Daily Links May 31

Is the Adani mine on a planet where climate change isn’t happening? What on Earth are they thinking if mine expansions and increased coal exports are on the table? This is a case where Labour needing Greens support in the Senate is a good thing. 

Post of the Day

First-of-its-kind study on children shows how air pollution affects children

Air pollution is one of the leading threats to children’s health – accounting for one in ten deaths in those below five years of age. Nearly 21 percent of children below the age of six reported respiratory disorders and infections due to air pollution in Ahmedabad.

 

On This Day

May 31

 

Ecological Observance

World Parrot Day

 

Climate Change

New global study finds opportunities for increasing carbon storage on land to mitigate climate change

A new study, The Global Potential for Increased Storage of Carbon on Land, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provides a series of new geospatial maps that improve our understanding of the global gap between current and potential carbon storage on land, and offers a framework for action to realize the full potential of land-based carbon storage as a natural climate solution.

 

Global warming increases risks of East China flooding

The Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) is an anticyclonic atmospheric system hovering over the middle and lower troposphere of the northwestern Pacific, dominating summer climate extremes in the densely populated countries of East Asia.

 

In the race against time to cut emissions, companies’ supply chains are key

The question of how the hundreds of companies that have set net-zero commitments are actually going to deliver on them has taken on greater urgency in the wake of the UK Met Office’s recent assessment that there is an even chance global temperatures will overshoot the “safe” limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next five years.

 

Stern and Stiglitz: The chaotic world of 2 degrees warming

Jeremy Webb

Most of us will feel confident the Inter-parliamentary Panel on Climate Change’s clutch of recent reports has now delivered a globally dependable well researched path to carbon neutrality. After all its the product of thousands of the world’s scientific experts.

 

‘Money talks. So why aren’t high-carbon companies listening to Climate Action 100+?

Catherine Howarth

Climate Action 100+ is the world’s largest investor engagement initiative on climate change, with 700 signatories managing $68 trillion in assets. If money talks, CA100+ has a megaphone without compare.

 

National

Littleproud backs net zero target after ousting Joyce, Dutton goes for bill shock

David Littleproud says Nationals are “moving forward” on climate after ousting Joyce, Dutton elected as Liberals leader and targets bill shock.

 

Anthony Albanese and Labor to form majority government

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks set to form a majority Labor government, with the ABC projecting victory for sitting member Josh Burns in the Melbourne seat of Macnamara.

 

Littleproud to lead the Nationals away from climate rabbit holes

New Nationals leader David Littleproud has promised to reset his party’s agenda to end the climate wars and pursue instead a market-based solution to guide farmers through the challenges of global warming.


AGL dumps demerger plan, announces management and board clean out

AGL dumps its demerger strategy and announces its CEO, chairman and other directors will leave after conceding defeat to tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

 

Cannon-Brookes demands AGL rules out ‘flogging off’ coal-fired power plants

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is demanding AGL’s leadership rule out selling off individual parts of the company, including its coal-fired power plants, after the board finally bowed to intensifying investor pressure to scrap a controversial split of its business.

 

Win in US Supreme Court prompts call for anti-SLAPP laws throughout Australia

Globally, lawsuits by big polluters such as ExxonMobil are facing some challenges. The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently found that anti-SLAPP legislation does not apply to lawsuits brought by the government.

 

Private water donations may help restore Australian wetlands – and prove collaboration possible

Kilter Rural’s multi-gigalitre water donation may be a model that brings together farmers, First Nations people and environmentalists

 

Focus on battery storage could be a cost-effective energy goal for Albanese government, report says

With electricity bills soaring, a national Renewable Electricity Storage Target may be one way of achieving lower emissions – and lower prices

 

Environment report ‘hidden’ by Coalition should be released immediately: Greens

The new Labor government is facing pressure to immediately release a major environment report which the Coalition was accused of hiding from voters before the federal election.

