Daily Links Nov 3

Huge private sector investment puts Paris climate target in reach, says report
Global investment could hold the key to fighting climate change, with one trillion dollars already invested in solutions such as renewables and energy efficiency, says International Finance Corporation
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/02/huge-private-sector-investment-puts-paris-climate-target-in-reach-says-report

Warm Air Helped Make 2017 Ozone Hole Smallest Since 1988
Measurements from satellites this year showed the hole in Earth’s ozone layer that forms over Antarctica each September was the smallest observed since 1988, scientists from NASA and NOAA announced today.
http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/53029

Trump’s EPA finds that the climate plan it wants to scrap could save thousands of lives every year
The Obama administration said its clean power plan could save thousands of lives annually. The Trump team’s draft analysis moved that figure higher.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/11/01/trumps-epa-says-obamas-climate-rule-could-prevent-up-to-4500-deaths-annually-moves-to-scrap-it/?utm_term=.0c9ba4ac94a7

Massive US government report says climate is warming and humans are the cause
It is “extremely likely” that human activities are the “dominant cause” of global warming, according to the the most comprehensive study ever of climate science by U.S. government researchers.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/02/561608576/massive-government-report-says-climate-is-warming-and-humans-are-the-cause

Trump team to promote fossil fuels and nuclear power at Bonn climate talks
The American position is likely to provoke strong reactions from attendees of the United Nations meeting that begins on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/climate/trump-coal-cop23-bonn.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Taking terror out of climate change
Terrorism and climate change are widely considered as the two most significant threats of our time, but what few realize is to what extent the two are connected.
http://www.dw.com/en/taking-terror-out-of-climate-change/a-41166359

Wind is driving rapid melting in Antarctica’s biggest glacier
Research from East Antarctica’s Totten Glacier pins glacial melting on an unexpected aspect of climate change: wind.
https://www.wired.com/story/wind-is-driving-rapid-melt-in-antarcticas-biggest-glacier/

Uprooted by climate change: responding to the growing risk of displacement
OXFAM
Supercharged storms, more intense droughts, rising seas and other impacts of climate change all magnify existing vulnerabilities and the likelihood of displacement, disproportionately affecting low-income countries, women, children and Indigenous peoples.
http://apo.org.au/node/117151

Explainer: hydrofluorocarbons saved the ozone layer, so why are we banning them?
Jenny Fisher, University of Wollongong and Stephen Wilson, University of Wollongong
Australia has ratified an agreement to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, a manmade compound once hailed as the saviour of the ozone layer. What went wrong?
https://theconversation.com/explainer-hydrofluorocarbons-saved-the-ozone-layer-so-why-are-we-banning-them-86672

Frydenberg faces questions over possible Hungarian dual citizenship
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says it is “absolutely absurd” to think he could have dual citizenship with Hungary because his mother arrived in Australia after World War II as “stateless” after fleeing Jewish persecution in Europe.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-03/minister-josh-frydenberg-faces-possibility-of-dual-citizenship/9113982

CEFC triples investment in renewable projects to $2bn
http://www.theage.com.au/business/energy/cefc-triples-investment-in-renewable-projects-to-2bn-20171102-gzd8uf.html

Guarantee may curb power price
Pressure on retailers to meet the National Energy Guarantee should help lower electricity prices, says KPMG.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/national-energy-guarantee-may-help-curb-power-prices-says-kpmg/news-story/523ce6fcd57060d78f3a580ceaa3dd41

Australian Tourism Policies Fail to Address Climate Change
Australia’s Federal and State governments are failing to produce effective long-term tourism policy to address climate change, according to the findings of new QUT-led research.
http://www.enn.com/business/article/53022

ESB to use inflated costs for wind and solar to justify NEG
Giles Parkinson
Energy Security Board to use vastly inflated costs of wind and solar to justify its National Energy Guarantee. By using prices around 30-40 per cent above actual costs, will support its argument for little new wind and solar to be built in the coming decade.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/esb-to-use-inflated-costs-for-wind-and-solar-to-justify-neg-56434/

Let’s be honest: Australia is well behind on renewables
David Leitch
Australia’s fossil fuel share of electricity generation is higher than that of our peers. This chart is ugly for Australians who care about doing our bit in the 21st century.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/lets-be-honest-australia-is-well-behind-on-renewables-95457/

NEG: A rushed job that takes us backwards, not forwards
Mark Butler
National Energy Guarantee appears to be a plan to get through the Coalition Party Room, and then a plan to have a plan.
Unfortunately, that means many more months of uncertainty.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/neg-a-rushed-job-that-takes-us-backwards-not-forwards-57932/

Australia among the world’s worst on biodiversity conservation
Noel D Preece, James Cook University
Australia is among seven countries contributing to more than half of the world’s biodiversity loss. Yet next month, a crucial network of long-term research sites will lose funding.
https://theconversation.com/australia-among-the-worlds-worst-on-biodiversity-conservation-86685

