It’s too late for 1.5°C. That doesn’t mean we give up
It’s too late for 1.5°C. That doesn’t mean we give up
Peter Sainsbury

It’s too late for 1.5°C. That doesn’t mean we give up

The UN now accepts that global warming is going to exceed 1.5°C but it’s unlikely that this will change anything governments or corporations do. It’s now too late to avoid catastrophic global warming. The task now is to limit further damage and prepare honestly for what follows.

Recent articles in Climate

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As climate-fuelled disasters intensify, political leaders should stop treating discussion of their causes as untimely and confront the consequences of continued inaction.

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Britain’s security establishment has discovered the ecological crisis

A UK national security assessment warns that ecosystem collapse threatens food, water, health and geopolitical stability – and that no country will escape the consequences.

Australia cannot deny its share of the climate catastrophe
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Australia cannot deny its share of the climate catastrophe

Bob Brown says Australia cannot keep expanding fossil fuel production while denying its share of responsibility for the mounting human toll of climate change.

EVs outsell petrol and diesel as Australia’s car market shifts
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The world will overshoot 1.5°C. That is not a reason to give up

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Do 'fuel breaks' stack up for us and our forests?

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The world is living beyond its water means
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The world is living beyond its water means

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Albanese backflips on renewables for data centres
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Albanese backflips on renewables for data centres

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All earlier articles in Climate (1580 more)

