Federal Nuclear Inquiry Report expected this week
 Report due on nuclear power industry, Canberra Times, Paul Osborne, 9 Dec 19, A report looking into the potential for nuclear power in Australia is expected to be released later this week. The parliamentary environment and energy committee was tasked by Energy Minister Angus Taylor in August to examine the potential for nuclear power. Mr Taylor told the committee the moratorium on nuclear energy would remain, but he wanted some “sensible” advice on economic, environmental and safety implications. The inquiry received evidence on the potential for micro-reactors – some as small as five megawatts – and even floating nuclear power stations which are being developed in Russia……. Environment groups said there were huge health, environmental and financial risks from a nuclear industry, which would also need massive taxpayer subsidies. They warned suggestions of small modular reactors were a pipedream and the nuclear waste storage problem had not yet been solved…… It is understood the committee is aiming to table the report in parliament by the end of the week, but no formal release date has been set. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6534160/report-due-on-nuclear-power-industry/ |
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Australia on fire. Scott Morrison under fire over bushfire emergency
‘Australians are paying the price’: Scott Morrison under fire over bushfire emergency, The unprecedented severity of Australia’s bushfire season is igniting calls for stronger action in response to the climate emergency. SBS, BY TOM STAYNER , 9 Dec 19, As Australia burns, public concern over the need for greater action against the devastating bushfire season and climate change is igniting.
Dozens of bushfires continue to burn across the nation’s east coast with the effects of these blazes ranging from razed homes on the frontlines to smoke choking metropolitan centres.
The fire season has captured international attention with media outlets from the New York Times to the BBC drawing attention to criticism against the Morrison government’s inaction on climate change.
The Climate Council has also laid fresh blame on the Federal government, accusing it of being “out of touch” with the action Australians are demanding.
“It is irresponsible not to connect the dots – it is absolutely clear … that climate change is exacerbating dangerous bushfire conditions,” the Climate Council’s Dr Martin Rice told SBS News.
“Australia must act on climate change it must join the global collective effort – we’re falling woefully behind and Australians are paying the price.”…..
The Department of Environment and Energy released the “Australia’s emissions projections 2019” report on Sunday citing the nation would exceed its 2030 Paris target by 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
But Dr Rice said the numbers point to a “dodgy accounting” trick through using “carry-over” credits to reach the commitment, symptomatic of a failure to respond to the “escalating climate crisis”.
“Australia is on the frontline of the escalating crisis, now is not the time to cut corners on climate,” he said.
“We need to actually prepare our emergency services and our fire services and our community for the escalating threats.”…..
More than 90 fires were burning across NSW alone on Sunday evening and there are fears of worsening conditions when temperatures soar later this week.
Amid these conditions, Labor has again urged Mr Morrison to hold an urgent COAG meeting to prepare Australia for the bushfire season.
“We can see, smell and feel the changing climate but our Government says we’re only imagining it,” Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said over the weekend…..
[Morrison] has faced criticism for not meeting with a group of ex-fire chiefs, at the centre of a petition signed by more than 100,000 Australians which calls for a national emergency summit…..
Climate change is Australia’s labyrinth without an exit’
The horrific fire conditions have spawned international headlines about Australia’s response with the New York Times writing the fires revealed “once again” that Australia’s “pragmatism stops at climate change”.
The outlet cited political spats over climate changes and the link to bushfires including Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s jibe against “raving inner-city lunatics”, The Greens.
“Climate change is Australia’s labyrinth without an exit, where its pragmatism disappears,” the New York Times wrote.
One of those Greens, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young again took aim at Mr Morrison this weekend over his government’s response.
“Our nation is our fire,” she said.
“Australians deserve better than politicians with their heads in the sand.” HTTPS://WWW.SBS.COM.AU/NEWS/AUSTRALIANS-ARE-PAYING-THE-PRICE-SCOTT-MORRISON-UNDER-FIRE-OVER-BUSHFIRE-EMERGENCY
Water supply problems to hit nearly 2 billion people as mountain glaciers melt
1.9 billion people at risk from mountain water shortages, study shows https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/09/billion-people-risk-water-supply-rising-demand-global-heating-mountain-ecosystem
Rising demand and climate crisis threaten entire mountain ecosystem, say scientists, Jonathan Watts Global environment editor, @jonathanwatts, Tue 10 Dec 2019 A quarter of the world’s population are at risk of water supply problems as mountain glaciers, snow-packs and alpine lakes are run down by global heating and rising demand, according to an international study.
