International: United Nations
Countries back away from pledge to update climate goals this year
2 Feb 2022
EVEN before the ink was dry on the Glasgow pact, questions about how many nations would actually honor their pledges were already circulating.
'Fragile win' at COP26 summit under threat: Sharma
25 Jan 2022
COP26 President Alok Sharma has warned that progress made during the summit is at risk of "withering on the vine".
Who will be the judge of countries' climate plans?
13 Dec 2021
Countries have until the end of next year to ensure their climate commitments meet the Paris agreement's cap on global warming. But who will check that their promises really do stack up?
Jonathan Pie: The World's End (COP26 short film with George Monbiot, Caroline Lucas & Ed Miliband)
9 Dec 2021
As all the environment correspondents are sick with COVID, reporter Jonathan Pie gets sent to the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow (aka COP26) despite knowing very little about the climate crisis. But he reckons he can wing it.
Pledges not enough to keep warming below 2 degrees
25 Nov 2021
In the aftermath of the United Nations’ annual climate conference earlier this month, scientists have a sobering message: The world still is not on track to meet its international climate goals.
Who will ensure compliance with the Glasgow climate commitments?
19 Nov 2021
The news from Glasgow includes positive announcements, in particular agreements to curb deforestation, cut methane emissions, “phase down” coal use and, next year, more aggressive emissions reduction targets. But a disturbing history of broken global climate promises — going back decades — compels us to ask: Will countries comply with their commitments, and what happens if they don’t?
‘COP26 hasn’t solved the problem’: scientists react to UN climate deal
16 Nov 2021
The Glasgow Climate Pact is a step forward, researchers say, but efforts to decarbonize are not enough to limit global temperature rises to 2 °C.
Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Glasgow: Carbon Brief
16 Nov 2021
Carbon Brief provides an in-depth summary of all the key outcomes in Glasgow – both inside and outside the COP26.
Fixing climate finance: Jeffrey Sachs
16 Nov 2021
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) fell far short of what is needed for a safe planet, owing mainly to the same lack of trust that has burdened global climate negotiations for almost three decades.
Last chance saloon all over again
15 Nov 2021
By Jeremy Rose Carbon News editor: They said it in Copenhagen, they said it in Paris, and numerous commentators said it about Glasgow too: This is the last chance saloon when it comes to averting disastrous climate change.
Glasgow Conversations: It's a wrap
15 Nov 2021
In this the final episode of the Glasgow Conversations, Alastair Thompson talks about the successes and failures of COP26, and ranks the various participants: Africa scores a 10 - Europe just 1.
COP26: New global climate deal struck in Glasgow
15 Nov 2021
The Glasgow Climate Pact is the first ever climate deal to explicitly plan to reduce coal, the worst fossil fuel for greenhouse gases.
Five things you need to know about the Glasgow Climate Pact
15 Nov 2021
The COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow have finished and the gavel has come down on the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed by all 197 countries.
These experts say there's reason for cautious optimism coming out of COP26
15 Nov 2021
As the COP26 summit ends, experts say there is reason to be "cautiously optimistic" about the work that's been done to avoid a climate disaster.
After the failure of COP26 mass protest only hope of survival: Monbiot
15 Nov 2021
It’s too late for incremental change. By mobilising just 25% of people, we can flip social attitudes towards the climate, argues environmentalist George Monbiot.
Glasgow Climate Pact has loopholes so big an oil tanker could get through them
15 Nov 2021
The curtain came down on United Nations climate talks a day later than expected. It’s a strange feeling as representatives from countries around the world said they were willing to accept an agreement that they all said sucks.
Compromise COP26 deal disappoints
15 Nov 2021
The COP26 summit approved a climate deal late Saturday evening. But the watered-down ambitions on the end of coal subsidies left many delegates frustrated, including Switzerland.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 11
12 Nov 2021
On the second to last (scheduled) day of COP26, Alastair Thompson reflects on the summit so far, a talk by Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, and how Saudi Arabia and Australia could yet scuttle a final agreement.
Climate Change vs. the Sino-American Cold War
12 Nov 2021
In the absence of meaningful policies from both China and the United States, this year’s climate-change summit, COP26, was never going to deliver what the world really needs. Ultimately, getting both countries on the same page and cooperating on the issue will require public pressure from their own people, argues Daron Acemoglu.
How close are we to climate tipping points?
