International: United Nations
Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says
Wed 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.
Summit aims to revive stalled UN talks on phasing out fossil fuels
11 Mar 2026
Colombia and the Netherlands have set out three priorities for a conference on phasing out fossil fuels they will co-host in Colombia in April.
Half of nations meet UN deadline for nature-loss reporting
4 Mar 2026
Half of nations have met a UN deadline to report on how they are tackling nature loss within their borders, Carbon Brief analysis shows. This includes 11 of the 17 “megadiverse nations”, countries that account for 70% of Earth’s biodiversity.
UN approves first carbon credits under Paris Agreement market mechanism
27 Feb 2026
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.
General Assembly chief calls for US to pay UN fees in full
27 Feb 2026
The head of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday urged top contributor the United States to pay its fees in full after Washington made only a partial payment to the global body, amounting to less than 5% of the total amount owed.
Why Trump might be onboard with a UN carbon-offset programme for airlines
12 Feb 2026
The president’s team has backed the rollout of an initiative that calls for the use of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon credits, even as Trump has pulled back from other international emissions-reduction efforts.
Global economy must move past GDP to avoid planetary disaster, warns UN chief
10 Feb 2026
The global economy must be radically transformed to stop it rewarding pollution and waste, UN secretary general António Guterres has warned.
UN risks 'imminent financial collapse', secretary general warns
3 Feb 2026
The United Nations is at risk of "imminent financial collapse" due to member states not paying their fees, the body's head has warned.
Fossil fuel firms may have to pay for climate damage under proposed UN tax
3 Feb 2026
Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation could also force ultra-rich to pay global wealth tax.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
Analysis: Why COP30’s ‘tripling adaptation finance’ target is less ambitious than it seems
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.
Experts work on UN climate report amid US pushback
3 Dec 2025
Some 600 experts began to work Monday on the next major UN climate report, as the international consensus on global warming is challenged by US President Donald Trump, who deems the science a "hoax".
10 years after the Paris Agreement, world leaders are letting go of its most famous goal
27 Nov 2025
This year's U.N. climate negotiations crashed out on a hard truth: It’s all about the money.
This year’s climate talks saw real progress – just not on fossil fuels
26 Nov 2025
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva dubbed it the “COP of Truth”. Delegates did not shy away from the urgency of the moment as climate change intensifies and emissions continue to climb.
UN warns world losing climate battle but fragile COP30 deal keeps up the fight
25 Nov 2025
Reaching agreement in divisive political landscape shows ‘climate cooperation is alive and kicking’, says UN climate chief.
COP30 fails to land deal on fossil fuel transition but triples finance for climate adaptation
24 Nov 2025
Instead of a global agreement to create roadmaps to shift away from fossil fuels and end deforestation, Brazil announces voluntary initiatives.
Article 6 wraps up with progress in hand and challenges ahead
24 Nov 2025
At COP30 in Belém, negotiators made a delicate balancing act in the evolving world of global carbon markets. Amid the buzz of side meetings and plenary sessions, key decisions on Articles 6.2 and 6.4 revealed both progress and caution.
COP30 climate talks evacuated after fire breaks out
21 Nov 2025
The UN climate talks COP30 have been evacuated due to a fire breaking out inside the venue in Belém, Brazil.
Early COP30 climate deal eludes Brazil, but Lula remains upbeat
21 Nov 2025
Brazil failed to land an early COP30 climate deal on Wednesday, though President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remained upbeat about the prospects of progress in the last two days of the summit despite differences between nations on key issues.
At COP30, focus on wildfire prevention amid record destruction
20 Nov 2025
With wildfires causing unprecedented damage, countries and organisations at COP30 agree to boost community-based prevention.
Artificial intelligence sparks debate at COP30 climate talks in Brazil
20 Nov 2025
At the U.N. climate talks in Brazil, artificial intelligence is being cast as both a hero worthy of praise and a villain that needs policing.
It’s crunch time for the Forest COP – will we let them burn?
20 Nov 2025
We must sustain the momentum on forest finance and a roadmap to secure their future at COP30.
