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Date: 30 November 2023 at 8:59:41 am AEDT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Nov 30
Callum Foote and Michael West
Fossil fuel giants and other foreign multinationals are again the biggest tax dodgers in Australia. Callum Foote and Michael West unveil the un-prestigious Michael West Media Top 40 Tax Dodgers awards.
On This Day
St. Andrew Day – Christianity
Climate Change
Leaked documents reveal the president of the UN’s global climate negotiations COP28, planned to use his role to push oil deals with other countries.
‘We have to shrink emissions’: COP28 set to begin
Preparations are being finalised for the 28th Conference of the Parties Summit to limit the rate of global warming. The world has become hotter since last year’s COP summit, but some developing countries are offering a glimpse of what can be done.
National
$50 million river deal to green-light environmental water buybacks
The Commonwealth will have a green light to enter the water market and buy irrigation water from farmers to boost the environment, with the Albanese government securing the numbers to re-write the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Chris Bowen warns global heating will fuel political instability in annual climate statement
Parliament to hear increased ‘fragility’ of energy networks ‘could be used by hostile actors’ amid existential national security risk to Pacific neighbours
Lab tests v the real world: how does the fuel consumption of Australian SUVs compare?
The Australian Automotive Association has found some SUVs use up to 13% more fuel on the road than reported in laboratory tests. Is your vehicle underperforming?
Electric cars cut emissions in half, analysis shows
A calculator comparing the environmental impacts of electric, hybrid and petrol vehicles has revealed motorists could cut carbon emissions by as much as 60 per cent with their choice of car.
Vehicles caught using more petrol in real-world tests
Early results from a $14 million program to test the real-world efficiency of cars on Australian roads has found more than half use more petrol than lab tests indicate, with some exceeding promises by 13 per cent.
New environmental rules for government agencies under net zero target
The Albanese government has introduced a new target to reduce the Australian Public Service’s emissions to net zero by 2030 across areas like property, energy and travel.
The Crunch: what Australia’s love for SUVs means for emissions and safety – video
Guardian Australia’s data and interactives editor Nick Evershed and data journalist Josh Nicholas crunch some numbers to get to the bottom of what Australia’s love affair with the SUV means for the environment and safety on the roads
Jacqueline Peel
As the COP28 climate summit gets underway in the oil production hub of the United Arab Emirates today, Australia’s climate minister Chris Bowen will detail our progress in meeting emissions cut targets and updated projections.
What is a ‘just’ transition to net zero – and why is Australia struggling to get there?
Robyn Eckersley and Erin Fitz-Henry
Australia’s net-zero transition is struggling. Despite the government’s efforts, announced last week, to revive flagging investment in renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions from existing industry are still rising. Yet under the Paris Agreement, Australia must adopt even more ambitious targets for 2035.
Extreme weather leaves energy networks vulnerable to ‘hostile actors’, Climate Statement warns
Michelle Grattan
Extreme weather seasons are putting Australia’s energy systems more at risk of sabotage, the government’s annual Climate Change Statement warns.
“Outrage economy:” Sky News and Alan Jones in global list of climate misinformation
Marion Rae
World is grappling with an environmental crisis compounded by an information crisis, and Australia’s Sky News and broadcaster Alan Jones are near the top of the list.
How the Capacity Investment Scheme can build a better system for First Nations
Jonathan Kneebone
The federal government must help deliver an inclusive clean energy transition by embedding First Nations outcomes into its auction process.
Victoria
Victorian government to repay $7 million in taxes to electric vehicle drivers
Victoria’s treasurer says the state government has agreed to repay electric vehicle taxes to drivers, with interest, after the tax was found to be unconstitutional.
Melbourne’s west to house SEC’s first project – a battery big enough to power 200,000 homes
The revived State Electricity Commission’s plan is said to be one of the largest battery projects of its kind.
Ants on march: Expert warns of ‘devastating’ threat [$]
Think the fire ant incursion in NSW is no biggie? Think again. An expert says the invasive pest, which has caused human deaths, could hit Melbourne in just 48 hours and have “devastating” consequences.
“Great result” for wind and solar as huge fire levy threat to renewables is doused
Victoria government walks back changes to property tax laws that threatened to hobble renewables growth in the state by adding big fire levies to wind, solar and storage projects.
New South Wales
State ramps up effort to stop venomous fire ants in their tracks
Detection dogs, chemical baits and a biosecurity control zone are all being rolled out in Northern NSW to stop fire ants from spreading further into the state.
