Date: 23 September 2022 at 6:52:03 am AWST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Sep 23
Post of the Day
‘Governments must invest to cut energy costs’
Governments must deliberately use public investment and regulation to rapidly scale-up clean energy technologies to bring down costs, achieve global climate goals and boost economies worldwide, according to a major new report launched today by leading international economists and energy policy experts.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
‘We have a rendezvous with climate disaster’ Guterres tells UN leaders – podcast
While the conflict in Ukraine dominated the start of the 77th Annual United Nations General Assembly, climate change also looms large.
*Free* Dryland forestation lends limited climate change mitigation potential
Despite being a promising and widely considered approach, a new study finds that forestation of Earth’s vast drylands would do little to slow climate change, researchers report. The findings show that although smart dryland forestation can be an important tool in some respects, its limited short-term climate benefits argue that it cannot be a substitute for rapidly reducing emissions.
The pathway to 90% clean electricity is mostly clear. The last 10%, not so much
A new paper suggests six different approaches for the difficult final steps necessary to get to a 100% carbon-free grid—and each has its pros and cons.
For a scientist and mother, climate change is generational ‘robbery’
Hungarian scientist Diana Ürge-Vorsatz is concerned about how the climate change crisis is impacting children. She sees her research on renewable energy and energy demand as part of the essential work of protecting and restoring the future for the next generation.
Hotter days lead to more harassment and hate speech
As temperatures rise, so does human anger and aggression. That’s the takeaway from two new studies published in the past week — the latest in a growing collection of literature linking extreme heat to changes in human temperament and behavior.
EU plans to upgrade its Paris Agreement climate target
The European Union plans to raise its target to tackle global warming under the Paris climate agreement, although the upgrade is unlikely to happen in time for this year’s U.N. climate summit.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell: 2030 is only two Olympic finals away
Newly appointed UN Climate Change head Simon Stiell has warned leaders “there can be no backsliding” on international climate efforts ahead of the next climate summit in Egypt.
National
Warming oceans are changing Australian reef fish populations
Shallow reefs and the creatures that inhabit them are changing due to rising ocean temperatures, but these impacts have been obscured by a lack of comprehensive local data. A team of researchers in Australia has been tracking changes in the country’s reefs for over a decade, and in research publishing September 22 in the journal Current Biology they describe how they used fine-scale data to illustrate how warming waters impact tropical and temperate reef fish communities differently.
The transition to net zero will be one of Australia’s biggest transformations, and many believe we need a national body to coordinate and plan the change.
Investors demand big emitters pay their way [$]
The Investor Group on Climate Change has urged the government not to shield emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries from its reformed safeguard mechanism.
Sky and the Australian find ‘no evidence’ of a climate emergency – they weren’t looking hard enough
Graham Readfearn
The media outlets gave sizeable coverage to journal article that climate scientists said misrepresented their research
Australia’s once in a generation lithium opportunity
Tim Buckley & Matt Pollard
Australia is at the start of a globally significant investment boom. Its top 5 pure-play lithium firms have a collective market value of more than $A50 billion.
A just transition to net zero makes sense for all [$]
John O’Brien, Rebekah Cheney
Ensuring that no one is left behind on the road to net zero is also of commercial and economic import and should be at the forefront of board agendas.
Victoria
Excitement builds as Dartmouth Dam spills for first time since September 1996
Tourists are flocking to north-eastern Victoria to watch the Murray-Darling Basin’s largest water storage begin to spill.
Murray-Darling Basin plan: Victoria will struggle to meet water delivery obligations by deadline
Water minister says state will only consider additional 450GL efficiency projects if they do not negatively affect farmers or towns
New South Wales
Work on enormous new dam could start within months [$]
Construction could start on a massive new dam in NSW as early next year, with the proposal now deemed ‘critical state infrastructure’ to slash planning red tape.
NSW at the start of a ‘very long season’ of wet weather
NSW Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke has predicted worsening weather conditions and a ‘very long season’ of bad weather as the state expects heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms in coming days.
