International: United Nations
China says it's open to ‘uniform’ climate rules
14 Dec 2018
China has signalled it is open to following “uniform” global climate change rules, shifting from its usual push for a clear division of responsibilities for rich and poor countries.
UN chief in bid to revive flagging talks
13 Dec 2018
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has made a dramatic intervention to revive flagging climate talks in Poland by flying back to the conference and preparing a personal call to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Saudi falls foul of developing countries
13 Dec 2018
Competing visions of climate justice have alienated Saudi Arabia from other developing countries at UN climate talks in Poland.
We're making progress - towards 3deg warming
12 Dec 2018
If all governments achieve their largely insufficient climate targets, the world will see 3deg of warming by 2100, twice the 1.5deg limit they agreed in Paris three years ago, says the Climate Action Tracker’s annual update, delivered today at the climate talks in Katowice.
Indigenous peoples clinch climate deal
12 Dec 2018
Indigenous peoples clinched a deal in Poland that will give them a voice in global climate change negotiations, but only after conceding to a push to put national sovereignty above their rights.
Australia's silence shocks delegates
11 Dec 2018
Australia has been accused of tacitly supporting oil allies’ rejection of the UN's latest science report at the climate summit in Katowice.
US is still very much in the game
11 Dec 2018
Forget Donald Trump’s rejection of the Paris Agreement. The US is still very much in and zealously setting the tone of international climate change negotiations.
Global investors call for more action
10 Dec 2018
The largest-ever group of institutional investors has called on governments around the world to urgently increase their efforts to meet the Paris climate change agreement goals.
Oil producerrs scrap over UN climate report
10 Dec 2018
Four big oil and gas producers blocked UN climate talks from welcoming the most influential climate science report in years, as a meeting in Poland descended into acrimony.
Climate control could save millions of lives, says WHO
7 Dec 2018
Beating climate change would save at least a million lives a year, the World Health Organisation has told the UN climate summit in Poland, making it a moral imperative.
Indonesia manages to fly below the radar
7 Dec 2018
International leaders are in Katowice debating the world's warming climate - but seldom mentioned is Indonesia, one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Emissions jump to all-time high in 2018
6 Dec 2018
Global carbon emissions will jump to a record high in 2018, says a report released at the Katowice climate summit, dashing hopes a plateau of recent years would be maintained.
Why we can’t trust finance with the planet
6 Dec 2018
Private finance and large investors will play a central role at the COP24 in Katowice. But before we pin our hopes on finance to solve climate change, there are some things we need to ask ourselves.
Four things that must be done at Katowice
6 Dec 2018
The urgency for decisive action is the imperative for COP24. The UN must press on with four major strands for meeting the Paris 1.5deg target.
Macron move likely to be felt at Katowice
5 Dec 2018
French leader Emmanuel Macron’s defeat by the gilets jaunes movement over a proposed eco-tax rise is likely to come as a painful lesson for environmental policymakers at UN climate talks in Katowice.
Climate leader running short on power
5 Dec 2018
The coalition that built the Paris Agreement has broken down, leaving UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa with few powerful friends to call on to secure a deal in Katowice.
You're acting like children, child tells leaders
5 Dec 2018
Action to fight global warming is coming whether world leaders like it or not, school student Greta Thunberg, 15, has told the UN climate change summit, accusing them of behaving like irresponsible children.
NZ will take agriculture lead role at Katowice
4 Dec 2018
New Zealand will lead discussions at international climate talks in Poland on upping emissions reductions from farming.
Attenborough: Collapse of civilisation is on the horizon
4 Dec 2018
The collapse of civilisation and the natural world is on the horizon, Sir David Attenborough has told the UN climate change summit in Poland.
Kiwi sitting at the Katowice top table
4 Dec 2018
New Zealander Jo Tyndall is one of the most influential people at international climate talks in Poland.
Host calls for solidarity with coal workers
4 Dec 2018
Polish leaders have delivered a clear message that climate change must be tackled, but not at the expense of the coal workers who built the industrial city that is hosting this year’s Cop24 summit.
Climate watchdog calls on NZ to show the way
3 Dec 2018
New Zealand is on a list of countries being called on to cut emissions as an example to the world.
COP 24 OPENS: The world at a crossroads
3 Dec 2018
Four senior figures behind efforts to limit climate change have warned that the planet "is at a crossroads" as key talks opened a day early in Poland.
GOOD COP: You've got to know your NDCs from your LMDCs
3 Dec 2018
International climate talks are fiendishly complex and stacked with jargon. Here's a glossary of the key concepts, forums and alliances you need to navigate the UN negotiations which started today in Katowice and the diplomacy that surrounds them.
Brazil pulls offer to host COP 25 summit
29 Nov 2018
Brazil has withdrawn its offer to host the COP 25 UN climate summit next year, citing budgetary constraints and the transition to a new government.
Draft G20 statement waters down Paris stand
27 Nov 2018
A draft communique from the leaders of the G20 shows that resolve to stand up for the Paris climate agreement against critical voices, such as the US, might be weakening.
Polish government split over coal
23 Nov 2018
Poland’s energy ministry has come out fighting for the coal sector, ahead of UN climate talks in Katowice next month.
Attenborough to speak for the people at UN climate summit
22 Nov 2018
Sir David Attenborough will address the UN’s climate change summit in Poland next month, taking up a newly established “people’s seat” at the negotiations.
Trump plans coal sideshow at Katowice
19 Nov 2018
The Trump administration plans to set up a side-event promoting fossil fuels at the UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland, next month.