Brazil releases draft text and letter to accelerate COP30 climate negotiations
19 Nov 2025
With a direct letter sent to nations and a draft text released Tuesday, host country Brazil is shifting the U.N. climate conference into a higher gear.
Clamour for change inside the world's COP30 climate negotiations
19 Nov 2025
An existential question hangs over this year's COP30 summit in Brazil: what are the annual U.N. climate negotiations really for?
Thousands march outside COP30 summit in call for action
18 Nov 2025
Marching to the beat of pounding sound systems, thousands of climate protesters have been bringing their message to the gates of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.
Ethiopia set to host UN's 2027 climate summit, 2026 undecided
13 Nov 2025
Uncertainty still surrounds which country will host next year's UN climate conference: Australia or Turkey. But for 2027, there's little mystery: it will almost certainly be Ethiopia, an African diplomatic powerhouse.
Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for tackling climate crisis, says COP30 chief
11 Nov 2025
Brazil’s André Corrêa do Lago says countries should follow China’s lead on clean energy as conference begins.
Leaders of world’s biggest polluters are no-shows as heads of state gather for UN climate summit
10 Nov 2025
World leaders descending on the United Nations annual climate summit in Brazil on Thursday will not need to see much more than the view from their airplane window to sense the unfathomable stakes.
UN chief scolds nations for failing climate goals ahead of COP30 summit
7 Nov 2025
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tore into nations for their failure to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as Brazil hosted world leaders for a summit ahead of the COP30 climate conference in the rainforest city of Belem.
UNEP: New country climate plans ‘barely move needle’ on expected warming
5 Nov 2025
Executive director Inger Anderson made the comments as UNEP published its 16th annual assessment of the global “emissions gap”.
Brazil opens three weeks of COP30-linked climate events
4 Nov 2025
Brazil on Monday opens three weeks of events linked to the COP30 climate summit, hoping to showcase a world still determined to tackle global warming
Most countries fail to submit new climate pledges ahead of summit
29 Oct 2025
Only 64 countries have submitted new plans to cut carbon, the UN says, despite all being required to do so ahead of next month's COP30 summit.
UN report: Five charts showing how global deforestation is declining
28 Oct 2025
The amount of forest lost around the world has reduced by millions of hectares each year in recent decades, but countries are still off track to meet “important” deforestation targets.
Super-warming methane gas is being tackled too slowly, UN says ahead of COP30
24 Oct 2025
Almost 90% of satellite-detected methane leaks flagged to governments and oil and gas companies are not being acknowledged, the UN said Wednesday ahead of the COP30 climate talks next month.
Just 28% of countries have released nature pledges a year after UN deadline
23 Oct 2025
Only 28% of countries have met a UN call to submit new plans on addressing nature loss – a year after the original deadline.
UN pushes for worldwide disaster alerts as extreme weather ‘spirals’
22 Oct 2025
Climate-related hazards have killed more than 2 million people in 50 years, said the UN’s meteorological agency, 90 percent of them in developing countries.
New UN carbon market rules could reshape how investors value nature
20 Oct 2025
A debate over carbon permanence – how long CO2 must stay stored to count towards offsetting emissions – is reshaping global carbon markets and could determine whether nature remains investable.
UN agency says CO2 levels hit record high last year, causing more extreme weather
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.
Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking disasters to global warming
13 Oct 2025
Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.
UN-backed climate banking alliance ceases operations
7 Oct 2025
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a UN-backed initiative seeking carbon neutral investments by banks, announced Friday its immediate shutdown -- at a time of faltering climate commitments in the United States and Europe.
Half of global emissions covered by 2035 climate pledges after UN summit in New York
1 Oct 2025
Half of global greenhouse gas emissions are now covered by a 2035 climate pledge following a key UN summit this week, Carbon Brief analysis finds.
Vanuatu pursues new UN resolution to turn ICJ climate opinion into action
26 Sep 2025
The Pacific island nation, which led a campaign for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify states’ climate duties, said the legal opinion must not be “left on paper”.
