Post of the Day
Nadeem Samnakay
The Morrison government’s recent plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 has been widely criticised by scientists, environmental organisations, journalists, politicians and more.
On This Day
‘A death sentence’: Indigenous climate activists denounce Cop26 deal
Schemes such as carbon trading favored by polluting nations lead to ecologically destructive projects like biofuels and dams
Most common forms of climate change misinformation found by researchers
An international team of researchers has found the most common form of climate misinformation is attacks on the reliability of climate science, while misinformation targeting climate solutions is on the rise.
China doubles down on a slower coal exit after Glasgow spat
Both China and India, the biggest coal-consuming nations, have been ramping up output from mines in recent weeks to ease an autumn energy crisis.
The Cop26 message? We are trusting big business, not states, to fix the climate crisis
Adam Tooze
The summit exposed a world looking beyond a broken neoliberal model
If Glasgow climate summit was about saving the world, it failed [$]
Paul Kelly
Global politics with its human frailties is meeting its match – it cannot satisfy the demands of science to check rising temperatures.
The UN climate process is designed to fail [$]
Gideon Rachman
The world leaders at COP26 all endorsed the need for radical action. But the political pressures they are under are actually a recipe for inaction. There is a radical alternative.
COP26 is over – What’s next for forests, coal, and fossil fuel finance?
Daniel Wilkinson
The Glasgow climate summit (COP26) produced a new global pact—as well as a bilateral agreement between the United States and China and a host of multilateral declarations—committing governments to take increasingly ambitious steps to address the climate crisis.
Boris Johnson confirms that Cop26 went well – and was definitely in Glasgow
John Crace
Boris Johnson did get one thing right in his Commons statement on Cop26. In the previous day’s press conference he had been adamant it had taken place in Edinburgh. Overnight he had been corrected and was now able to accurately locate the climate change summit as being in Glasgow. It was this kind of attention to detail that had made the conference such an outstanding success.
Peter Broelman
Labor juggles policy and politics as it mulls response to Morrison’s chaotic climate calls
While major questions will remain over the Morrison government’s climate policies, focus will shift to Labor for it to deliver its alternative plan.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is again facing questions about this credibility after “walking away” from a key agreement less than 24 hours later.
Al Gore ‘disappointed’ Scott Morrison didn’t increase Australia’s 2030 emissions target
Former US vice president says Australia’s 2050 net zero target ‘has very little meaning’ without nearer term goal
‘A real Hail Mary’: Experts say net zero 2050 plan fails to account for billions in climate costs
The government’s plan assumes industry will voluntarily reduce emissions, prompting warnings that global warming will cost nearly $600b by 2030 without more climate action.
Coalition commissions modelling of climate impact on health system
The federal government has quietly announced $10 million of funding for 100 researchers across Australia’s top universities to model the impact of climate change on the nation’s health system.
Labor’s ambitious climate election pledge [$]
Labor is gearing up to announce an ambitious climate policy to challenge Scott Morrison as it heads into next year’s election.
Telstra to tap 1GW of batteries and “abundant, dirt cheap clean energy” in big new play
Telstra looks to huge battery reserve and machine learning as it outlines plans to steal the march on energy incumbents in a rapidly changing market.
Thermal mix: a modest Canberra renovation holds and traps the sun
Using 80% less energy than average, an unassuming suburban home is winning architecture prizes for its imaginative revamp
New alliance to ensure First Nations communities share benefits of wind and solar boom
First Nations Clean Energy Network to help share the benefits of the clean energy boom and avoid a repeat of mistakes of mining companies.
The Australian Museum’s FrogID Week urges citizen scientists to record frog calls to help save them
The death of large numbers of frogs over winter has prompted a call for people to monitor frog calls to help scientists understand the extent of the problem across the country.
Mirvac hits carbon positive nine years ahead of schedule
Diversified group Mirvac has become Australia’s first property company to achieve a net positive result for scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions, nine years ahead of its 2030 target.
Coalition’s 2030 climate projection relies on massive EV uptake
The federal government’s new 2030 emissions projection is based on an uptake of electric cars that far exceeds the target Scott Morrison said would “end the weekend” when proposed by Labor at the last election, its internal modelling shows.
No ‘sneaky carbon tax’ on my watch: Angus Taylor [$]
Angus Taylor will rail against calls for Australia to adopt a carbon price, declaring he will not introduce a “carbon tax by stealth” by capturing more businesses under the safeguard mechanism.