Only 16 countries meet their Paris commitment
1 Nov 2018
Only 16 countries out of the 197 that signed the Paris Agreement have defined national climate action plan ambitious enough to meet their pledges.
Catholic bishops call for faith in Paris target
30 Oct 2018
Catholic Church leaders have urged governments around the world to ramp up their climate action efforts, calling for “ambitious implementation” of the Paris Agreement.
IPCC report too soft, say some scientists
16 Oct 2018
The IPCC 1.5deg report wasn't strong enough and downplayed the full extent of the real climate threat, some scientists believe.
Trump says he'll have a look at IPCC report
11 Oct 2018
US President Donald Trump says he ‘will be looking at’ the UN report warning that unprecedented changes are needed to avoid extreme heat, floods and poverty.
TIMELINE: How the climate panel got to 1.5deg threshold
10 Oct 2018
Five reports and an agreement ... the IPCC has been raising the climate alarm for 30 years.
OPINION: We've all been set a very clear target
9 Oct 2018
By NICHOLAS STERN | The authoritative new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sets the world a clear target.
IPCC: Farming and tourism put on notice
8 Oct 2018
The International Panel on Climate Change’s 1.5deg report delivers a wake-up call for two of New Zealand’s biggest industries – agriculture and tourism.
IPCC: Reaching 1.5deg is no easy task
8 Oct 2018
Keeping global warming to no more than 1.5deg is possible and sensible, but it will not be easy, the International Panel on Climate Change says.
Poland will push forest agenda as climate host
1 Oct 2018
Poland will ask all nations to agree on forests’ central role in the fight to curb climate change when they host UN talks in December, a leaked document has revealed.
Poland plans to leave its mark on climate talks
13 Sep 2018
Declarations on forests, electric vehicles and the impact of climate action on coal workers will be a central legacy of this year’s talks in Katowice.
Rich countries out to weaken Paris rules, say critics
11 Sep 2018
Complaints are growing that the United States and other wealthy countries are trying to manipulate the Paris Agreement rules to protect polluters and weaken their own commitments.
Countries inch forward on Paris Agreement
10 Sep 2018
The Bangkok climate change talks have closed with uneven progress on the guidelines that will tell the world how to implement the Paris Agreement.
Bangkok negotiators racing the clock
6 Sep 2018
Climate change negotiators who began an important meeting in Bangkok yesterday are under the gun.
Polish climate chief phones a friend (or two)
5 Sep 2018
Polish deputy energy minister Michaù Kurtyka, who will lead the most important climate talks since the Paris Agreement, though he'd better phone a few friends.
All Paris pact counties now have climate policies
2 May 2018
All 197 countries which signed the Paris Agreement now have at least one law in place to limit global temperatures.
Bonn meeting to sort out Paris pact
30 Apr 2018
A meeting to hammer out the “operating manual” for the Paris Agreement starts in Bonn today.
OPINION: The Paris Agreement is deeply flawed
21 Mar 2018
THE PARIS accord is built on speculative tech fantasies. It can not save us from climate catastrophe, says Dr JASON HICKEL of the University of London.
Poland urges ‘common sense’ over climate ambition
5 Feb 2018
Poland’s special climate envoy has called for the world to put “common sense” above climate ambition at this year’s COP24 summit.
After Bonn, five things to watch for in the coming year
30 Nov 2017
Unusually for a large UN climate conference, the recent Bonn talks didn’t finish with any late-night haggling. Progress, in the form of various commitments and pledges, is best described as slow and steady.
Bonn talks bring a poison pill for Poland
24 Nov 2017
If anything came out of the COP23 climate conference in Bonn, it’s a poison pill for Poland.
Bonn summit slow and steady but King Coal looms
20 Nov 2017
The climate talks in Bonn saw little drama other than some star turns and a pantomime villain. All eyes are now on Poland, the next summit host.
Darwin methane leak ‘covered up’ by gas companies and regulators
Tue 2 Sep 2025
At the heart of the project that heralded northern Australia’s gas boom — Darwin’s first liquefied natural gas plant — was a storage tank that operators hailed as a major feat of engineering.
US warns nations to reject ship fuel emissions deal or face tariffs
Fri 5 Sep 2025
The United States has warned countries to reject a United Nations plan aimed at cutting fuel emissions from ships or face retaliation in the form of tariffs, port levies, and visa restrictions, according to U.S. and European officials.
China's carbon market to introduce absolute emissions caps from 2027
27 Aug 2025
China will tighten its carbon trading market by introducing absolute emissions caps in some industries for the first time starting by 2027.
EU drafting plans to prevent circumvention of carbon border tariff
Fri 5 Sep 2025
The European Commission will propose measures this year to prevent countries from dodging its carbon border tariff, as some in Brussels fear Chinese firms could reshuffle their trade to avoid the levy.
UK Conservatives pledge to get all oil and gas out of North Sea
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if elected.
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.
India emphasises global south's rights in climate talks
Fri 5 Sep 2025
In a meeting with COP30 president-designate André Corrêa do Lago, India discussed “the global south’s rights” and ways to “advance work” on carbon markets and climate finance
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'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Liberia has a new plan to protect its rainforests. Can it work?
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in Liberia, but in 2024, it lost more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of humid primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch.
Brazil implores businesses to attend COP30 climate summit, despite 'second thoughts' amid Trump backlash
Fri 5 Sep 2025
November's COP30 summit comes at a precarious time for climate action, as companies back away from environmental initiatives, and attacks on green energy by President Trump.
