Pacific islanders will be climate refugees, whatever the outcome in Paris
Even If Paris Climate Talks Succeed, Pacific Islanders Will Be Looking For New Homes, New Matilda, By Thom Mitchell on December 4, 2015 Australia’s Pacific Island neighbours already face poverty, and soon they’ll be facing even worse. Thom Mitchell reports from Paris.
More than 70 per cent of households in the Pacific Islands of Tuvalu and Kiribati to Australia’s north east say they’re likely to migrate if the impacts of climate change become any worse than they already are, according to research presented in Paris at a global summit on climate change yesterday.
Climate change already exists as a key driver of migration in the region, according to the study presented by the United Nations University’s Dr Koko Warner, which found it motivating 23 per cent of Kiribati’s migration and eight per cent of Tuvalu’s.
In Nauru – an island nation Australia uses to arbitrarily and indefinitely detain many of its asylum seekers – more than 40 per cent of households said they feel migration would be their likely response if sea level rise or flooding worsened.
All three islands are extremely vulnerable to the climate change impacts like sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, and storm surges, and the survey of more than 7,000 people across the three countries found that climate change was already affecting agriculture and fish stocks, and reclaiming or spoiling land. Continue reading
Big solar investment on hold because of Australian govt’s policy uncertainty
Chinese solar firm says policy instability holding back Australian investment, Guardian, Lenore Taylor in Paris, 5 Dec 15 Hareon Solar executive says firm is considering a billion dollar investment in large scale solar within a year but policy stability, not subsidies, is needed. Chinese firm Hareon Solar is “actively” considering a billion dollar investment in large scale solar projects in Australia, but the stability of government climate policy is its major concern, a senior company executive has told Guardian Australia.
Jie Zhang, Hareon’s vice president of global business development said government subsidies were not necessary for the investment decision, to be taken within a year, but policy stability was required.
“Our only wish for government is a stable policy, don’t flip back and forth, of course we are concerned what has happened in the past in Australia with the renewable energy target,” he said in an interview at the Paris climate summit……
Solar is a 25 year investment. If a government can’t keep its policy stable for five years how can we inves,” he said.
Hareon solar is a major Chinese solar cell manufacturer and global investor in large scale solar projects, founded by Australian citizen Samuel Yang.
It has invested in solar projects delivering 700 megawatts of power inChina as well as big projects in Bulgaria, Romania and the United Kingdom and smaller projects in the US and Japan.
Zhang said investment decisions were driven by government subsidies, but now required strong demand and policy stability…..
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced a large-scale solar competitive round, seeking bids from major solar PV project proponents for grants of up to $30 million from a $100mn program. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has announced a complementary $250 million large-scale solar financing program.
Renewable energy investment in Australia froze in the early years of the Abbott government when the renewable energy target was under review. In the end in was wound back, but not abolished. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/05/chinese-solar-firm-says-policy-instability-holding-back-australian-investment
#NuclearCommissionSAust: expert recommends medical nuclear waste to be stored at LOCAL level, not centralised dump
Nuclear waste best stored locally, SA royal commission to be told by 
medical researcher, ABC News 3 Dec 15 By Nicola Gage Local disposal of nuclear waste in South Australia would be the best option for medical facilities and research, a radiation oncology researcher says.
Key points:
- Radiation researcher says medical waste should be stored locally
- Sending SA nuclear waste to Lucas Heights NSW is expensive, she says
- SA researchers could make use of some waste stored locally at a central facility
Professor Eva Bezak from the University of South Australia will give her evidence today to the state’s royal commission into the nuclear fuel cycle…..
Professor Bezak said South Australia’s nuclear waste currently was stored at the state’s hospitals and universities. She said it was expensive to send waste to New South Wales for storage at a facility at Lucas Heights.
“If we want to get rid of the waste in South Australia at the moment, we basically have to pay other companies for services to remove the waste and store it elsewhere,” she said…….