12 Nov 2021
As world leaders gather at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, to take bolder action against climate change, human activity has already warmed the planet 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.
Our AI is exposing climate misinformation throughout COP26
12 Nov 2021
There is a kind of climate pollution that we can’t see clearly. It isn’t in our rivers, lands or skies, it is in our minds. When climate disinformation goes unchecked, it spreads like wildfire, undermining the existence of climate change and the need for urgent action.
How the world’s militaries hide their huge carbon emissions
12 Nov 2021
Climate change leadership requires more than stirring speeches. It means facing up to hard truths. One truth that governments around the world are struggling with is the immense contribution their militaries are making to the climate crisis.
The Global South does not need debt. We need climate justice: Mitzi Tan
12 Nov 2021
In 2009, when I was 12 years old, world leaders gathered in Copenhagen for COP15. They made a pledge to allocate $100bn per year in climate finance for Global South countries by 2020 so that they could address the effects of the climate crisis.
Saudi Arabia denies playing climate saboteur at Glasgow
12 Nov 2021
The tightest of smiles on his face and the fabric of his traditional thobe swirling about him as he strides through a hallway at U.N. climate talks, Saudi Arabia's energy minister expresses shock at repeated complaints that the world's largest oil producer is working behind the scenes to sabotage negotiations.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 10
11 Nov 2021
On day 10 of COP26, Alastair Thompson is there when the US and China announce what he believes to be the most significant news of the summit to date.
Cook Islands calls for new class of climate debt
11 Nov 2021
Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown has called for climate related debt to be treated differently from national debt.
COP26 draft text calls for tougher emissions pledges by 2022
11 Nov 2021
The United Nations climate agency has published a first draft (PDF) of the political decision countries will likely issue at the end of the COP26 summit.
COP architects furious at lack of climate justice at pivotal summit
11 Nov 2021
Researchers who helped to draft parts of the first United Nations environmental agreements nearly 30 years ago say that that low income countries are being massively let down in the current COP26 climate talks.
The climate activists stealing Big Oil’s playbook
11 Nov 2021
A secretive network of public relations experts has spent the better part of the last decade whispering into journalists’ ears about climate science — spoon-feeding them facts, figures, spin and quotes.
Youth, Indigenous people bring climate frontlines to the forefront at COP26
11 Nov 2021
Standing on the Squinty Bridge above the River Clyde, Ruth Miller, a Dena'ina Athabaskan, described how climate change has already altered her homeland near Bristol Bay in Alaska.
Uganda's Vanessa Nakate says COP26 sidelines nations most affected by climate change
11 Nov 2021
As young climate activists descended on Glasgow for the COP26 UN climate summit, Vanessa Nakate was faced with a familiar yet sad experience: Being pushed to the side.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 9
10 Nov 2021
On day 9 of the Glasgow Conversations, Alastair Thompson reports on a James Shaw BBC appearance, Nancy Pelosi's performance at the summit, and how young women are the stars of COP26.
Famine-stricken Madagascar calls for 'climate empathy' at COP26
10 Nov 2021
As the world's first climate change-driven famine ravages her tropical island homeland, Madagascar's environment minister is in Scotland to warn that other countries could find themselves suffering a similar fate.
Forest deal may not be enough to save the trees
10 Nov 2021
THE COP26 deal to limit deforestation and boost tree planting is only a small step toward slowing global warming, and key nations show few signs of adhering to the pact, writes Bob Berwyn of Inside Climate News.
Glasgow Conversations: Day 8
9 Nov 2021
On day 8 of COP26, Alastair Thompson attends a Barak Obama talk, a briefing by climate change minister James Shaw, and delves into the important but mind numbingly complicated world of climate finance.
Countries far apart as climate talks enter final week
9 Nov 2021
UN climate talks have entered their final week with countries still worlds apart on key issues including how rapidly the world curbs carbon emissions and how to help nations already impacted by global heating.
Climate on track to devastate world’s poorest economies: study
9 Nov 2021
The 65 most vulnerable nations will see their gross domestic product (GDP) drop 20 percent on average by 2050 and 64 percent by 2100 if the world heats up 2.9 degrees Celsius (5.2 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a report released on Monday at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.
African nations seek talks on $700bn climate finance deal
9 Nov 2021
African nations want Cop26 to open discussions this week on a mega-financing deal that would channel US$700bn every year from 2025 to help developing nations adapt to the climate crisis.
