Post of the Day
Does climate change have us licked?
Waleed Aly
The giant contradiction at the heart of climate politics is that it is a collection of national leaders pursuing national interests while trying to solve a borderless, global problem.
On This Day
International Volunteer Managers Day
Ecological Observance
Arbor Day – Samoa
Climate Change
COP26 a ‘blokes’ space’ says former female conference president
Despite being among the most vulnerable from climate change, women and girls are not adequately represented in COP26 climate negotiations, says former climate summit president.
Indigenous leaders from around the world march through Glasgow to COP26
Indigenous leaders from all over the world marched through COP26 host city Glasgow to raise awareness of the role of Indigenous peoples in the fight against climate change, and the threat against their traditional lands.
World leaders have already secured a few wins at COP26, with or without Australia’s help
Amid diplomatic tensions, climate urgency and never-ending spin, delegates at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow managed to secure a couple of wins at a global level.
Carbon emissions ‘near pre-COVID levels’
Carbon emissions have rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, according to a new study with coal and natural gas emissions surging in the power and industry sectors even as transportation emissions remain low.
Climate Group welcomes launch of First Movers Coalition
The Climate Group has today welcomed the launch of the First Movers Coalition (FMC). The Climate Group has played a key role as part of the Design Committee for this initiative.
RE-Source and Climate Group speak to taskforce on their business aspirations for COP26
For the last few months, the Climate Group and RE-Source have been hosting the Communicators of Change Taskforce. The taskforce is a new group for highly respected senior communications professionals committed to promoting the benefits of renewables.
UK Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng met with US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm today (4 November 2021) at the UN COP26 summit in Glasgow, where they discussed strengthening cooperation to accelerate the global transition to clean energy and build back better ambitions.
Celebrities team up on climate crisis ’cause flash’
Leonardo DiCaprio, Camila Cabello, Pitbull, Cher, Billy Porter, Cyndi Lauper, Quincy Jones, LL Cool J, Jason Mraz, Melissa Etheridge, Jordan Sparks, Pentatonix, and more have teamed up with the Right Here, Right Now Climate Alliance and its global partner United Nations Human Rights to make an urgent plea to 120+ world leaders assembling at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26 Summit) in Glasgow through Nov. 12, 2021.
How private sector plans to spend $130 trillion to combat climate change
Banks, insurers and investors with $US130 trillion ($A175 trillion) at their disposal have pledged to put combating climate change at the centre of their work, and gained support in the form of efforts to put green investing on a firmer footing.
New promises made at Glasgow COP26 climate talks – so far
Governments have made pledges on deforestation, methane, net-zero emissions goal, and financing.
Glasgow ‘grinding’ in the right direction, says Carbon Market CEO [$]
The head of Australia’s Carbon Market Institute, John Connor, who represents some of the nation’s biggest climate change investors, has hit back at suggestions this year’s UN talks in Glasgow are a failure saying the world has made material progress.
Misinformation about climate ‘increasing substantially’ on Facebook
A new report, conducted by watchdog the Real Facebook Oversight Board and environmental nonprofit Stop Funding Heat, analyzed 195 Facebook pages and found over 48,700 posts spreading climate misinformation.
Effort to reframe climate change as a health crisis gains steam
Research has increasingly shown that warming is taking a deadly toll on human health. At the global climate summit in Glasgow, the issue has gained new prominence.
Why methane cuts pledged at COP26 may be key to meeting climate goals
Led by the U.S. and the EU, the pledge aims to cut emissions of the ultra-potent greenhouse gas 30 percent by 2030.
Earth has 11 years to cut emissions to avoid dire climate scenarios, a report says
Carbon dioxide emissions are rebounding after a dip in 2020, and researchers say that at the current rate, the Earth’s “carbon budget” will be exhausted in roughly 11 years.