The first inventory of high-altitude sources finds the Indus is the most important and vulnerable “water tower” due to run-off from the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Ladakh, and Himalayan mountain ranges, which flow downstream to a densely populated and intensively irrigated basin in Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan.
The authors warn this vast water tower – a term they use to describe the role of water storage and supply that mountain ranges play to sustain environmental and human water demands downstream – is unlikely to sustain growing pressure by the middle of the century when temperatures are projected to rise by 1.9C (35.4F), rainfall to increase by less than 2%, but the population to grow by 50% and generate eight times more GDP.
Strains are apparent elsewhere in the water tower index, which quantifies the volume of water in 78 mountain ranges based on precipitation, snow cover, glacier ice storage, lakes and rivers. This was then compared with the drawdown by communities, industries and farms in the lower reaches of the main river basins.
The study by 32 scientists, which was published in the Nature journal on Monday, confirms Asian river basins face the greatest demands but shows pressures are also rising on other continents.
“It’s not just happening far away in the Himalayas but in Europe and the United States, places not usually thought to be reliant on mountains for people or the economy,” said one of the authors, Bethan Davies, of Royal Holloway University.
“We always knew the Indus was important, but it was surprising how the Rhône and Rhine have risen in importance, along with the Fraser and Columbia.”
The study says 1.9 billion people and half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots could be negatively affected by the decline of natural water towers, which store water in winter and release it slowly over the summer.
This buffering capacity is weakening as glaciers lose mass and snow-melt dynamics are disrupted by temperatures that are rising faster at high altitude than the global average.
“Climate change threatens the entire mountain ecosystem,” the report concludes. “Immediate action is required to safeguard the future of the world’s most important and vulnerable water towers.”
As well as local conservation efforts, the authors say international action to reduce carbon emissions is the best way to safeguard water towers.
Citing recent research by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Davies said 75% of high-altitude snow and ice would be retained if global warming could be kept within 1.5C. However, 80% would be lost by 2100 if the world continued on a path of business as usual.
Hypocrisy of Australian Labor Party on climate change
The ALP remains far more worried about looking like it is attacking people who work in coalmines than getting on the front foot on climate change.
It is 2019 and the leader of the ALP is now repeating lines about our exports of coals that Tony Abbott used.
The ALP cannot afford to play games on this issue. You can’t say climate change is real and then ensure your messaging is about protecting coal.
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The Coalition isn’t being honest about the climate crisis. But neither is Labor https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/dec/10/the-coalition-isnt-being-honest-about-the-climate-crisis-but-neither-is-labor, Greg Jericho @GrogsGamut Tue 10 Dec 2019
Of course we need to think about those who will be affected by mine closures, but cripes, we’re all affected by climate change. In the weekend I flew up to Sydney to attend a conference held by the Chifley Research Centre, the ALP’s thinktank. As the plane approached Sydney, the site of the fire front in the Blue Mountains was stomach-churning. And then I got to experience the air quality of Sydney that has become news around the world.Upon returning to Canberra, I discovered a wind change had meant the nation’s capital was now enveloped in a haze of smoke – and expected to be so for the rest of the week. This, I need not tell you, is not normal. Because of climate change, areas of south-eastern Australia are going to be drier and hotter, the times for doing preventative hazard reduction burning will shrink, and as a result our fire seasons will become longer, and the fires will become more intense. This is due to one thing – climate change. The only way to prevent this is to reduce our emissions and to pressure the rest of the world to reduce emissions as well. We are not doing either of those things. Continue reading |
Australia is copping it at COP25 – and rightly so
 Australia is copping it at COP25 – and rightly so, Canberra Times, Dermot O’Gorman , 9 Dec 19,
This week the world’s climate ministers, including Australia’s embattled Minister for Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor, are meeting in Madrid for international climate talks. It has already been an inauspicious start to the COP25 UN Climate Change Conference, where Australia is receiving a well-deserved kicking from the international community for its inaction on the issue.
