International: China
How China can be carbon-neutral by 2060
20 Oct 2020
Three weeks after China told the world it is aiming for carbon neutrality, an important study outlines a roadmap to that goal, and challenges along the way.
China's new climate goal could transform global heating
30 Sep 2020
If China hits its new emissions goal of going carbon-neutral before 2060, it will bring down global warming projections by around 0.2deg to 0.3 degrees Celsius, says Carbon Action Tracker.
China considers going ‘carbon neutral’, peaking emissions
18 Sep 2020
China is considering carbon neutrality as part of its long term climate plan, the country’s foreign ministry announced following a summit with EU leaders.
Petrochina pledges emissions cut
31 Aug 2020
Chinese oil and gas company PetroChina is promising to cut greenhouse gas emissions as falling oil prices caused a first-half net loss of $US4.36 billion.
Nitrous oxide from 11 Chinese plants a potential climate catastrophe
10 Aug 2020
Emissions controls worked perfectly at Chinese plants, until the Clean Development Mechanism dried up.
UN chief confronts China over coal boom,
24 Jul 2020
UN secretary-general António Guterres has urged China to stop funding coal projects, warning the Paris climate agreement goals will slip out of reach if the world fails to deliver a green recovery to covid-19.
China’s Erin Brockovich goes global to stop China
22 Jun 2020
Environment lawyer Zhang Jingjing has worked in 20 countries since 2015 to help clean up or shut down Chinese-owned mines, power plants or industrial projects.
Why is there so much furore over China’s Belt and Road?
2 Jun 2020
There were certainly questions asked when Victoria first signed a memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2018, but it wasn’t until the past week that the criticism reached a fever pitch.
Belt and Road backers failing to protect nature
12 May 2020
The financial backers of China’s Belt and Road Initiative are being accused of failing to require safeguards to protect nature.
China's greenhouse emissions rise 2.6%
19 Mar 2020
China’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 2.6 per cent in 2019 despite a fall in the share of coal in the country’s energy mix, driven by a rise in energy consumption and greater use of oil and gas.
What’s holding back China’s bamboo furniture makers?
24 Feb 2020
Wood consumption has jumped 173 per cent in China over the past decade, and restrictions on felling primary forest mean the country relies on wood imports for over half its demand.
Coronavirus cuts China’s CO2 emissions
21 Feb 2020
As China battles one of the most serious virus epidemics of the century, the impacts on the country’s energy demand and emissions are only beginning to be felt.
China’s top climate negotiator steps down
13 Dec 2019
What is the legacy of Xie Zhenhua, a key architect of the Paris Agreement and one of the world’s longest-serving climate diplomats?
China's energy-sector emissions still on the rise
15 Nov 2019
China’s energy-sector emissions are expected to increase this year and next, driven by rising oil and gas consumption instead of by coal.
How can China tame e-commerce emissions?
30 Oct 2019
China is ground zero of the e-commerce boom, which is creating a growing mountain of waste and fuelling carbon emissions worldwide.
China’s tree-planting drive could backfire
27 Sep 2019
China has been warned that its tree-planting drive to hold back deserts could strain water resources.
UN confident China will raise climate ambition
12 Sep 2019
China is expected to come to the UN climate action summit with a more ambitious climate plan, a top UN official believes.
ELECTROCULTURE: How China is trying to spark up crop yields
30 Aug 2019
Across China, scientists are exposing lettuces and cucumbers to powerful electric fields in an attempt to make them grow faster.
How is China faring at sustainability reporting?
28 Aug 2019
More of China’s vast corporations are opening up about their impact on the environment. But how real are their claims?
Warming worsens China's pollution problems
16 Aug 2019
Efforts to curb air pollution in China, a country already facing dire health impacts from high levels of soot and smog, will likely become increasingly difficult as the planet warms, a new study shows.
China makes way for even more coal mines
12 Aug 2019
Approvals for new coal mine construction in China have surged in 2019, with Beijing expecting consumption of the commodity to rise in the coming years.
China busily expanding its UN presence
8 Aug 2019
As the United States withdraws from the international arena, China is playing for dominance in United Nations spaces.
Can China electrify all new cars by 2030?
1 Aug 2019
Electric vehicles are taking off in China but a long road lies ahead before they displace conventional vehicles.
China likely to meet climate change goals early
31 Jul 2019
China appears to be on track to reach its carbon goals up to nine years earlier than planned under the Paris Agreement.
China succeeds in greening its economy
29 May 2019
From an appalling environmental scorecard 20 years ago, China has pioneered a “global green shift” towards renewable energy and recycling.
How China is redrawing the map of world science
7 May 2019
The Belt and Road Initiative, China’s mega-plan for global infrastructure, will transform the lives and work of tens of thousands of global researchers.
Coal deals go down at China’s ‘green’ summit
1 May 2019
Investment deals emerging from China’s belt and road summit show continued support for controversial coal projects, despite leaders’ green rhetoric.
