Post of the Day
Parking requirements attack the nature of the city itself, subordinating density to the needs of the car.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
Climate crisis to put millions of British homes at risk of subsiding
Drier summers mean the ground in vulnerable areas will be more prone to shrink and crack, scientists say
Climate-proofing impossible without better models and super-computing
Investments worth trillions of dollars to help protect people and assets in a warming world could be wasted without more powerful computer models to predict exposure to climate change.
Climate change could make overwinter ‘zombie’ fires more common
In the boreal forests of the far northern hemisphere, where the climate is warming faster than almost anywhere else, some wildfires are surviving winter snows and picking up again in spring.
Net zero by 2050: a roadmap for the global energy sector
International Energy Agency
The number of countries announcing pledges to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades continues to grow. At the same time, questions are being asked about whether net-zero emissions can be achieved globally by 2050 with a view to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, and in particular what it would mean for the energy sector.
The International Energy Agency issues a landmark statement about fossil fuels
Bill McKibben
Our hope for a livable world rests on a series of crucial sentences.
National
Major changes to supermarket experience as retail giants try to stop waste
A new report has named Australia as the worst country for producing single-use plastic waste – and conservationists say nothing will change without serious action.
Revealed: Energy lobby group, Rio Tinto to receive ARENA grants
Government inadvertently reveals list of grant recipients, including Rio Tinto, the Australian Energy Council and an ambitious concentrating solar project.
Don’t wreck ARENA to fund fossil fuels: ACF
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has called on parliamentarians to block Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s latest attempt to expand the mandate of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to allow it to fund carbon capture projects and hydrogen produced from coal and gas.
Morrison’s gas fired power play sparks investment warnings
Australia’s power industry has hit out at the Morrison government’s plan for a taxpayer-funded gas-fired generator, describing it as an unnecessary market intervention that risks derailing vital future investments needed to transition the energy grid.
Ampol going green in Tesla tie-up [$]
Australia’s largest fuel supplier Ampol will detail plans to turn green, including a tie up with Tesla, the world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer, and a push into green hydrogen production at its Brisbane refinery.
The IEA’s shift away from coal and gas makes things awkward for the government
David Speers
A new report by the IEA lays bare what is required to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 – and it will now be much harder for either the government or Labor to be taken seriously on climate change
Government-owned firms like Snowy Hydro can do better than building $600 million gas plants
Arjuna Dibley
The Morrison government today announced it’s building a new gas power plant in the Hunter Valley, committing up to A$600 million for the government-owned corporation Snowy Hydro to construct the project.
Kurri Kurri decision an extraordinary intervention in market
Tony Wood
This investment is not needed to maintain reliable electricity in NSW. And it will not lower prices.
$3b-plus pumped into fossil fuels this year. Is that ‘adapting to climate change’? [$]
Bernard Keane
The Morrison government wasting $600 million on another fossil-fuel powered generator shows just how out of touch it is on climate.
Australian subsidies give oil refineries the whole carrot farm while electric vehicles get the stick
Richie Merzian
The only viable long-term solution to our liquid fuel insecurity is to get off fossil fuels. Instead we are giving them taxpayer handouts
Gas-powered generators a bad misstep
Canberra Times editorial
Australians disappointed by Scott Morrison’s poor showing at Joe Biden’s April climate summit will be in despair when he fronts up to November’s Glasgow Global Climate Change Conference with the news he once signed off on two gas-fuelled power plants costing $1 billion in just over a week.
Samantha Hepburn
Even if every country meets its current climate targets, Earth’s temperature will still rise by a dangerous 2.1℃ this century, according to sobering findings from a new International Energy Agency report.
Blueprint for opportunity in a changing energy world [$]
Australian editorial
It is clear from the International Energy Agency’s flagship report, Net Zero by 2050, that the capture of financial markets and regulatory agencies by the decarbonisation agenda is now all but complete.
Coalition’s energy policy rooted in communist-style state control [$]
John Kehoe
Australia’s calamitous energy and climate policy is going from bad to worse with the government decision to build a $600m gas-fired power plant that will deter private investment.