Australia bagged the infamous Fossil of the Day award from environment groups on the opening day. The satirical award, presented each day of the conference, was in recognition of the Australian government’s downplay of the link between climate change and the bushfires that continue to devastate communities across the country. As the talks continue, we shouldn’t be surprised to see members of the European Union, who are leading the way in tackling climate change, taking aim at Australia for our weak climate commitments. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham recently got a taste of this when France pushed Australia to adopt enforceable climate change targets as part of a planned trade deal with the EU. COP25 should be a wake-up call that our domestic climate policies and position on thermal coal exports are undermining Australia’s standing in the world…..https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6532512/australia-is-copping-it-at-cop25-and-rightly-so/?cs=14246 |
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Dr Katharine Hayhoe on The Bible and Climate Change
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Climate Change But Were Afraid to Ask, Forbes, Devin Thorpe 9 Dec 19, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist who leads the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University and is the host and producer of the PBS series Global Weirding. I asked her everything you want to know about climate change but were afraid to ask…..
DT: What would you tell someone who wants to do their part to solve climate change?
The very grave dangers of small nuclear reactors in floating nuclear power
nuclear experts have highlighted crucial negatives that cast doubt on the floating nuclear utopia.Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace Netherlands senior expert nuclear energy and energy policy, sees the three main disadvantages of Akademin Lomonosov to be the big human factors risk, its problematic construction, and the pollution of the Arctic region with nuclear waste.
this project is reintroducing a major pollution risk in an area which functions as a climate regulator for the globe – “the Arctic pristine area, which is a very important natural area for the entire balance on the planet,”
Is floating nuclear power a good idea? Power Technology By Yoana Cholteeva, 9 Dec 19, Floating nuclear power promises to provide a steady source of energy at hard-to-reach locations, but at the same time the dangers inherent in nuclear power make some question whether it’s safe enough for areas where help is hard to find. Is floating nuclear power really a good idea? Yoana Cholteeva investigates.
Russian nuclear company Rosatom announced the arrival of the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, in September 2019 when the technology was transported to the port of its permanent location in Russia’s Far East. The 144m-long and 30m-wide vessel has now docked at the port in Pevek, off the coast of Chukotka, where it will stay before its commissioning next year.
Akademik Lomonosov will use small modular reactor technology and is equipped with two KLT-40C reactor systems with 35MW capacity each. It has been designed to access hard-to-reach areas where it can operate for three to five years without the need for refuelling. It also has an overall life cycle of 40 years, which may be extended to 50 years Continue reading
Victoria’s chemical waste scandal
 The man who made a toxic waste disaster, Greed, lax oversight and poor regulation allowed one man to distort the national market for toxic waste disposal and create an environmental catastrophe.The Age, By Chris Vedelago, Sumeyya Ilanbey and Cameron Houston, DECEMBER 8, 2019 August 2012, former truck driver and sandblaster Graham Leslie White bought a 567-hectare block of useless scrubland outside the tiny western Victorian town of Kaniva, nearly five hours from his home and businesses in Melbourne.He began by building a road, designed to support the weight of heavy vehicles, into the desolate patch. Later, White bulldozed a network of tracks deep into the interior of the property that dead-ended in oddly shaped clearings of rough, red earth.
White claimed it was a quad-biking course for his children, an answer that satisfied the curiosity of the council officer. But five years on, we know the truth. Covered by a thin layer of topsoil were the pits that White had dug and that he was filling with toxic waste — millions of litres of chemicals and tonnes of asbestos-contaminated products brought by the truckload. The Kaniva property was the final destination for an illegal dumping syndicate whose operations grew so large they distorted the national market in toxic waste disposal. Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority — relying on a paper-based tracking system and a lax inspection regime — was blindsided by this dark market that threatened public safety and the welfare of emergency services personnel. By the time the scheme was accidentally exposed in 2018, White and his associates at Bradbury Industrial Services had illicitly buried or stockpiled an estimated 50 million litres of highly flammable solvents and other toxic materials. The failure to arrest this operation also laid the groundwork that sparked two of Melbourne’s worst-ever industrial fires. The value propositionSome time after 2013, White made an informal arrangement with waste recycling and remediation company, Bradbury. Their pitch to the producers and owners of toxic waste was simple — we can do it cheaper. Industry sources who declined to be identified for fear of retribution by their employers say the waste industry operates on thin margins. The syndicate offered to dispose of products at up to half the cost of competitors. Sometimes they offered to transport chemicals from the factory door for free. An investigation by The Age has revealed that manufacturers, chemical companies, waste processors, and paint, automotive and cleaning businesses across the eastern states quickly signed up. …… https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-man-who-made-a-toxic-waste-disaster-20191205-p53h1x.html |
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Australian govt’s dodgy climate accounting tricks to be tested in Madrid
Australia’s ‘betrayal of trust’ emissions plan to be tested in Madrid, SMH, By Peter Hannam, December 9, 2019, The Morrison government could be forced to justify Australia’s plan to count “carry-over credits” towards the country’s Paris climate target, with a global summit set to debate eliminating their use.
