Here at Climate Home News we tell you what happens inside the air-conditioned boardrooms, government ministries and negotiating halls where people in suits discuss the politics of climate change – but we also like to take a step back and look at the effects their decisions have on the real world.
As the year comes to an end, we have made a list of the stories we feel embody that spirit, published during 2024. If you’d like to receive stories like this in your inbox every Friday in 2025, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. And if you want to stay up to date with our work, follow us on BlueSky, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.
- On beaches of Gaza and Tel Aviv, two tales of one heatwave
- Germany uses funding to pressure climate groups on Israel-Gaza war
- Saudi visa crackdown left heatwave-hit Hajj pilgrims scared to ask for help
- Where East African oil pipeline meets sea, displaced farmers bemoan “bad deal” on compensation
- Indonesia turns traditional Indigenous land into nickel industrial zone
- Greenpeace Africa in disarray as restructuring meets resistance
- In Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s net zero vision clashes with legacy of war
- World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink
- From cyclone to drought, Zimbabwe’s climate victims struggle to adapt
1. On beaches of Gaza and Tel Aviv, two tales of one heatwave
As 2023 became 2024, the biggest international story was Israel’s invasion, and continued bombing of, the Palestinian territory of Gaza after Hamas militants targeted an Israeli music festival, killing more than 1,100 people. That incident unleashed ongoing attacks by Israel that have caused the deaths of more than 46,000 Palestinians.
But larger numbers have died as an indirect result of the war – for example, when many Gazans were left without shelter or cooling during a climate change-fuelled heatwave that struck in April and May.
Our reporter in Gaza, Taghreed Ali, spoke to two fathers in refugee camps who had lost children to the heat – against which the flimsy protection of their nylon tents, where they waved food containers as makeshift fans, was no match.
Just north of there, our reporter in Israel – Jessica Buxbaum – spoke to beachgoers in Tel Aviv. With their homes still intact, their main concerns were the cost of air-conditioning, the threat of power cuts and drooping house plants.
Climate change affects everyone, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally.
Beaches in Gaza (left) and Tel Aviv (right) in May 2024 (Photos: Taghreed Ali and Jessica Buxbaum)
2. Germany uses funding to pressure climate groups on Israel-Gaza war
Many climate activists continued to speak out against the Israeli government’s role in the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza but came under pressure to stay quiet on the issue from one of the Israeli government’s biggest political backers – Germany.
The German government funds many climate campaign groups in the Global South and, we revealed, used this financial leverage to try to silence criticism of Israel’s offensive. Some activists complied, but others didn’t and suffered financially when contracts were put on hold or their funding was cut.
Veteran British climate activist Asad Rehman said climate justice activists were questioning their partnerships with German civil society, as well as the government. “How can we ally and work together with German organisations that are not prepared to stand up against their own government?” he asked.
Protesters at COP28 in Dubai (Photos: Cop28/Christopher Pike)
3. Saudi visa crackdown left heatwave-hit Hajj pilgrims scared to ask for help
Another reminder that climate change hits some people harder than others came in June, as 1.5 million Muslims descended on Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
As temperatures soared to an unusually high 52C, wealthy pilgrims travelled from air-conditioned hotels to the holy sites by bus and were offered medical help if they needed it.
Poorer pilgrims, however, who had snuck in to the city without the expensive proper visa avoided public transport and cooling centres for fear of deportation. Instead, they walked 19 kilometres in the extreme heat. Over 1,300 died – more than 80% of whom did not have official Hajj permits.
Instead of promising to look after irregular pilgrims better, Saudi Arabia and other governments have reacted by cracking down on the travel agents who organise unofficial trips. We’ll find out next June if that approach has worked or not.
Muslim worshippers make their way to cast stones as part of a symbolic stoning of the devil ritual on June 18, 2023. (Photo: Medhat Hajjaj/apaimages)
4. Where East African oil pipeline meets sea, displaced farmers bemoan “bad deal” on compensation
Governments may have agreed to “transition” away from fossil fuels at COP28 in Dubai last year, but the building of fossil fuel infrastructure continues, harming the planet and sometimes local communities.
Our reporter – who did not want to be named due to fears of government retaliation – travelled to the spot in Tanzania where a 1,400 km-long new pipeline will meet the sea so that the oil it is due to transport from Uganda can be shipped abroad.
Climate Home found that people evicted from their homes to make way for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) – a joint venture between the two countries, French firm TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation – and its port had been warned off talking to journalists but they complained to us about the terms of their compensation nonetheless.
“I am angry that the government took advantage of our ignorance of legal matters and gave us a bad deal that we couldn’t argue against,” said one.
Land by the ocean has been closed off to the public (Photo: Climate Home News)
5. Indonesia turns traditional Indigenous land into nickel industrial zone
Green energy projects can hurt locals too though. The world needs nickel to make electric vehicles, preventing the climate change and air pollution caused by fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
Indonesia has the world’s largest reserves of the silvery white metal. But one of its mines on the island of Sulawesi has displaced Indigenous people, with police arresting those who resist. Nature-rich forests, meanwhile, have been chopped down by politically-connected nickel bosses.
