Climate change
Sumatra floods: Indonesia stuck in a cycle of crisis management
As the floodwaters in Sumatra started to recede, the full extent of the devastation became painfully clear: more than 800 lives lost, over 3.2 million people affected and entire…
Japan lost its climate leadership – and now Australia can help
One of the major developments at COP30 in Brazil was Australia signing the “Belém Declaration to Transition from Fossil Fuels”.What does this mean for relations with Japan,…
Can the Pacific still shape COP31 after Australia’s compromise?
As the dust settles on the deal struck between Australia and Türkiye over next year’s COP31 climate summit, what does this mean for the Pacific? The island states, not part of the…
Redirecting COP31 funds could deliver Australia’s most important climate contribution yet
Australia’s withdrawn bid to host COP31 may look like a diplomatic setback. In reality, it has handed Canberra one of the most powerful climate opportunities it has had in years…
The world proves thirstier than ever for energy
The fossil fuel era will peak this decade – so long as governments hold themselves to their stated policies. Looking ahead, the world is definitively moving toward electricity as…
India and the Blue Pacific: A partnership for climate security
When Pacific leaders met in Honiara in September for the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, the message was clear: climate change remains the “single greatest existential…
Climate change: Compromise and progress in the heart of the Amazon
In the sweltering Amazonian city of Belém, the gateway to the rainforest known as the “lungs of the planet”, the air is thick.Within the venue for COP30, the United Nations summit…
COP that: Australia trades hosting for climate talks presidency
Faced with an impasse over its bid to host COP31 next year in partnership with the Pacific, Australia opted this week to make a deal with Türkiye. This outcome will disappoint…
China built the energy transition while democracies debated
For all the grand declarations about a global energy transition, the real story has been written not in climate summits but in the quiet, deliberate choices made by the world’s…
The world is getting on with tackling climate change. Australia can’t afford to be left behind
The climate summit, COP30, unfolding this week and next at the edge of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, is a big one as far as UN meetings go. A decade after the historic Paris…