Professor Bezak said she hoped there would be a measured community response to the royal commission’s findings, with its final report due next May. “We should be applying science, common sense, we should be looking at the needs of the society,” she said.”We should be looking at what is the best way to safely produce the isotopes and to safely store any radioactive waste.”
The royal commission’s public access sessions will continue until the middle of this month and some early findings are expected to be released in February.
A fourth round of regional community meetings is currently being held by the royal commission, at Renmark, Berri and Port Pirie. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-03/nuclear-medical-waste-best-stored-locally-sa-researcher-says/6996626
Illawarra unions will unload Lucas Heights returning nuclear wastes, but oppose international waste imports
Illawarra unions will join Port Kembla protests as ANSTO’s nuclear waste 
arrives on Saturday http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/3535216/well-unload-our-waste-but-no-one-elses-mua/?cs=300 Ben Langford, 3 Dec 15 Illawarra unions have made it clear their members will work to unload the shipment of Australian nuclear waste coming home from France, but will not handle any other nations’ shipments that governments may decide to accept.The cargo ship BBC Shanghai is due to arrive in Port Kembla on Saturday morning with about 10 tonnes of waste which had been reprocessed in France.
The dock workers union, the Maritime Union of Australia, said its members would unload the shipment of reprocessed waste without incident.
But MUA southern NSW branch secretary Garry Keane said that was because it was Australia’s waste, and they would not accept waste shipments from another country.
“Our members do not support the nuclear industry,” he said. “There is no totally safe way to transport or store waste which remains a danger and threatens communities for thousands of years.
“Understandably no one else wants our nuclear waste – that is why it is coming back to Lucas Heights and we want to send a clear message that we don’t accept anyone else’s nuclear waste.”
South Coast Labor Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the precautions being taken showed the risks. “I don’t remember this level of police operation being required for the last imported shipment of solar panels,” he said. “The fact that we have this operation tells us that this is very dangerous, and we now have it confirmed that we have plutonium in the waste.”
“We reluctantly accept that we have a responsibility to accept our own waste,” the ACF’s Dave Sweeney said.
“But we comprehensively draw the line against any sniff of international waste.”
Greenpeace, the MUA, SCLS and other anti-nuclear groups will protest at Port Kembla harbour when the shipment arrives.
ANSTO says the shipment is “intermediate-level” waste in accordance with international standards but Greenpeace said the French classification system, which names the shipment as “high-level” waste, is more appropriate.
The Federal Government is spending $30 million to repatriate the waste.
A major police operation is planned for the weekend, with an exclusion zone around the harbour from 5am to 3pm Saturday, and police guarding the shipment as it is trucked through Wollongong to Lucas Heights, likely early on Sunday.
Uranium enrichment a severe nuclear weapons proliferation risk
Uranium enrichment akin to “bomb starter kits”: IN Daily 3 Dec 15 A former federal Foreign Minister has warned South Australia’s nuclear royal commission against pursuing domestic enrichment, saying the technology was akin to “bomb starter kits”. Gareth Evans, who was Labor’s Foreign Minister in the 1980s and ‘90s and later Deputy Leader of the party, told a public hearing of the commission today there was “no good reason at all for Australia to go down the enrichment path”, arguing instead that to “actively foreswear that path … would be a positive contribution”.
He said there were “very obvious proliferation risks associated with allowing any state to develop its own enrichment capability, because of the obvious reality that the technology required is … exactly the same technology that’s involved in enriching up to weapons grade”.
“Once you get into that game, you are in the business of having bomb starter kits,” he said, observing that “a world that’s anxious to avoid proliferation … ought to be anxious to avoid further spread of bomb starter kits”.
He also questioned the commercial viability of enrichment without a significant number of domestic reactors.http://indaily.com.au/news/local/2015/12/02/uranium-enrichment-akin-to-bomb-starter-kits-gareth-evans/
Malcolm Turnbull in Paris: the dinosaurs are still in charge of climate policy
As usual with climate politics, most Australians have little understanding of just how out of touch the Turnbull government is compared to other major nations……
large numbers of Liberal and National Party politicians put their conservative loyalties ahead of rational science and the self-interest of their country. They don’t believe climate change is real, and they’ll do everything in their power to stop Malcolm Turnbull (or anyone else) from doing something about it.