Is it green, or forever toxic? Nuclear rift at climate talks
As negotiators plot out how to fuel the world while also reducing carbon emissions at climate talks in Scotland, nuclear power is a central sticking point.
Britain revives COP26 anti-coal campaign with panoply of pledges
Efforts to rid the world of coal, oil and gas will return to centre stage at the COP26 summit in Glasgow late on Thursday (AEDT), putting pressure on Energy Minster Angus Taylor during his last full day at the summit.
COP26: International Energy Agency’s Fatih Birol backs Australia’s blue hydrogen push
International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol told a gathering of Australian government officials that global heating would be restricted to 1.8 degrees Celsius if all of the pledges being made at the United National climate conference COP26 were implemented.
Indigenous activists on tackling the climate crisis: ‘We have done more than any government’ – video
Despite only making up about 6% of the global population, Indigenous people protect 80% of biodiversity left in the world.
The Greta effect: is Glasgow fuelled by real momentum or just blah blah blah?
Nick O’Malley
In his first address at the talks Boris Johnson quoted Thunberg’s scathing assessment of the collective failure of the world’s governments and institutions to address climate change.
Zero sense in making economy vulnerable [$]
Matt Canavan
Global climate conferences like Glasgow have not helped reduce carbon emissions – but they have helped transfer wealth and industry from the woke west to the rising countries of the east.
‘The money is there’: the mind-numbing numbers that are almost too big to believe
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
A $US130 trillion investor club launched by the lords of global finance in Scotland is beyond normal comprehension, so outlandish that one might justifiably suspect a giant con.
Does climate change have us licked?
Waleed Aly
The giant contradiction at the heart of climate politics is that it is a collection of national leaders pursuing national interests while trying to solve a borderless, global problem.
Land, culture, livelihood: what Indigenous people stand to lose from climate ‘solutions’
Robert Hales
More than 100 nations have pledged to end deforestation by 2030. But there’s no mention of the need for Indigenous people to give their prior informed consent.
Greta Thunberg, TikTok activism, and the other side of COP26 [$]
Imogen Champagne
Beyond the official images of powerful people glad-handing and speechifying, there’s a strong undercurrent of activism on the streets and social media.
Can the courts save us from climate change?
Rebekkah Markey-Towler and Jacqueline Peel
Governments around the world are being taken to court for inaction on climate change – but can litigation help fill the policy gap?
Glasgow Brief: Big “anti-coal day” as Taylor confronted in Glasgow
Michael Mazengarb
Anti coal day but Poland does a back flip, 2°C global warming appears within reach, and Taylor buttonholed in Glasgow.
National
Can Australia untangle its climate mess? You decide
Here’s how Australia could become a renewable superpower by 2030. Sounds too good to be true? You tell us.
Australia among notable absentees as dozens of nations pledge to phase out coal
More than 70 countries signed on to the deal at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland, but huge coal users and producers like Australia, China, India and the US are not on board.
Could gardeners be contributing to the demise of Christmas beetles?
While it feels like we don’t see the shiny insects in the numbers that we used to, scientists are now asking for help to determine if it’s really true, and if so why.
‘We’re still in the dark ages’: Foreign investment in Australian fossil fuel scrutinised
A new report has revealed overseas public financial institutions have poured $36.7 billion into Australian fossil fuel projects over the past decade.
Interactive: How Australia compares to the rest of the world on CO2 emissions
With Australia’s climate policies in the international spotlight, the interactive graphic below shows how the country’s carbon dioxide output compares with others, and sees it rank as the highest emitter among OECD member countries.
Greenpeace, Pacific leaders label Australia as ‘a diplomatic bully’ on climate action
Former Pacific leaders have backed a Greenpeace report that accuses successive Australian governments of bullying small island neighbours into adopting weaker positions on climate change.
Australia’s forest industries congratulate COP26 leaders’ commitment to halt deforestation by 20
Australia’s forest industries welcome and support the commitment from world leaders on halting deforestation by 2030 at the Glasgow Climate Change Summit, COP26.
