Post of the Day
Almost half of thermal coal firms set to defy climate pledge – report
Almost half the companies involved in the thermal coal industry are expected to defy global climate commitments by deepening their coal interests in the coming years, according to a report.
On This Day
Diwali – Hinduism
Bandi Chhor Divas – Sikhism
Ecological Observance
National Tree Day – Luxembourg
Climate Change
What does the Biden win mean for climate action?
Andrew Norton
On climate finance, faster emissions cuts and setting the climate action traffic signal for business from red to green, a Biden administration could produce big shifts.
What climate activists must do in the Biden era
Bill McKibben
A broad coalition brought Joe Biden to victory. If activists want real progress on climate in a Biden administration, they need to learn how to press their case aggressively without alienating those they need to work with to get things done.
National
National state of emergency to be created by Government in response to summer bushfires
The Federal Government says it will create a new law that will allow it to declare a national state of emergency if needed during future natural disasters.
Butler says he’d leave climate change portfolio to end Labor infighting if asked
Federal Labor’s climate change spokesman says he would accept any call by his leader to shift portfolios, if it helped to end a rift within the caucus over the party’s policy direction.
State of the climate: five big issues from the report that will affect every Australian
The extremes of the past year will soon become commonplace, as rivers dry and temperatures rise
Giving Australia a climate report card, the CSIRO/BOM video reflects their latest findings.
Green giants: the massive projects that could make Australia a clean energy superpower
The Asian Renewable Energy Hub would have an energy content equivalent to 40% of Australia’s overall electricity generation
Coalition intends to honour ‘legacy’ of bushfires and support royal commission recommendations
Morrison government will establish a national disaster recovery agency to oversee federal bushfire, flood and drought bureaucracy
Power bills may fall as energy costs dive
The cost of wholesale gas and electricity generation has taken a dive, increasing the likelihood of cheaper household and commercial bills.
Kill Cogati: Wind and solar sector urges ESB to drop “wrong reform at wrong time”
The clean energy sector has urged the Energy Security Board to finally kill-off the controversial COGATI reforms once and for all.
Please Explain podcast: Why is climate policy so divisive in Australia?
In this episode, climate and environment editor Nick O’Malley is joined by climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley to discuss the political landscape around climate change.
Bureau of Meteorology (Australia), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
This sixth biennial State of the Climate report draws on the latest climate research, encompassing observations, analyses and projections to describe year-to-year variability and longer-term changes in Australia’s climate.
Paddy Manning
On climate, the Morrison government is stuck in denial
Adam Holmes
The Russian heat wave of 2010 resulted in the deaths of an estimated 50,000 people through extreme temperatures, but its contribution to climate science proved immeasurable.
The ghost of Tony Abbott paralyses Canberra on climate action
Peter Hartcher
The impact of the former prime minister continues to spook both sides of Parliament House.
Australia’s leaders are lagging behind on climate
Ebony Bennett
Australia is experiencing climate change now and warming is set to continue, according to the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO’s 2020 State of the Climate report released yesterday.
Turning the tide for positive climate action
Belinda Baggs
Being a surfer now comes with a responsibility. Both the sport, and the culture, are at an increasing risk due to the effects of climate change.
What do Labor’s denialists know that the world’s biggest energy companies don’t? [$]
Bernard Keane
As Labor lays itself bare over coal, the industry itself is dying before our eyes and the biggest companies want out before they’re left with the bill.
Oil-loving International Energy Agency hears the music on renewables. Will Australia follow? [$]
Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane
Renewable energy is on track to become the largest source of power worldwide in just a couple of years. So says the long-term sceptic of renewables, the International Energy Agency.
Labor’s climate realist knows it’s all about that base [$]
Gerard Henderson
It was around three decades between the start of World War I in July 1914 and the end of World War II in August 1945. In between, most of the world changed dramatically, never to return to its antebellum status. Yet we are led to expect that governments and political parties can commit realistically today to emission reduction targets to be achieved by 2050 or, in the case of China, 2060.
Labor’s emission impossible: Albanese sets climate target he cannot deliver [$]
Chris Kenny
This year, more than most, should have brought home to politicians, commentators, activists and voters that life is unpredictable.
Collaboration, engagement and innovation: Australia’s road to resilience from natural disasters [$]
Con Balaskas
The highly anticipated final report from the Royal Commission into Natural Disasters, of which all recommendations were accepted by the Government, highlighted many ways that technology can help to protect our communities from bushfires and other natural disasters.