Australia’s Prime Minister is in Paris for the COP21 global climate change conference.
I suppose we should be grateful he is there at all. One struggles to imagine what Tony Abbott might have said and done at such an event. Abbott was always at his worst when the opportunity came to sow discord and create hostility; at the very least, we can be thankful that the decidedly more urbane and diplomatic Turnbull is there in the place of his predecessor.
Sure enough, Turnbull told delegates that Australia now comes to the talks “with confidence and optimism.” That is indeed a different approach to Abbott’s love affair with fossilised carbon.
Turnbull also made some very modest announcements. He pledged Australia to the final years of the Kyoto protocol – an agreement that is lapsing anyway, but which will allow Australian firms to resume purchasing overseas carbon abatement permits, potentially a big saving for the government’s Direct Action spendathon.
$800 million is also being promised to developing nations for climate adaptation. In keeping with the Coalition’s well-demonstrated contempt for foreign aid of any kind, the money is being taken from the existing foreign aid pot, already savaged in recent budgets. In contrast, Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $2.5 billion.
Unfortunately, friendly gestures and some modest announcements leave Australia well behind the rest of the world when it comes to climate action.
For instance, Continue reading
National waste dump is NOT NEEDED for medical nuclear wastes
Is Australia becoming the world’s nuclear waste dump by stealth? http://www.smh.com.au/comment/is-australia-becoming-the-worlds-nuclear-waste-dump-by-stealth-20151122-gl4v04.html December 2, 2015 -Dr Margaret Beavis
When it comes to justifying new nuclear waste storage, a lot has been said about it being essential for medical diagnostics and cancer treatment. This is misleading. It blurs two distinct components of nuclear medicine – the production of isotopes and the use of isotopes.
Australia’s medical use of isotopes creates very little waste. In contrast, reactor production of isotopes generates considerable amounts, and ANSTO (the Australian national nuclear research and development organisation) is very quietly proposing to dramatically increase production to supply 30 per cent of the world market. This will significantly increase Australia’s nuclear waste problems.
On the “use” side, the vast majority of isotopes used for medical tests are very short-lived. They decay on the medical facilities’ premises until their radioactivity is negligible. They can then be disposed of in the normal waste stream (sewers, landfill etc) according to set standards. There is no need for a new nuclear waste facility for these isotopes. Most cancer radiotherapy uses X-rays, which does not produce any waste at all. A very small proportion of cancer treatments need radioactive materials, which also are too short-lived to require a remote repository, or are legally required to be sent back to the (overseas) supplier once used up. There is a very small amount of legacy radium relating to cancer therapy in the past, however, this has not been used in Australia since 1975.
On the other hand, using a nuclear reactor to manufacture radio isotopes creates a significant amount of intermediate and low-level waste. ANSTO has recently unilaterally decided it will dramatically increase its production of medical isotopes at the Lucas Heights reactor to supply 30 per cent of the world’s needs. This business decision assumes it will not have to pay for the disposal of the waste produced, even though it will need securing for many thousands of years.
This decision ignores the reality of technology that enables isotopes to now be produced using accelerators and cyclotrons; i.e. without using a reactor and without generating large quantities of radioactive waste. This is fast approaching commercial scale and economic viability. ANSTO’s decision contrasts with that of the Canadian nuclear authorities, who have for some years been actively phasing out reactor production, and pouring money into developing non-reactor technologies.
Canada, the world’s single largest producer of medical isotopes, independently reviewed its nuclear industry in 2009 and decided not to build a new reactor. Several reasons stood out: investment in reactor production of medical isotopes would crowd out investment in innovative alternative production technologies both domestically and internationally, Canada did not want to continue being the radioactive waste site for other countries’ nuclear medicine industries, it created supply vulnerabilities, and at no stage was it commercially viable without massive taxpayer subsidies.