Hatch has high hopes for low-carbon future for Australian mining and energy
Hatch is a global engineering, construction and management heavyweight, focusing on mining, energy and infrastructure. The company helps clients reduce their carbon footprints and adopt sustainable habits. Some of its most innovative solutions are coming out of Australia.
Consume less, reuse more this National Recycling Week
National Recycling Week is approaching and what a great time to rethink our shopping habits.
Australia and Papua New Guinea work together on carbon offsets
Australia and Papua New Guinea have agreed to join forces to create an efficient and accessible carbon market under the Australian Government’s Indo-Pacific Carbon Offsets Scheme.
Burning review – the searing black summer documentary that Australia deserves
Eva Orner’s bushfire exposé boils your blood and rattles your bones as it addresses the climate crisis head on and rips into the dark heart of modern Australia
The Institute of Public Affairs paid for ads that experts say are based on ‘faulty analysis’ on job losses
Mutating Australian white ibis could diverge from its rural cousins, or save them, scientists say
Researchers take sticky beak at bin chicken DNA to see if city-dwellers could revive country populations
Australia’s Indigenous housing won’t cope with climate change, research finds
Remote Indigenous housing models are not fit for purpose, and it will be ‘quite difficult’ to remain in communities if nothing changes
Tougher ASX climate disclosures ‘inevitable’ as RBA pledges to monitor risks
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the nation’s top financial regulator have publicly pledged to monitor the impact of climate change on the financial system amid fresh predictions major Australian companies will be forced to disclose in detail how they plan to decarbonise their operations.
Australia foiled in bid to continue financing coal-fired power [$]
Australia failed in a bid to stop the Asian Development Bank from enacting a ban on investing in new coal-fired generation, a stance adopted despite its role representing Pacific Island nations that face an existential threat from climate change.
Braveheart: Why this fossil-fuel boss has come to COP26 in Glasgow [$]
Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher has come back to his native Scotland to be seen being green, at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. But our conversation quickly veers off from green to greens.
LNP members’ net-zero challenge for Scott Morrison [$]
Liberal National Party members will push for three motions against the government’s net-zero policy to be debated at the party’s state council meeting in the resources heartland of Gladstone this weekend.
The Indigenous Australian climate activists making their voices heard at COP26
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental campaigners are calling for greater involvement in the race to net zero.
How Australian farming is changing to address global heating – video panel
Guardian Australia’s rural and regional editor Gabrielle Chan is joined by National Farmers’ Federation president Fiona Simson and Farmers for Climate Action CEO Fiona Davis. They discuss how agricultural practices are changing as the world seeks to address global heating
Sustainable Indigenous housing in regional and remote Australia
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
This research explores what is required for sustainable Indigenous housing in regional and remote Australia to deliver positive health and wellbeing outcomes for householders, so that housing stock is maintained at high levels over time and is designed with climate change challenges in mind.
More clean energy means more mines – we shouldn’t sacrifice communities in name of climate action
Nick Bainton and Deanna Kemp
As the world shifts to renewable energy and fossil fuel industries close down, what will happen to the local workforce, communities and businesses that depend on them?
As young climate strikers, we are sick of conference upon conference. The clock is ticking
Ella Simons
Australia’s policy at Cop26 is weak and unacceptable. It doesn’t give me any sense of hope
Informer: Can electric vehicles help pull the plug on climate change?
Kayla Osborne
My dad is a car guy. He’s had more cars than I can remember from speedy sportscars and powerful V8s to hulking 4WDs and family-appropriate SUVs – he even had a daggy bright orange Chrysler Sigma, which he insisted was vintage. But he has never had an electric car.
Nick Bainton and Deanna Kemp
As the world shifts to renewable energy and fossil fuel industries close down, what will happen to the local workforce, communities and businesses that depend on them?
