This year’s World Cup was supposed to be the “greenest ever”, with FIFA taking measures to account for the event’s greenhouse gas emissions, including an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide…
Could politicians and scientists in the future be charged with “climate negligence”?
Julie G/Flickr
Society generally has a clear idea of what constitutes a crime, and those in positions of power are usually held to very high standards. Politicians charged with making decisions on the needs of society…
The once-popular Loch McNess north of Perth has dried up almost completely after a decades-long dry period.
ron_n_beth/Flickr
Since 1970, average rainfall in the south-west of Western Australia has decreased by nearly a fifth, and the science suggests that this is linked to human-caused climate change. Across Australia, CSIRO…
Clive Palmer announced his climate policy at a press conference with former US vice president Al Gore last night.
AAPImage/Alan Porritt
In a surprising announcement last night Clive Palmer promised to abolish Australia’s current carbon price, and block the coalition’s Direct Action policy. But Palmer has said he will vote to retain the…
China’s air pollution reached crisis levels last year - but dealing with it could also mitigate climate change.
William Veerbeek/Flickr
Last month was the hottest May in terms of global surface temperature in a historical record that extends back 130 years, according to NASA, and with an El Niño forecast for the end of the year, we could…
Dire warnings of imminent human-induced climate disaster are constantly in the news but predictions of the end of the world have been made throughout history and have never yet come true. Even in the brief…
Is climate change good or bad news for sea turtles?
djblock99/Flickr
You might have seen in recent news that climate change may increase the size of some sea turtle populations, by increasing the number of female turtles. These studies hinge on an unusual trait of sea turtles…
Former Liberal leader John Hewson, Australian Youth climate Coalition co-director Lucy Mann and the Climate Institute’s chief executive John Connor greet a dinosaur outside Parliament House.
AAP/Katina Curtis
Australians are deeply cynical about both sides’ approach to climate change but especially mistrust Tony Abbott’s attitude, according to polling released by the Climate Institute on the eve of the reintroduction…
Sunrise over Queenstown in New Zealand in July 2012. This year’s ski season is just beginning in Australia and New Zealand.
Trey Ratcliff/Flickr
Australia’s ski season is finally getting underway, with the first resort, Perisher, opening its ski lifts after some weekend snow fall. But snow lovers are still watching and waiting for good falls elsewhere…
The sun is setting on a heavily coal-dependent power sector, a new Climate Council report argues.
Tao Zero/Flickr
It takes 10 years or more to plan, permit, finance and build major new power plants. That means the decisions we make today – or don’t make – will have lasting consequences for generations to come. And…
The climate is warming, and so basic logic would suggest we should expect fewer bouts of cold weather. Yet severe winter weather, such as the cold wave over the US this year, and the chilly winter of 2009/10…
The UK government’s senior adviser on science has made an entirely sensible call for researchers and policy makers to move the climate change debate towards workable strategies and solutions. The trouble…
Drought conditions are set to become more frequent with the changing behaviour of the Indian Ocean.
Peripitus/Wikimedia Commons
Over the past few months, a lot of attention has been paid to the potentially strong El Niño event brewing in the Pacific Ocean. But there is also the potential for an emerging climate phenomenon in the…
Tony Abbott and Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper are waving the flag of climate sabotage.
AAP Image/Australian Government
On tour in North America, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has forged an alliance with the Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper on climate change. Both champion climate policies that don’t put a price on carbon…
Multilateralism, so much hot air.
Sebastian Kahnert
As delegates gather once again for climate talks in Bonn, the question has to be asked: after decades of conferences, committees, procedures and protocols, is the multilateral approach to tackling climate…
The Abbott government is at risk of sullying its international reputation if it fails to acknowledge the seriousness of climate change as a global issue.
AAP/Yuli Seperi
Tony Abbott will arrive in the US this week for his first face-to-face meeting with US president Barack Obama in Washington since becoming prime minister. It comes at an important time: Australia is to…
Enrico Fermi, when asked about intelligent life on other planets, famously replied, “Where are they?” Any civilisation advanced enough to undertake interstellar travel would, he argued, in a brief period…