Post of the Day
The secret to winning over conservatives on climate action
Parnell Palme McGuinness
As long as renewables aren’t seen to align with their cultural values, political conservatives won’t be on board.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
Climate Change
Britain unveils ‘ambitious’ new target of 68 per cent cut in emissions by 2030
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the UK is taking the lead with a 2030 target that would have the country reducing emissions “faster than any major economy”.
Radical reassessment needed to hit net zero emissions by 2050, says NAO
Watchdog finds UK is projected to fail to meet targets aimed at achieving climate goal
Major companies call on Biden to act on climate change
Utilities, banks and car makers signed a statement urging the President-elect and Congress to enact ambitious climate policy.
China plans rapid expansion of ‘weather modification’ efforts
Ambition to cover area more than one and a half times size of India likely to concern country’s neighbours
A hotter planet is already killing Americans, health experts warn
A new report presented climate change as an immediate public health danger and urged lawmakers to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
National
UNESCO advisory group elevates concern for Gondwana rainforests after bushfires
UNESCO’s conservation advisers say Australia’s globally important subtropical rainforests, many of them devastated by bushfires last year, are under threat from climate change.
Australia received a climate change wake-up call this week — and our health is at stake
A growing number of Australians are experiencing devastating health problems arising from climate change. Could a coordinated national health strategy help?
A change in the weather: new demand for TV presenters to include climate in forecasts
The ABC’s Graham Creed says new climate change research could ‘fill a big gap’ in public understanding
Australia drops plan to use Kyoto credits to meet Paris climate target
Scott Morrison will no longer use Kyoto carryover credits to achieve emissions reduction targets, paving the way for a reset of his climate policies.
Many companies that work in commercial real estate are lagging behind other industries in terms of good environmental management, but there is an increasing number that are catching up fast, a new international report has found.
Government to police private enterprise efforts to reduce emissions
Energy Minister Angus Taylor said he will write to ASX 200 chief executives to offer them the support of government to achieve their aims.
Wind and solar delays create roller-coaster market for renewables certificates
At the start of 2020 forecasts were predicting the year would end with an LGC surplus in the millions, but current trends mean we could easily wind up with…
‘I’m not terrified of climate change’, Angus Taylor resists calls for zero carbon targets
Angus Taylor says there is nothing that ‘terrifies’ him about climate change, as he resists calls for Australia to set a 2050 zero emissions target.
Chart of the day – AEMO assumptions show EVs play pivotal role in grid future
The high growth of electric vehicles will play a large role in significant grid changes, and in decreasing emissions.
“We have to act now:” Pacific Islands plea to Morrison on climate
Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum calls on Australia to set zero carbon target, saying climate change ‘single greatest threat’ to Pacific region.
Energy Insiders Podcast: How companies and states rescued wind and solar
A combination of corporate and state government demand rescued many wind and solar projects in 2020. Chris Briggs explains why.
Battery storage is challenging the very structure of Australia’s energy market
Giles Parkinson
One thing we can expect as the energy world transitions away from a centralised and largely fossil fuelled grid to a renewable and distributed market is that it will look very different from what we have now.
After dropping Kyoto credits, Morrison’s next step is much riskier
David Crowe
It only takes a hint of ambition on climate change to set off panic in some quarters of Scott Morrison’s party room, and a net zero target might do it.
The secret to winning over conservatives on climate action
Parnell Palme McGuinness
As long as renewables aren’t seen to align with their cultural values, political conservatives won’t be on board.
A subsidy a day keeps the farmer in play
Peter Wicks
If Australia has an over-subsidised industry sector, it sure isn’t the renewable energy that the mining lobby and the Coalition keep rattling on about.
Victoria
Ancient Tasmanian timbers featured in Sustainability Shop
The new Sustainability Shop in Melbourne has been fitted out with ancient Tasmanian timbers.
New South Wales
How coal baron Trevor St Baker turned a $1m power plant into a money-making machine
In 2015, the ageing Vales Point station seemed destined for the scrapheap – now, it’s making more than $100m a year
Vales Point says pollution breaches reflect dirty Lake Macquarie water
The operator of one of NSW’s ageing coal-fired power plants says pollution breaches were due to dirty water in Lake Macquarie.