Incoming! Nats add “carpet bomb” of wind turbines to list of anti-renewable tropes
Sophie Vorrath
NSW Forestry Corp hoses down claims it plans to “carpet bomb” pine plantations with “hundreds of giant wind towers.” Guess who’s spreading them?
Queensland
Public transport nightmare as major bus stops to close ‘for months’ [$]
Several stops at two of the CBD’s busiest bus stations are set to be closed for “months” to allow for construction on the next stage of the Brisbane Metro.
South Australia
Experts surprised to find endangered bird species in animal refuge grounds
Wildlife experts are surprised to see some bird species re-emerge across Kangaroo Island after the devastating bushfires in 2019-2020.
Tasmania
‘Confronting’ sight as 34 pilot whales found dead on east coast beach [$]
A pod of 34 pilot whales have been found dead on a beach on Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula on the East Coast.
Forestry company joining in the $1 billion efuel plant party [$]
Private forestry company Forico has been given the option to be an investor in the $1 billion efuel plant that has been proposed outside of a northwest city.
Just hatched: hope for critically endangered red handfish
A clutch of 21 critically endangered red handfish have hatched in Tasmanian conservation breeding program — but before they are released into the wild, these little ones will go to “school” to get them “street smart”.
Log from swift parrot habitat dumped on MONA Congress
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation
The macabre truth of logging in critically endangered swift parrot habitat has been revealed today at MONA.
Northern Territory
‘Devil’s in the detail’: NT mining environmental regulation overhauled [$]
Advocates say new mining regulation could lead to ‘environmental disaster’ while the opposition warns it will not do enough to attract investment.
MAJOR investment to protect Aussie ‘otter’ and WA rivers
The Federal Government hopes to create ‘living shorelines’ in the Swan-Canning Estuary to help protect animals such as a cane toad predator.
Sustainability
Plane powered by fat becomes first jetliner to fly fossil fuel-free from London to New York
The flight was powered by aviation fuel made up of tallow and other waste fats.
Breathing highway air increases blood pressure
A new study found that unfiltered air from rush-hour traffic significantly increased passengers’ blood pressure, both while in the car and up to 24 hours later.
Commitments needed to solve aviation’s impact on our climate
Researchers could find no simple solution to limiting non-CO2 emissions from aircraft.
Remaking built environment by reimagining waste
Visitors to the pedestrian mall in the heart of downtown Ithaca, New York, may find themselves passing a large poster with directions to the Waste(d) Imagination Tour.
Farmers say zero-emissions food still years away as agriculture rises up global climate agenda
As global climate summit COP28 kicks off, food systems will be in the spotlight like never before — both as a casualty of climate change and a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Feeding 8 billion people has changed our planet. Here’s why we can’t keep doing it the same way
Human history is shaped by our ability to feed ourselves. See how population growth is tied to farmland, and how food production’s profound environmental effect shows us the need for change.
Nature Conservation
The $500,000 fight to protect a Muskoka wetland
Very few of Ontario’s quickly vanishing marshes and swamps are safe from development. A group of citizens managed to preserve one, but they also found deep flaws in the system.
Some U.S. wolverines to be protected by Endangered Species Act
Officials will add the predators, threatened by climate change and habitat loss in much of the United States, to the Endangered Species List.
England’s only bottlenose dolphin pod at risk of extinction because of pollution
England’s only resident population of bottlenose dolphins is under serious threat from a combination of human activity, environmental pollution and difficulties in rearing young that survive into adulthood, according to new research.
‘A biodiversity catastrophe’: how the world could look in 2050 – unless we act now
The climate crisis, invasive species, overexploitation of resources and pollution could break down crucial ecosystems. We asked experts to lay out the risks and offer some solutions.
Scientists are pining to save the endangered whitebark tree
The balance of an ecosystem hangs on the survival of a scraggly mountain tree. In northwest B.C., ecologists are facing climate change, droughts and wildfires as they work to protect whitebark pine and the species that rely on it.
Pollution, sand mining spell disaster for Subarnarekha
In the heart of India’s Chota Nagpur region, where the Subarnarekha river weaves its way through tribal landscapes, a tale of environmental degradation unfolds, spelling doom for both humans and the delicate ecosystems that rely on this lifeline.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
p | 1800 223 669 t | @AusConservation
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