The ANSTO decision represents vested interests entrenching a reactor-based model and crowding out development of other options. In many ways it is like the coal industry boosting production to stop wind and solar development. Like coal, the business model relies on not being responsible (financially or socially) for the waste it leaves behind.
We urgently need an open conversation about whether we want to pick up the world’s waste tab when it comes to producing medical isotopes. This is a policy choice that will leave Australia storing waste from isotopes produced for international markets. The market price for these isotopes does not factor in the price of storing this waste, which falls to the taxpayer and the community unlucky enough to be landed with it. It is taking Australia down a path that Canada has rejected.
The bottom line is that storage of nuclear waste from reactors is difficult, requiring long-term isolation and security.
We need transparent, informed and clear discussion of what our choices are. We have an obligation to future generations to minimise the waste we produce. There needs to be a considered and open debate about where existing waste is most safely stored in Australia. And it needs to be absolutely clear to ANSTO that we do not want to be left holding the world’s radioactive waste by default.
The Australian community is far from convinced about taking on more radioactive material on behalf of the international community. ANSTO needs to be much more explicit about what it is planning. As a government-owned entity it has a responsibility to be upfront and consult with the community.
When it comes to such long-term decisions about radioactive materials, sleight of hand is not good enough.
Margaret Beavis is a GP and national president of the Medical Association for Prevention of War.
GREENPEACE FINDS NUCLEAR WASTE HEADED TO AUSTRALIA CLASSIFIED AS DANGEROUS HIGH-LEVEL WASTE BY FRANCE
The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has revealed to Greenpeace that the waste has been classified as high-level (long-life) waste according to standards set by ANDRA, the French national radioactive waste management agency. High-level waste is ANDRA’s most severe nuclear waste classification.
Areva documents have also confirmed that the waste still contains low quantities of plutonium.
The nuclear waste is due to be unloaded off the BBC Shanghai at Port Kembla in southernSydney in the early hours of Sunday, 6 December. It will then be transported to Lucas Heights by road for interim storage.
Sydney, 2 December 2015 – Nuclear waste returning to Australia this weekend by ship from France has been classified as high-level waste by French authorities, contradicting Australia’s claims over its radioactivity, a Greenpeace report has found.
Greenpeace’s investigation also found the waste still contains quantities of plutonium – highly toxic even in small quantities – despite reprocessing by French state-owned nuclear company, Areva.“The Australian government is downplaying the danger of this shipment, saying it is
intermediate-level waste that isn’t harmful unless mismanaged. But we know it contains plutonium and is classified as high-level waste by the French authorities,” said Emma Gibson, Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s Head of Programs. Continue reading
Aboriginals boycott Climate March – alert organisers to distance unwanted pro nuclear lobbyistys
Climate March Organisers Distance Event From Nuclear Group After Aboriginal Activists Boycott, New Matilda, By Max Chalmers on November 30, 2015 Organisers responsible for the Sydney leg of the massive international climate change marches that took place over the weekend have distanced the event from a pro-nuclear group after Aboriginal representatives pulled out the night before the protest.
Members of the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy and representatives of the #SOSBlakAustralia movement issued a statement on Saturday night rescinding their support for the event, citing concerns about the presence of pro-nuclear groups and the lack of consultation and time allotted for speakers.
Aunty Jenny Munro, from the Redfern Tent Embassy, had been billed as a speaker but did not appear at the Sunday event.
Uncle Ken Canning, also a member of the Embassy, told New Matilda concerns had been caused by the lack of speaking time offered to Munro, the location of the Aboriginal groups in the march, and the organising committee’s failure to denounce nuclear energy and uranium mining.
“Where the uranium rich places are, it’s where Aboriginal people live,” Canning said. “We get removed from the lands for them to mine, then get removed from the lands for them to dump the waste – we get a double whammy.”
