Post of the Day
Climate action: how does your super fund stack up?
An analysis of 32 large super funds shows the extent to which some maintain exposures to companies whose businesses are involved in fossil-fuel extraction, or related power generation.
On This Day
Saint Florian Day – Austria
Ecological Observance
Greenery Day – Japan
International Respect for Chickens Day
Climate Change
A new study from the University of Sussex Business School reveals the technologies and academic disciplines that are being overlooked by research funders in the global fight against climate change.
‘Cut crap’: Climate Council responds to dodgy climate claims from Liberal-National Party
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie says Australians are sick to death of political doublespeak, and want their elected representatives to do more on climate change – and fast.
India peers over climate change precipice
India’s worst heatwave in 122 years has set landfills alight and ruined crops. It should prompt all countries to speed up decarbonisation.
DR Congo approves auction of oil blocks in one of the world’s largest carbon sinks
Cabinet ministers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have approved the auction of 16 oil blocks, including in one of the world’s largest carbon sinks and most environmentally sensitive areas.
Companies can soon start paying the Bahamas to store carbon in the ocean
Seagrass beds and mangrove trees in the Bahamas’ crystal-clear waters may soon be drafted into the fight against climate change.
National
Oyster fisheries in Australia and the US were managed for up to thousands of years before colonisation without widespread collapse, a new study indicates.
Climate action: how does your super fund stack up?
An analysis of 32 large super funds shows the extent to which some maintain exposures to companies whose businesses are involved in fossil-fuel extraction, or related power generation.
Uninsurable nation: Australia’s most climate-vulnerable places
Climate Council
Worsening extreme weather means increased costs of maintenance, repair and replacement to properties – homes, workplaces and commercial buildings. As the risk of being affected by extreme weather events increases, insurers will raise premiums to cover the increased cost of claims and reinsurance.
Australia’s heated coal war is over. Facts and logic win [$]
Michael McGuire
Disinformation, fear campaigns or cosplaying Queensland Senators can’t dismiss reality this time.
Cannon-Brookes puts his money where his mouth is to try to derail AGL’s grand plan
Stephen Bartholomeusz
The tech billionaire has spent $654 million and plans a media blitz as he leaves nothing to chance in his bid to thwart AGL’s demerger plan. He has a good chance of succeeding.
Locking climate targets into law to provide certainty [$]
Zali Steggall
A climate commission would not usurp democracy. It would depoliticise a debate that has us mired in inaction.
How our bushfire-proof house design could help people flee rather than risk fighting the flames
Deborah Ascher Barnstone
Building houses better at withstanding the impacts of climate change is one way we can protect ourselves in the face of future catastrophic conditions.
Taylor’s obsession with failing, inflationary coal will help kill off AGL split [$]
Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer
By taking an 11% stake in AGL, Mike Cannon-Brookes has effectively killed the AGL demerger. And Angus Taylor might have accidentally helped him.
Victoria
One quarter of John’s neighbourhood could soon be uninsurable. He wants urgent action
Regional residents and the Climate Council are calling for the federal government to urgently tackle climate change, warning it will affect some areas disproportionately as obtaining insurance becomes drastically more difficult.
Program to recommence to nudge Grey-headed Flying Foxes
Colac Otway Shire Council will recommence a ‘nudging’ program of the Grey-headed Flying Foxes to encourage the native animals to roost elsewhere in Colac’s Botanic Gardens to protect heritage trees.
Yarra Ranges Council’s election call for greener suburbs
Council is asking all candidates for the upcoming federal election to commit to a $9.5m plan to plant more than 130,000 trees locally.
Cash splash on health; West Gate Tunnel’s horror blowout [$]
More nurses and paramedics will be hired under a $12bn investment in health services — but the newly released budget has revealed the West Gate Tunnel’s disastrous cost blowout.
Junior energy minister Tim Wilson may lose his Liberal blue ribbon seat
Polling suggests junior energy minister Tim Wilson could lose his seat to an independent backing stronger climate action.
New South Wales
Councils across New South Wales are warning the state government that its proposed changes to planning laws are a “rubber stamp for developers”.
Bats fly in for flowering gums
Eurobodalla Council is closely monitoring numbers of grey-headed flying-foxes in the shire and is offering help to lessen any impacts felt by residents who live near flying-fox camps. There are around 18,900 flying foxes shire-wide, most are in Batemans Bay, however numbers are expected to decrease as the weather further cools, with populations typically peaking from December to April.
Temporary closure of national parks for bitou bush spraying
NSW Government’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has advised that aerial spraying of bitou bush along sections of Hat Head National Park, Goolawah National Park and Limeburners National Park is schedule to take place between Monday 16 May and Friday 27 May 2022.