China eyes nuclear fusion power by 2040
17 Apr 2019
China aims to complete and start generating power from an experimental nuclear fusion reactor by around 2040.
Chinese consumers ignore calls to eat less beef
5 Apr 2019
Despite increasing prices and evidence that too much beef is bad for health and the environment, the belief in China that eating red meat makes you strong persists and consumption is accelerating.
Can the world quench China’s thirst for milk?
1 Apr 2019
China’s leaders have championed milk as the emblem of a modern, affluent society – but their radical plan to triple the nation’s consumption will have a huge environmental cost.
China’s coal consumption on the rise
5 Mar 2019
China's use of coal increased again in 2018, raising questions about the Asian super power’s green energy transition.
China eyes solar power stations in space
25 Feb 2019
China wants to be the first country to launch power stations into space that capture the Sun’s energy and beam it back down to Earth.
Coal mining likely cause of China emissions rise
31 Jan 2019
Satellite data collected from 2010 to 2015 show that China's methane emissions increased unabated during that period and that the increase was most likely driven by coal mining.
China returns to Edison for power solution
29 Jan 2019
China’s response to the demand for electricity has been to use advanced transmission technology that can bridge vast distances – technology that, ironically, harks back to the earliest days of electric power.
There's no problem a billion cockroaches can't handle
18 Dec 2018
China is producing so much food waste it has had to come up with some out-of-the-box thinking — like using a billion cockroaches to take care of the problem.
SILENT REVOLUTION: It's all power to the e-bus in this city
14 Dec 2018
All 16,000 buses in the fast-growing Chinese megacity of Shenzhen are now electric, and soon all 22,000 taxis will be, too.
Pure electrics shine as China shows off cars of the future
6 Dec 2018
China has seen a bumper year for electric car sales, so it’s no surprise that a number “new energy vehicles”, as EVs are referred to in China, were the stars of the Guangzhou Auto Show.
China drags chain on emissions trading scheme
28 Nov 2018
China still needs to do a lot of work before it can fully launch its long-awaited nationwide carbon emissions trading scheme.
Mangroves are on the march
23 Nov 2018
Mangrove forests could be adapting to climate change by growing beyond their usual range, according to a recent study.
China faces pressure over illegal greenhouse gases
12 Nov 2018
China will be urged to crack down on illegal CFC-11 production under an international declaration set for adoption at a meeting in Ecuador this week.
Chinese city launching own moon to save on power bill
1 Nov 2018
A private aerospace institute in China plans to launch its own moon to save money on nightime lighting in a provincial city.
What the Chinese people think about climate change
28 Sep 2018
Ninety-four per cent of the public think China should be in the Paris climate deal, although many don’t know exactly what that means.
Just where on Earth is China's climate highway leading us?
20 Sep 2018
Triumph or catastrophe? Where will China’s climate path lead us all? So far there are both hopeful moves and warning signs, a new book says.
China cracks down on distant fishing fleets
11 Sep 2018
China’s fishery authorities have introduced hard-hitting punishments for overfishing and illegal fishing by the country’s distant fishing vessels.
Animal waste is turning China's lakes green
5 Sep 2018
Animal husbandry is contaminating China’s water and has been linked to turning lakes bright green, a phenomenon known as eutrophication.
China again starts building coal-fired plants
9 Aug 2018
Satellite imagery reveals that many coal-fired power projects that were halted by the Chinese government have quietly restarted.
New Chinese-led banks missing the point
2 Aug 2018
Both less than five years old, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Brics Bank are failing to back sustainable development models.
Quite soon, this crowded part of China will be unsurvivable
2 Aug 2018
The deadliest place on the planet for extreme future heatwaves will be the north China plain, one of the most densely populated regions in the world and the most important food-producing area in the huge nation.
Why China must show stronger climate leadership
25 Jul 2018
A new report from Columbia University has provided a clear assessment of China’s role in responding to climate change.
Chinese lead green bonds charge
12 Jul 2018
China issued $30 billion in green bonds in 2017, remaining the world leader in the market.
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.
No high-level US representatives will go to UN climate talks, Trump officials say
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Decision to stay away from Cop30 meeting in Brazil underscores administration’s hostility to climate action.
Norway faces European Court climate ruling over oil licences
Wed 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.
UK Prime Minister will attend Brazil climate summit
21 Oct 2025
Keir Starmer will travel to the Amazon rainforest for the COP30 United Nations climate summit next month, Downing Street has confirmed, after weeks of speculation that he would not.
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.
Devastation on repeat: How climate change is worsening Pakistan's deadly floods
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Rescuers and relatives searched knee-deep in water for the body of one-year-old Zara. She'd been swept away by flash floods; the bodies of her parents and three siblings had already been found days earlier.
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.
Most countries fail to submit new climate pledges ahead of summit
Wed 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.
