Nearly 2 million hectares of forests suitable for endangered koalas have been destroyed since the iconic species was declared a threatened species in 2011, according to analysis for Guardian Australia. The…Continue readingRevealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species
Tag: australia
South Australia’s Environment Protection Authority did not open a formal investigation into what may have killed dozens of birds in Port Pirie, despite tests showing some of the animals had been…Continue readingDead and dying Port Pirie birds and bats exposed to lead at 3,000 times acceptable levels
SUVs and huge utes have become the most popular vehicles in Australia. Of the 1,220,607 new vehicles sold in 2024, most were SUVs, with about 57% market share. Light commercial vehicles…Continue readingAustralians are obsessed with SUVs and huge utes, but experts say they are making our roads deadlier
The low-lying island nation of 13,000 residents is planning a mass inland relocation as the human-caused climate crisis raises global sea levels, eating away at the country’s fertile coastal fringe. Nauru…Continue readingNauru sells citizenship to help fund relocations as sea levels rise
AIMS has been monitoring mass bleaching throughout the Great Barrier Reef since the early 1980s, and reefs in Western Australia since the early 1990s. Mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier…Continue readingFrom August 2024: New report on Great Barrier Reef shows increases of coral cover before onset of serious bleaching, cyclones
Since dry lightning ignited more than a dozen fires in Tasmania’s west on February 3, an estimated 94,000 hectares of diverse wilderness has been burned. The fires are expected to burn…Continue readingNearly 95,000 hectares of wilderness in Tasmania’s west lost to bushfires
Fires that have razed 90,000 hectares of Tasmanian wilderness, including parts of the famous Overland walking track, could burn for weeks as firefighters battle to contain blazes in remote terrain. By…Continue readingTasmania fires destroy huge swath of wilderness and could ‘burn for weeks’
The Burrup Peninsula, in Western Australia’s northwest, known as Murujuga to traditional owners, contains the world’s largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs. Disrupt Burrup Hub claims Woodside’s operations in the area…Continue readingClimate activists fined over protest outside Woodside boss Meg O’Neill’s Perth home
Waters off WA have been affected by prolonged marine heatwaves since September. Regions off the north-west coast were hottest, with ocean temperatures 1.5˚C higher than average over a five-month period and…Continue readingDeaths of 30,000 fish off WA coast made more likely by climate change
Residents of parts of Townsville and nearby towns spent the night in shelters as rising flood waters inundated their homes. In some places, more than 1 metre of rain fell during…Continue readingOne metre of rain in 48 hours: flooding to continue in north Queensland with thousands of homes at risk
A sustained strategy was developed by the government and approved by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, in December 2023 after the committee had warned in September the reef would be considered…Continue readingAustralia tried to influence other countries and Unesco to keep Great Barrier Reef off in-danger list
Tens of thousands of fish have died off northwestern Australia, as a large and long-lasting marine heat wave intensifies. The fish kill at Gnoorea Beach near Karratha is concerning our team…Continue readingA marine heat wave in northwest Australia is killing huge numbers of fish—it’s heading south
More than 40% of individual corals monitored around a Great Barrier Reef island were killed last year in the most widespread coral bleaching outbreak to hit the reef system. Scientists tracked…Continue reading‘Catastrophic’: Great Barrier Reef hit by its most widespread coral bleaching
Almost 26,000 hectares of threatened species habitat was greenlit for destruction in 2024 – more than double the previous year. A new Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) report has revealed a huge…Continue readingAlmost 26,000 hectares of Australian threatened species habitat approved for clearing under Labor in 2024
On the issue of oppressive laws, Australia has become something of a leader. Novel pieces of legislation that chip away and smother civil liberties is something of a speciality down under, encouraged…Continue readingTargeting Climate Change Protests
A climate activist who graffitied the word “liar” on the federal environment minister’s office has stood by his highly publicised actions, urging the public to stand up for their beliefs. The…Continue readingClimate activist who graffitied Tanya Plibersek’s office says he stands by his actions
