Date: 21 December 2022 at 8:58:13 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Dec 21
Post of the Day
Labor facing test of green credentials in logging fight
Key crossbench senators say Labor must end the native timber industry to meet Australia’s commitment to a new international deal to protect nature.
On This Day
Climate Change
Big oil is behind conspiracy to deceive public, first climate racketeering lawsuit says
Lawyer in a civil lawsuit launched by towns in hurricane-hit Puerto Rico describes why it is using laws used to target mob bosses
Carbon dioxide removal should receive additional financial support
New evidence from an economic analysis considering international markets suggests an important reason why subsidies should be higher than the price put on carbon emissions to incentivize their reduction.
“Robust” amendments to insurance law and international environmental law are needed to allow carbon capture, utilisation and storage to take place legally so the technology can be used in the fight against global warming, a new study says.
From beetles to blooming flowers: These are nature’s signs Christmas is coming in Australia
Christmas beetles, Moodjar trees, bright flowers and even cherries all signify Christmas in Australia, but what do we actually know about them?
Electric vehicle owners will be able to recharge in more places after a major electricity firm pledged to install chargers on power poles around the country.
Australia urged to overhaul energy concessions as low-income residents forced to forgo essentials
Acoss argues concession schemes are inequitable and ‘not adequate to meet needs’
Greens push for federal ‘right to protest’ law after NSW jailing of Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco
Senator David Shoebridge hopes to ‘rebalance the scales of justice’ after states crack down on activists
Indigenous leadership vital to “30 by 30” global conservation goal – key Australian group
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander conservation network Country Needs People has welcomed the global agreement to protect 30% of the world’s biodiversity by 2030 at the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP 15, but say Indigenous land and sea management must be prioritised and fully supported to achieve the goal.
CEFC jumps back into solar market as cost hikes put 82 pct renewable target at risk
CEFC makes biggest project finance deal for large scale solar as it seeks to help renewables overcome economic headwinds
Minns’ power play: Labor pushes to put energy supply back in public hands
Labor leader Chris Minns rules out any more sales of public assets as he says privatisation has failed to keep prices low.
Chris Bowen: Gas is neither a transition fuel, nor low emissions. But at least it’s flexible
Chris Bowen dismisses gas as transition fuel, says focus is on batteries and pumped hydro. And he discusses major new legislation on capacity, EVs, safeguards and climate targets.
Chris Bowen on gas, batteries, EVs, wind and targets – Energy Insiders Podcast
Federal Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen discusses the stream of new announcements in the last month, and what’s in store for 2023.
Sarah Bekessy et al
Billed as the event that’ll determine the fate of the entire living world, the United Nations’ COP15 nature summit has wrapped up in Canada with a historic deal, which includes protecting roughly a third of nature by 2030.
For Australia to lead the way on green hydrogen, first we must find enough water
Rebecca Lester
Australia is well-positioned to be a global leader in green hydrogen production. Green hydrogen is produced using a renewable power source such as solar or wind. As a substitute for fossil fuels, it will help to meet growing renewable energy needs.
“CoalKeeper is dead”: Will Chris Bowen’s New Energy Scheme be as secret as Dan Andrews’?
Zacharias Szumer
In early December, the nation’s energy ministers met to drive the final nail into the coffin of the Scott Morrison’s much-maligned “CoalKeeper” scheme, agreeing to a totally new scheme to support clean energy storage.
Albanese needs to recall sad resources saga [$]
Paul Kelly
Labor’s dealings with the resources sector have displayed gross policy ineptitude, an inability to grasp the consequences of their decisions and astonishing political arrogance.
Victoria
Couple fights to save a stranded mob of kangaroos with countless boat trips, hundreds of hay bales
Thousands of dollars and four weekly boat trips later, wildlife rescuers are doing whatever is needed to keep 80 kangaroos alive after the floods.
Rooftop solar takes biggest bite yet out of brown coal’s Christmas lunch
Victoria’s grid has recorded a new operational demand low thanks to solar power generated on rooftops.
New South Wales
Albanese government commits $4.7 billion for NSW renewable energy investment
The federal government is adding billions to the New South Wales renewable energy plan as MPs return to parliament to vote on the national energy deal.
Plans in place for drought-prone lake to become hydro-electric powerhouse
A proposal is in the pipeline for a massive hydro-electric plant in regional NSW capable of powering 400,000 homes with renewable energy.
Gomeroi people lose fight against Narrabri Gas Project in National Native Title Tribunal
The tribunal determined the project could go ahead subject to a condition, rejecting a novel climate change argument the Gomeroi people had hoped would stop the development.
Widjabul Wia-bal Native Title claim recognised by Federal Court
The Bundjalung Nation’s Widjabul Wia-bal people have had their Native Title rights recognised by law.
Privatising bus lines just the ticket: NSW
The privatisation of bus routes across Sydney and Newcastle has increased capacity and improved services, the NSW government says, despite a recent report calling it an “absolute disaster”.
Queensland
Treated wastewater still proposed for the Dawson River, home to the white-throated snapping turtle
Why Richard Cottee hates Albanese’s gas plans even if they cost him nothing
Queensland gas czar Richard Cottee’s State Gas said it would not be affected by the Federal Government’s price cap on domestic gas, but the company hates it anyway and would continue to lobby against it.