IEA’s heroic assumptions to reach net zero by 2050 [$]
Mark Ludlow
The International Energy Agency’s landmark report on the roadmap to net zero emissions by 2050 grabbed the headlines with its call for an end to coal and gas projects. But for a resource-rich country like Australia – which has made billions from the export of coal and gas, which have also been the backbone of our energy grid and economy – it didn’t really provide realistic answers to how we can move to a low-emissions economy by the middle of the century.
Massive wind farm contract to help power 46 Victorian councils
Forty-six Victorian councils sign up to buy 240GWh of renewable electricity from two major wind farms in deal with Snowy Hydro-owned retailer Red Energy.
In a corner of Collingwood, the future of farming is being rewritten
Tucked between forested riverbanks and paved-over inner-city streets, Collingwood Children’s Farm presents a model for the future of urban food production.
New South Wales
Why is the government going to build a gas-fired power station?
The federal government’s unveiled its controversial plan to build a new gas-fired power station at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley, but not everyone thinks it’s a great idea. Here’s how we got here and why people are against it.
Coalition gas plant “reckless,” battery storage is much cheaper, says CEC
Clean Energy Council slams federal government decision to go ahead with new gas-fired power station in New South Wales, noting battery storage is significantly cheaper.
Farmers call for mass poison program to wipe out mouse plague
Desperate to end the crisis, NSW Farmers vice president Xavier Martin, who operates a wheat, canola and sorghum farm at Mullaley, has issued a desperate plea to the state government.
From desert to inland sea as 800 billion litres flows into Menindee Lakes
Menindee Lakes, one of the largest lake systems in the Murray-Darling Basin, are filling fast with the biggest inflows in five years, allowing releases into the Baaka-Darling River downstream.
NSW secures mice killer poison for farmers
NSW has acquired what the government calls “one of the world’s strongest mice-killing chemicals” to combat the rodents which are causing catastrophic damage in regional areas.
Bloodlines row over massive Sydney and Central Coast native title claim [$]
A group purporting to be direct descendants of legendary Indigenous leader King Bungaree who have demanded native title over large parts of Sydney and the Central Coast are “not recognised as being of Aboriginal descent”, according to at least seven Aboriginal land councils opposing the claims.
Labor divided on $600m Hunter gas plant [$]
A gas plant in the Hunter Valley has divided the Labor party with local MPs supporting the proposal despite opposition federal energy spokesman Chris Bowen condemning it.
Kurri Kurri conflicts: new gas plant is a field day for party donors [$]
Georgia Wilkins
A $600 million subsidy for a gas plant in Kurri Kurri makes no commercial sense for the taxpayer, but there are plenty of windfalls for Liberal Party donors.
Coal industry jobs the major issue for by-election voters [$]
Tim Blair
For Upper Hunter locals the upcoming by-election is all about coal and jobs.
ACT
Australian National University aims for negative carbon emissions by 2030
The Australian National University has pledged to take more carbon out of the atmosphere than it puts in by 2030.
Mouse plague heads for Canberra, as baits and traps sell out in ACT [$]
In the pandemic, it was toilet paper; in the coming mouse plague, it’s bait stations.
Queensland
War on acid-spraying yellow crazy ants will be ‘won or lost in the cane’
In the air and on the ground, the war against one of the world’s most invasive ant species ramps up in Far North Queensland.
‘The living heart of Australia’: fracking plans threaten fragile channel country
The locals are divided as energy companies eye the gas resources buried kilometres below the sensitive Queensland floodplain region
PM comes up short on infrastructure funding for state’s north
The government’s Advisory Group for Northern Australia sought billions of dollars for infrastructure upgrades. It was not in the budget.
Queensland is the only state where dolphins can be bred for entertainment
The state has rejected calls for the breeding and importation of dolphins for entertainment to be banned.
Australia’s largest electrolyser switches on, to pipe “renewable gas” into homes
A South Australian government-backed operation to manufacture green hydrogen and distribute it through the gas mains has officially begun operations.
Pressure on securing safe water for regional SA towns
The State Government is seeking public comment on the state of South Australia’s water resources, following the release of a report claiming a lack of accountability and leadership has left regional and remote towns without a secure supply of safe drinking water.