“It’s not to say that nickel mining can’t take place in Indonesia. But it has to be done in a way that’s a lot more careful,” one campaigner said.
Stories like this and others in our Clean Energy Frontiers series are having an impact. This year, the United Nations Secretary-General backed a report calling for human rights, the environment and nature to be respected by those digging up these minerals the world needs for the energy transition.
Road to the SCM nickel mine in southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, which holds one of the world’s largest reserves of nickel. (Photo: Franco Bravo Dengo)
6. Greenpeace Africa in disarray as restructuring meets resistance
At Climate Home News, we aim to hold the powerful to account. That means governments and corporations but also large international campaign groups – and there’s no bigger name than Greenpeace.
We spoke to former staff and consulted leaked documents to reveal turmoil at its African branch. A restructuring led by a new boss has resulted in mass job losses, court cases, a retreat from the Democratic Republic of Congo and heated debates over strategies on LGBT+ issues and government relations.
Legal proceedings against lay-offs continue in South Africa and Senegal while, in Amsterdam, parent organisation Greenpeace International has stayed silent.
A Greenpeace activist protests against a coal plant in Kenya, on June 12, 2019. (Photo: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
7. In Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s net zero vision clashes with legacy of war
Oil and gas-reliant Azerbaijan and the rest of Central Asia have stayed under the climate radar for a long time. But that changed as Azerbaijan’s capital Baku hosted COP29 in 2024, thrusting the authoritarian regime and its energy policies into the limelight.
Azerbaijan’s government spent big money taking journalists, including our own Matteo Civillini, to see its new “smart villages”, hydropower plants and solar energy installations in the conflict-torn region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
What they didn’t draw attention to – but Climate Home reported anyway – was that Armenians had been chased out of these villages less than a year before our visit. “It’s greenwashing of an ethnic cleansing,” one analyst said.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev tours the “smart” village of Aghali in an electric cart. (Photo: Azerbaijan Presidency)
8. World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink
COP29 was Azerbaijan’s COP – but also the “finance COP”. Figures of millions, billions and trillions of dollars shot around in press releases, while journalists struggled to differentiate between verbs like “mobilise” and “provide”.
But what exactly is counted in the figures that make up climate finance? How about when you help Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and a huge hotel corporation buy up a chain of African hotels and spruce them up to luxury standard in an energy-efficient manner? If you ask the World Bank Group – which has ambitious targets to increase climate finance – this makes the cut.
Our reporter Jack Thompson hung out at one of these five-star hotels in Senegal (not the worst assignment) and then spoke to local fishermen just down the coast, who said they’d rather the money was spent helping them protect the beaches that are their workplace from rising sea levels.
With wealthy nations pledging at COP29 to increase their climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035 – much of it coming from development institutions like the World Bank – this story, an award finalist, shows the importance of questioning the top-line numbers.
Le Lamantin Hotel, in Saly, Senegal, where a standard room costs about $220 a night. (Photo: Jack Thompson)
9. From cyclone to drought, Zimbabwe’s climate victims struggle to adapt
And in Zimbabwe we found more evidence that quantity isn’t all that matters. You can spend all you want on a climate project but if it’s badly-designed, it’s no use.
That’s what Matteo Civillini learned from a visit to the country’s eastern highlands, where cyclone victims have been moved out of a storm-prone area and into a drought-prone one where the authorities lack the money to build a planned dam. Out of the frying pan into the fire, you might say.
People in the resettled community said that, despite the cyclone risks, they miss their old home and its bountiful water supply. “We’d never run out of water – we could always access fresh food,” one said. “Here it’s more difficult.”
Tambudzai Chikweya stands in front of her home in Runyararo. Photo: Matteo Civillini
(Writing by Joe Lo, editing by Megan Rowling)
The post Nine of our best climate change stories from 2024 appeared first on Climate Home News.
Climate Change
“Sink or swim”: WA Gov hugely underestimating decline in regional gas demand while sleeping on green exports, new report finds
PERTH, Tuesday 13 October 2026 — A new report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Springmount Advisory reveals green commodity exports are an untapped economic opportunity for Western Australia in a declining Asian gas market, while offering a genuine solution for decarbonising Asia.
From Gas to Green: Building Western Australia’s Future State is a comprehensive analysis of the declining gas market in Asia, and the untapped economic opportunity for WA to become a global leader in green commodity exports while driving the regional shift away from fossil fuels.
The report offers key recommendations for the WA Government to support regional decarbonisation through an orderly phase out of gas exports in favour of green iron and other green exports. It comes as global climate leaders from across business, politics and advocacy prepare to meet for the Global Citizen Now: Perth event focused on decarbonising WA.
Key findings:
- Gas demand is falling across WA’s core markets in Asia: Gas demand fell in 2025 and is projected to continue to decline, driven by a combination of global geopolitical factors and domestic concerns.
- Policy shifts in key markets since the war on Iran now prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas: Japan, South Korea and China have legislated energy plans that prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas.
- New WA gas would arrive in a saturated, uncertain Asian market filled with cheaper gas: The US is now the world’s largest liquefied gas producer and plans to double its capacity as it also targets Asian markets.
