Published

1 year ago

February 12, 2025

Alice Rush

Australia’s oceans are heating at an alarming rate. In 2024, sea surface temperatures reached record highs, marking the hottest year on record for our surrounding waters.¹ This isn’t just an abstract statistic—it’s a crisis unfolding beneath the waves, threatening marine life, coral reefs, and the livelihoods of those who depend on healthy oceans.

Close-Up of Corals on Seringapatam Reef, in Australia. © Wendy Mitchell / Greenpeace — Close-up of hard corals on Seringapatam Reef, part of the Scott Reef system, in Western Australia. © Wendy Mitchell / Greenpeace

Why Are Our Oceans Heating Up?

The primary driver is human-induced climate change. The burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—has led to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions, trapping heat in the atmosphere. The vast majority of this excess heat is absorbed by the ocean, causing surface temperatures to rise at an unprecedented rate.²

Rising sea surface temperatures contribute to phenomena such as marine heatwaves and coral bleaching. These disruptions are becoming more frequent and severe, pushing marine ecosystems past their limits.

Climate change is also disrupting ocean currents, which play a crucial role in regulating global temperatures. This could have serious implications for Australia and the Pacific, for example the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a key system regulating global temperatures, is slowing down due to climate change. If it worsened and collapsed, this could produce a La Niña-like pattern over eastern Australia—bringing more intense rainfall and flooding.³

Closer to home, the East Australian Current now extends further south, creating an area of more rapid warming in the Tasman Sea, where the warming rate is now twice the global average.⁴

What Happens When the Ocean Gets Too Hot?

1. Coral Bleaching and Reef Degradation

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has experienced widespread coral bleaching events in recent years. Coral bleaching occurs when corals, stressed by elevated sea temperatures, expel the symbiotic algae that provide them with energy and vibrant colours. Without these algae, corals can die, leading to the degradation of reef ecosystems that support a vast array of marine life.⁵

2. Marine Heatwaves and Mass Die-Offs

Marine heatwaves—periods of abnormally high sea temperatures—have become more frequent and intense. A recent marine heatwave off the coast of Western Australia caused the deaths of approximately 30,000 fish, an event scientists have linked directly to climate change. The extreme temperatures depleted oxygen levels and disrupted marine food chains, leaving fish and other marine life struggling to survive. Research indicates that such events are now up to 100 times more likely due to climate change.⁶

3. Disruption of Marine Ecosystems

Warmer oceans can alter the distribution and abundance of marine species. Many fish and other marine organisms are shifting their ranges toward cooler waters, disrupting existing ecosystems and affecting fisheries. Others that can’t migrate or adapt to changing temperatures are likely to die. These changes can have cascading effects throughout the food web, impacting species from the smallest plankton to the largest predators.⁴

4. Sea Level Rise and Coastal Impacts

As ocean temperatures rise, seawater expands, and melting polar ice contribute to sea level rise. Rising sea levels increase the risk of coastal flooding, erosion, and habitat loss, threatening coastal communities and ecosystems.⁷ Pacific Island nations are already experiencing the severe effects of climate change: rising sea levels, extreme storms, tidal inundation, food and water insecurity, and displacement are becoming all too common. These impacts threaten not just physical survival, but the very culture and identity of Pacific communities.

The Solution: Protecting Our Oceans

To address these challenges, Greenpeace advocates for:

Global Oceans Treaty: Protecting at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 through a network of international marine sanctuaries can help safeguard biodiversity and allow ecosystems to recover.
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Transitioning away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy sources is crucial to mitigate climate change and its impacts on the oceans.
Preventing Overfishing and Pollution: Implementing sustainable fishing practices and reducing pollution, including plastic waste, are essential steps to maintain healthy marine environments.

Australia is home to unique and diverse marine ecosystems, and we have a responsibility to protect them. The Global Ocean Treaty, agreed upon in 2023, provides a framework for creating ocean sanctuaries in international waters. We urge the Australian government to ratify this treaty and take bold action to protect our oceans.

We need urgent action from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Foreign Minister Penny Wong to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and protect critical marine habitats, including the South Tasman Sea and Lord Howe Rise.

Sign the petition now to demand ocean protection before it’s too late.

Sign the petition

The ocean is our greatest ally in the fight against climate change. Often called the lungs of the Earth, the ocean produces around 50% of the planet’s oxygen, regulates global temperatures, and absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide. But with rising temperatures, acidification, and pollution, its ability to sustain life—both beneath the waves and above—is under serious threat. The time to act is now.

Australia’s Oceans Just Hit Their Hottest Year on Record—Here’s Why That Matters

Climate Change

Wondering How to Talk About Climate Change? Take a Lesson from Bad Bunny

Published

13 hours ago

March 21, 2026

Alice Rush

Discussing climate change can make a difference. Focusing on the impacts in everyday life is a good place to start, experts say.

