Climate calling

Anthony Albanese has secured regional support for his Pacific Policing Initiative, which the Australian prime minister says will strengthen collective peace and security. The initiative is widely seen by analysts as a rebuke to China's efforts to expand its own policing and security footprint in the region.

Being touted as a 'once-in-a-decade opportunity', Australia is conducting a ten-year review into the preservation of some our least-known but most pristine islands. Under a federal government proposal, the protected waters around Heard and McDonald - a remote group of subantarctic islands 4,000 kilometres southwest of Western Australia - are set to quadruple in size. The move has been welcomed by...

Australia’s AUKUS agreement with the US and Uk will pave the way for nuclear submarines – and nuclear waste. But some experts say the government has not learned the lessons of three past attempts to deal with that material.

Last summer, the Great Barrier Reef suffered through in some of the hottest waters in 400 years. The finding, derived from analysis of coral cores, has shocked researchers who have warned human-made climate change is responsible for back-to-back coral bleaching. They fear reefs worldwide could be jeopardised without increased action.

As the climate debate escalates in Canberra, a leading foreign investor in Australian renewable energy has called for politicians to stick to the plan. Business leaders from India have flown into Sydney for talks with the energy minister on the sidelines of the nation's clean energy summit.

Yessie Mosby is one of the so-called Torres Strait Eight, a group from the Pacific Islands which lodged a complaint with the UN Human Rights Council. Their complaint - that Australia is not doing enough to protect their people from climate change - was the first ever case of its kind. Mr Mosby - a Zenadh Kes Masig man - has been in Hawaii for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture to connect wit...

The federal Coalition has identified seven locations for future nuclear reactors. Peter Dutton says if they win the next election, they'll look to make nuclear power a part of Australia's energy future.

Australia's 2024 ski season officially opens this long weekend. And as local businesses are busy preparing to welcome visitors, new modelling has shed light on what the future looks like for our snow resorts under different climate change scenarios.

Pacific Island negotiators are making the case for new and innovative directions in climate finance as their nations reel from the frequency and intensity of multiple natural disasters.

What role should nuclear energy play in Australia's energy transition? The federal Coalition says the technology could help Australia move away from fossil fuels and towards a net zero economy. Now a report by Australia's national science agency has looked at the cost of nuclear power compared to renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

The economic contributions of mining and gas producers are being weighed up as analysis reveals subsidies for the fossil fuel industry rose to $14.5 billion this financial year. The 31 per cent annual increase has led some critics to question whether that money could be better targeted.

Some say modern air travel is rubbish, with cramped seats, delays and cancellations and high prices. But rubbish may have a significant role to play in the airline industry of the future. Australian researchers have come up with a way to turn rubbish into jet fuel.

The deaths of 28 pilot whales in a mass stranding event on a Western Australian beach is the second such event in under a year. There was a similar stranding at Cheynes Beach in Albany in July 2023, where at least 90 of the mammals died. Several theories have been put forward as to why this might be happening, but the true cause remains a mystery.

'Planet versus the plastics' is the new call to arms for Earth Day 2024, which is calling for a 60 per cent reduction in plastic use by 2040. The United Nations Environment Program has found humans produce 400 million tonnes of plastic waste each year.

It's been just over a year since South Australia's River Murray burst its banks in the biggest flood since 1956. For months flooding from high rainfall interstate put thousands of hectares of agricultural land under water and inundated 3500 houses. But it also pumped much needed water through the ailing southern end of the Murray Darling basin. South Australian correspondent Peta Doherty toured th...

Coral reefs around the world are experiencing global bleaching for the fourth time - a result of warming ocean waters - driven in part, by climate change. The event is expected to be the most extensive on record. For Australia's Great Barrier Reef, it's the fifth mass bleaching event in eight years.

In a landmark ruling...Europe’s top human rights court has found the Swiss government is not doing enough to combat climate change. Experts say it could unleash a new wave of climate litigation. The verdict suggests governments are legally obligated to meet their climate targets under human rights law.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland is raising the alarm about disappearing Pacific Islands, and the potential for larger Commonwealth nations to become the new homes for climate refugees. She’s upped the ante on the need for developed Commonwealth countries to cut emissions and spend more on climate adaption in an interview from Samoa with SBS. Baroness Scotland has made an appea...

Farmers in India say using biofertilisers instead of artificial chemicals helps the plants to survive storms, flooding and dry weather.

Australia could soon see megadroughts that last for more than 20 years, new modelling suggests. The bleak research from the Australian National University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes has found these droughts could be worse than anything else in recent historical experience.

Weeks of above-average temperatures have taken a toll on the Great Barrier Reef, as scientists confirm at least two-thirds of the reef is experiencing another mass bleaching. With coral bleaching events affecting more and more reefs worldwide, some are fearing the Great Barrier Reef won't recover as it has in the past.

While 2023 was the hottest year on record for the planet, for Australia, it was a year of all extremes. Australia experienced its warmest winter ever, with a contrast of summer weather patterns seen across the country. In its latest report, the Climate Council is calling it a "climate whiplash".

Australians consume 3.8 million tonnes of plastic every year, causing serious harm to wildlife, marine ecosystems and human life. New research from the Australia Institute suggests that taxing plastic packaging could raise around $1.5 billion a year, which some believe might help reduce consumption.

The declaration of an El Nino weather system last Spring prompted warnings of a summer of heatwaves and widespread bushfires. Instead, residents and emergency services in Australia's east have contended with unprecedented rainfall and dramatic floods. It's left many wondering what happened, and what weather is in store for Australia the rest of the season.

Extreme floods have been leaving people homeless and resulting in casualties across Australia. Experts say this could be the result of failures to adapt flood planning to environmental changes.