ACT
Defence Housing Australia wants to clear nearly 16 hectares of natural temperate grassland in Canberra’s north-west
Canberrans will soon get SMS notifications for unplanned power outages
The ACT’s electricity grid operator is working to introduce SMS notifications for unplanned power outages and has conceded it can learn from the response to a damaging storm.
Report says ACT protecting trees that could cause damage in big storms
The ACT government should better co-ordinate its response to severe storms and consider providing financial help to residents to clear up their yards after damaging weather, an inquiry into a supercell thunderstorm in West Belconnen has recommended.
The ACT has led the way on climate action. Until now
Gregory Andrews
I’m proud of my city Canberra for being a leader. On climate change, we’ve led on emissions reductions as well as taking toxic politics out of climate action.
Solar is “pure gold” to Queenslanders, but governments are missing the opportunity
Stephanie Gray
Rows and rows of solar rooftops show where Queenslanders stands on clean energy, it’s now up to governments to help it become a clean manufacturing powerhouse.
Tasmania
Low rain in the west continues to impact Hydro [$]
LA Nina is bringing more rain to Eastern Australia, including Tasmania. But will it help Hydro?
Northern Territory
Red tape fears as mine experts question NT Government move [$]
As the Territory Government moves to consult with the mining industry about proposed changes to approvals, key players are worried about red tape.
Sustainability
Toward European carbon footprint rule for batteries
Top energy, tech, and climate researchers at ETH Zurich engaged in an informed debate over the European regulation that sets an upper carbon footprint limit for European markets. The limits, to be established this year, come into force in 2027 and will apply to electric vehicle batteries and stationary batteries with more than 2 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of storage capacity.
Research solves solar cell durability puzzle
Rice University engineers say they’ve solved a long-standing conundrum in making stable, efficient solar panels out of halide perovskites.
Anthropogenic air pollution more significant than desert dust
In 2017, an international team headed by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry travelled around the Arabian Peninsula on a research vessel in a spectacular expedition.
New report ensures hydropower sustainability amid climate change
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has provided hydropower operators with new data to better prepare for extreme weather events and shifts in seasonal energy demands caused by climate change.
A sea change for plastic pollution: New material biodegrades in ocean water
Marine microorganisms found to feast on new polyurethane materials used in sustainable shoes
Green hydrogen at sea cheaper and more sustainable
Researchers from Wageningen University & Research have shown that the production costs of green hydrogen via electrolysis at sea can be reduced by making Ultra-Pure Water (UPW) on site by means of membrane distillation. This ultra-clean water is essential for the conversion of wind energy into ‘green’ hydrogen.
Mixed cover crops capture carbon in soil, could help mitigate climate change
When it comes to adding carbon to the soil, all cover crops don’t perform equally, according to a team of researchers whose new study revealed the disparity for the first time.
Would Putin risk losing everything for a nuclear strike?
James Rothwell
Putin’s speech increases the fear of an atomic attack, but the West is ready to call his bluff.
Move over, Greta: new influencer makes nuclear cool [$]
Claire Lehmann
The world’s first nuclear power influencer is keen to detonate those old memes.
Nature Conservation
Study: Termites may have larger role in future ecosystems
Termites are critical in natural ecosystems-especially in the tropics-because they help recycle dead wood from trees. Without such decayers, the world would be piled high with dead plants and animals. But these energetic wood-consuming insects could soon be moving toward the North Pole and South Pole as global temperatures warm from climate change, new research indicates.
Climate change and habitat destruction may have already caused the loss of more than one-tenth of the world’s terrestrial genetic diversity, according to new research led by Carnegie’s Moises Exposito-Alonso and published in Science.
Scientists believe evolution could save coral reefs, if we let it
The recent study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, finds that coral reefs can evolve and adapt to the effects of climate change-but only if we protect a sufficient diversity of coral reefs, particularly when it comes to temperatures.
Marine protected areas can help safeguard ocean biodiversity
With more than 98 percent of U.S. waters outside the Central Pacific not being part of a marine protected area, critical marine ecosystems are in peril and opportunities to mitigate climate change are being lost, according to Daniel Suman, a professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Miami.
Affordable mobility: It’s good for people and the planet
Affordable public transit systems are good for people and the planet — and experiments in Europe have shown it’s popular, too. Here’s how we roll it out.
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