- Green commodities offer a real solution to sustain WA’s economy: WA can lead Australia’s green commodity exports, which by 2060 could be worth almost a trillion dollars.
- Exporting more WA gas is likely to delay or impede Asia decarbonisation: Despite claims by the gas industry, there is no evidence that WA gas is displacing coal in Asia, and in fact diverts resources from genuine decarbonisation options.
Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “As our export partners in Asia shift away from expensive and polluting gas, the WA Government has a golden opportunity to pivot our economy to green exports, like green iron, which is the most effective way to help our region to decarbonise.
“The writing is on the wall: gas is in decline, renewables are our future. In this context, it makes zero sense for the government to encourage high risk projects like Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal at Scott Reef.
“This report clearly shows that the WA Government faces a choice: sink or swim. They can either allow the gas industry to keep ripping off West Australians and continue propping up its decline, or choose the path that will deliver enormous benefits to the state and the world by becoming a leader in the rapidly expanding green economy.”
Tom Quinn, Managing Director of Springmount Advisory: “Western Australia prospers when it looks to the future and builds for future demand. Twenty years from now, what the world needs is green commodities made using WAs abundant renewable resources. Just like it did with iron ore in the 1950s and gas in the 1970s, WA should look to the future and build what the world will need, not sunsetting industries like gas that are already past their peak.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or lucy.keller@greenpeace.org
A report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Springmount Advisory reveals the untapped green economic opportunity for Western Australia in a declining Asian gas market, which also offers a genuine solution for decarbonisation in Asia.
Is Western Australia clinging to a fading gas industry while a thriving green future passes it by? As major Asian trading partners rapidly pivot away from volatile gas imports toward cheap solar and battery storage, this report exposes a high-stakes choice: risk becoming stranded in an oversupplied fossil fuel market, or harness WA’s unmatched sun and wind to lead the global clean energy transition.
Summary
From Gas to Green: Building Western Australia’s Future State reveals that Western Australia (WA) faces a critical juncture as falling Asian gas demand, geopolitical gas supply volatility and accelerating renewable energy deployment undermine the long-term economic viability of gas exports. By harnessing its world-class wind and solar resources, the report demonstrates that WA can execute an orderly phase-out of gas and pioneer a green commodity export economy that could generate $987 billion in economic value by 2060, create 24,000 ongoing jobs, and drive a 9.6% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Key Findings
- Gas demand is falling in Asia – WA can no longer rely on gas exports: Gas demand in core Asian markets fell in 2025 and is projected to continue to decline in 2026. Legislated energy plans in Japan, South Korea, and China now prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas.
- Asia is increasing renewables, importing gas just gets in the way: Evidence from markets like Thailand suggests that gas imports are increasingly crowding out cheaper renewable energy investments and battery storage rather than displacing coal, locking in more emissions over time.
- Green commodities offer a real solution to decarbonise Asia – this is a major win for WA: With world-class renewables, WA can lead Australia’s green commodity exports, which by 2060 could be worth almost a trillion dollars ($987 billion) and support a genuine 9.6% reduction in global emissions.
Recommendations to WA government
Recommendation 1: Plan an orderly gas phase-out aligned with a trading partner pivot plan
Implement a managed, orderly phase-out of gas exports aligned with trading partners’ decarbonisation pathways, rather than waiting for demand to collapse, by:
- Developing and implementing a staged phase-out of gas facilities aligned with feedstock supply expiry or typical end of facility lifespans.
- Committing to no new gas development for gas expansion, including Browse and Kimberley fields.
- Developing new, reciprocal trade relationships with existing gas trade partners, structured to progressively replace gas exports with green commodities – integrated with recommendation 2.
Recommendation 2: Develop an integrated green commodity export strategy, positioning WA as a global green iron manufacturing hub
Establish an integrated green commodity export strategy that immediately prioritises green iron development, positioning WA as a global green iron manufacturing hub, by:
- Committing to green commodity export targets to give industry and investors a clear demand signal.
- Prioritising green iron as the lead sector within the broader green commodity strategy, given WA’s iron ore endowment and first-mover potential.
Recommendation 3: Reject false solutions such as carbon dumping (CCS) and blue hydrogen
Reject carbon dumping (also described as carbon capture and storage, or CCS) and blue hydrogen as viable decarbonisation technologies, and prioritise green hydrogen and proven renewables for clean energy and fuel production by:
- Excluding blue hydrogen projects (and CCS-dependent projects) from all government support programs.
- Requiring existing hydrogen-based production (including ammonia, methanol, synthetic fuels) to have clear, near-term transition timelines to switch to green hydrogen production.
What you can do
Together, we can push for a prosperous green future.
You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
REPORT: “From Gas to Green” Building Western Australia’s Future State
Cleaner cooking projects in the UN carbon market will have to set aside a share of their credits to insure against the risk that the trees they save are lost to fire, drought or logging, after the market’s regulator rejected calls to exempt the sector.
The requirement is part of a new rulebook that the Paris Agreement carbon market regulator – the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body –