Daily Links Jun 24

Now we are talking! Rather than the futile chase for the oxymoronic ‘clean coal’ or the pipe-dream of Carbon Capture and Storage, the fig leaf that allows the fossil fools to keep being foolish, here’s money going to research that can lead to the changes we need. It is such a relief to have Angus ‘Fantastic’ Taylor and his clutch of ideologues out of the way. 

Post of the Day

Clean energy revolution isn’t just a techno-fix – it’s about capturing hearts and minds

Bjorn Sturmberg et al

The Black Summer bushfires devastated parts of the Eurobodalla region in New South Wales. Then earlier this year, the area was hit by floods. As climate change threatens to bring more severe and frequent extreme weather events, how can we help future-proof such communities?

 

On This Day

June 24

Nativity of St John the Baptist – Christianity

 

Ecological Observance

Arbor Day – Nicaragua

 

Climate Change

Supercomputer Gadi crunches climate change

Predictions powered by the southern hemisphere’s biggest supercomputer will give the world’s scientists a better chance of understanding climate change.

 

Climate change could lead to dramatic temperature-linked decrease

The effects of global climate change already are resulting in the loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise, and longer and more intense heat waves, among other threats.

 

National

Labor tips $45m into Australian pursuit of “ultra low cost” solar

Albanese government commits $45 million to the push to cheaper and more efficient solar technologies, led by Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics.


Clean Energy Regulator mulls carbon offsets for mining waste and carbonates

One of Australia’s largest resources companies could soon claim carbon offsets for emissions captured from waste products of its mining operations.

 

Anthony Albanese says cleaner, cheaper energy will be ‘big transformation’ this decade

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared on ABC’s 7.30 program, where he was questioned about the energy crisis, Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the rising cost of living.

 

Sussan Ley backs Peter Dutton’s decision to oppose emissions legislation but signals future room for change

Deputy opposition leader criticises government’s 43% reduction target but says Liberal party’s climate position is not fixed

 

Energy cap system back in charge but don’t expect prices to drop – Bowen

Energy costs will not ease much in the short term as Australians prepare for a power price hike on July 1, the energy minister admits.


Fact check: Angus Taylor’s BBQ ban claim hits a snag

The former energy minister claims a leading Labor MP has been campaigning to ban a staple of Australian life.


Why the ESB’s “capacity mechanism” will make Australia’s energy crisis worse

Tim Nelson & Joel Gilmore

Would a capacity mechanism have helped avoid this crisis? The short answer is no. The long answer is actually worse.

 

Clean energy revolution isn’t just a techno-fix – it’s about capturing hearts and minds

Bjorn Sturmberg et al

The Black Summer bushfires devastated parts of the Eurobodalla region in New South Wales. Then earlier this year, the area was hit by floods. As climate change threatens to bring more severe and frequent extreme weather events, how can we help future-proof such communities?

 

The Paris-sized blind spot in the Coalition’s climate target debate

Graham Readfearn

Coalition MPs consider the party’s climate target as the Albanese government locks in 43%, and Sky News’s Rowan Dean asks questions that have already been answered

Greenwashing a corporate reputation down the drain

Morry Bailes

There are very real legal and reputational risks for businesses which don’t back up their environmental, social and governance claims.

 

Energy crisis won’t be solved by wind and sun [$]

Claire Lehmann

The battery storage required to power the whole of Australia has been estimated to cost $6.5 trillion. If this is a cost-effective solution, then God help us all.

 

Pressure mounts on corporates to detail green credentials [$]

Glenda Korporaal

The economies of carbon markets and carbon reduction are now moving into centre stage as players watch the evolution of a carbon market in Australia.

 

Australia has a lot to learn about renewable energy but maybe not from Germany

Paul Beaton

Germany highlights the risk of relying on a global fuel market vulnerable to shocks such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Victoria

Gippsland set to be named as Australia’s first offshore wind zone

Victoria’s Gippsland coast could soon host Australia’s first offshore wind projects as the first ‘special region’ named by the Albanese government.

 

Power plant races to restore unit

The owner of Victoria’s Yallourn coal-fired power station says it is doing everything it can to bring its fourth generating unit back to service.

 

New South Wales

Concerns breakwall upgrade could ruin surf in ‘bodyboarding capital of Australia’

A planned upgrade of Port Macquarie’s breakwall is causing waves among the surfing community with concerns the new design will ruin the water flow and sand movement of the unique surf break.

 

EPA pings Forestry Corp third time in six days for allegedly breaking environmental laws

Forestry Corporation has been prosecuted and fined three times in the past six days for alleged illegal logging operations in koala habitat and fire-affected forests.

 

Labor promises to dismantle state’s scandal-ridden rail corporation

The state’s controversial rail corporation will be dismantled if Labor wins government at the next state election, and control of billions of dollars’ worth of trains and other rail assets returned to NSW’s transport agencies.

 

Why NSW could face another black summer [$]

Speedy bush regrowth and “hopelessly under-resourced” firefighting services are the ingredients of another horror fire season, a former NSW fire chief has warned.

 

Energy Minister leaves lights on 24/7 [$]

A high-profile minister has failed to take his own advice during recent power shortages when families were told to cut their electricity use.

 

Vow to carry out mass disruption in CBD next week [$]

An extreme protest group, which has shut down roads and rails with unauthorised protests earlier this year, has vowed to carry out mass chaos in the Sydney CBD next week.