In Hunter, where coal is king, a Labor heartland seat faces a strong Coalition challenge
The ALP has held the NSW electorate at every election since 1910. But with seismic changes under way, the valley’s miners are eyeing the future with unease
Santos cops first strike against pay, considers exporting NSW gas
Santos had a likely first strike against its pay policies at its annual general meeting and raised the option of exporting gas from its controversial Narrabri project in NSW.
Riverina cotton grower to pay $205K for overdrawn water [$]
A Riverina cotton grower has been found to have illegally pumped 900 Olympic swimming pools of water during a drought.
Queensland
Barnaby Joyce’s plan to spend $5.4 billion building the Hells Gates Dam dwarfs almost any pledge made during the election campaign. So is the dam, which aims to create an agricultural powerhouse in north Queensland, even viable?
Divers say kilometres of fishing lines dangerous to marine life are consistently being discarded at the Gold Coast Seaway, with some calling for a pause on recreational fishing.
South Australia
Chapman cleared by Ombudsman after conflict probe
Former Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman has been stunningly cleared of conflicts of interest relating to her decision to veto a $40 million Kangaroo Island port, in a keenly-awaited Ombudsman’s inquiry report tabled in parliament today.
Hydroponic plants to detox PFAS-contaminated water
New research from the University of South Australia is helping to remediate the ‘indestructible’ PFASs as scientists show that Australian native plants can significantly remediate PFAS pollutants through floating wetlands to create healthier environments for all.
Tasmania
A “technical issue” in a 1987 Tasmanian law has started a debate over whether all logging and related protester arrests since then have been illegal. So, what does it mean for the Tasmanian forest industry and those who want the trees to be left as they are?
Bill to validate three decades of logging activity passes
The bill was introduced validate delegations issued by the Forest Practices Authority to officers for the certification of Forest Practices Plans.
The radical idea to solve Hobart’s public transport [$]
A new idea has been floated by Hobart City Council’s Mayor to help address the public transport system, with the innovative plan having tasted success in parts of the mainland.
Northern Territory
Parties back massive project to upgrade Outback Way [$]
Sealing a massive stretch of highway between outback Queensland and remote Western Australia, via Alice Springs, has the backing of parties across the political spectrum.
Stonewalled Beetaloo Basin fracking inquiry extended until after elections
For a fourth time a Senate committee investigating contentious oil and gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory has had to ask for an extension, largely because of corporate favours.
Major mine sat on government panel that chose its own independent monitor
Confidential documents show representatives from the McArthur River Mine in the Northern Territory had a hand in the appointment of its own key oversight body, as environmentalists question the integrity of the latest glowing report card on the mine’s environmental performance.
Western Australia
Poor planning, a narrow industry base of FIFO workers, cyclones, heat and dust. Many obstacles stand in the way of the Deputy PM’s dream of a Newcastle-sized city in the Pilbara, says an academic.
Highest turtle nesting season on record near Pilbara mining operations
This year’s nesting season at a small, sandy beach in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has seen the most mother turtles on record, according to a local monitoring program.
Mines razing more trees than logging in South West
Mining should cease in the Northern Jarrah Forest, conservationist groups say, after revealing 62 per cent of deforestation in the past decade was due to bauxite mining.
The woman taking Twiggy’s FMG to net-zero
The new recruit has less than eight years to eliminate 2 million tonnes of emissions a year from Fortescue’s Pilbara operation, and tree-planting won’t cut it
Danish giant reveals details of giga-scale renewable hydrogen plans in Murchison
Details emerge of enormous WA project to combine wind and solar and 3GW of electrolysers to produce green ammonia.
Sustainability
The EU is considering banning Russian oil. Here’s why that matters
The EU is set to propose a new package of sanctions this week, including a potential embargo on buying Russian oil — a measure that would deprive Moscow of a large revenue stream — but that has so far divided EU countries
Parks near new homes shrink 40% as developers say they cannot afford them
Green spaces near new housing developments in England and Wales down in last 20 years
Swiss scientists set new record for tandem solar cell efficiency
Scientists develop tandem solar cell with a certified efficiency of 29.2% and have clear steps to achieve yields beyond 30% in the future.
Lost value of landfilled plastic in US
With mountains of plastic waste piling up in landfills and scientists estimating that there will be more plastics by weight than fish in the ocean by 2050, the growing environmental challenge presented to the world by plastics is well understood. What is less well understood by the scientific community is the lost energy opportunity. In short, plastic waste is also energy wasted.
Wetlands protection law delays building of new homes in England
Up to 120,000 new homes halted in areas including Eden Valley and Norfolk Broads due to ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules
Laura Phillips and Rachel Leihy
It’s hard to survive in bitterly cold Antarctica. But the ice continent is home to more than 1,100 species who have adapted to life on land and in its lakes.
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