The government has moved to scrape off another “barnacle” by announcing it will provide A$200 million over four years to the Green Climate Fund, despite its earlier criticism of the initiative. But it…
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The government has again appealed to Labor to immediately recommence negotiations over the renewable energy target (RET). Environment Minister Greg Hunt has written to opposition climate spokesman Mark…
A groundbreaking climate deal between the US and China will put pressure on the international community to broker a global treaty at next year’s United Nations talks, but experts say it still might not…
Today we removed an article called “Over-logging in the Sumatran forest? Blame your diary” after becoming aware of a significant factual error that undermined some of the article’s key arguments. The article…
Members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say they are confident their latest report, released in Copenhagen today, will help give politicians the impetus to commit to the deep emissions…
The federal government’s Direct Action climate policy, a A$2.5 billion scheme aimed at paying polluters to cut their greenhouse emissions, is set to be approved in the Senate after a deal between environment…
The federal government’s plan to reduce Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) could jeopardise billions of dollars in investment while giving a boost to the fossil fuel sector, experts have predicted…
The boom in natural gas supplies brought about by techniques like fracking will not automatically deliver the anticipated cuts to greenhouse emissions, a new analysis has warned. Burning natural gas produces…
The Australian National University’s decision to withdraw A$16 million in investment from seven resources companies, including gas producer Santos, has been praised by divestment campaigners and condemned…
The upper layers of the world’s oceans have been warming much faster than oceanographers realised over the past few decades, according to a new study. Sparse sampling of the Southern Hemisphere’s oceans…
Globally, biodiversity is in trouble, and new research shows that the situation is unlikely to improve over the next five years. Researchers from around the world analysed global progress towards meeting…
Antarctic winter sea ice has once again broken the record for maximum extent. On September 12, the coverage measured 19.619 million square kilometres, the highest since satellite records began. The ice…
Western Australia’s controversial shark drum line policy will come to an end, after the state’s Environmental Protection Agency recommended that it not be continued this summer. WA EPA chairman Paul Vogel…
The world is falling far behind in its bid to curb greenhouse emissions enough to limit global warming to 2C, according to two new reports. For the sixth year running, the world has failed to meet the…
Tasmania’s government has repealed the state’s forestry “peace deal”, removing around 400,000 hectares of forests from reserves across the state and potentially leaving them open to future logging. The…
Approval for dumping dredge spoil within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park at Abbot Point could be reopened, with port developers reportedly considering storing dredge material on land. According to the…
The long-awaited review of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target has been released and, as widely predicted, has recommended winding back or even scrapping the various parts of the scheme. We asked Conversation…
Tsunami waves more than a metre high could threaten Australia’s south east coast, according to new research. But people would likely have time to get out of the way, with several hours warning possible…
Two landmark reports on the health of the Great Barrier Reef have outlined the pressure it is being put under by climate change and other environmental factors. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s…
Australia’s biggest coal mine, the Carmichael Coal and Rail Project, yesterday received the go-ahead from the federal government. Environment minister Greg Hunt approved the mine, proposed by Indian coal…
Climate models can recreate the slowdown in global warming since 1998, as long as they correctly factor in crucial variables such as the state of the El Niño system, new research has shown. The discovery…
The government has succeeded in getting legislation passed to repeal the carbon tax, despite some last-minute doubts cast by the Palmer United Party’s temporary withdrawal of support last week. Today…
Dredging has a direct impact on coral health, according to a study published today in PLoS ONE that shows for the first time the link between dredge spoil and coral disease in the wild. The research, led…
UPDATED THURSDAY 17 JULY, 11:20am: Australia’s “carbon tax” has been axed – so what does it mean for you and for Australia? We asked Conversation readers to tell us on Facebook and Twitter what questions…
Ross Garnaut was the architect of the Labor government’s carbon pricing scheme, which looks likely to be scrapped this week despite last week’s brinkmanship in the Senate. The Conversation asked Professor…