Post of the Day
Out on its own: Australia the only country to use climate funding to upgrade coal-fired plants
Green finance experts say Australia is out of step with World Bank, Europe and the US, which are using funding to combat global warming
Today’s Celebration
Anti-Japanese Uprising Day – North Korea
Baba Marta – Bulgaria
Heroes’ Day – Paraguay
Independence Movement Day – South Korea
Instauration de la Republique – Switzerland
National Independence Day – Bosnia-Herzegovina
Nuclear Victim’s Remembrance Day – Marshall Islands
Bikini Day – Japan
Yap Day (Yap) – Micronesia
Martisor – Romania
Labour Day – Western Australia
St. David’s Day – Christianity
International Women of Color Day
Climate Change
Retired general frames climate change risks
Retired Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Stephen Cheney, now CEO of the American Security Project think tank, told an audience in Wilmington this week that climate change poses a national security threat.
How extreme data management can help tackle extreme climate chaos
For too long, technology and industrialization have been contributors to climate change.
Our kids need us to act fast on climate change
Old-timers in Washington counsel patience, but most Americans agree: The time for big, bold ideas is now.
Visualizing the interconnections among climate risks
Climate change affects multiple sectors in virtually every part of the world. Impacts on one sector may influence other sectors, which we call ‘interconnections of climate risks’. Our easy-to-understand risk maps and flowcharts show how changes in climate impact natural and socio-economic systems, ultimately affecting human security, health, and well-being. Our methodology can be used as a communication tool to inform decision makers, stakeholders, and the public about the cascading risks triggered by climate change.
Natural climate solutions are not enough
To stabilize the Earth’s climate for people and ecosystems, it is imperative to ramp up natural climate solutions and, at the same time, accelerate mitigation efforts across the energy and industrial sectors, according to a new policy perspective published today in Science. Among their findings, the researchers warn that a ten-year delay in emissions reductions from energy and industry could this century result in emissions that negate the net potential emissions reductions benefit of natural climate solutions.
To fight climate change, “Talk about it”
Katharine Hayhoe
“The majority of the people in the country don’t talk about it. And if we don’t talk about it, why would we care,” Hayhoe says.
National
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise
Increases in greenhouse gas emissions from growing liquefied natural gas exports, although offset by lower emissions from electricity, pushed Australia’s overall carbon pollution up by nearly 1 per cent in the year to September.
Power companies top list of nation’s biggest emitters
Coal-fired power companies have been named as Australia’s largest polluters by the Clean Energy Regulator, dominating the list of the top 10 biggest carbon emitters.
PM Morrison’s careful tread on renewables
Scott Morrison had to come up with a climate policy, but he couldn’t tread too far from the blueprints laid down by Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
Summer 2018-19 was the hottest on record
Today the sun will set on an exceptional summer — records have fallen for dry, for rain and for heat. Now, the autumn outlook is not what south-eastern farmers want to hear.
Coalition launches push for hydrogen power in energy policy reboot
Morrison government engages chief scientist to develop roadmap for potential $1.7bn export industry
Labor yet to get advice on Paris ‘accounting trick’ it refuses to rule out
Pressure is mounting on Labor to rule out adapting a plan by the Morrison government that would effectively halve Australia’s emissions reduction effort under the Paris climate accord.
Gas exports offset emissions [$]
Cuts to Australia´s greenhouse gas emissions are being offset by rising exports of liquefied natural gas.
Labor calls for national fuel reserve
Opposition leader Bill Shorten says Australia needs to build up its fuel reserves because they are now well below international standards.
Out on its own: Australia the only country to use climate funding to upgrade coal-fired plants
Green finance experts say Australia is out of step with World Bank, Europe and the US, which are using funding to combat global warming
Is meeting Australia’s Paris Agreement emission targets as easy as Scott Morrison says?
Prime Minister Scott Morrison keeps telling us Australia will meet our Paris Agreement targets “in a canter”, but will it be a real reduction in emissions or simply an accounting trick?
National population plan for regional Australia
Regional Australia Institute
This plan delivers five key recommendations to better balance Australia’s population growth – taking pressure off capital cities and presenting great benefits to the rest of the country.
Our carbon sacrifice is pointless [$]
David Leyonhjelm
Australia sits quietly reducing its emissions in the vain hope the big culprits might follow us.
The Chinese coal ‘ban’ carries a significant political message
Tony Walker
The market reaction to the “ban” was telling, underscoring the problem of being so reliant on a single client.
We must improve fuel security [$]
Bill Shorten
The Victorian Reliance II is just one of 14 registered ships in Australia, flying the Australian flag. 30 years ago, we had 100.