Fossil fuel industry has largest delegation at climate summit
9 Nov 2021
There are more delegates at COP26 associated with the fossil fuel industry than from any single country, analysis shared with the BBC shows.
Glasgow Conversations: Week 2
8 Nov 2021
As COP26 enters its second week, Alastair Thompson talks to Jeremy Rose about the week that's been and the one to come.
Nature and climate protection pledges pile up at COP26, amid ghosts of past failures
8 Nov 2021
Dozens of nations pledged on Saturday to do more to protect nature and overhaul farming at the COP26 U.N. climate talks, amid misgivings about past failures.
G20 nations will face a full-frontal tide of climate impacts
8 Nov 2021
The climate front lines are not just Tuvalu or the Maldives: they are Tokyo, Brussels, New York, and the world’s economic heartlands.
China's deafening silence speaks loudest at global climate talks
8 Nov 2021
It is hard to make progress on climate change when the biggest polluter doesn't show up.
PNG public shocked by expense of COP26 delegation
8 Nov 2021
Papua New Guinea — a country faced with a depressed economy and its public health system on the brink of total collapse due to the covid-19 pandemic sent a 62-member delegation to Europe to attend the COP26 Climate Change conference at a cost of a whooping K5.8 million (NZ$2.03 million).
‘End of coal in sight’ as COP26 deals take aim at dirtiest fuel
5 Nov 2021
The British government says the “end of coal is in sight” after Poland, Vietnam and Chile and other countries pledged for the first time to phase out coal-based power generation and stop building new plants.
A $130T climate promise is greeted with suspicion
5 Nov 2021
Political leaders are showering financial titans with praise at global climate talks. But their show of pageantry and back-patting is masking a deeper concern: that the banking industry’s pledges to help fight global warming are vague and unenforceable.
Rich countries’ climate policies are colonialism in green: opinion
5 Nov 2021
With natural gas prices at record highs in Europe, Norway is raking it in. The country is Europe’s second-largest gas supplier after Russia—and has just agreed to increase natural gas exports by 2 billion cubic meters to alleviate the continent’s acute energy shortage. Its neighbors, such as Britain, are grateful for every dollop of gas as winter approaches.
Cooking up carbon credits
5 Nov 2021
Climate change minister James Shaw has cited Switzerland as an example of a country that is meeting its NDC by offsetting in developing countries. So what do those schemes look like?
Glasgow Conversations: Day 4
4 Nov 2021
On Day 4 of COP26, Alastair Thompson talks about the huge difference a little bit of climate finance can make to a country like Niger, and reveals the appalling working conditions of the security guards tasked with keeping delegates safe.
Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda seeking damages from major polluters
4 Nov 2021
Two island nations battling rising sea levels and extreme weather such as hurricanes are taking a step they hope will pave the way to holding large greenhouse gas emitters accountable under international law.
Australian Nationals formally abandon commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Nationals leader David Littleproud said the party would shift its focus to climate adaptation instead of being "focused solely" on reducing emissions, noting Australia's small share of the global effort.
Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America, documents reveal
Tue 4 Nov 2025
Texas-based fossil fuel company financed Atlas Network in attempt to derail UN-led climate treaty process.
Why climate change now threatens China’s future
Tue 4 Nov 2025
Extreme weather is hurting its economy and worrying its leaders.
Norway faces European Court climate ruling over oil licences
29 Oct 2025
The European Court of Human Rights will decide on Tuesday if Norway breached its climate obligations when it awarded Arctic oil exploration licenses in 2016.
Bank of England must better address climate risk to tackle inflation
Tue 4 Nov 2025
The central bank is being urged to take a series of actions to better respond to environmental risks.
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.
For Indian women workers, a just transition means surviving climate impacts with dignity
Tue 4 Nov 2025
Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) members call for just transition talks at COP30 to help them become more resilient to climate shocks by building social protection systems that secure their livelihoods.
Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
21 Oct 2025
The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists.
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".
Nigerian billionaire plans expansion of Africa’s biggest oil refinery
Fri 31 Oct 2025
The billionaire owner of Africa’s largest refinery plans to expand its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day to meet growing fuel needs in the continent and beyond.
Police raids in Brazil’s Rio kill 64 ahead of events related to COP30 climate summit
Thu 30 Oct 2025
At least 64 people died on Oct 28 in Rio de Janeiro’s most deadly police operation ever, which targeted a major gang days before the city hosts global events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
