Latest environment news
Turnbull pays respect to Paris terror victims in memorial visit
Tom Arup 6:56 AM Malcolm Turnbull has paid his respects to the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks with an evening visit to the Bataclan theatre, the site of the most deaths during the November violence on the streets of the French capital.
Is this Malcolm Turnbull's moment to stand up on climate change?
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/a/6/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glapwj.11u395.png/1448858969161.jpg)
Tom Arup For a political figure once defined by his strong stance on climate change, Malcolm Turnbull has kept his powder remarkably dry on the issue since becoming Prime Minister
Optimism as 140 world leaders gather for change summit
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/a/6/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glaw2c.11u395.png/1448858969161.jpg)
Adam Morton Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is coming from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta, where he lobbied other Commonwealth leaders and criticised Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's uncosted pledge on greenhouse gas emissions.
Meet Micah. Is he a climate change refugee?
![Micah Puia at Lord Howe Settlement in Honiara. Is he a climate change refugee?](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/9/f/1/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl96d3.11u395.png/1448871414686.jpg)
Adam Morton and Tom Arup Micah Puia lives in a shanty town on a dirty beach in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. He is 11-years-old, and has lived here all his life. According to some here, Micah has spent his whole life as a climate change refugee. And he will soon be forced to move.
New renewable energy play for Melbourne
![Melbourne City councillor Arron Wood says an innovative project to drive new renewable energy by pooling the purchasing power of a dozen big institutions could become a model for others.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/a/t/h/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl9urr.11u395.png/1448799080841.jpg)
Tom Arup 12:15 AM Melbourne-based businesses, local councils and universities will pool resources to build new renewable energy plants under an innovative push to try boost the supply of clean power to the city.
Mother Earth, yoga, Gandhi and climate change: 10 things you need to know about the Paris summit
![The stakes are high at the United Nations Climate Change Summit which kicks off in Paris on Monday.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/8/y/1/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl8niq.11u395.png/1448827472164.jpg)
Tom Arup On Monday the Paris climate summit kicks off, with delegates arriving from all corners of the globe hoping to stitch together a new international deal to tackle greenhouse gases.
Businesses say: Green is good
![Green groups question whether some of the commitments constitute much more than 'greenwashing'.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/7/6/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl5fuv.11u395.png/1448634276876.jpg)
Angela Macdonald-Smith As the 40,000-plus attendees to the Paris climate summit congregate, a surprisingly large chunk of Australian big business will be cheering them on.
Between a rock and horse stud: coalmine verdicts divide communities
![The location of two stud farms close to Anglo American's Drayton operations in the Hunter Valley could stymie expansion plans.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/2/5/5/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl9sck.11u395.png/1448623026949.jpg)
Peter Hannam The Baird government has been accused of ranking the health of horses above humans after a coal mine near famous studs got knocked back but another near a Hunter village won approval.
Australia to double clean energy research spending under Obama-led push
![Malcolm Turnbull arrives at Le Bourget Airport in Paris ahead of the UN climate conference, accompanied by his wife Lucy and welcomed by Australian ambassador in France, Stephen Brady.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/3/7/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glb0wi.png/1448876318648.jpg)
Tom Arup in Paris and Mark Kenny in Canberra 8:38 PM Australia has signed-up to a multi-billion dollar global innovation plan that will require it to double its investment in clean energy research and development over the next five years.
Australia rejects fossil fuel pledge at the Paris UN Climate Conference 2015
![Australia had decided not to sign up to a international statement promoting the reform of fossil fuel subsidies.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/0/m/i/a/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbw4s.png/1448875334131.jpg)
Tom Arup 8:22 PM Australia will not sign up to a statement of support for reform of fossil fuel subsidies after Prime Minsiter Malcolm Turnbull made a last minute call to break the news to New Zealand counterparts on Sunday night in Paris.
Canberra's November temperatures two degrees above average
![A blue bottle at Moruya Heads, snapped by Alan Nicol on his iPhone for the Canberra Times spring photo competition.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/8/o/f/y/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glb8ls.png/1448873547348.jpg)
Katie Burgess 7:52 PM November proved to be a warm chaser to a thirsty October, with temperatures hovering two degrees above average.
Security tight as Paris climate conference to begin
![Policemen fight with activists during a protest at the place de la Republique, in Paris ahead of the climate conference.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/k/6/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbuzz.png/1448871029496.jpg)
Kim Hjelmgaard 7:10 PM France has implemented exceptional security measures as nearly 150 world leaders gathered for a climate change summit barely two weeks after the multiple terrorist attacks that struck the French capital.
Australian meteorologist talks climate change, then and now
![Then: John Zillman, in 1981. He has seen climate science take leaps and bounds during his career.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/9/g/c/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl9g72.png/1448868975277.jpg)
Lucy Cormack 6:36 PM One of Australia's oldest meteorologists says there is one storm event during his career that stands out like no other.
Sydney set for second hottest Spring on record
!["We're more likely to break high temperature records and less likely to break cool temperature records": climatologist Acacia Pepler.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/t/4/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbms1.png/1448868768876.jpg)
Lisa Visentin 6:32 PM Sydney is on track to experience its second hottest Spring on record, with November expected to crack the top five hottest Novembers since record-keeping began, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Japanese to go whaling as Turnbull government relies on diplomacy
![Minke whales on the deck of the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru in the 2013 season.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/r/l/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbrhb.png/1448867377204.jpg)
Andrew Darby 6:22 PM The Turnbull government appears to have been caught out by Japan's whalers - pinning hopes on diplomacy to halt them, just as the fleet's departure for the Antarctic was announced.