Victoria
Victoria regulator lifts fixed rooftop solar export tariffs, slashes peak rate
Victoria regulator ups solar tariffs for minimum “single rate”, but slashes the peak rate for solar exports by more than half.
You’re not imagining it: Why it’s hotter in the city than forecast says
Good news, Melbourne. You’re not imagining things. There’s a strange quirk in the way Melbourne’s weather is measured.
Peninsula bushfire under control after burning close to homes
Bushfire that was threatening homes in Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula has been brought under control.
Power suppliers queue up for taxpayer cash [$]
Almost 20 potential new Victorian power projects — including coal, gas and batteries — have asked for taxpayer-funded support in a bid to secure the nation’s energy grid.
New South Wales
NSW Labor aims for “at least” 50% renewables by 2030
New South Wales Labor says it will aim for at least a 50 per cent share of renewables in the state’s electricity consumption by 2030, and will source the equivalent of all the state government electricity needs from renewables by 2025.
‘Not a war on coal’: NSW Labor’s push for renewable energy target
New South Wales would have to generate “at least” 50 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, if Labor is wins the state election in March.
Coal dead under Labor’s plan [$]
Andrew Clennell
NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley has pledged that “as close as possible to 100 per cent’’ of energy will come from renewables.
Queensland
Windlab declares “force majeure” on Kennedy wind, solar battery project
Leading renewable energy developer Windlab says it has been forced to declare “force majeure” on the development of the world-first wind-solar-battery project, and it is likely to put aside plans to expand the project in the short term in favour of others that will be easier to connect.
Green light for $10b gas project [$]
The state’s biggest new resources project in eight years has been given the go ahead with Arrow Energy’s $10 billion Surat Basin gas project scheduled to start operating next year.
Redflow says on track to cut flow battery production costs by one-third
ASX-listed Australian flow battery maker says it can boost production of its ZMB2 batteries to 30MWh a year, and cut costs by 30% by 2020.
Floods create risk of Barrier Reef ‘freshwater bleaching’
The freshwater runoff from recent flooding around Townsville could be damaging to the Great Barrier Reef.
What Premier must do if Adani mine is blocked
Des Houghton
The State Government has an obligation to take over the black-throated finch conservation zone should the Adani mine fail.
Tasmania
Tasmania swelters into autumn, with fire fears returning
With the memory of recent bushfire emergencies fresh in many Tasmanian minds, the forecast of hot temperatures for the first days of autumn look set to smash records — with a warning the fire danger level is “equal to the worst we have seen” this year.
Council knows the drill on cable car site [$]
Hobart councillors have inspected the proposed cable car drilling points on kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
Second cable underpins $3b energy investment [$]
A renewable energy company says Federal funding for a second Bass Strait interconnector gives it confidence to invest $3 billion in Tasmanian projects.
Northern Territory
‘What the hell is that?!’: Freaky fish caught in NT rarely seen by people
An angler describes a weird-looking fish brought into a boat near Kakadu National Park as something straight out of the classic 1986 horror film Alien.
Western Australia
CCC: Fremantle police treatment of woman ‘inhumane’
WA Police are again under fire from the State’s corruption watchdog over the ‘unprofessional’ and ‘inhumane’ treatment of an injured woman detained in Fremantle.
Sustainability
Explainer: India and Pakistan seem on the brink of war (again) — but could it go nuclear?
The conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir has escalated dramatically and the rivals are both armed with nuclear weapons — what is going on and what might happen?
Marketing plant-based food: focus on taste, not lack of meat
Eating less meat is one of the surest ways to drive down emissions and halt climate change.
Pollution map reveals unsafe air quality at almost 2,000 UK sites
Almost 2,000 locations across the England, Wales and Northern Ireland have levels of air pollution that exceed safety limits, according to a pollution map released by campaigners.
Radiation is good for you? The heretical view gains ground under Trump
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is actively considering claims that low-dose radiation protections should be lifted because exposures make you healthier, a potential boon to radiation-related industries.
Nature Conservation
Fish stocks continuing to fall as oceans warm, study finds
Losses in North Sea are among the world’s biggest, according to US analysis
Everglades in crisis: can this wetland avert an environmental tragedy?
Climate change and human development have pushed Florida to the brink. Now conservations are finding fresh hope in an unlikely form.
What’s in the Natural Resources Management Act
The crucial public lands legislation just passed the House. Here’s why you should care.
Fish provide a vital source of protein for over half the world’s population, with over 56 million people employed by or subsisting on fisheries. But climate change is beginning to disrupt the complex, interconnected systems that underpin this major source of food.
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