The 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) meeting in the Spanish capital of Madrid is scheduled to debate the so-called “rulebook” for the goals agreed by the nearly 200 Paris signatory nations.
According to the draft “guidance on cooperative approaches“, one “option” for debate will be that “Kyoto Protocol units, or reductions underlying such units, may not be used by any Party toward its [nationally determined goals]”.
The Morrison government has repeatedly said Australia is entitled to use “surplus” units the country will generate during the Kyoto period (2008-2020) to count against the 2021-2030 Paris target.
Australia’s latest emissions projections report, released over the weekend, showed the government is planning to count 411 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO-e) from the Kyoto-agreement era. The use of such credits would mean Australia could meet its pledge of cutting 2005-level emissions 26-28 per cent by 2030 with minimal effort.
Malte Meinshausen, co-director of the Energy Transition Hub at Melbourne University and a former climate negotiator with Germany, said it was good the Kyoto option appears “to be on the table”.
The use of Kyoto credits was “a betrayal of the trust which all countries signed up to at Paris”, Professor Meinshausen said, noting New Zealand, European Union and Pacific states opposed them.
While climate laggards such as Russia and Brazil may join Australia in opposing the Kyoto “option”, “it’s a reminder that the international community does not want to give up easily the good cooperative fruits developed in Paris”, he said…….
Australia will certainly have to defend its carryover and depending on how the text evolves might find itself increasingly isolated,” said Richie Merzian, an emissions analyst with The Australia Institute and former climate treaty negotiator for the Australian government.
“There are apparently over 100 countries supporting the restriction to limit Kyoto Protocol units from being used to meet Paris Agreement commitments,” he told the Herald and The Age from Madrid.
“Australia’s usual allies – other developed countries – either have ruled out using these credits voluntarily or don’t have skin in the game,” Mr Merzian said. “Australia’s only support might come from China and Brazil keen to use their carbon market credits from Kyoto to cash into Paris.”
Adam Bandt, Greens climate spokesman, said “Scott Morrison’s dodgy climate accounting is now up in lights on the world stage.
“Australia is burning at home, and Angus Taylor is turning up at an international event asking for the right to keep on polluting,” he said…….
“[The emissions drop] is driven mainly by declines in the electricity sector because of strong uptake of rooftop solar and the inclusion of the Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory 50 per cent renewable energy targets,” the report said.
Jamie Hanson, head of campaigns at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the Liberal National coalition had long been using “dodgy accounting tricks like these so-called carryover credits to mislead the Australian public on their appalling track record on emissions”.
“Scrapping the ability to rely on carryover credits and shifty accounting is a great step towards holding governments like Australia to account over their rising emissions,” he said. https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-s-betrayal-of-trust-emissions-plan-to-be-tested-in-madrid-20191208-p53hyv.html
Australia – water ownership and the politics of water
Forget big oil and big energy – on the driest continent, water is the new black
“………When water titles were disconnected from land titles, farmer advocates applauded because it allowed another tradable commodity. But turning water into a commodity has opened the markets to any trader, national or international. The basic rules of supply and demand mean that if you treat water as just another asset and don’t need to grow anything, you can sit on water until supply is short. Like in a drought. What could go wrong?
Webster Limited has risen to prominence in water coverage because they have 150,000 megalitres, or 150,000 million litres of water entitlements. Webster is one of the largest irrigated farming producers in Australia. When you eat a walnut, it is probably a Webster walnut, given they produce 90% of Australia’s walnut crop.
Small to medium-sized farmers do a lot of things in a day – farming, trading, hedging, investing – but they are farmers at the end of the day. They are intimately involved in the day-to-day tasks and don’t have legal departments or a genius bar for water analysis. Yet, they have been tossed into what is fast becoming a water war. A 2016 World Bank report predicted: “Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could cost some regions up to 6% of their GDP, spur migration, and spark conflict.” Forget big oil and big energy, water is the new black.