Fisherman save drowning wombat
!["He was definitely struggling": The lucky wombat saved by fisherman in Tasmania.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/p/7/m/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbp0s.png/1448867715938.jpg)
Ben Hansen 6:15 PM Two fishermen went out looking for trout and came back to shore with a half-drowned wombat instead.
'We have lost sight of the goal': calls for climate reset
![Greg Hunt and Clive Palmer](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/e/l/h/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbdik.png/1448868615285.jpg)
Nicole Hasham 6:00 PM Australia's climate debate has become so polarised "we have lost sight of the key goal" of slashing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, the Turnbull government's climate change advisers say, in a report that calls for the slate of public discussion to be wiped clean.
Chinese climate change report paints a grim picture
![Mountain peaks are seen near the 7,556 m ft) Mount Gongga, known in Tibetan as Minya Konka on November 13, 2015 in Hailuogou, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/j/a/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbhtx.png/1448859761606.jpg)
Chris Buckley 4:02 PM Rising seas besieging China's economically vital coastal zones. Mighty feats of infrastructure, like the Three Gorges Dam and railway in Tibet, strained by turbulent rainfall and the melting of frozen earth.
Why leaders attending start of Paris climate talks, not the end
![Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives in Paris ahead of the UN climate conference, accompanied by his wife Lucy and welcomed by Australian ambassador in France Stephen Brady and his partner Peter Stephens.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/3/7/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glbfo1.png/1448856658700.jpg)
Tom Arup 2:45 PM A top-down binding agreement on climate change had proven unachievable in the United Nations negotiations, but in Paris there is chance for a different type of success.
Paris UN climate conference 2015: police clash with defiant protesters
![Policemen fight with activists ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference at the place de la Republique, in Paris.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/0/z/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glb0z2.png/1448858493920.jpg)
Alexandra Zavis 5:48 AM Frustrated by a ban on demonstrations during international climate talks, hundreds of protesters clashed with police on Sunday in the Place de la Republique in Paris.
What is the Paris climate change conference?
![National pledges to cut emissions made ahead of the Paris summit are likely to make a dent in global warming but not be enough to prevent dangerous warming.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/f/q/a/z/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glap9w.png/1448809758221.jpg)
2:09 AM The key issues as world leaders search for a global deal on temperature curbs.
Car-free housing encouraged in London
![Richard de Cani rides a city tram.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/b/0/1/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glasre.png/1448794051487.jpg)
Lucy Battersby Car-park free apartments should be actively encouraged in big cities to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, as long as there is other transportation available, according to the man who plans London's transportation system.
Protesters rally for change
![Religious group the Josephites at Sydney's climate change rally.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/q/z/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glaqrs.png/1448781004419.jpg)
Deb Snow, Michael McGowan Thousands of protesters have gathered in Sydney to urge leaders to take action on climate change, with environmentalist Tim Flannery declaring the event the "biggest climate march this country's ever seen".
Thousands march for climate change action
![Crowds at the People's Climate March through Brisbane.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/i/6/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glahpd.png/1448880910426.jpg)
Drew Creighton Thousands marched upon the Brisbane CBD for the People's Climate March, ahead of the Paris climate talks next week.
Turnbull dismisses Shorten's emissions target as both head to Paris
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/a/6/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glani6.png/1448858969161.jpg)
Lloyd Jones, AAP Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed Bill Shorten's 45 per cent emissions reduction target as a "heroic offer" that is too expensive, as he prepares to fly to Paris for key climate change talks.
Momentum for climate deal grows as Obama joins Xi at UN talks in Paris
![President Barack Obama said Turkey had the right to defend its borders and air space. He encouraged Russia to focus its attacks on Islamic State to reduce the likelihood of future clashes.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/7/5/d/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glannv.png/1448797777924.jpg)
Alex Morales, Bloomberg More than 140 world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Xi Jinping of China are gathering in Paris for France's biggest diplomatic event since 1948, striving to reach the first truly global deal to curb greenhouse gases.
How excessive tweeting lets dad off the hook
![Two zebra finches.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/f/x/v/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl8y6f.png/1448690445993.jpg)
Bridie Smith Ever get annoyed that you're carrying more of the parenting load than your partner? You're not alone. Birds do too.
Japan gives green light to its whalers
![Minke whales aboard the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru in 2014. Japan is to resume whaling this summer.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/d/1/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glacwl.png/1448677665938.jpg)
Andrew Darby Japan has finally confirmed it will commence whaling in the Antarctic this summer, despite the weight of court decisions and scientific opinion against it.
Smell at school so bad children can't eat their lunch
![Local residents try to block the smell emitting while waiting for a train at Mulgrove Station](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/9/r/p/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl8uge.png/1448880944383.jpg)
Natalie O'Brien It is like standing next to a bin of three-day-old prawns only worse
Gates to start multi-billion-$ clean energy fund
![Bill Gates, philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, hopes to turbocharge the Paris climate talks with a massive investment.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/2/t/p/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glacw0.png/1448848680315.jpg)
Coral Davenport World's richest man is expected to announce creation of biggest ever clean energy fund at the opening of the Paris climate summit.
'It's time for Coca-Cola to pack up and leave'
![Indian villagers have accused Coca-Cola of exploiting scarce local water supplies.](/web/20151130110740im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/a/a/6/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glaa6d.png/1448644301711.jpg)
Nita Bhalla Village councils in northern India are demanding a local Coca-Cola bottling plant be banned from extracting water from the ground, claiming its over-use has led to water scarcity.