 

Next stop: zero emissions buses by 2030

The Australia Institute

Transport is the third highest emitting sector in Australia. Currently, Australia’s transportation system focuses on private passenger vehicles rather than more sustainable and energy efficient options like public transport

Cannon-Brookes has achieved a stunning victory at AGL: Now for the hard part

Giles Parkinson

Cannon-Brookes’ stunning victory over AGL is probably the biggest story yet in Australia’s still fledgling green energy transition.

A first look at federal Labor’s emissions plan finds it wholly insufficient

David Leitch

Labor has good intentions on climate and net-zero emissions, but not much of a plan. And it needs to get off the fence on new coal and gas extraction.

 

Australia’s biggest carbon emitter buckles before Mike Cannon-Brookes – so what now for AGL’s other shareholders?

Mark Humphery-Jenner

Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has won a major battle against Australia’s biggest energy company, AGL Energy, thwarting its plan to split up the company’s coal-heavy generation and power distribution assets.

 

Deadly Cannon-Brookes fire: AGL demerger killed, board wrecked as new politics takes hold [$]

Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer

The defeat of AGL’s demerger proposal and the clean-out of its board are big wins for opponents of a slower decarbonisation path for the company.

 

AGL’s coal implosion shows what a disorderly transition to clean energy looks like

Adam Morton

What happens from here is unclear, but the company’s turmoil can’t be divorced from the Coalition’s policy failures

 

Is AGL sweating coal assets or flogging dead horses?

Nick O’Malley

AGL has not only conceded it is unable to spin off its coal assets, it has tacitly admitted that the world it was prepared to do business in has changed.

 

Labor’s scrutiny of mega-projects needs to put nation’s interests above politics

Age editorial

Political manoeuvring is the last thing wanted as the new federal government looks for budget savings by scrutinising billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.

 

Tapping mineral wealth in mining waste could offset damage from new green economy mines

Anita Parbhakar-Fox

To go green, the world will need vast quantities of critical minerals such as manganese, lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements. But to some environmentalists, mining to save the planet is a hard pill to swallow if it leads to damage to pristine areas.

 

AGL’s slow energy transition should ring alarm bells for others

Ticky Fullerton

The group’s board exodus and the abandonment of its planned demerger should be a warning to all companies that are going slow on energy transition.

 

AGL’s new-era power disruption [$]

Australian editorial

Minority shareholders and customers have been left out in the cold.

 

What happens when a gas-led recovery collides with a climate election?

Jacqueline Breen and Samantha Dick

We answer your questions by looking at where Scott Morrison’s gas-fired recovery was supposed to start, in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

 

Victoria

Teals look set to target Liberals at state election

At least five high-profile Victorian Liberal MPs, including Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, could be targeted by “teal” independents after the movement’s federal victories.

 

Council food waste plan hits a snag as the state’s bin overflows

Councils say they can’t introduce food waste collection because processing sites for garden organics and food are at capacity.

 

AGL rethink highlights Victoria’s future coal challenge

Josh Gordon

If Victoria has any hope of maintaining its momentum towards lower emissions, it’ll need greater climate and energy policy planning.

 

New South Wales

Merino sheep grazing under solar panels produce better wool, trial shows

Two farmers running merinos on solar farms in NSW’s Central West say their sheep thrive under solar panels, while wool quality has increased.

Climate ‘warriors’ to target bank summit

Bankers, regulators and investors will share a stage at an elite business summit, while climate activists accuse the executives of ‘investing in destruction’.

 

Clover Moore pitches ‘interim solution’ to Cahill Expressway dilemma

The Cahill Expressway would be removed in two stages – first the road, then the railway in another 20 or 30 years – under a new plan pitched by the City of Sydney, as the state government considers turning the maligned freeway into a pedestrian “high line”.

 

NSW told to put high-profile road, transport projects on ice

The government’s independent infrastructure body has recommended $27 billion of spending be diverted to smaller projects that provide “high returns”.

 

‘Acrobatic’ humpbacks herald start of whale watching season

It’s the first time humpbacks have swum past Sydney since they were struck from the threatened species list in February.

 

Here’s what you need to know about NSW’s ban on lightweight plastic bags

Tomorrow NSW joins the rest of Australia’s states and territories by banning lightweight plastic bags. Here’s what it means for you, and how our rules compare.