By David Sun

When Bad Bunny climbed onto broken power lines during his Super Bowl halftime show, millions of viewers saw a spectacle. Climate communicators saw a lesson in how to talk about climate change.

Wondering How to Talk About Climate Change? Take a Lesson from Bad Bunny

Climate Change

Greenpeace response to escalating attacks on gas fields in Middle East

Published

18 hours ago

March 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Sydney, Thursday 19 March 2026 — In response to escalating attacks on gas fields in the Middle East, including Israeli strikes on Iran’s giant South Pars gas field and Iranian retaliations on gas fields in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the following lines can be attributed to Solaye Snider, Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:

“The targeting of gas fields across the Middle East is a perilous escalation that reinforces just how vulnerable our fossil-fuelled world really is.

“Oil and gas have long been used as tools of power and coercion by authoritarian regimes. They cause climate chaos and environmental pollution and they drive conflict and war. The energy security of every nation still hooked on gas, including Australia, is under direct threat.

“For countries that are reliant on gas imports, like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Korea, this crisis is just getting started. It can take months to restart a gas export facility once it is shut down, meaning the shockwaves of these strikes will be felt for a long time to come.

“It is a gross and tragic injustice that while civilians are killed and lose their homes to this escalating violence, and families struggle with a tightening cost-of-living, gas giants like Woodside and Santos have seen their share prices surge on the prospect of windfall war profits.

“We must break this cycle. Transitioning to local renewable energy is the way to protect Australian households from the inherent volatility of fossil fuels like gas.”

-ENDS-

Images available for download via the Greenpeace Media Library

Media contact: Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or lkeller@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace response to escalating attacks on gas fields in Middle East

Climate Change

DeBriefed 20 March 2026: Energy crisis deepens | Brazil’s new climate plan | New Zealand climate case

Published

1 day ago

March 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

This week

Iran war fallout continues

WORK FROM HOME: The International Energy Agency has advised its member countries to take 10 steps in response to the ongoing energy crisis fuelled by the Iran war, including reducing highway speeds and encouraging people to work from home, said the Guardian. It came after retaliatory attacks between Israel and Iran continued to destroy energy infrastructure in the Middle East, causing energy prices to soar further, said Reuters.

SUPPLY DISRUPTED: The IEA also said it is prepared to make more of its member nations’ 1.4bn-barrel oil reserves available to help ease the impacts of what it called the “biggest supply disruption in the history of the oil market”, reported Bloomberg. The outlet noted that Asian countries have been hit hardest by the shortages, caused by a “near-halt” of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

EU SUMMIT: The energy crisis dominated talks at an EU leaders summit on Thursday, said Politico. Arriving at the summit, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez attacked other European leaders for using the energy crisis as an excuse to “gut climate policies”, according to the EU Observer. The Financial Times said that some European leaders have asked the European Commission to overhaul its flagship emissions trading system (ETS) by summer in response to the energy crisis.

COAL BOOST: In response to the conflict, utility companies in Asia are “boosting coal-fired power generation to cut costs and safeguard energy supply”, said Reuters. UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell told Reuters: “If there was ever a moment to accelerate that energy transition, breaking dependencies which have shackled economies, this is the time.”

Around the world

WINDFARM WINDFALL: The Trump administration in the US is considering a nearly $1bn settlement with TotalEnergies to cancel the French energy company’s two planned windfarms off the US east coast and have it instead invest in fossil-gas infrastructure in Texas, according to documents seen by the New York Times.
BUSINESS CLASH: Following “clashes” with the agribusiness sector, Brazil launched its new climate plan, which calls for a 49-58% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2022 levels by 2025 and includes “specific guidelines for different sectors”, reported Folha de Sao Paolo.
SALES SLUMP: Sales of liquified petroleum gas from India’s state-run oil companies have fallen by 17% this month due to cuts in deliveries to commercial and industrial consumers “amid the widespread logistical bottlenecks triggered by the Iran war”, said the Economic Times.
CUBAN ENERGY CRISIS: The US imposed an “effective oil blockade” on Cuba, leaving the country facing its “worst energy crisis in decades”, reported the Washington Post. Meanwhile, Chinese exports of solar panels to the island have “skyrocketed” since 2023, it added.
RECORD HIGHS: An “unprecedented” heatwave in the western and south-western US is “shattering dozens of temperature records” and could lead to drought in California in the coming months, reported the Los Angeles Times.
VULNERABILITY CONCERNS: Landslides that killed more than 100 people in southern Ethiopia have “renewed concerns about Ethiopia’s vulnerability to climate-related disasters”, said the Addis Standard.

1%

The percentage of England’s land surface that could be devoted to renewables by 2050, according to the long-awaited “land-use framework” released by the UK government this week and covered by Carbon Brief.