DateTitleAuthor
6 Jul 2026Disaster mitigation won't prevent flood, or drought and fireChas Keys
6 Jul 2026The effects of global warming on Europe’s historic citiesGiulio Boccaletti
5 Jul 2026Environment: El Niño spells trouble for Aussies this springPeter Sainsbury
4 Jul 2026The madness of King OilJulian Cribb
3 Jul 2026We’re running late on climate, but not out of timeRoss Gittins
3 Jul 2026Does stopping native forest logging in Australia really kill orangutans?Chris Taylor, David Lindenmayer
28 Jun 2026Environment: a smaller global population won’t reduce climate changePeter Sainsbury
26 Jun 2026A tale of two budgets: NSW and QueenslandAM Jonson, Matt Pollard
23 Jun 2026Mining needs renewables, whatever Rinehart and Hanson sayGiles Parkinson
22 Jun 2026COP-31: electrifying the global economy a practical priorityJoshua S Hill
21 Jun 2026Environment: Cities swelter as global warming speeds upPeter Sainsbury
18 Jun 2026Who will release the next pandemic?Julian Cribb
14 Jun 2026Should we bring back native forest logging? The answer is a clear noDavid Lindenmayer, Chris Taylor, Maldwyn J. Evans
13 Jun 2026Bowen's electrification gospel has a truck-shaped problemBruce Hardy, Adam Triggs
8 Jun 2026Decarbonisation is now being driven by cost, security and necessitySaliem Fakir
5 Jun 2026Not measuring climate change won't make it go awayJulia Conley
5 Jun 2026Man the desert maker; woman the healerJulian Cribb
4 Jun 2026Avoiding 'worse-case' climate warming is big news. But is it true?David Spratt
2 Jun 2026A carbon tax is a good ideaMichael Keating
1 Jun 2026Hybrid wind and solar power plants are the next step for AustraliaSophie Vorrath
1 Jun 2026Stop native forest loggingDavid Lindenmayer
28 May 2026A breakthrough year for batteries in Australia but solar and wind lagSophie Vorrath
26 May 2026China on the way to being the first electro-stateJohn Queripel
26 May 2026When the Earth's well runs dryJulian Cribb
25 May 2026The importance of plantations in the Australian forest industryDavid Lindenmayer
25 May 2026Why have we not heeded Attenborough’s warnings?Geoff Davies
25 May 2026Where's the Australian Silicon Valley?Aneeq Sarwar
24 May 2026Turning a blind eye to climate risk threatens derailmentDavid Spratt
19 May 2026The Safeguard Mechanism for greenhouse gases is flawedKen Russell
19 May 2026A man-made comet is striking the EarthJulian Cribb
18 May 2026What is a healthy forest?David Lindenmayer
17 May 2026Renewables have won the electricity battle but not the climate warRalph Evans
15 May 2026Budget 2026: The government buckles on fossil fuel tax reformSophie Vorrath
14 May 2026Budget 2026: Clean energy spending grows but gas giants still avoid reformTim Buckley, Blair Palese
13 May 2026One Nation now represents two of Australia’s best wind and solar regionsRachel Williamson
11 May 2026Farming in a flammable futureDavid Lindenmayer
10 May 2026Environment: Atlantic currents are slowing so let’s dam the Bering StraitPeter Sainsbury
9 May 2026Record installations of home solar and battery systemsSophie Vorrath
9 May 2026The coming famineJulian Cribb
8 May 2026Children's eco-anxiety can be a foundation for actionHannah Kirk, Sashka Samarawickrama
3 May 2026Environment: Air pollution still kills almost eight million each yearPeter Sainsbury
2 May 2026The ‘little’ things that matter – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
1 May 2026The real war is misinformation – and it’s blocking climate actionJulian Cribb
29 Apr 2026Fossil fuel myths are slowing the energy transitionMark Diesendorf
27 Apr 2026Any sane foreign policy would put climate risks, not China, at centre stageDavid Spratt
27 Apr 2026We may be making Australia’s fire problem worse – not betterDavid Lindenmayer, Phil Zylstra
27 Apr 2026Climate policy must work for everyday AustraliansThom Woodroofe
26 Apr 2026Environment: Australia’s expanding urban fringes at high risk of catastrophic bushfiresPeter Sainsbury
24 Apr 2026Turning waste into wealthJulian Cribb
22 Apr 2026A prime-time hit job on renewables falls apart under basic factsGiles Parkinson
22 Apr 2026Study warns of terrifying Atlantic Ocean current collapseStephen Prager
19 Apr 2026Environment: Class and race fuel climate collapse in Northern TerritoryPeter Sainsbury
17 Apr 2026The war on renewables is really about protecting fossil fuel profitsGiles Parkinson
17 Apr 2026We're soaking in itJulian Cribb
16 Apr 2026Logging and thinning are putting Alpine Ash forests at riskDavid Lindenmayer, Chris Taylor, Phil Zylstra
15 Apr 2026Climate change, the community and the Coalition: going slower
Chas Keys
13 Apr 2026Why “drill baby drill” won’t solve Australia’s energy problemSophie Vorrath
13 Apr 2026Overpopulation is pushing Earth past breaking pointJulian Cribb
12 Apr 2026Robodebt for the environment? AI will not fix Australia’s broken environmental lawsDavid Lindenmayer
12 Apr 2026Environment: Nature is in decline – and we are funding the damagePeter Sainsbury
8 Apr 2026Has climate policy-making gone completely off the rails?David Spratt
2 Apr 2026A ‘small’ nuclear war would still be global catastropheJulian Cribb
1 Apr 2026Fuel crisis exposes decades of policy failureCrispin Hull
1 Apr 2026Fuel crisis exposes decades of policy failureCrispin Hull
1 Apr 2026Climate misinformation inquiry stops short on reformAnne Delaney
1 Apr 2026Climate misinformation inquiry stops short on reformAnne Delaney
30 Mar 2026Share prices, sports results … CO₂ levels? The case for reporting climate stats every dayElspeth Tilley
30 Mar 2026The solar revolution is here – but it’s not moving fast enoughPeter Hansford
29 Mar 2026Environment: Industry’s carbon capture fantasy is climate action’s nightmarePeter Sainsbury
28 Mar 2026Batteries and electrification buy time on gasSophie Vorrath
26 Mar 2026The greatest danger is not war – it is planetary breakdownJulian Cribb
25 Mar 2026Silence facilitates climate disinformation, and the government is complicitDavid Spratt
23 Mar 2026Climate denial has deep roots in Coalition politicsChas Keys
23 Mar 2026Power prices set to fall as renewables ease pressure on the gridSophie Vorrath
22 Mar 2026Environment: If people like Grace Tame can’t be ‘difficult’, who can? – speaking up as ecosystems reach breaking pointPeter Sainsbury
17 Mar 2026Australia’s fuel security crisis needs less diesel, not more refineriesBruce Hardy
16 Mar 2026Are soil carbon schemes really working?David Lindenmayer, Ben C. Scheele, Elle Bowd, Craig Strong, Andrew Macintosh, Maldwyn J. Evans
16 Mar 2026Matt Canavan’s climate scepticism is a policy dead end for the CoalitionJeremy Webb
15 Mar 2026Environment: Carbon credit markets benefit the participants but not the climatePeter Sainsbury
14 Mar 2026The Age of Lies and the threat to civilisationJulian Cribb
13 Mar 2026Former defence leaders say oil wars threaten our security, and climate change deepens the dangerIan Dunlop, David Spratt
12 Mar 2026Renewables winning the energy race – but losing the messaging battleGiles Parkinson
10 Mar 2026Rising seas could menace a billion people this centuryJulian Cribb
8 Mar 2026Environment: warming oceans, sinking coasts and Covid’s impact on birdsPeter Sainsbury
6 Mar 2026As the planet warms, more girls are being bornJulian Cribb
3 Mar 2026Wind farm Barnaby loves to hate sent to planning commission after 1,371 submissionsRachel Williamson
2 Mar 2026Large-scale forest thinning has limited benefits but major financial and ecological costsDavid Lindenmayer, Dominick A. DellaSala
1 Mar 2026Environment: A hotter Middle East, a warming Arctic and heatwaves that won’t retreatPeter Sainsbury
27 Feb 2026Is algae smarter than politicians?Julian Cribb
25 Feb 2026Water bankruptcy is no longer a future threatJulian Cribb
25 Feb 2026Why security-first critical mineral policy risks slowing the energy transitionMarina Yue Zhang
22 Feb 2026Environment: State-owned fossil fuel companies dominate CO2 emissionsPeter Sainsbury
21 Feb 2026Australia’s renewable surge leaves energy politics behindRachel Williamson
9 Feb 2026Authoritarianism is undermining climate action – and time is running outDavid Spratt
9 Feb 2026Why building again on the Hawkesbury floodplain risks disasterChas Keys
9 Feb 2026Climate sceptics dominate the noise, not the numbersNoel Turnbull
8 Feb 2026Environment: Small-bodied and short-lived, tiny freshwater fish play big roles in ecosystemsPeter Sainsbury
6 Feb 2026When ecosystems fail, civilisation followsJulian Cribb
4 Feb 2026Abbott, Boyce and Trump – three ways to deny a warming worldChas Keys
1 Feb 2026Environment: Agricultural emissions are roasting the planetPeter Sainsbury

See the complete index — all 1630 articles in Climate