By David Spratt at Climate Code Red If an unexpected leap in the global average temperature in 2023 was described by one scientist as “gobsmackingly bananas”, are there even words to…Continue readingA(nother) year of scientific shock and awe
The Albanese government has approved the expansion of four coalmines that climate campaigners estimate will release more than 850 megatonnes of CO2 over their lifetime – equivalent to almost double Australia’s…Continue readingAustralian government approves four coalmine expansions
Environmentalists have released what they say are the first maps of nearly 40,000 hectares of protected Tasmanian native forests that the state government plans to open to logging. They suggest significant…Continue readingMaps reveal parts of protected Tasmanian native forest that could be opened to logging
British police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism. Only…Continue readingBritain leads the world in cracking down on climate activism, study finds
Queensland’s environment minister has told parliament he stands by his comments more than a decade ago that he was “a bit sceptical” about human involvement in climate change. Griffith University emeritus…Continue readingAustralian Queensland environment minister stands by ‘scepticism’ about human-induced climate change
Consultancy firm McKinsey was paid $1.6m over 11 weeks to “inform” and “guide” Australian energy and climate policy, despite its work for the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies. The firm, whose…Continue readingMcKinsey paid $1.6m to ‘guide’ Australian climate policy despite working for fossil fuel companies
Some A$13 billion in taxpayer dollars and 30 years of policy reform have failed to arrest the devastating decline in the health of Australia’s most important river system, the Murray-Darling Basin,…Continue readingLandmark study reveals stark failure to halt Murray-Darling River decline
More than 20 Rising Tide protesters have been arrested for blocking a road to federal Parliament House after they took their protest from Newcastle to Canberra on Wednesday. It comes after…Continue readingRising Tide protesters arrested in Canberra for blocking road to Parliament House
Australia’s richest person has won community backing to open a coal mine in Canada following a bitter five-year battle punctuated by allegations that the fossil fuel lobby secretly backed citizens’ groups…Continue readingAustralia’s richest woman wins vote for controversial Canadian coal mine
Protesters formed a “blockade” in the Port of Newcastle on Sunday in the third day of unrest, calling on the federal government to rule out new coal and gas mines and…Continue readingPolice arrest 170 at NSW Rising Tide protest as activists temporarily block coal ships
Reefs across the north of the Great Barrier Reef have seen “substantial losses” of coral cover after a summer of extreme heat, two cyclones and major flooding, according to the first…Continue reading‘Graveyard of corals’ found after extreme heat and cyclones hit northern Great Barrier Reef
Donald Trump’s nomination for energy secretary has connections to fracking operations for gas in the Beetaloo basin in the Northern Territory. Chris Wright is the chief executive of Liberty Energy, a…Continue readingTrump’s new energy tsar linked to fracking in Australia’s Beetaloo basin
As the COP29 summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku begins its second week, representatives from Vanuatu and Tuvalu have called on Australia to stop approving new fossil fuel developments, including…Continue readingAustralia accused of ‘exporting climate destruction’ on tiny Pacific neighbours with massive gas expansion plans
Australia and Turkey are vying to host COP31, and the Australian government hopes Turkey will exit the race in time for an announcement before next week. The hypocrisy of Australia’s bid…Continue readingClimate criminal Australia competes to host Climate-COP
The world is striving to reach net-zero emissions as we try to ward off dangerous global warming. But will getting to net-zero actually avert climate instability, as many assume? Our new…Continue readingEarth’s climate will keep changing long after humanity hits net-zero emissions
A plan by climate activists to shut down the Port of Newcastle for 50 hours has been challenged by New South Wales police who have argued in a court challenge against…Continue readingNSW police take legal action to prevent climate activists blockading Port of Newcastle
Some of Australia’s biggest carbon polluters have a couple of reasons to celebrate this week. WA’s Labor government passed environmental protection laws that were described by one of its own MPs…Continue readingHave Western Australia’s new environmental protection laws left the state’s EPA a toothless tiger?