Latest climate research

Approaching international climate action by shifting the burden of mitigation onto higher-income countries could avoid 13.5 million premature deaths from air pollution in middle- and lower-income countries by 2050 | The Lancet Global Health
Beavers can turn the ecosystems surrounding streams into “persistent” sinks of carbon that can sequester an order of magnitude more than non-beaver-modified ecosystems can store | Communications Earth & Environment
Mobile-phone data from seven diverse countries during the summer heatwaves of 2022-23 showed a “widespread tendency to withdraw into homes” and an increase in out-of-home activities that can offer cooling, such as indoor retail | Environmental Research: Climate

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

Captured

Nearly_750_studies_have_found_that_climate_change_has_made_extreme_events_more_severe_or_likely

Carbon Brief this week published a significant update to its map of how climate change is affecting extreme weather events around the world. The map now includes 232 new extreme weather events from studies published in 2024 and 2025. Of these events, 196 were made more severe or more likely to occur by human-driven climate change, 12 were made less severe or less likely to occur and 10 had no discernible human influence. (The remaining 14 studies were inconclusive.)

Spotlight

New Zealand breaks new ground on climate litigation

This week, Carbon Brief speaks to experts about a first-of-its-kind climate lawsuit in New Zealand.

Earlier this week, representatives from two environmentally focused legal advocacy groups challenged the New Zealand government’s climate-action plan in court.

The plaintiffs argued that the measures laid out in the plan are insufficient to achieve the country’s legal obligation to hold global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures.

The case could be “influential” in shaping lawsuits and rulings around the world, one legal expert not involved in the case told Carbon Brief.

Reductions vs removals

The new case contends that there are several issues regarding the New Zealand government’s response to climate change.

One of the key arguments the plaintiffs make is that New Zealand’s second emissions reduction plan, which covers the period from 2026-30, is overreliant on the use of tree-planting to achieve its targets.

When the plan was released in December 2024, it was “immediately clear that it was a pretty lacklustre plan”, Eliza Prestidge Oldfield, senior legal researcher at the Environmental Law Initiative, one of the groups behind the legal case, told Carbon Brief.

The plan called for large-scale planting of pine tree plantations, which are not native to New Zealand and have a high risk of burning. Because of this, there are concerns about how permanent any carbon removal provided by these plantations actually can be, experts told Carbon Brief.

Catherine Higham, senior policy fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment who was not involved in the case, said:

“The lawyers are arguing that there are real challenges with equating the emissions that you may be able to remove from the atmosphere through afforestation with actual emissions reductions, which are much more certain.”

‘Global dialogue’

While other climate lawsuits elsewhere in the world have also focused on the inadequacy of a government’s plan to meet its stated emissions-reduction targets, this is the first such case that addresses the role of removals head-on.

Lucy Maxwell, co-director of the Climate Litigation Network, told Carbon Brief that the lawsuit “builds on a decade of climate litigation” in national, regional and international courts.

Maxwell, who was not involved in the New Zealand case, added that there is a “real global dialogue” between, not just plaintiffs, but national courts as well. She said:

“[National courts] look to common issues that have been decided in other countries. They’re not binding on that court if it’s at the national level, but they are influential.”

Given that many other countries have legal frameworks requiring their governments to create plans outlining the pathway to their long-term climate targets, Prestidge Oldfield told Carbon Brief that other jurisdictions “should be interested in these questions around the level of certainty”.

Higham noted that, even if the case is successful, addressing the plan’s shortfalls will face its own set of challenges. She told Carbon Brief:

“A lot of these decisions are political and they can be politically contentious…Those [measures] have to be put into action through legislation and that is then subject to the usual political process. So that’s where the challenge comes in.”

While she could not speculate on the outcome of the case, Prestidge Oldfield said it was “very heartening” to see that both the judge and the opposing counsel “appreciated how much of a concern climate change is globally”.

She added:

“It’s not a given that the judge would even be interested in climate change.”

Watch, read, listen

COMMON APPROACH: The Heated podcast analysed fossil-fuel advertisements and highlighted the most common deception tactics they employed.

THREAT ASSESSMENT: Mongabay mapped the potential threat that oil extraction poses to Venezuela’s ecosystems, including the Amazon rainforest and its coral reefs.

SALT LAKES? GREAT!: High Country News interviewed journalist Dr Caroline Tracey about her new book on saline lakes – such as Utah’s Great Salt Lake – the threats that face them and what they can teach us.

Coming up

23 March-2 April: Third meeting of the preparatory commission for the High Seas Treaty, New York
24-27 March: 64th session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Bangkok
26-29 March: 14th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Pick of the jobs

International Centre of Research for the Environment and Development (CIRAD), IPCC chapter scientist | Salary: €3,200-3,750 per month. Location: Nogent-sur-Marne, France
Avaaz, chief of staff | Salary: Dependent on location. Location: Remote, with preferred time zones
Green Party, social media officer | Salary: £31,592-£32,192. Location: Remote or Westminster, UK

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.

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