 

Civil law groups say new anti-protest laws in New South Wales disproportionately target climate protesters – podcast

A coalition of 40 human rights and civil law groups say new anti-protest laws in New South Wales disproportionately target climate protesters, violating the basic right to take part in a peaceful protest.

 

ACT

From the vaults, an irreplaceable plant collection gains digital protection

Since James Cook and his botanist Joseph Banks first landed on the shores of Terra Australis, strange new plants from a strange new land have been collected and studied, then carefully preserved and filed away, some making their way into the vast Australian National Herbarium collection held at Black Mountain.

 

Queensland

Fast track fast rail

Speeding up plans for a fast passenger rail service from Toowoomba to Brisbane are firmly in motion for Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC).

 

‘Pandora’s box’: experts say Queensland’s windfall from coal royalties could set a precedent

Industry and analysts predict budget measure could provide billions in additional revenue

 

Queensland’s green mirage: State to spend twice as much on coal, gas as energy storage

Twice as many taxpayer dollars will be spent on Queensland coal and gas-fired plants this year as they will on installing new renewable energy storage in the state.

 

No new taxes, except for tourists and those visiting Queensland’s national parks

Tourists and national park visitors would pay new taxes in Queensland under a proposal being considered by the state government.

 

‘The next big project’ after Cross River Rail: Is it time to dust off the Brisbane Subway?

It was meant to be the next big thing after Cross River Rail, but the planned east-west Brisbane Subway has been largely forgotten. Until now.

 

Has Lockton put ethics aside to back Adani’s disastrous coal mine?

Two weeks ago, the #StopAdani campaign received a tip-off that on 29 May 2022, Lockton, a US-based insurance broker, was appointed to arrange insurance coverage for Adani’s climate-wrecking Carmichael coal mine and rail line.

 

South Australia

Wind farm connection causes lights to flicker across South Australia

A connection between Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park and the national power grid is under investigation for causing lights to flicker and dim across South Australia for hours this morning.

 

‘It’s not fair’: Taxpayers cop steep bill for next door’s solar

Generous solar rebates for early rooftop adopters will cost SA taxpayers tens of millions of dollars this year. And the government says it’s not OK anymore.

 

Zero surprises: Shock power bill prediction blasts net cost [$]

A right wing think tank says coal power data – including from two SA stations – paints a costly picture for household energy bills.

 

The human dimension of sustainable change

Martin Haese

In his final column on sustainability, outgoing Business SA CEO Martin Haese explores how communication is the key to achieving change.


Tasmania

Anti-protest laws are a step closer in Tasmania — here’s what it means for the state

Tasmania’s upper house passes legislation to impose harsher penalties for protesters and organisations that obstruct workers or cause a “serious risk”. Here’s what it means for a state with environmental protest woven into its identity.

 

Regression in environmental responsibility

Letters

Launceston Golf Club has applications with the City of Launceston council for rezoning its land from recreational to residential for two housing subdivisions.

 

Western Australia

WA government halts work on controversial bridge amid Indigenous heritage concerns

The West Australian government has directed Main Roads to halt works and negotiate with Traditional Owners over a bridge design Traditional Owners have claimed would threaten cultural heritage and the environment.

 

WA government to slash emissions by 80 per cent by 2030, announces details for third desalination plant

The West Australian government has pledged to cut its emissions by 80 per cent by 2030 while announcing details for the state’s third desalination plant.

It’s a what? Strange sponge crab species discovered in WA

 The new species was found on a beach in Denmark and taken to the WA Museum.

 

Why this new climate case against the high-polluting Scarborough gas project is so significant

Jacqueline Peel et al

A major new climate case to stop Woodside’s controversial Scarborough gas project going ahead has been filed by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) in the federal court this week. ACF lawyers argue that the potential for the project’s emissions to harm the Great Barrier Reef must be assessed.

 

Sustainability

These generators can switch from running on fossil fuels to clean fuels

Mainspring Energy says its generators can do something other generators can’t — run on zero-carbon fuels as easily as they do on fossil fuels.

 

Europe could be left in the cold as IEA warns of a complete cut-off from Russian gas

Russia may cut off gas to Europe entirely as it seeks to bolster its political leverage amid the Ukraine crisis, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

 

Life expectancy falls for the first time

Global life expectancy has fallen for the first time since the 1950s, according to new analysis.

 

Know your oil and gas

Despite being treated as interchangeable commodities, no two oil and gas resources are the same. RMI’s new report reveals that the life-cycle climate footprint of oil and gas can vary by as much as a factor of four, depending on how the fossil fuels are produced, refined, processed, and shipped.

 

Mind the gap: The rich-poor divide on clean power is getting wider

David Fickling

Looking at how richer countries are spending money on the energy transition, you might think we’re within reach of bringing climate change under control. We’re far from it.

 

Nature Conservation

Interior Department commits to urgent actions to conserve Monarch Butterfly

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Martha Williams and Senator Jeff Merkley joined science experts and policymakers at the first-ever Monarch Butterfly Summit in Washington, DC, on June 22-23, 2022.

 

Appetite for frogs’ legs in France and Belgium ‘driving species to extinction’

Conservationists say exploitation of amphibians leading to depletion of native species abroad

 



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