From: Maelor Himbury <M.Himbury@acfonline.org.au>
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2026 at 8:19 am
Subject: Daily Links Sep 30
To:
Post of the Day
Scorecard reveals crisis of confidence among wind and solar investors, not a lack of capacity
Tristan Edis
A new scorecard tracking progress of the renewable energy sector against government targets reveals a crisis of confidence among wind and solar investors.
On This Day
Climate Change
Washington gets closer to massive carbon-market deal
Historic pact with California, Quebec comes as “federal government is trying to dismantle climate policy”
The driest days in hundreds of years
In West Texas, the creeks dried up, cattle production struggled, and small towns like Candelaria slowly emptied out.
The coal industry asked for a rescue. Trump obliged.
In a previously unreported letter, a top lobbyist floated the idea of using emergency powers to keep aging coal plants open.
Big Oil can’t hide behind the Clean Air Act
Gina McCarthy and Avi Garbow
The first case that the Supreme Court will hear this term, Suncor v. Boulder, could have major consequences for state and local governments’ ability to protect their residents from tortious conduct by corporations that are knowingly putting profits over people.
National
No excuses for next leader of party, Adam Bandt says, while Bob Brown warns they must also be able to take on Pauline Hanson and One Nation
Inside the fossil fuel industry’s push into Australian classrooms
At least 260 educational programs in Australia are sponsored by fossil fuel companies, according to a report by a climate advocacy group.
Victoria
Key station in Melbourne Airport rail plan to be built by 2031
A long-awaited train line to the Melbourne Airport is a step closer, with the state and federal governments announcing a timeline for completion of the nearby Keilor East station.
Dan banned it. One Nation is vowing to bring this industry back [$]
One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering says native forestry will return as the party promises to lift the ban imposed by former premier Daniel Andrews.
Nature-strip gardens are a paradise for pollinators in your street [$]
Philippa Bell and Professor Kirsten Parris
Our research transformed road verges in Melbourne from mown grass into native habitat and seven times more insect pollinators came to visit. It’s time to put the nature back into nature strips.
New South Wales
Battery customers feeling ‘ripped off’ after solar company collapses
A Sydney solar company has collapsed, leaving large numbers of customers furious after they paid hefty deposits for battery systems under a multi-billion-dollar federal government scheme.
Revealed: Cost of new rapid bus routes across Sydney detailed in secret forecasts [$]
The Minns government has yet to unveil plans for a single rapid bus route despite modelling putting their cost at a fraction of the bill for new metro lines.
Bogong numbers dropped up to 99.5% between 2017 and 2019, but wetter and cooler conditions are thought to be behind the recent surge
Grifting icare, gouging workers. BHP’s big insurance scam unveiled
Michael West
BHP and MinterEllison are covering up a coal industry insurance scam at the expense of mining workers and NSW businesses insured with icare.
Data centres should stop riding roughshod over locals
SMH editorial
The abandonment of plans to build a mega data centre in Lane Cove is a message to tech titans to involve local communities.
Queensland
One giant clam contains a month‑by‑month diary of the Great Barrier Reef’s climate 200 years ago
When you swim through the azure waters of the Great Barrier Reef, there is one entity on the seafloor that’s almost impossible to miss: the giant clam. Its huge, fluted shell frames a soft mantle shimmering with electric blue, green and gold.
South Australia
‘More like January than September’ as SA temperature records broken
More than a dozen places in South Australia have recorded their hottest September day on record.
PM announces new housing as developers walk away from Eyre
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Adelaide spruiking new housing in the midst of news that the developers are walking away from a 1900-home site in the northern suburbs.
Hissing hell! Deadly snake’s wild rescue caught on video [$]
A tiger snake’s lucky escape from a Kirks lemonade can has put beachgoers on notice … snake season has arrived and littering is putting wildlife at risk.
‘Too much wind and solar’? Ten years on, South Australia tells a different story
Giles Parkinson
Ten years after South Australia’s statewide blackout became a political weapon against renewables, the state now gets more than three-quarters of its electricity from renewable sources. The technology has raced ahead, even if the politics has barely moved.
Tasmania
Ministers close in on Bell Bay smelter deal [$]
Federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres says a financial agreement to secure Bell Bay Aluminium’s future is drawing closer, with three-way negotiations at an advanced stage.
Northern Territory
INPEX’s plan for world-class clean energy hub
Australia risks losing its role as a regional clean energy leader if regulatory red tape stalls the Bonaparte CCS Project before a single tonne of CO₂ is stored.
Sustainability
The night sky is getting 10% brighter every year. We’re forgetting what darkness feels like
If more cities start regulating outdoor lighting, we humans could make the environment better for all living creatures
Are used electric cars actually reliable?
They might be the new kids on the automotive block, but a new study has found that used electric cars are more reliable than traditional petrol models.
‘It’s just cruel’: US households hit by surge in electricity shutoffs amid record hot summer
Utility disconnections were up 28% in 10 states in July 2026 – the hottest month ever recorded in the US – compared with July 2024, data shows
“I believe if your neighbour’s house is burning, you help them. Africa is our neighbour,” said IEA executive director Dr Fatih Birol.
Nature Conservation
UN warns of ‘narrowing window’ to restore world’s forests
Food and Agriculture Organization urges governments to make forest restoration a national priority
Saving the Siamese crocodile: Cambodia moves to protect one of the world’s last wild populations
Indigenous communities play crucial role, as ‘genetic bank’ area of wetland offers hope for critically endangered reptile
Hormone-disrupting herbicide contaminating 25% of continental US rivers, report finds
Atrazine, banned in 60 countries, polluting rivers at levels that can harm wildlife and may threaten human health
The latest tool to reduce nitrogen pollution: restoring retired cranberry bogs to natural wetlands
Rewilding retired cranberry bogs to promote native habitat has yielded many success stories on and around Cape Cod. New bog restoration projects in Marstons Mills have a different primary objective.
More plastic, less glow? Pollution threatens deep sea’s bioluminescent life, experts warn
Plastic pollution could disrupt the bioluminescent light produced by deep-sea organisms, researchers warn in a letter in the journal Cambridge Prisms: Plastics.
Stunted lowland vegetation in the Green River Basin doesn’t bode well for one of the state’s premier herd’s survival the coming winter.
Maelor Himbury | Library Volunteer
Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.au
1800 223 669
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