Australia’s climate aid heavy on the greenwash, light on the dollars [$]
Bernard Keane
Scott Morrison’s promise of an extra $500 million for our Pacific neighbours is as shallow as the waters surrounding their islands.
A net-zero target means net-zero development
Matthew Canavan
A Liberal-National Party government should strive for more jobs, not just different jobs.
Australia set to benefit from carbon squeeze on China and to some extent India [$]
Robert Gottliebsen
Behind the rhetoric in Glasgow, step by step the world is imposing a carbon squeeze on China and to some extent India. As world leaders left Glasgow, the price of both thermal and coking coal began to recover after the sharp falls of recent weeks.
Scott Morrison touches down for election take-off [$]
Geoff Chambers
Strap yourselves in. The election campaign is about to start. With his seven-day overseas trip done, Scott Morrison can concentrate on a domestic blitz selling his climate and economic credentials in battleground seats.
‘The Australian way’ appears to be creating a facade of action then doing nothing [$]
David Shearman
Mr Morrison’s legacy at COP26 will not be one of effective diplomacy, nor of progressive climate ideas. Instead, it will be one of sloganeering.
The PM says it’s time to move on – cartoon
Cathy Wilcox
Victoria
Victorian government to ‘make illegal logging legal’ after tweak to laws
Victoria’s water catchments will now have fewer protections against logging, after a change to the legislation by the Andrews government which will allow the practice in previously off-limits areas.
Labor pledges to plan trackless trams in Melbourne’s south-east
Federal Labor has pledged $6 million to plan a trackless tram route to connect Caulfield Station, Chadstone shopping centre, Monash University in Clayton and Rowville, if it wins the next election.
New South Wales
NSW Premier shrugs off questions over future of ‘dud’ dam projects
Dominic Perrottet has told a budget estimates hearing that reports the government will walk away from the Wyangala and Mole River Dam projects are not true.
‘They die in agony’: Insider speaks out over NSW kangaroo culling program
Leaked documents reveal departmental staff in NSW have flagged concerns over the “legitimacy and sustainability” of its kangaroo program.
NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole pulls pin on coal mines at budget estimates debut
In his 26th day in the role as NSW’s new Deputy Premier, Paul Toole has taken some major steps to distance himself from the policies of his predecessor, with four hours of questioning showing a very different style of Nationals leadership.
Hunter Valley locals will protest outside NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes’ office today as concerns mount over the climate impacts of burning fossil fuels and the lack of long-term economic economic benefits the Kurri Kurri gas plant will bring to the Hunter Valley community.
ACT
The ACT government has seized on the recent resignation of former deputy premier John Barilaro to apply further pressure to the NSW government over the tumultuous cross-border issue of managing the growing number of wild, feral horses in the Kosciuszko National Park.
ACT government backs global coal phase-out pledge at Glasgow climate conference
The ACT will be the only Australian jurisdiction to sign up to an ambitious global commitment to phase out coal-fired electricity generation.
Queensland
‘Trajectory’s not good’: Great Barrier Reef bleaching study returns worrying results
Repeated bleaching events are reducing the Great Barrier Reef’s ability to recover and scientists say the events must be viewed as interconnected.
Saving Masig: Queensland communities on the climate change frontline
While international delegates in Glasgow argue policies around climate change, Queensland islands in the Torres Strait are already living with its impacts.
Cairns activists call out Warren Entsch’s climate hypocrisy
Cairns activists highlighted Warren Entsch’s climate hypocrisy
South Australia
South Australia sets ‘world first’ with five ‘negative demand’ solar events
South Australia has set what is believed to be a world record: generating more electricity from solar than they consumed on five occasions in the past five weeks.
Discovery of new breeding pairs gives hope to Granite Island little penguin colony
Their numbers crashed from 1,600 to 16 in recent years and foxes almost finished the job. Now scientists are celebrating a discovery in a little penguin colony clinging to life on a South Australian island.