It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the…Continue readingTrees and land absorbed almost no CO₂ last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
One of the largest types of carbon offset projects the Australian government is using to meet climate change targets and reduce carbon in the atmosphere is failing to do so, new…Continue reading‘Widespread noncompliance and poor performance’ in world’s largest nature-based carbon removal projects
The destruction of global forests increased in 2023, and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade. The rising demolition…Continue readingDeforestation ‘roaring back’ despite 140-country vow to end destruction
A critically endangered orchid has received a late reprieve after a local environmental group threatened legal action against the Victorian government, prompting officials to cancel a planned burn of its habitat.…Continue readingFewer than 10 of these orchids remain in the wild. Victoria was about to burn them into extinction.
Forest campaigners have accused the federal government of hypocrisy for hosting a global nature-positive summit in Sydney while logging resumed in public forest 400km away in mid-north New South Wales. The…Continue readingEnvironment summit taking place in Sydney while greater glider habitat is logged is ‘bullshit’, advocates say
Scientists have challenged Tanya Plibersek’s claim that Australia is protecting more than half of its oceans and has “blitzed” a 30% target, arguing industrial longline fishing will still be allowed in…Continue readingScientists contest environment minister’s claim of ‘blitzing’ Australia’s ocean reserve expansion goal
Funded by StB Capital Partners based in Brisbane, Australia, the factory sets the stage for the Philippines to become a key player in clean energy storage in Southeast Asia. “I cannot…Continue readingPBBM launches PH’s first advanced lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries factory in Tarlac
Water flows in mainland Australia’s most important river system, the Murray-Darling Basin, have been declining for the past 50 years. The trend has largely been blamed on water extraction, but our…Continue readingNew study reveals why the mighty Darling River is drying up—and it’s not just because we’re taking too much water
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, approved three coalmine expansions on Tuesday. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said the three projects, all in New South Wales, would generate more than 1.3bn tonnes…Continue readingTanya Plibersek approves three coalmine expansions
The Western Australian government has lifted a ban preventing onshore gas producers from exporting any of their gas. The current WA premier, Roger Cook, said the state needed “a secure supply…Continue readingWestern Australia’s decision to lift gas export ban will drive up emissions, conservationists say
Twenty more plants and animals, including a type of waratah, have been added to Australia’s list of threatened wildlife. One ecological community – the King Island scrub complex ecological community –…Continue reading‘A symbol of our nation’: waratah among 20 more species added to Australia’s threatened wildlife list
Bureau of Meteorology data showed average temperatures across the nation in August were 3.03˚C above the long-term average, easily beating the previous 2.56˚C record set in 2009. The 2024 winter also…Continue readingAustralia sweats through hottest August on record with temperatures 3˚C above average
The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate, largely due to climate change, and the window to secure its future is rapidly closing. That is the sobering conclusion of a major…Continue reading‘Humanity is failing’: Official report warns our chance to save the Great Barrier Reef is fast closing
PFAS is a group of human-made chemicals used to resist heat, water, grease and stains, which are known as ‘forever chemicals’ as they don’t break down. Lead researcher and Ph.D. candidate…Continue readingPFOS chemical pollution in platypuses
Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels. While this coal and gas is burned beyond our borders, the climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions affect us all. My…Continue readingDug up in Australia, burned around the world—exporting fossil fuels undermines climate targets
Under a federal government scheme, people and businesses can undertake projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or store carbon, in exchange for financial rewards known as carbon credits. The government has…Continue readingIndustry push to earn carbon credits from Australia’s native forests would be a blow for nature and the climate
The Great Barrier Reef is under critical pressure, with warming sea temperatures and mass coral bleaching events threatening to destroy the remarkable ecology, biodiversity, and beauty of the world’s largest coral…Continue readingNew 400-year temperature record shows Great Barrier Reef is facing catastrophic damage, researchers warn
A James Cook University report has revealed severe damage in about 80% of mangroves along the Great Barrier Reef, from Cairns to Gladstone. JCU TropWATER researcher Professor Norm Duke said mangroves…Continue readingSurveys reveal vast mangrove damage along Great Barrier Reef
Woodside, the largest Australian oil and gas company, has agreed to buy a huge liquefied gas export terminal under construction in the United States, doubling down on demand for the fuel…Continue readingWoodside chases global LNG ‘powerhouse’ crown with latest deal
Permits to explore waters between South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania to establish new offshore gas wells have been approved by the federal government. Esso and Beach Energy are expected to take…Continue readingFederal government approves gas exploration permits in waters off South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania
Australia’s big four banks are in “complete violation” of commitments to the Paris climate accord by funding fossil fuel expansion even as their overall lending to the sector continues to ebb,…Continue readingAustralia’s big banks lent $3.6bn to fossil fuel expansion projects in 2023
Brad Homewood describes his first steps into a maximum security facility, where he spent the first three weeks of a two-month jail sentence, as intimidating. “You’re in there with the worst…Continue readingClimate activists have received months-long sentences. Are tougher laws eroding Australians’ right to protest?