Australia has a climate change lesson for the world
Waleed Aly
Australians have contorted ourselves to look like we’re responding to climate change without really doing so.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/opinion/australia-climate-change.html?_r=0

Melbourne predicted to become bigger city than Sydney
Australia’s powering population growth is 30 years ahead of predictions.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbourne-predicted-to-become-bigger-city-than-sydney/news-story/932c9df9bdb67beb619664021d0969c5

Anti-Adani grandparents peaceful rally end
After four hours camped inside the Sydney electorate office of federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese, protesters against the proposed Adani coalmine in Queensland have ended their rally peacefully.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/protesters-greet-pm-outside-israel-hotel/news-story/c143411438f5ad3cee1e76e2d9cb9bf1

Emails reveal official concerns with Adani super-mine
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/emails-reveal-officials-probing-environmental-and-financial-concerns-with-adani-supermine-20171102-gzdc5h.html

LNP pledges new dams
Nullinga Dam would be progressed with a $10million study to get it “shovel-ready” under a Tim Nicholls-led state government.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/lnp-pledges-cash-for-nullinga-dam-and-tinaroo-fillup-plan/news-story/f394d06135fd6e36539e02fe407501f6

Huge solar project switched on
A Manunda-based renewable energy business has played a huge role in the first large-scale solar project to become operational in the Far North.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/normanton-solar-farm-switched-on-as-labor-spruiks-renewable-boom/news-story/dd9487c7a080fd3f83c12a88e50b8840

Adani takes another climb up Mount Absurdity
Julien Vincent
http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/adani-takes-another-climb-up-mount-absurdity-20171101-gzd485.html

SA Water Minister kicked out of Murray-Darling Basin Senate inquiry
South Australia’s Water Minister is dramatically kicked out of an Adelaide Senate inquiry into claims of theft and water tampering in the Murray-Darling Basin.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-02/sa-water-minister-kicked-out-of-mdb-inquiry/9111148

Challenges remain to keep Tasmanian devils alive in wild
Tasmanian devils may be safe from total extinction thanks to captive populations, but keeping them alive in the wild remains a big challenge, according to the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-02/ups-and-downs-for-tasmanian-devils-in-2017/9111106

Forestry Tas delivers $24 million loss
THE Government Business Enterprise formerly known as Forestry Tasmania has delivered a final multi-million loss to taxpayers.
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/politics/forestry-tasmania-delivers-24-million-loss/news-story/e95f72b8db0c8eacf39584335127feee

Final nail hammered into pulp mill’s coffin
THE Bell Bay pulp mill is dead, after a decade of controversy which divided Tasmania.
http://www.themercury.com.au/business/final-nail-hammered-into-pulp-mills-coffin-with-permits-handed-back-by-gunns-receivers/news-story/7c0594ab21eedca9b5408af28d75932c

Engineer to establish WA’s first plastic recycling plant
When Western Australians put clear plastic bottles in their yellow-topped recycling bin, most assume the bottles are making their way to a plant to be reprocessed, but the state has zero reprocessing capacity. Now, a local entrepreneur wants to change that.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-02/entrepreneur-to-start-first-plastic-recycling-plant-in-wa/9108696

How Air Pollution Clouds Mental Health
There is little debate over the link between air pollution and the human respiratory system: Research shows that dirty air can impair breathing and aggravate various lung diseases. Other potential effects are being investigated, too, as scientists examine connections between toxic air and obesity, diabetes and dementia.
Now add to that list psychological distress, which University of Washington researchers have found is also associated with air pollution.
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/53030

Additional Hurdle to Widespread Planting of Bioenergy Crops Identified
A study examining how certain decisions impact what farmers plant and harvest identified one crucial factor that researchers believe needs to be added to the list of decision variables when …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171102151045.htm

Climate change-fueled drought drives Sri Lanka’s farmers to cities
“Farmers are moving because there isn’t enough money in agriculture,” officials admit.
http://news.trust.org/item/20171102024319-kheqb/

Scientists work to make better plastics from sunlight
This process could revolutionize how bioplastics are produced.
http://www.newsweek.com/odd-couple-bacteria-bolivian-salt-flats-and-synthetic-cyanobacteria-are-698502

Rejected teenagers: the trend of closing young coal plants
Bob Burton
It’s not just old coal power plants that are being closed down. In Italy, the US, and the Netherlands, coal plants that are barely teenagers are being targeted for closure.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/rejected-teenagers-trend-closing-young-coal-plants-11937/

Pruitt is turning his back on transparency at the EPA
William D. Ruckelshaus
The agency should be a fishbowl, not a black box — or it will crumble.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pruitt-is-turning-his-back-on-transparency-at-the-epa/2017/11/01/cd2c1b84-bd88-11e7-8444-a0d4f04b89eb_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ce46806d706e

Tesla isn’t a clean company if it treats workers like dirt
Miya Yoshitani
Building a sustainable world must not come at the expense of workers struggling to make ends meet. And that’s why the company’s recent round of firings, with no warning and no explanation, are troubling.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article181990381.html