Australia can be world’s biggest carbon market, says Ben Cleary of fund manager Tribeca [$]
Australia could become the biggest carbon market in the world, with its track record of project development and fitting climate for nature-based solutions among its major draw cards, according to the CEO of fund manager Tribeca Investment Partners Asia, Ben Cleary.
Woodside says LNG ‘won’t go away overnight’ despite climate pledges
Woodside is betting on gas playing a bigger role in displacing coal in the future even as big Asian buyers seek to reduce their use of the fossil fuel.
Govt’s promise to manufacturers amid climate plan fears [$]
Energy-intensive manufacturers “will not close down” under net zero, Energy Minister Angus Taylor will promise as the Morrison Government seeks to reassure the regions about its climate plan.
Tess Lea
Remote Indigenous communities in Australia will experience the impacts of climate change disproportionately to the rest of the country.
Time to get into offsets — the booming new rort for fossil fuel companies (and Morrison) [$]
Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer
Carbon offsets allow big polluters to pump out greenhouse gases while claiming they’ve been offset by carbon reductions elsewhere. And Australia and its worst fossil fuel companies are relying on them.
Nadeem Samnakay
The Morrison government’s recent plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 has been widely criticised by scientists, environmental organisations, journalists, politicians and more.
The embarrassingly easy, tax-free way for Australia to cut the cost of electric cars
Peter Martin
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he wants to keep prices down. There is something practical he can do straight away to stop prices from rising.
The case for high-speed rail is bigger than business [$]
Shirley Jackson
As a federal election draws closer, and the major parties square off with their respective policy platforms, Labor’s spokeswoman for infrastructure, transport and regional development, Catherine King, has vowed to create a High Speed Rail Authority to “make the business case” for a bullet train, like those found in Japan and across Europe, to connect our east coast cities.
Power must come to First Nations people
Tony McAvoy
As renewable energy zones expand, the consent of Indigenous people to projects on our lands will be critical.
Richard Gluyas
It’s the latest conversation-killer in the top echelon of the local banking industry, imported from Europe.
Victoria
Faith leaders hit out at Andrews government bill on religious schools
Victoria’s religious leaders have condemned moves by the Andrews government to prohibit faith-based schools from sacking or refusing to hire teachers or enrol students based on their gender identity or sexuality.
Flashback 2012: Prominent Liberal says Gillard should be kicked to death
David Donovan
The Murdoch press shrugged its shoulders and failed to condemn death threats against Victorian Premier Dan Andrews by protesters over the weekend.
Powerful pandemic laws lack independent oversight
Deborah Glass
The lockdown of people in public housing reminds us of the need for the new pandemic legislation to protect liberties.
New South Wales
Will threats of 25 years in prison stop Newcastle’s daily coal protests?
The NSW Police Commissioner has warned coal activists disrupting train movements in the NSW Hunter Valley could face 25 years behind bars.
Single-use plastics to be banned in NSW
Single-use plastic bags, straws and cutlery will be phased out in NSW within a year after a government plan to remove billions of items from the plastic waste stream passed parliament.
Vulnerable rhino calf born at NSW zoo
The birth of a greater one-horned rhino calf is being celebrated at Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo in NSW.
Councils recognised for outstanding environmental achievement
An ambitious strategy uniting Wollongong City Council’s entire operational efforts to ensure the region’s long term environmental sustainability has earned it one of the State’s top annual environment awards today.
Wind, solar farms set to be built on NSW forestry land
Wind and solar farms have been earmarked for construction across hundreds of kilometres of NSW government-owned softwood forestry land under proposed changes to the state’s energy laws.
Rename Ben Boyd National Park? Take a hike [$]
Historian Keith Windschuttle has attacked a decision by the NSW government to rename the Ben Boyd National Park in the state’s far south, arguing that the change is based on “shoddy historical research” and does not provide an accurate view of Boyd’s life or the practice of blackbirding in Australia.
Callan Park NIMBYs may be killing off culture
Kerri Glasscock
Trying to safeguard public space is a noble pursuit in a city like Sydney but intransigence can also derail gilt-edged opportunities to create vibrant cultural precincts.
ACT
Tesla opening Canberra electric car dealership on Bunda Street
The opening of a Tesla store on Bunda Street is expected to boost the sale of electric cars in the ACT, with environmentally conscious drivers provided the opportunity to test drive a Tesla for the first time on Canberra streets.