On average, “the background extinction rate” will bump off about one species, per million species, per year. But what we’re seeing now is a bit more extreme. “If we look at…Continue readingLiving in a ‘mass extinction’
A rolling series of protests has seen at least 26 people arrested – and more than 200 passenger trains cancelled – over a two-week period. Planned by Blockade Australia, whose protest…Continue readingBlockade Australia plans more climate protests disrupting Newcastle trains, saying disobedience is the only option
The laws, which have been passed in the majority of Australian states, have drawn international scrutiny. For example, global NGO, Human Rights Watch, found last year that the state of New…Continue readingBeware the criminalisation of environmental protest in Australia
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has given a company co-owned by Gina Rinehart approval to develop and operate up to 151 new coal seam gas wells in inland Queensland. Plibersek’s approval…Continue readingGina Rinehart-backed company gets approval from Tanya Plibersek for coal seam gas project
At least 97% of corals on a reef in the Great Barrier Reef’s north died during one of the worst coral bleaching events the world’s biggest reef system has ever seen,…Continue reading‘Most of it was dead’: scientists discover one of Great Barrier Reef’s worst coral bleaching events
The frequency and intensity of extreme wildfires has more than doubled worldwide over the past two decades as human activity has warmed the planet. The intensity of the 20 most extreme…Continue readingExtreme wildfires doubled over past two decades: Study
Australians are among the most sceptical around the world that climate disruption is being caused by humans and that the costs of tackling it will be less than that of its…Continue readingOnly 60% of Australians accept climate disruption is human-caused, global poll finds
The Victorian government has approved its first gas extraction project in a decade, near the celebrated tourist site the Twelve Apostles, despite its plans to wean the state’s households off the…Continue readingVictoria approves first gas project in 10 years near the famous Twelve Apostles
In announcing Australia’s support for fossil gas all the way to 2050 and beyond, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pushed his government’s commitment to net zero even further out of reach.…Continue readingSleight of hand: Australia’s Net Zero target is being lost in accounting tricks, offsets and more gas
A once-thriving population of little penguins on a tourist island off Perth’s coast has plummeted to no more than 120 birds, with plans to build a container port in nearby foraging…Continue readingLittle penguins at risk of vanishing from WA island as once-thriving colony reduced to 120 birds
In past bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, the southern region has sometimes been spared worst of the bleaching. Not this time. This year’s intense underwater heat has triggered the…Continue readingMore than coral: The unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef
Trees more than a century old are barely alive. Some of these giant jarrahs might survive, but some won’t. It’s a scene that’s being replicated in forests and coastal shrublands spanning…Continue readingWestern Australia’s eucalypt forests fade to brown as century-old giant jarrahs die in heat and drought
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which stretches for some 2,300km (1,429 miles) off the country’s northeastern coast, is suffering its worst bleaching event on record. The extent of the bleaching was revealed…Continue readingAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers worst bleaching on record
Australia’s main carbon offsets method is a failure on a global scale and doing little if anything to help address the climate crisis. Research by 11 academics found the most popular…Continue readingAustralia’s carbon credits system a failure on global scale
Longtime forest advocates have expressed disgust at the ongoing logging of koala habitat in northern New South Wales despite promises the state government would protect the species, with one seasoned campaigner…Continue readingContinued logging of NSW koala habitat is ‘a profound tragedy’, conservationist says
The Great Barrier Reef is in the grip of a mass coral bleaching event driven by global heating – the fifth in only eight years – the marine park’s government authority…Continue readingFifth mass coral bleaching event in eight years hits Great Barrier Reef, marine park authority confirms
Dozens of koalas have been killed or injured and left for dead during logging of blue gum plantations in South Australia, according to former employees of the harvesting company and a…Continue readingDozens of koalas allegedly killed or injured during plantation logging on Kangaroo Island