 

Matt Kean blasts Liberals on climate using hollow words

Sue Arnold

Matt Kean has lambasted the Coalition over its lack of climate policy but has yet to prove himself as an environmental champion.

 

Queensland

New Hope Group ‘a step closer’ to controversial coal mine expansion in Darling Downs

A lobby group will ramp up the fight in response to New Hope Group’s claims its mine expansion in Queensland’s Darling Downs is ready for the “green light”.

 

‘These rivers, they’ve got a life of their own’: The floods without rain bringing joy to the outback

There isn’t a cloud in sight, and it hasn’t rained, but the incoming flood is imminent in western Queensland and north west NSW.

 

Rise and rise of Adani: Carmichael mine may triple in size as part of planned expansion

Coal mining firm Adani has revealed it has been planning a major expansion of production at its $3 billion Carmichael mine to as much as 30 million tonnes over the next three years.

 

Net zero: The big political promise in Queensland that is slowly being broken

The Queensland government’s path to achieving its climate change targets is narrowing as the carbon clock ticks down to 2030.

 

New Acland decision: Crisafulli tells Premier ‘put politics to one side’ [$]

Opposition leader David Crisafulli has called on the Queensland government to “put politics to one side” when it comes to making a decision on the New Acland mine expansion.

 

How dropping ‘Dragon Eggs’ is helping to fight fire with fire in north Queensland

In areas where traditional burn-off operations are challenging, rangers are taking to the skies to drop capsules that burst into flames to protect the region’s biodiversity.


Tasmania

How will Tasmania’s fledgling hydrogen industry manage its water demands? [$]

Tasmania’s fledgling hydrogen industry requires a lot of water and a lot of power to function, but the impact it will have on Tasmania’s water has not yet been fully realised.

 

Northern Territory

Pastoralist forced to allow gas company access to frack in Beetaloo Basin

A gas company has accessed an NT cattle station to begin exploration, against the wishes of pastoralists and some traditional owners.

 

Western Australia
Protesters say: ‘Don’t frack the Kimberley!’

Frack Free Kimberley and supporters rallied outside the inaugural AGM of Texan fracking company Black Mountain. 

 

‘Ecological thinning’ or native logging by stealth? Debate flares on forest plan

Native logging of WA forests on Crown land will be banned from 2024, but the debate continues to rage on what management practices will be sustainable going forward.

 

Sustainability

Global plastics treaty starting process in Senegal

A globally coordinated approach is vital to end plastic pollution. That’s the message made by Professor Steve Fletcher, Director of the Global Plastic Policy Centre at the University of Portsmouth, to delegates at the first UNEP meeting to develop an international, legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.

 

India ramps up coal production amid record-setting heat and blackouts

Although India has pledged to be a leader in renewable energy, recent weeks have shown the country is still heavily reliant on coal to meet soaring power demand.

 

Doubling global potato production in 10 years is possible

Potatoes could contribute even more to world history and global food security, and total production of the food crop could double in the next 10 years, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said today in his keynote presentation to the 11th World Potato Congress (WPC) convened in Dublin.

 

Hinkley Point B owner says it will not extend life of nuclear plant

EDF Energy tells staff reactors will be shut down in summer despite concerns of blackouts later this year

 

First-of-its-kind study on children shows how air pollution affects children

Air pollution is one of the leading threats to children’s health – accounting for one in ten deaths in those below five years of age. Nearly 21 percent of children below the age of six reported respiratory disorders and infections due to air pollution in Ahmedabad.

Ugandan researchers develop low cost sensors to track air pollution

Ugandan researchers have developed low-cost air quality monitoring sensors that work in extreme conditions and will allow Uganda to switch from expensive imported monitors in its bid to tackle rising air pollution.

 

Nature Conservation

Revelations of genetic diversity of bass species can enhance conservation

A new study by Yale ichthyologists provides a clearer picture of species diversity among black basses – one of the most cherished and economically important lineages of freshwater gamefish. Their findings can help guide the conservation and management of bass species that are both prized by anglers across the globe and ranked among the world’s most invasive organisms.

 



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