Post of the Day
New snapshot of corporate emissions reduction progress
For the first time, a snapshot has been published of the progress being made by some of the biggest companies in Australia towards their climate ambitions.
On This Day
Sunniva Feast Day – Norway
Climate Change
Climate still Pacific’s biggest security threat, retired leaders say
Despite the recent geopolitical tensions over the deal signed between China and the Solomon Islands, former national leaders say climate change remains the region’s primary security threat.
The other huge court decision you missed during Roe v Wade [$]
Matt Canavan
Another US Supreme Court decision overshadowed by the overturning of Roe v Wade has dire implications for the net-zero agenda’
National
Weather records fall across eastern Australia after week of extremes
From nearly a metre of rain south of Sydney to a one-in-500-year flood in the Hunter, one huge weather system has driven extremes from Darwin to NSW.
Climate change modelling abandoned by Abbott nine years ago restarted by government
For almost a decade under the former Coalition government, Treasury did not model the economic impacts of climate change. The new government is ordering the practice to be resumed.
New snapshot of corporate emissions reduction progress
For the first time, a snapshot has been published of the progress being made by some of the biggest companies in Australia towards their climate ambitions.
Nominate areas for 2022 Offshore Greenhouse Gas Storage Acreage Release
Area nominations for the 2022 Offshore Greenhouse Gas Storage Acreage Release close 11:59 pm AEST Sunday 31 July 2022.
Aboriginal Carbon Foundation partners with IAG to develop new carbon farming projects
The Aboriginal Carbon Foundation (AbCF) has joined forces with IAG, Australia’s largest general insurer, whose brands include NRMA Insurance, CGU and WFI, to support the creation of new First Nations-led carbon farming projects across Australia.
‘Far from adequate’: former Pacific leaders group urges Australia to increase 43% emissions cut
Pacific Elders Voice also called for Australia to end gas and coal developments ahead of Pacific Islands Forum
Fact check: No, farmers aren’t going it alone in removing CO2
A farming group has criticised a proposed emissions tax, claiming agriculture is the only industry to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
EV incentives focused on urban centres leave rural Australians stranded with fossil fuels
Regional residents at risk of being ‘last people in the world’ driving petrol cars due to misconception electric vehicle batteries lack range, study suggests
Treasurer to measure ‘wellbeing’ pay-off from economy in first budget
Labor’s first budget will start to track how the economy contributes to measures such as life expectancy and the quality of the environment.
Sovereign risk ‘a concern’ after coal royalty rise [$]
The architect of Australia’s free-trade deal with Japan, Andrew Robb, says ‘sovereign risk is starting to seriously rear its head in Australia’.
Coal overtakes iron ore as Australia’s most valuable export commodity – On the Money podcast
Coal overtakes iron ore as Australia’s most valuable export commodity so what does that mean for the economy and shares? SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with Evan Lucas from InvestSMART.
Don’t bet on consumers being willing energy transition partners [$]
Lynne Gallagher
Planners assume households will change behaviour as part of the shift to a renewables-based grid. But what is actually needed is a national plan for what people actually want.
Electric vehicles face a potholed road ahead [$]
Jennifer Hewett
Labor’s modelling assumes 89 per cent of new car sales will be electric by 2030. Without dramatic policy change, the car industry doesn’t think it’s feasible.
Why do whales keep getting tangled in shark nets? And what should you do if you see it happen?
Vanessa Pirotta
Australians have watched in horror this week as two separate humpback whales were tangled up in Queensland shark nets on the same day. These put the number of whales caught in Queensland shark nets to four this season – that we know about.
Saving the planet: my generation must do more to support young climate activists [$]
Leslie Cannold
Taking action on climate is getting more difficult, but if we can’t put our bodies on the line for the climate, we must support activists who do.
Australia has finally accepted climate change as a national security threat. What next?
Robert Glasser
The Albanese government review of climate and security risk is a crucial first step in preparing Australia for the dangers ahead. But it must avoid these five pitfalls.
Solar duck curve: Why we must fix the cause and not just the symptoms
Paul McCormick
Australia leads the rest of the world in the generation of rooftop solar. However, the same cannot be said about the take-up of household batteries.
Victoria
Beach Energy backs carbon burial as Victoria lifts emissions goals
Beach Energy, one of the largest Victorian gas producers, is betting on carbon-capture technology as a “front-runner” among the solutions needed to deliver the Andrews government’s ambition to combat the industry’s emissions while also meeting the state’s significant continuing need for the fuel.
Social licence and emissions cuts to be embedded in Victoria’s new grid plans
Victoria seeks feedback on its proposed grid investment framework, as it prepares to replace the state’s coal plants with Renewable Energy Zones.