More than 2 million hectares (4.94 million acres) of bushland in Queensland that included large swathes of possible koala habitat has been cleared over a five-year period, new analysis shows. The…Continue readingLand clearing: 2 million hectares of Queensland forest destroyed in 5 years
EnergyAustralia has announced the opening of its 320MW Tallawarra B gas-fired power station in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, following two years of construction. It is located next to the Australian…Continue readingEnergyAustralia inaugurates 320MW Tallawarra B gas-fired power station
Dr Stuart Rowland, a retired principal research scientist who worked for NSW Fisheries for 36 years and remains a mentor to scientists in the agency, says there is a conflict within…Continue reading‘The river has been destroyed’: expert says agriculture has overshadowed science in the Murray-Darling Basin
The EPA told stakeholders it was ditching specific search requirements for glider den trees, which must currently be retained with a 50-metre logging exclusion zone around each one. Instead, Forestry Corporation…Continue readingGreater glider put on path to extinction by NSW environmental watchdog
The Queensland government approved the Vulcan South coalmine in the Bowen Basin earlier this month without requiring an environmental impact statement (EIS). But the project still needs approval from the federal…Continue readingTanya Plibersek urged to block ‘climate-wrecking’ Queensland coalmine that would raze koala habitat
A total of 144 animals, plants and ecological communities were added to the list, five times more than the yearly average and double the previous record year (2009). “The problem is…Continue readingMore Australian wildlife added to threatened species list in 2023 than ever before
An Australian court has dismissed an attempt by members of the indigenous population of the remote Tiwi Islands to block a new gas pipeline being built by oil and gas major…Continue readingAustralian court allows Santos pipeline to proceed after dismissing Tiwi Islanders’ case
Australia passed breakthrough climate laws in March this year, 10 months after a new centre-left Labor government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took office. Even as the Albanese government passed its…Continue readingAustralia is preparing to burn – more fossil fuels
The number of listed threatened species in Australia’s world heritage northern rainforests has increased by 25% since 2020, as ecologists say they are now clearly observing the long-predicted impacts of global…Continue readingQueensland’s wet tropics see 25% rise in threatened species in three years as climate change bites
UK-based mining company Anglo American has secured mining lease approval for the expansion of its Lake Lindsay coal mine in Australia. The mining lease for the coal mine expansion was granted…Continue readingAnglo American gets mining lease for Lake Lindsay coal mine expansion
Australian oil and gas exploration and production company Beach Energy has made a gas discovery at Tarantula Deep-1 well in the Perth Basin, located in Western Australia. “With gas demand in…Continue readingBeach Energy makes new gas discovery at Tarantula Deep 1 well in Perth Basin
A profile of Australia’s energy system has been published on this site.Continue readingEnergy System of Australia
Experts predict there will be fewer than 100 individuals of the species by 2031 as the rate of decline in population grows faster. This month, the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, received…Continue reading‘Watching extinction in real time’: conservationists losing hope for Australia’s swift parrot if logging continues
Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy announced that its Shenzi North project has commenced production in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico. Discovered in 2002, the Shenzi platform achieved its…Continue readingWoodside announces start of production at Shenzi North project
After the northern summer of extreme heat and disastrous fires, we’ve seen more exceptional autumn weather over Europe with record-breaking heat in the UK. Meanwhile, record-breaking rain and intense flash floods…Continue readingFaster disaster: Climate change fuels ‘flash droughts’, intense downpours and storms
Our research shows almost everywhere in Australia is now in a different fire climate than it was just 20 years ago, with falling relative humidity a key factor. Previous research has…Continue readingFire climate regimes around Australia shifted abruptly 20 years ago, and falling humidity may explain why
Conservation groups have accused a New South Wales agency of logging one of the last known strongholds of the greater glider, an endangered marsupial species, and urged the state government to…Continue readingHome of endangered marsupial hit by state-sanctioned logging in New South Wales