UN climate chief says new national climate plans will fall short on emissions cuts
24 Sep 2025
With 2035 targets expected to be too weak to meet global goals to limit warming, the UN’s Simon Stiell says COP30 should focus on how countries can speed up delivery of their plans.
‘Con,’ ‘scam,’ ‘hoax’: Trump’s UN speech on climate
24 Sep 2025
The president used a large chunk of his hour-long speech to world leaders to condemn climate science and clean energy policies.
UN chief warns 1.5C warming goal at risk of 'collapsing'
23 Sep 2025
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP Friday that efforts to cap climate warming at 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial level are failing, as the UN prepared to host a climate week event alongside its annual diplomatic gathering.
As UN climate talks loom in Brazil, many would-be participants fear they can't afford to attend
23 Sep 2025
With less than two months until this year's United Nations climate change conference, many prospective attendees are still looking for housing in the small Brazilian host city of Belem.
‘Something is working’: UN climate chief optimistic about green transition
22 Sep 2025
Simon Stiell believes economic benefits will compel countries to speed up climate action.
UN limits staff at COP30 climate summit over accommodation concerns
19 Sep 2025
High hotel prices for Brazil's COP30 climate summit in November have prompted the United Nations to urge its staff to limit attendance, while government delegations are still scrambling to find rooms within their budgets.
UN pushes countries for new climate targets this month
9 Sep 2025
The United Nations urged countries on Wednesday to set more ambitious climate plans during this month, seeking to pressure major economies including the EU and China ahead of this year's U.N. climate summit.
Meet the UN-backed ‘green’ investors’ group that invested in fossil fuels
8 Sep 2025
Despite having pledged to reach net-zero emissions, major members of Net Zero Asset Managers hold billions of dollars’ worth of fossil-fuel stocks, including those in “carbon bomb” projects, while marketing their funds as green and sustainable.
Australian governments subsidising fossil fuel use by more than $30,000 a minute, analysis finds
13 Mar 2026
Australian federal and state government subsidies that encourage fossil fuel use and help drive the climate crisis will reach $16.3bn this year after leaping by nearly 10%, according to a new analysis.
US National Academies of Sciences says no to demands it remove climate info
Wed 18 Mar 2026
State attorneys general won't get climate chapter removed from a legal manual.
China tells oil refiners to suspend exports
Fri 20 Mar 2026
China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing unidentified sources, as the war in the Middle East risks an energy supply crunch.
Fossil fuels? No thanks. Why Trump’s Iran war is pushing EU toward renewables.
Fri 20 Mar 2026
EU countries may argue about the short-term fixes for high energy prices, but agree that clean power is the best long-term bet.
UK emissions fall 2.4% in 2025 as coal hits 400-year low
9 Mar 2026
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.4% in 2025 to their lowest level in more than 150 years, according to new analysis.
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.
Asia pivots to coal as Middle East conflict chokes LNG supply
Thu 19 Mar 2026
Asian utilities are boosting coal-fired power generation to cut costs and safeguard energy supply, industry officials say, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran chokes liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments and soaring prices threaten to suppress LNG demand.
Pacific Nations fear fuel shortages as Middle East war sends oil prices soaring
Fri 20 Mar 2026
Leaders of Samoa and Tonga appealed for help this week as the import-reliant Pacific nations raised fears over possible fuel shortages and escalating costs caused by war in the Middle East.
Limiting warming to 2C is ‘crucial’ to protect pristine Antarctic Peninsula
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.
'Blackwater' lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are now emitting ancient carbon into the atmosphere
Mon 16 Mar 2026
Carbon that has been buried in the Congo Basin's peatlands for millennia is seeping into lakes and rivers. Why this is happening remains unclear, but researchers warn that tropical peatlands could be nearing a tipping point.
Surfing’s big break: how climate crisis insurance may save El Salvador’s waves
Thu 19 Mar 2026
Fearing that extreme weather threatened its epic breaks, Oriente Salvaje is piloting the first surf insurance policy to protect livelihoods and ecosystems.