Victoria invests in First Nations’ capacity to protect culturally significant sites – podcast
First Nations People in Victoria will be given greater power to protect and preserve culturally significant sites across the state.
Push for environmentally sustainable design development
Bayside Council media release
We’re creating a more environmentally sustainable Bayside and helping to deliver our Climate Emergency response through strong new planning policy.
New South Wales
There’s water everywhere, but Western Sydney residents are being asked to use less
Dozens of suburbs in Sydney’s west have been issued a conserve water warning as the processing plant that services them is forced to slow operations down following the floods.
More than 15 million bees dead in NSW
More than 15 million bees have been euthanised across 31 infected premises in NSW as the fight to contain the varroa mite continues.
GoodFish Sustainable Seafood Guide Update shows big drop in green-listed NSW-caught seafood
The latest update to the AMCS’s GoodFish Sustainable Seafood Guide has seen a dramatic drop in green-listed seafood options from NSW from 11 in 2018 to just three (Sand Whiting, Mud Crab, and Eastern Rock Lobster).
Mt Arthur the canary of stranded assets [$]
The decision by BHP to decommission NSW’s largest coal mine, Mt Arthur, 15 years early has significance well beyond the Hunter valley, local residents, employees, and the company itself.
Political bunfight over wishy-washy dam wall plans [$]
Raising Warragamba Dam wall has turned into a political football, with both sides slamming the other over committing to the plan and funding it.
Groundwater strategy release hopes to avoid towns ever reaching day zero
NSW towns nearly ran out of water nearing so-called day zero during the last drought. Here is how the state is trying to prevent this from ever happening again.
LNP vote on support for Qld nuclear plants
Queensland’s Liberal National Party members are to set to vote on whether to support net zero, and to repeal laws preventing the construction of nuclear plants.
Rooftop solar saved Queenslanders $60m in a month
Rooftop solar in Queensland provided $60 million worth of free electricity to the grid in one month, according to a report from the Queensland Conservation Council and Solar Citizens.
Cape crusaders: The long journey to recognise 1.5m hectares under native title
The Federal Court has determined 1.5 million hectares of land on Cape York will be recognised under native title, bringing celebrations to four Traditional Owner groups.
Young people abandon this industrial city. Here’s how it’s trying to win them back
Emma Smith has always feared the day her children would have to move away to pursue a career. Now her hopes are pinned on the green hydrogen transition.
Sneak attack: Japan may be right about coal but is dead wrong to enter Qld political debate
John McCarthy
The Japanese Government has made the extraordinary step of publicly interfering in Queensland’s political debate about coal royalties.
Tasmania
Halfway mark: Has Hobart embraced the e-scooter? [$]
Riders have e-scooted across Hobart over 400,000 times as the trial reaches the halfway mark.
Western Australia
Campaign against Woodside goes global as Greenpeace takes aim at German gas customer
Greenpeace Germany has joined forces with Greenpeace Australia Pacific to take aim at energy company RWE, one of the only major customers earmarked by Woodside for its controversial Scarborough gas project, with a major action today at RWE’s German offices slamming the risk to Australian marine wildlife posed by Woodside’s aggressive gas expansion plans.
WA shark fishery practice sparks sea lion fear
Love the occasional fish-n’chips? Don’t we all, but increasingly Perth punters want to know exactly what else might have been caught in that enormous gillnet.
Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation say it’s being kept in the dark about whether any of the 5,000 sacred sites in Fortescue Metals Group’s Solomon Hub mine have been damaged.
Solar panel recycling market to be worth billions by 2030, say researchers
As solar PV waste grows to tens of millions tonnes a year by 2040, researchers say the recycling market will boom – as will demand for recycled components.
Waste from thousands of old industrial sites may be released by floods
As sea levels rise, coastal areas face a growing risk of flooding. But humans and environments near urban centers and the ocean may face issues beyond rising water. These areas have also been home to a large number of manufacturing facilities.
UN says road safety is a human rights issue – podcast
Nearly 1.3 million lives are claimed by road traffic accidents every year. As much as 3 percent of annual GDP in some countries is lost due to road accidents. And road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults.
Nature Conservation
Nuclear blast detectors reveal recovering whale population – podcast
Researchers say the population of a new sub-species of Blue Whale appears to be growing, after analysing nearly two decades of data on the animals’ songs.
Carbon conservation efforts would be enhanced by highlighting threatened forest primates
Efforts to conserve the carbon stored in tropical forests would be enhanced by linking the work to the charismatic, threatened primates that live there, Oregon State University ecologists assert today in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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