Seaford Heights recycling facility included in funding boost for SA recycling industry [$]
A new southern suburbs recyling facility – one of the most advanced in the country – will receive a cash boost as part of a major plan to help the state’s recycling industry.
Tasmania
The Hobart community will soon get a formal say on the controversial proposal for a cable car on kunanyi/Mount Wellington, but one group is already flagging it will do what it takes to stop it.
Boral denies excavating Aboriginal stone artefacts from quarry
Construction company Boral denies allegations by Tasmania’s Environment Department it excavated Aboriginal relics from its quarry near Hobart.
IMAS ocean plastics study sees awful year for amount of ocean plastic
The amount of plastic floating in the Tasman sea continues to be as unpredictable as it is dangerous, according to a leading marine science researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.
Cable car could be off the ground ‘within two years’ [$]
Supporters and opponents of the kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car project alike will finally have a chance to have their official say on the development from next week.
kunanyi cable car to enter public consultation phase
Media release – Mount Wellington Cableway Company
Tasmanians will now get a say on the long-awaited cable car project after the Hobart City Council today accepted MWCC had met all requests for additional information to allow formal assessment to proceed.
Verdant enlists NT’s ex-chief minister to push big Darwin green hydrogen plan
Verdant Earth Technologies, a small energy company with big plans for exporting green hydrogen, wants to create a hydrogen export hub in the Top End.
Activists concerned about lack of transparency around fracking proposal [$]
Subscribers of an NT Government website have failed to receive notifications about new environmental management plans being lodged despite being told they would.
Western Australia’s biggest wind farm formally opened, with PPA to come
Western Australia’s largest wind energy project, the 214MW Yandin wind farm, is formally open and will be one of the most productive in the country.
Sustainability
Putin celebrates new partnership to build nuclear reactors for China
Joining Xi Jinping to launch the construction of Russian-designed reactors at Chinese nuclear power plants, Vladimir Putin says the relationship between their nations has reached a new high.
Climate change: Ban new gas boilers from 2025 to reach net-zero`
A ban on new gas boilers from 2025 is one step to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, say energy experts.
Fossil fuel firms, banks under fire for rise in single-use plastic
With a projected surge in production of throwaway plastic, a new index spotlights the companies making the raw ingredient from oil and gas and the banks funding them.
Parking requirements attack the nature of the city itself, subordinating density to the needs of the car.
Nature Conservation
Scientists launch tool to detect bleaching of coral reefs in near real time
The world-first system can allow anyone to check if reefs known to be under heat stress have started to bleach
Governments achieve target of protecting 17% of land globally
UN report warns that quantity not matched by quality, with many conserved areas poorly protected, as Germany backs new landscapes fund for developing countries
Food giants accused of links to illegal Amazon deforestation
Cargill, Bunge and Cofco sourced beans from companies allegedly supplied by a farmer fined for destroying swathes of rainforest
High levels of contaminants in killer whales
Little is known concerning environmental contaminants in predators at the top of a food chain. A study has demonstrated that new types of brominated flame retardants accumulate in the tissues of killer whales near Norway and are also passed on to nursing offspring.
Grazing management of salt marshes contributes to coastal defense
Combining natural salt marsh habitats with conventional dikes may provide a more sustainable alternative for fully engineered flood protection. Researchers studied how salt marsh management can be optimized for coastal defense purposes. They found that grazing by both cattle and small herbivores such as geese and hare and artificial mowing can reduce salt marsh erosion, therefore contributing to nature-based coastal defense.
What to save? Climate change forces brutal choices at national parks
For decades, the core mission of the US Park Service was absolute conservation. Now ecologists are being forced to do triage, deciding what to safeguard – and what to let slip away.
Monitoring species condemned to extinction may help save others as global temperatures rise
The White-tailed Swallow, Hirundo megaensis, and Ethiopian Bush-crow, Zavattariornis stresemanni, are living in ‘climatic lifeboats’ with their tiny ranges restricted on all sides by temperature and rainfall patterns. Even under moderate climate warming, models predict a severe loss of suitable climate for these birds within the next 50 years – dramatically heightening their risk of extinction.
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