A tale of two Labors in an age of foolishness [$]
Jack the Insider
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Political climate changes with Biden win [$]
Paul Bongiorno
Australia’s political leaders were among the first to declare their faith in America’s democracy when the Biden victory in the presidential election became clear. They realised that what was at stake was the credibility of a nation that for the past 75 years has claimed to be the leader of the ‘free world’.
The politics of Joel Fitzgibbon [$]
Karen Middleton
As Joel Fitzgibbon quits the Labor frontbench over climate policy, some in the party question whether a longstanding friendship with Anthony Albanese allows the maverick to get away with too much.
New South Wales
Feral rusa deer cull in the Sutherland Shire, “These animals don’t belong in our bush, they are introduced and they cause havoc to the community.” says biodiversity leader, Lee Parker.
New wind and solar farms begin production in NSW
Molong solar farm welcomed to the NSW grid this week, alongside the Sunraysia solar farm, the Collector wind farm, and the Wellington solar farm.
Queensland
‘I’m a koala matchmaker’: Inside unique Queensland profession [$]
Koala specialist Sarah Eccleston spends her day hugging koalas and describes her job as the ‘best in the world’. Now she wants to use her role to teach kids to care about koalas.
Protester tells different story outside court [$]
A climate activist has been fined $2000 for stopping Brisbane peak-hour traffic in a stunt involving a giant tripod. But outside court she went back on her promise to not do it again.
Professor shoots for the moon to save Barrier Reef with ‘coral IVF’
Coral researcher Peter Harrison dreams that the power of the full moon can help repair the reef and thousands of others are seeing the light.
Climate change not a vote issue in Queensland [$]
Only one in 20 Labor voters in the Queensland state election nominated climate change as an important policy issue in a direct challenge to Anthony Albanese’s claim that the victory was an endorsement of federal Labor’s agenda.
South Australia
‘It shouldn’t be here’: Residents worried about a plastics factory that went up in smoke
Residents living near a large plastics recycling factory in Adelaide’s inner north, where a fire broke out last night, say they are worried about the health impacts of fumes being emitted from the facility.
Tasmania
‘Difficult to deliver’: state’s infrastructure timetable doubted [$]
A leading credit rating agency has cast doubt on whether the Tasmanian government will be able to deliver its promised record infrastructure spend in the time-frame it has committed to.
Tasmania to introduce a container deposit scheme by 2022
The state budget contains $9.5 million for initiatives to reduce waste and promote recycling, including money for the establishment of a Tasmanian container deposit scheme in 2022.
Northern Territory
The young Indigenous woman fighting fracking in remote NT
Amelia Telford is a young Aboriginal and South Sea Islander woman from Bundjalung country, who’s on the forefront of the fight against fracking in remote communities in the Northern Territory.
Western Australia
The art of preserving our rocks of ages [$]
Aboriginal rangers are checking in on their famous Wanjina and Gwion rock art sites along the Kimberley coast, using photographs taken nearly 70 years ago by anthropologist Ian Crawford to compare the former and current states of the same sites.
Graph of the Day: Best performing wind farms in October
Western Australia wind farms take top positions in latest table assessing performance of Australia’s wind projects.
Sustainability
Why the Biden presidency will be a boon for sustainable investment
For Trillium chief executive Matthew Patsky, Joe Biden’s victory in becoming America’s 46th president means not only will his business boom, but he can talk to his father again.
Would you have the snip to save the environment? [$]
Vegan activists are a new demographic seeking sterilisation before they have had any children.
Almost half of thermal coal firms set to defy climate pledge – report
Almost half the companies involved in the thermal coal industry are expected to defy global climate commitments by deepening their coal interests in the coming years, according to a report.
How Iran is destroying its once thriving environmental movement
Iran once boasted one of the greenest governments. But persecution, paranoia, and war have sunk the Middle East’s most vital conservation programs.
Although they are simple structures, there are surprises hiding inside wind turbines.
Energy Insiders Podcast: Why wind is better value than solar
Tilt Renewables CEO Deion Campbell explains why wind farms are better value than solar right now, and challenges at Dundonnell.
Tracking the effects of climate change on Arctic animals is no easy task
The climate in the Arctic is rapidly changing and new research offers the first large-scale look at how animal species in the region are adapting.
Entangled: How a global seaweed ‘plague’ threatens West Africa’s coastline
From the Gulf of Guinea to the mouth of the Senegal River, a sprawling shroud of seaweed is choking coastal ecosystems and the fishing communities that depend on them.
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