Throughout his prime-ministership, which ran from 1996 to 2007, John Howard’s perspective on climate change was informed by geopolitics more than science. The Kyoto Protocol, the key international climate…
Republican senator Mitch McConnell says the new climate deal will let China “do nothing” until 2030. Far from it.
EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS/AAP
“As I read the agreement it requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emissions regulations are creating havoc in my state and around the country.” – US Republican Senate…
US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands on the deal in Beijing.
EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG
James Whitmore, The Conversation e Michael Hopkin, The Conversation
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…
The IPCC’s latest report sets the record straight on science (again), but could be stronger on the economic case for climate action.
EPA/Niels Ahlmann Olesen/AAP
The headline statements of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new Synthesis Report – unequivocal climate change, almost certainly driven largely by humans, and an urgent need to cut emissions…
Members of the public photograph an ice art installation outside the Copenhagen building where the IPCC met to finalise its latest report.
EPA/Soeren Bidstrup/AAP
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…
Bernie Fraser of the Climate Change Authority, environment minister Greg Hunt, and Clive Palmer announce a deal on a plan to cut Australia’s emissions this decade. What happens after that isn’t so clear.
AAPImage/Alan Porritt
With the passage of the Emissions Reduction Fund through the Senate last night, the federal government has taken a step towards achieving Australia’s minimum target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to…
Electricity from wood? We have the power.
Pixelbliss/Shutterstock
When we think of renewable energy, it’s easy to picture spinning wind turbines or rooftop solar panels. But what about bioenergy? While wind and solar are now well established – in South Australia wind…
Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will both skip the UN climate talks, but that doesn’t mean the world’s biggest emitters aren’t acting.
EPA/AAP
There are a few notable absentees among the more than 120 world leaders gathered in New York for today’s United Nations Climate Summit. Perhaps most notable of all is the head of the world’s highest-emitting…
World greenhouse emissions reached a new record in 2013 and will be even higher in 2014, driven largely by the continued use of fossil fuels such as coal.
nito/Shutterstock
As heads of state gather in New York for tomorrow’s United Nations climate summit, a new report on the state of the world’s carbon budget tells them that greenhouse emissions hit a new record last year…
The world’s economy is becoming less carbon-intensive, but not nearly fast enough.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
James Whitmore, The Conversation e Michael Hopkin, The Conversation
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…
Tony Abbott may have planted a few trees, but he’s also sought to bury many of Australia’s environmental safeguards.
Britta Campion/AAPImage
Before the 2013 election, Tony Abbott gave us fair warning that he would turn the clock back on the environment. As promised, his government has devoted itself to short-term economics and the sort of hardline…
Planes and airports both have big carbon footprints – and the sector is still growing.
ssguy/Shutterstock
No matter what the aviation industry does to reduce emissions, it will be outweighed by growth in air travel, according to a new analysis. Growth will trump emissions cuts even if significant (and contentious…
Australia has a possible path to 100% renewables – if governments and business can be persuaded to take it.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
The political outlook for renewable energy is not great – and I’m not just talking about the view out of Joe Hockey’s car window. The Renewable Energy Target (RET), which aims to deliver 41 million megawatt-hours…
Biomass energy plants, such as this one in the UK, could be crucial for a low-emission future.
Peter Robinson/Wikimedia Commons
The world may have to rely on “emissions-negative” energy technologies in the latter half of this century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new report on reducing the impacts…
For the first time the IPCC has addressed the ethical, as well as technical, issues of reducing greenhouse emissions.
EPA/How Hwee Young/AAP
Frank Jotzo, Australian National University e David Stern, Australian National University
The new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that global greenhouse gas emissions have grown faster than ever over the last decade. Taking action to achieve the world’s goal…
No vote: despite activists’ urgings, the 2009 Copenhagen climate talks were stymied by the threat of veto.
EPA/HENNING BAGGER/AAP
Anyone who has watched in frustration as the United Nations repeatedly failed to secure a meaningful climate treaty could be forgiven for taking a rather glum view on this weekend’s report by the Intergovernmental…
Europe is leading the world in renewable technology.
AAP
This week, unpublished estimates from the International Energy Institute showed that 2010 was the most carbon-intensive year in human history. Chief Economist of the IEA Dr Fatih Birol responded to the…
During a leadership vacuum on environmental policy, Cate Blanchett was heavily criticised for supporting a carbon tax.
AFP/Say Yes Australia
As the International Energy Agency says the world faces a bleak future as emissions fail to fall at a fast enough rate to combat climate change, the challenge is on for governments to act globally, but…
There is a compelling business case to reduce emissions, both here and globally.
AAP
A combination of science and economics provide compelling reasons for policy initiatives and decisions by businesses and households to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The arguments are strongest…