A 2018 study from the European Union’s Joint Research Centre found the five most vulnerable places are the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates and Colorado rivers. The study acknowledges that the “combination of climate change and demographic growth is likely to exacerbate hydro-political issues”, and the researchers worry about cooperation between countries. That is the global picture.
In Australia, we have already seen the same issues fracture state relationships and regional communities. Water is fundamentally destabilising electorates for sitting members on safe margins. We are the driest continent in the world. We are a big agricultural exporter. Who wants a bucket of our water? The answer is everybody. In 2019, 10% of Australian water was owned by foreign interests, with the United States and China the biggest of those foreign owners. In the Murray-Darling Basin, foreign interests own 9.4% of water but it is unevenly spread. In the northern basin, the proportion of foreign water ownership is 20.9%. The place to be is at the top of the river.
A more fundamental issue than foreign ownership is transparency in the market. At the time of writing, we can’t see who is trading water – nay, we can’t even see how much water is in the system to know whether it is being traded according to the rules. We can’t see whether the water savings, paid for by taxpayers in the form of water buybacks, or water saving infrastructure exist. Our own Coalition water minister says that 14% of water rights are owned by people who have no land. The ticket clippers.
Then there are inherent conflicts in the system that put the in-betweeners at a distinct disadvantage. Private irrigation companies – formerly government-owned irrigation boards – hold the rights to deliver , regulate and also privately trade in water in an opaque system. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the key public regulator in the system, supports basin state governments to implement the Murray–Darling Basin plan and is in charge of compliance. That means the same authority is responsible for managing the politics of the MDB plan and its regulation. This is a conflict of interest, pure and simple. The Productivity Commission report labelled it a conflict and urged the authority to be split in December 2018. Silence ensued……
as a country we obsess about squeezing the last little bit of economic production out of our natural resources without a clear, long-term plan for food and farming in an uncertain global economy and an increasingly stressed environment. So much of the agriculture debate places farming in a single context – either as part of an economy or an environment. It is part of both.
This is an edited extract from Losing the Farm by Gabrielle Chan, Meanjin summer 2019 edition. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/08/forget-big-oil-and-big-energy-on-the-driest-continent-water-is-the-new-black?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR3zajzBbWjRbap1Fe25Lmd7UDbO3WYynFkZkYnLin5URhGZVljswzGE7HA
UN climate talks: what’s on the agenda in Madrid and what it means for Australia,
UN climate talks: what’s on the agenda in Madrid and what it means for Australia, Angus Taylor heads to COP25 next week, where Australia has already twice been given the ‘fossil of the day’ award, Guardian, Adam Morton Environment editor. @adamlmorton, Sun 8 Dec 2019 For two weeks at the end of every year, the world’s governments meet to work on a global response to climate change. This year is the 25th meeting of what is known as the conference of the parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Those who attend know it as COP, or COP25.
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s talks, which started on Monday in Madrid, and what they could mean for Australia.
Where does Australia stand coming into the talks?
There are nearly 190 countries represented at the UN climate talks and, contrary to some perceptions, Australia is not just a bit player.
Under UN greenhouse accounting, Australia is responsible for about 1.3% of annual pollution, which places it 16th on a ladder of polluting nations. It emits more each year than 40 countries with larger populations, including G7 members Britain, France and Italy.
On other measures Australia performs worse. It emits more per person than any other developed country (and far more than most developing countries), and a recent analysis found it was third for exported emissions.
It is the world’s biggest seller of coal, particularly metallurgic coal used in steel-making, and either number one or two for natural gas. It is easily the largest emitter in the south Pacific, and has been increasingly drawing criticism from Pacific leaders for not doing more to tackle the issue.
As the talks began last week, Australia was at the forefront of the climate emergency in other ways, as drought and bushfires made global headlines. Scientists say both are unprecedented and in line with climate projections.
Observers such as Howard Bamsey, the country’s former special envoy on climate change, say events in Australia are noticed and could be used to influence other countries to do more. But the government’s message focuses on its own actions: that it has set a 2030 emissions reduction target, that it more than met previous targets it set for itself and that it will meet this one.
Who is representing Australia?