Tasmania
New Century hopes to start cleaning up Mount Lyell’s legacy
Serious efforts to tackle Tasmania’s worst environmental disaster will start if the Mount Lyellmine’s prospective new owner gets its way.
Tasmanian deer control: how the government proposes to stop their spread
The Tasmanian Government has proposed three zones to prevent the ongoing spread of wild fallow deer into new parts of the state, but there are concerns that the plan could limit their removal from several national parks.
Climate activists arrested 3 times in Launceston
Climate activists Graham Bailey and Scott Bell were arrested three times in Launceston yesterday. Their protests were related to the need for climate action, and involved blocking traffic in the city centre.
“Tasmania’s new deer management plan continues to support partially protecting feral deer as game animals and reinforces hunter focused policies that have seen feral deer numbers explode from a few thousand in the 1970s to a population now approaching 100,000,” Invasive Species Council deer project officer Peter Jacobs said today.
Guy Barnett
Predictable calls by radical environmentalists, such as the Bob Brown Foundation (BBF), to shut down Tasmania’s sustainable native forestry overlook the fact that sustainable forestry management plays an important part in the solution to climate change.
Northern Territory
Rock solid focus on culture for Uluṟu over next decade
A new ten-year management plan for the dual-World Heritage Listed Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park will promote a deeper understanding of its cultural significance to all Australians and focus on strengthening ‘Tjukurpa’ Aṉangu law and culture.
NT government backs green hydrogen and solar proposal for Tiwi Islands
Up to 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen could be produced on the Northern Territory’s Tiwi Islands for export to Asia under a new proposal by an energy company.
Western Australia
Australia’s largest hybrid renewable microgrid officially opened
After successful commissioning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agnew Hybrid Renewable Microgrid was today officially opened in a celebration attended by dignitaries including the WA Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Energy; Corrective Services Bill Johnston.
Rio Tinto pumps $2b to power Pilbara with clean energy
Rio Tinto is banking on wind and solar power to slash gas use in the Pilbara, as the global miner moves to decarbonise the steel value chain, from iron ore mines to steel mills.
Sustainability
Coal will continue to feed growing energy need of India for next five decades: Experts
Given India’s dependence on coal for 70 per cent of the power sector’s need, the 50 per cent non-fossil fuel sourcing by 2030 itself will be quite challenging and coal will continue to feed the growing energy need of India for the next five decades, according to industry
For net-zero, India needs 5,600 GW of solar capacity, 99% drop in coal use
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge to cutting emissions at the world’s third-biggest emitter to net-zero by 2070.
Cities cloak themselves in trees to beat climate change
These urban hotspots are planting trees on rooftops, up buildings, next to train stations and across squares, and that’s just the start of their green tactics.
7 ways to save money, use less energy and fight climate change
Climate change is one of the biggest threats of our lifetime, and it’s imperative we do our part to save our future. However, it can be difficult to identify impactful, sustainable changes that can be made quickly and easily.
The world’s media is focused on Net-Zero emissions…what about Net-Zero discharges of waste water?
Charles Essery
Sydney discharges more water into our rivers and oceans than it consumes through our water supply. There is no water shortage.
Indonesia casts doubts on Glasgow forest win [$]
Indonesia has rejected the UK government’s claim that an agreement to stop deforestation was reached in Glasgow, casting doubt on what has been framed as one of the week’s big wins.
Pakistan sets out to plant 10 billion trees to counter climate change
Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. In order to defend against the destructive effects of a warming planet, the government plans to plant 10 billion trees by 2023.
Climate negotiators point at Russia’s great forests. Many of them are ablaze
Over the past five years, Russian forest lands affected by fire have more than tripled. Also far northern forests are burning.
Jenny Graves
Virgin birth – which involves the development of an unfertilised egg – has preoccupied humans for aeons. And although it can’t happen in mammals, it does seem to be possible in other animals with backbones (vertebrates), such as birds and lizards.
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