ecosystems, according to a new study.
Kenya launches a carbon registry to boost climate finance and credibility
Mon 23 Feb 2026
Kenya has launched a national carbon registry, aiming to position itself as a global hub for high-integrity carbon credits at a time when scrutiny of climate offset markets is intensifying worldwide.
Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 30 after record rainfall
Thu 26 Feb 2026
Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.
UN approves first carbon credits under Paris Agreement market mechanism
Today 11:45am
The United Nations has approved the first credits to be issued under a carbon market established by the Paris climate accord, aimed at reducing emissions – a mechanism that has faced scrutiny over greenwashing concerns.