Queensland
Coal survivor: Queensland mines vow they will be last in the world to shut down
Queensland coal producers have vowed to be the last ones standing as the world shifts to renewable energy to combat climate change.
Queensland outlines plans for 3GW of new renewables, but it’s not nearly enough
Early feedback on framework for proposed 3.3GW first-stage build-out of Queensland’s renewable energy zones is that it is too little, and too slow.
South Australia
Nuclear waste and nuclear medicine in Australia
Jim Green
Claims that the Australian government’s proposed national nuclear waste storage and disposal ‘facility’ near Kimba in South Australia is required to support nuclear medicine are not supported by the facts.
Tasmania
Developer reveals $100m plan to reshape Hobart’s Mac Point
Tasmania must learn from the “complete disaster” of Melbourne’s Docklands precinct as it redevelops Macquarie Point on Hobart’s waterfront, a planning expert warns.
Record Orange-bellied Parrot numbers spark hope for species
Researchers monitoring the return of the Orange-bellied Parrot to Tasmania’s shores have tallied a record number of the critically endangered species.
Parklet plan for CBD causes parking panic [$]
More than 30 businesses in the Hobart CBD are opposing UTAS’ plan for a parklet, with fears a reduction in on street car spaces will lead to a drop in business.
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation
Three days after bursting into selected media with a $100,000 demand from the Bob Brown Foundation, Western Australian company Venture Minerals Limited has finally managed to deliver the letter to the foundation’s office today.
ALP should ‘get out of the way’ of container levy
Media release – Waste Management And Resource Recovery Association Of Australia
The Tasmanian Labor Party’s attempt to frustrate the introduction of the waste levy and stall the container refund scheme in Tasmania is thoroughly disappointing and makes no sense given the environmental and economic opportunities both present to the state.
Western Australia
Rooftop solar crunches minimum demand to new lows, despite aircon use in warm weather
Rooftop solar and industrial load outages send minimum demand to a new record low in WA’s main grid, despite warm weather and air-con use.
WA’s dirty little radioactive secret exposed
Could WA soon be taking radioactive waste from around Australia? Ben Harvey says ‘advanced negotiations’ are underway to do exactly that.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill change sparks fury [$]
WA’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister will have the final say on whether to allow the destruction of Indigenous heritage sites, sparking angry responses.
Rushed vegetation clearing and threat to endangered marsupial put uranium mine approval in spotlight
Media release – Conservation Council of WA
State and national environment groups have made a fresh call for review of the contested Mulga Rock uranium project in WA, amid growing concerns over rushed vegetation clearing and threats to the endangered sandhill dunnart.
Sustainability
Africa’s ‘Green Wall’ also makes economic sense
Fifteen years ago, the African Union decided on an ambitious program: degraded ecosystems in parts of the Sahel are to be successively restored in order to secure food for the people living there and to protect the soil against further degradation. At the same time, the African Great Green Wall is an important contribution to combating climate change. A study now shows that it also makes economic sense – although not everywhere in the Sahel.
Liquid fuels from carbon dioxide
A new electrocatalyst called a-CuTi@Cu converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into liquid fuels. Active copper centered on an amorphous copper/titanium alloy produces ethanol, acetone, and n-butanol with high efficiency.
New report highlights vital role of forest products in global bioeconomy and for climate change
Australia’s forest industries welcome the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) new report on forest products and the vital role they play in the global bioeconomy and climate change mitigation.
Australia backs conservation agriculture centre, India
With the support of the Australian Government, the Centre of Excellence for Conservation Agriculture opened yesterday at the Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (North Bengal Agriculture University), West Bengal, India.
How close is the green hydrogen economy? – Energy Transformed podcast
In the 2nd of our Energy Transformed podcast series, we look at the role hydrogen will play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and what we’ve learned from early-stage hydrogen projects.
Trees on the move: Researchers reveal how wildfire accelerates forest changes
As climate conditions change, tree species are shifting their ranges. Wildfire is accelerating this process, likely by reducing competition from established species — a finding that raises questions about how to manage land in an era of shifting ecosystems.
Larger conservation areas didn’t protect animals in central Africa
Efforts to protect threatened and endangered species in central Africa might be more successful if they focused on a smaller geographic area, new research suggests.
Amazon Rainforest birds’ bodies transform due to climate change
The most pristine parts of the Amazon rainforest devoid of direct human contact are being impacted by human-induced climate change, according to new research.
House sparrow population in Europe drops by 247m
New study reveals huge declines in once common species amounting to loss of one in six birds since 1980
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