How these 3D-printed concrete tiles hope to undo years of pollution in Sydney Harbour
An underwater garden being planted in Sydney Harbour at Barangaroo uses 3D concrete tiles that aim to mimic and revitalise marine habitats destroyed by development and a “legacy of pollution”.
Murdoch and the Nationals join forces against NSW and “renewable energy stuff”
The big shift by NSW from coal to renewables is all too much for the Nationals and Sky News.
New 200MW solar project with big battery approved for New South Wales
New South Wales planning commission green-lights new 200MW solar project in Inverell Shire, to be co-located with a big battery.
ACT
Christmas beetles could return after a wet spring, CSIRO expert says
Nothing screams summer more than a chorus of cicadas on a warm evening, but the real surprise this year could be the return of the Christmas beetle.
ACT beats 2020 emissions reduction target, achieving 45 pct cut since 1990
ACT announces it has overachieved its 2020 emissions target, reducing emissions by 45 per cent, thanks to a shift to 100 per cent renewable electricity.
Queensland
Nest of endangered ‘bum-breathing’ turtle found in new territory
It’s a curious creature and the discovery of a Mary River Turtle nest in an area previously thought to be outside their range has researchers intrigued.
Meet some of the players (and spectators) in this year’s massive coral spawning event
Each of the animals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef plays a crucial role within the ecosystem. Here are seven creatures you’re likely to see when you visit the reef.
Positive signs in desperate effort to put out Fraser Island fire
Firefighting crews dropped almost a million litres of water on the massive fire that has razed almost half of Fraser Island on Thursday.
UNESCO to be briefed on Fraser Island fire damage
Analysis of the damage to the World Heritage-listed island will be passed to the United Nation’s management body once the fires still burning are contained.
Fraser Island fires were ‘time bomb’ waiting to happen [$]
The State Government was warned 11 times about Fraser Island’s mismanagement by a scientific committee that was disbanded soon after.
Firefighters are on high alert across Queensland
A heatwave sweeping across Queensland this weekend will bring scorching temperatures well into the forties across the state.
Tasmania
GPS tracking to help decide turbines’ location [$]
GPS trackers will be fitted to wedge-tailed eagles at the site of a proposed wind farm before the energy company decides where it will erect the turbines.
Northern Territory
eBikes hit Darwin streets for the first time [$]
Neuron’s eBikes will be roaming Darwin’s streets this morning in an Australian-first, with the first fleet unveiled across the CBD’s outskirts.
Western Australia
Long-awaited snap proves rare bird ‘not a figment of our imagination’
It’s taken seven years and 355,700 snaps, but the critically endangered western ground parrot is finally photographed in the wild with the help of a heat-activated camera.
Sustainability
More than 500,000 full electric cars sold so far this year in Europe
Carmakers have sold more than 500,000 battery electric cars in Europe during 2020, a milestone in the automotive industry’s move away from fossil fuels.
Global soils underpin life but future looks ‘bleak’, warns UN report
It takes thousands of years for soils to form, meaning protection is needed urgently, say scientists
US plans to protect thousands of miles of coral reefs in Pacific and Caribbean
Proposals cite climate change as most severe threat to US reefs, which may be in danger of disappearing in some places
Immersive platform to explore global reef ecosystems
Exploring reefs around the world is now possible without leaving home, with Reef Life Explorer, an immersive interactive platform that tracks global reef health using data collected by citizen science scuba divers.
Trump to sell Arctic oil rights days before Biden sworn in
The Trump administration is racing to sell oil drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Joe Biden takes office so the president-elect can’t revoke the contracts.
Trees appear to communicate and cooperate through subterranean networks of fungi. What are they sharing with one another?
Human reproductive technologies like sperm freezing and IVF could be used to save threatened species
Lachlan G. Howell and John Clulow
More and more threatened species are relying on captive breeding to avoid extinction. Some species on the brink only exist in captivity, and others depend on captive breeding for their recovery before they’re released to the wild.
Adrian H. Hearn
A new film taps into virtual reality and First Nations wisdom to help people re-conceive of the nature around them, not as a thing but as a “who” in a relationship that needs give and take
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