Grey greenies lawyer up to test historical law in Parliament protest [$]
A group of ageing climate protesters facing up to three years’ prison for disrupting State Parliament will be represented by a non-profit environmental law firm.
South Australia
‘A regrettable decision’: SA government closes River Murray to ensure public safety
The River Murray has been closed to all non-essential activity from the South Australian border to Wellington, with the state government citing ongoing safety concerns about rising floodwaters.
This ‘predatory’ pest controller is booming amid mild and wet conditions
Swarms of hungry dragonflies have descended on Adelaide after a “perfect storm” of mild and wet conditions caused the population to boom.
Ponde residents urged to leave or become stranded as flood levee breaks
The moment floodwaters break through an almost 50-year-old levee has been captured on film as residents were told to evacuate.
Tasmania
Flowers, yes, but no lights, no ‘prickly’ plants and no car parks under new nature strip rules
Hobart’s rules for nature strip are changing. Here is what you can and cannot do with the grassy patch out the front of your house.
Project puts the North-West in position to become states first official renewable energy zone [$]
The Project Marinus funding deal has put the North-West in pole position to become Tasmania’s first official renewable energy zone.
Western Australia
McGowan government hands taxpayers’ money to insolvent coal miner amid looming energy crisis
An unknown amount of taxpayer money will be spent helping an insolvent coal miner that is $1.4 billion in the red keep its lights on, with the supply of electricity at peak times depending on it.
WA environment placed at risk as inspections from mining watchdogs scaled back
The WA government’s independent watchdog says departments tasked with policing the state’s mining operations “did little to deter operators breaching conditions” after staff were moved away from compliance efforts at the height of the pandemic.
As WA endures an increasingly nervous summer, a new fix to its power problems has hit trouble
Western Australia’s first big battery will now cost an extra $19 million and not be available until after summer, adding further pressure to the state’s electricity grid.
Fortescue signs deal to produce hydrogen-fuelled green steel
Fortescue signs another MoU to produce green steel on a commercial scale without burning fossil fuels.
Billionaire Chris Ellison joins Gina Rinehart, Kerry Stokes in onshore gas takeover frenzy
Daniel Mercer
Australia’s richest people are in a battle for control of Western Australia’s burgeoning onshore gas industry, despite the Commonwealth’s decision to cap prices.
Biodegradable medical gowns produce harmful emissions
These ‘foolishly patriotic’ expats want to cut your power bill by 40pc [$]
After building a global manufacturing business in Canada, two Australian inventors have a plan to reinvent airconditioning for commercial buildings.
‘We are all exposed to it’: the human face of India’s asbestos timebomb
Experts say country’s vulnerability to asbestos-related diseases is putting the health of millions of people at risk.
How a test drive may lead to an electric vehicle purchase
There’s something about test driving an electric vehicle that boosts some potential buyers’ personal identity as being early adopters of the latest technologies, a new study has found. And that strengthened sense of being a timely user of new gadgetry was linked to a higher likelihood that the test-driver would show interest in buying the car, the study suggested.
Cycling and recycling – how the Netherlands puts old bikes to good use – podcast
In the Netherlands the bicycle is being used for more than just exercise – as a device to reduce the harmful impact that poverty and isolation can have on people’s health by using bikes to promote integration.
The false promise of nuclear fusion
Crawford Kilian
We’ll never achieve unlimited energy. And for that perhaps we should be grateful.
Nature Conservation
‘Embrace history’: UN environment chief calls for immediate action on Cop15 deal
Inger Andersen said we must not ‘pause for a second’ as we ‘change the relationship between people and nature’
Cop15 in Montreal: did the summit deliver for the natural world?
The talking is over, and a text has been agreed on the next decade of targets to save the natural world. Here are the highs and lows of the Convention of Biological Diversity’s (CBD) agreement
Using deep learning to monitor India’s disappearing forest cover
Using satellite monitoring data, researchers have developed a deep learning algorithm that could provide real-time monthly land use and land cover maps for parts of India.
Seven reasons to be cheerful about the Amazon in 2023 – and three to be terrified
For anyone who cares about the Amazon rainforest, there will be an extra reason to celebrate the new year countdown in Brazil on 31 December because the first stroke of midnight will mark the last moment in power of Jair Bolsonaro.
Belize’s crocodiles are tough, but are they surviving river pollution?
Jonathan Triminio grew up witnessing the effects of decades of pollution on Belize’s New River, now he is a biologist studying local crocodiles to try to trace both the source and impact of that pollution.
Conservationists warn over fish stocks as annual catches agreed with EU
Conservationists have warned that “mismanagement” of the UK and EU’s seas is set to continue after negotiators agreed new catch quotas for fishing in 2023.
Brazil’s Pantanal is at risk of collapse, scientists say
Record fires, climate change, large-scale agriculture, deforestation and a proposed industrial waterway collectively threaten the world’s largest tropical wetland — a biodiversity hotspot and home to jaguars.
What’s this unfamiliar feeling I have after the Cop15 meeting? It might just be hope
Craig Bennett
The Montreal biodiversity conference set some ambitious targets. It’s now up to nations – including the UK – to step up
This global pact to save biodiversity is historic but will it give nature a ‘fighting chance’?
Miki Perkins
After four years of negotiations, delays and frantic last-minute talks, nearly 200 countries – including Australia – have agreed on a landmark pact observers hope will stop the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems and species. But will it work?
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