In response, the People’s Climate March organising committed eventually distanced the event form nuclear groups in a statement posted on Facebook.
“While we don’t agree with or in any way endorse their position, we could not actively stop the pro-nuclear group from attending the rally because it’s not within our power to stop anyone attending. We also felt that to make a public statement about the involvement of Nuclear for Climate in the lead up to the march would give this this group more public exposure and attention – and we didn’t want their voices to draw attention away from the other groups and messages in the march.”……
On the other side of the Domain – which was drenched in sunlight, as if to make a point – was Natalie Wasley, coordinator of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative. ….
“Nuclear is unsafe and unnecessary, it can never meet the demand we need for rapid transition for our energy needs,” Wasley said. “It could never come online in time, it’s far too expensive, it’s dangerous, and it’s dirty.”
She said people could not be prevented from attending open community rallies but that the People’s Climate March had presented itself as progressive movement interested in just transitions for the environment and workers, and that nuclear energy did not tick those boxes….https://newmatilda.com/2015/11/30/climate-march-organisers-distance-event-from-nuclear-group-after-aboriginal-activists-boycott/
MP Kevin Humphries “doesn’t fully understand it” but wants nuclear waste dump in far West New South Wales
“We’ve certainly got the space”: Far west MP pushing for uranium mining, waste storage, ABC News, Declan Gooch and Julie Clift , 1 Dec 15 The far west’s state MP says he wants to gauge community support for legalising uranium mining around Broken Hill as well as the storage of toxic waste in the region.
Kevin Humphries said uranium mining could be a significant employer in Broken Hill, especially as traditional mining activities wind down in the future.
Mr Humphries said the far west should also be considered as a potential site for the storage of waste material, which he said is proven to be safe……”I don’t fully understand it, but is it something that’s going to keep re-emerging?
There was community outrage in the state’s central west last month when the federal government proposed storing nuclear waste near the town of Hill End.
But Mr Humphries pointed to the long-term storage of toxic waste at Lucas Heights in Sydney as evidence that there were no dangers posed to the public……we need to consider all the options for places like Broken Hill and the far west, and I’m pretty keen to keep pushing that in 2016.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-01/22we27ve-certainly-got-the-space223a-far-west-mp-pushing-fo/6989660
Australia refuses to sign Paris communique on phasing out fossil fuel subsidies
Paris climate talks: Australia won’t sign fossil fuel missive due to Nationals concerns about diesel rebate, ABC News, By political reporter Dan Conifer Australia will not be signing a communique at the Paris climate summit about phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
Nationals MPs and senators were concerned the pledge could affect the multi-billion-dollar diesel fuel rebate for farmers and miners.
The communique is due to be presented on Monday, but a Federal Government source has told the ABC Australia will not be signing it.
“Hooray,” Nationals deputy leader Barnaby Joyce said when told the news on Radio National…..
Industries such as agriculture, fishing and forestry can access a rebate on the diesel excise paid.
The fossil-fuel subsidy reform communique encourages countries to phase out subsidies to help limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius…….
Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said nothing out of the Paris talks would have “any impact” on the scheme.
But after considering the matter, the Government has decided not to sign the document at all. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-30/australia-won’t-sign-fossil-fuel-deal-at-paris-talks/6988380
Greens expose the Australian govt’s ‘paltry’ contribution on climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4363307.htmTANYA PLIBERSEK: This is pretty rich considering that we have actually cut funding to countries like Kiribati that are currently struggling with climate change and adaptation and mitigation.
In fact we’ve cut $2.5 million from Kiribati. It’s plain too that there is no new money here, we are talking about redirecting some of the existing aid budget, which, as I said, is already much depleted.
Richard Di Natale slams Govt’s climate contribution in Paris as ‘paltry’, ABC Radio The World Today Louise Yaxley reported this story on Tuesday, December 1, 2015ELEANOR HALL: The leader of the Australian Greens has accused the Federal Government of a paltry effort at the Paris climate conference. Richard di Natale says the $1 billion that the Government is promising to help Pacific nations should not be being diverted from the foreign aid budget.