Australia has a 21-strong delegation from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, led by Jamie Isbister, a senior diplomat who was appointed environment ambassador less than three weeks ago.
In the second week’s political stage, Australia will be represented by Angus Taylor, the minister for energy and emissions reduction. It is his first time at climate talks. He arrives under pressure on several fronts, including a bizarre public spat with American author Naomi Wolf.
How is Australia positioning itself?…….
Scott Morrison has indicated Australia has no plan to increase what it is doing beyond its 2030 target of a 26-28% cut compared with 2005 levels, which is less than what government advisors found would be Australia’s fair share or it could afford to do.
The prime minister has not acknowledged what groups representing business, unions, farmers, investors and the social policy sector this week spelled out in a joint statement – that the goals of the Paris agreement mean Australia will need to plan to stop emitting any carbon dioxide.
Australia’s emissions are not coming down and most experts believe it is not on track to meet its target. ……. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/08/un-climate-talks-whats-on-the-agenda-in-madrid-and-what-it-means-for-australia
Peter Garrett urges Labor to reconnect with environmental movement, warns ‘true believers are dying’
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Peter Garrett urges Labor to reconnect with environmental movement, warns ‘true believers are dying’, Brisbane Times, By Rob Harris
December 7, 2019, Midnight Oil frontman and environmental campaigner Peter Garrett has urged Labor to stare down the “self interest” within its ranks and commit to ambitious plans to avoid the “catastrophe” of climate change.
Warning that the suburbs of western Sydney and Melbourne are being “crucified on the altar of inaction” and regional and rural communities were “hostage to climate damage”, the former Labor minister said the party’s true believers are “dying out” and a younger generation of voters will be “more radical and less forgiving” if it fails to act. Speaking to Labor’s Environmental Action Network on Saturday night, Mr Garrett took direct aim at former colleague Joel Fitzgibbon and “some in the CFMEU”, who he accused of deliberately undermining the party and “not committed to the challenge” of reducing emissions. “The natural world is under siege. The threat we face is literally existential,” Mr Garrett told the gathering of about 100 people at the Keg and Brew Hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills. “We are surrounded by fires, force-fed by a super hot spring. Our cities and towns are blanketed with smoke and the sun has gone out, it’s hard to breathe.” Labor has engaged in a fierce internal debate since its shock election loss on May 18 with Mr Fitzgibbon, the agriculture and resources spokesman, arguing the ALP should offer “a political and policy settlement” on climate policy to make a 28 per cent reduction in emissions the target by 2030. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has signalled Labor’s future climate policy platform will be focused on jobs in the low-emissions energy sector. Mr Garrett said progressive politics must realise the world was “witnessing a tectonic shift” in the climate and its faith was waning in established institutions. “Our times do not call for ‘business as usual’ politics,” Mr Garrett said. Labor must face down self-interest and sectional interest, whether from some in business, or some in the CFMEU, or from individual members who eschew reality and are not committed to the challenge, and indeed in the case of the shadow minister for Agriculture and Resources Joel Fitzgibbon, deliberately undermine the party whilst still holding their position.” …….. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/peter-garrett-urges-labor-to-reconnect-with-environmental-movement-warns-true-believers-are-dying-20191206-p53hqe.htm |
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December 9 Energy News — geoharvey
COP25: ¶ “Climate Change: UN Negotiators ‘playing Politics’ Amid Global Crisis” • UN negotiators meeting in Madrid have been accused of “playing politics” while the climate crisis grows. The talks are bogged down in technical details. Ministers are due to arrive in the Spanish capital this week to try to secure an ambitious outcome. [BBC] […]
All eyes on Madrid, but they should be on China’s next 5-year energy plan — RenewEconomy
The climate talks in Madrid simply highlight how important China’s next electricity plan is for the world, for China and for Australia. The post All eyes on Madrid, but they should be on China’s next 5-year energy plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via All eyes on Madrid, but they should be on China’s next 5-year energy plan — RenewEconomy
India solar contracting giant enters Australia market, starts on Wellington project — RenewEconomy
India-based solar contracting giant Sterling and Wilson Solar enters Australian market, begins work on first local project, 200MW Wellington solar farm in NSW. The post India solar contracting giant enters Australia market, starts on Wellington project appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via India solar contracting giant enters Australia market, starts on Wellington project — RenewEconomy
Antinuclear 