In Canberra, political correspondent Louise Yaxley reports.
LOUISE YAXLEY: In Paris, Malcolm Turnbull has promised more money for innovation by signing up with other countries for a plan to double investment in clean energy over the next five years.
Many of the details of where that money will go will be spelled out in the innovation statement next week.
Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek says that does not match up with the Government’s recent actions.
TANYA PLIBERSEK: Now it seems that the Prime Minister is talking about innovation in the area of climate change. Well this is pretty ironic from a government that has halved the funding of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, sought to abolish ARENA, abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and abolish the Climate Change Authority.
LOUISE YAXLEY: Mr Turnbull has also promised to spend at least a billion over the next five years from the existing aid budget to help small Pacific nations adapt to climate change and to reduce emissions.
The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop defended the age budget being used that way when interviewed on AM.
JULIE BISHOP: Because this is what the aid budget is designed to do – to assist in natural disaster relief, to build resilience against natural disasters. Indeed this is what the small island developing nations of the Pacific are asking for.
MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: It’s not new money though, is it?
JULIE BISHOP: No, it’s not new its money out of the aid budget…….
City of Melbourne leads new renewable energy project
New renewable energy play launches in Melbourne November 30, 2015 Tom Arup Environment editor, The Age Melbourne businesses, local councils and universities will pool resources to build new renewable energy plants under an innovative push to boost the supply of clean power to the city.
To be launched on Monday, just as the Paris climate summit gets under way, the project is a first for Australia. At least a dozen backers will pool their electricity purchasing power with the aim of encouraging new wind or solar energy.
It is being led by the City of Melbourne, which carried out a year-long test of the market to see whether there was enough interest for it to be viable.
On the way, the project has collected partners including the National Australia Bank, the University of Melbourne, RMIT and Federation Square.
The group is looking to purchase 120 gigawatt-hours of new renewable energy – enough to power 31,000 homes for a year.
Early next year the consortium will put out a tender calling for projects to come forward. If a viable project is found, those involved will look to buy power from it for 10 years…….
Other participants that have so far agreed to be named include RMIT, NEXTDC, the City of Port Phillip and Moreland City Council. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-renewable-energy-play-launches-in-melbourne-20151127-gl9urr.html#ixzz3t77su419
No new money for Pacific Islands climate help: Australian govt just taking it from foreign aid
Federal Government attacked for using aid budget to fund climate response, ABC Radio PM Peta Donald reported this story on Tuesday, December 1, 2015
TIM PALMER: With the Prime Minister heading back from Paris, Labor and the Greens have attacked Malcolm Turnbull for taking money from Australia’s already depleted foreign aid budget to pay for promises made in Paris on climate change. ….
Greens leader Richard Di Natale says unless new money is found, other aid projects will suffer.
RICHARD DI NATALE: So, we’re taking money out of immunisation programs, out of water and sanitation programs, out of family planning. This is shameful, it’s absolutely shameful.
And what we’re seeing in Paris is Malcolm Turnbull wanting to look good on the world stage when in fact what he’s doing is further gutting our foreign aid budget. A Prime Minister who is prepared to show some leadership would take on the dinosaurs in his own party room, would show a bit more ambition with our targets, would raise new money for climate financing, and would join the campaign to end fossil fuel subsidies……http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4363740.htm
Australian govt still will axe Australian Renewable Energy Agency despite its big new project
Australian Renewable Energy Agency announces next stage of Australia’s largest renewable mining project http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/aus-renewable-energy-agency-announces/6992978 Yesterday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used his visit to Paris to announce that Australia would sign up to a global initiative called ‘Mission Innovation’.
It would see research and development investment in green, clean technologies double to $200 million a year.
But the Government still intends to axe the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
For the moment, ARENA is still making announcements. Yesterday, the agency announced the next stage of a project that will result in Australia’s largest renewable mining project in central Western Australia.
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