South Australian clean energy businesses launch power-trading platform using blockchain
Business News 23rd March 2018, A group of small and medium-size South Australian businesses plan to launch a first-of-its-kind power trading platform using blockchain technology in an attempt to save money and buy and sell local clean energy.
Blockchain-based microgrid developer LO3 Energy, of New York, is working on the project with solar and electrical firm Yates Electrical Services, of Paringa, South Australia, a region known for its vineyards, almond and fruit orchards — and incredibly high electricity prices.
The blockchain, perhaps best known as the technology behind the digital currencies Bitcoin
and Etherium, is a decentralized ledger that enables and tracks all transactions across a peer-to-peer network. The technology uses encryption to ensure that transactions and data are secure, and provides verification and validation to users.
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3029020/south-australian-businesses-launch-blockchain-app-to-cut-costs-trade-local-clean-energy
Bad news for Australia’s uranium industry – India aims to stop importing uranium
World Nuclear News 8th March 2018, India is planning a tenfold increase in uranium production over the next 15 years, Minister of State Jitendra Singh told the country’s parliament
yesterday. State company Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) has
outlined expansion plans to meet the Department of Atomic Energy’s (DAE)
vision of achieving self-sufficiency in uranium production.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/UF-India-plans-tenfold-uranium-output-growth-0803187.html
A renewable energy jobs boom is sweeping across regional Australia
Renewable energy: powering Australia in more ways than one http://www.examiner.com.au/story/5229330/renewable-energy-is-powering-jobs-in-the-regions/?cs=97 James Wright 18 Feb 18 A jobs boom is sweeping across regional Australia and there’s one industry to thank – the renewable energy sector. From places like Gordon in southern Tasmania to Pindari in north-east NSW, new solar installations, windfarms, battery arrays, solar towers and pumped hydro facilities are springing life into regional towns. How are they doing this? By injecting desperately needed investment and job opportunities into remote locations.
In Far North Queensland, the Kidston solar array and pumped-hydro project will create 588 jobs this year. At the other end of the country in Port Augusta, Sundrop Farm’s first-of-its-kind solar tower for Australia creates another 200 jobs. Meanwhile over the border, Stawell in western Victoria is preparing for an influx of 1300 jobs from Nectar Farms combined windfarm, battery storage and 10-hectare hothouse facility.
This is great news! But despite the steady stream of new developments in regional areas, we’re actually being short-changed. Policy uncertainty due to ongoing internal squabbles in the Federal Government is strangling the growth of this sector and costing regional Australia the true jobs boom it deserves.
Australia has the richest renewable energy resources in the world. We have enough to power the nation 500 times over, yet we have some of the least ambitious renewable energy targets in the developed world.
If politicians could simply commit to a modest and achievable 50 per cent renewable energy target, this would create 28,000 new jobs. The vast majority would be in regional Australia where they are greatly needed to breathe new life into struggling local economies.
A renewable energy investment boom is a light on the horizon for many regional towns, we can’t let backwards politics spoil this once in a generation opportunity. James Wright is chief executive officer of the Future Business Council.
Australia’s new weapons export industry – secret men’s business
Secret men’s business of the arms industry needs exposure The Age, Stephanie Dowrick, 
5 Feb 18, “…….. I woke to the news that the federal government had decided to unveil a new “defence export strategy” to propel Australia into the big league of global weapons exporters.
Then, in the wake of that news – which has left many speechless, even despairing – comes a newer announcement of a $3.8bn boost to the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation. This is a taxpayer-funded “national interest” loan facility that previously supported the exporting of wine and other relatively harmless products but is now set, with a massive boost to its funds, to finance loans to some of the world’s largest arms manufacturers. What’s more, those loans do not need to pass any test of “social risk evaluation” – a nod to caring for others – but can be approved at the discretion of Trade Minister Steve Ciobo.
Oddly enough, on the Blue Mountains drive my friend and I had discussed the weapons industries and the influence they have on the global economy. Their power to affect, even to drive governments’ policies, is immense. It is also profoundly undemocratic. Governments keep a tight grip on media revelations. The weapons world is “secret men’s business” from which the public is definitely shut out. My best sleuthing efforts came nowhere near discovering what this industry is really worth or who profits most.
“This strategy is about job creation,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull assures us. His colleague Christopher Pyne, the Minister for Defence Industry in a cabinet lacking a minister for science, is already presiding over a submarine project set to cost us $50 billion. Pyne is promising “tens of thousands” of jobs could be involved in this weapons’ push. But the issue here is surely far less about job creation than it is about which industries the government, on our behalf, wishes to support. These opinions, these ideological choices determine where we are heading as a nation. This is where a government has huge power. It’s also where it most accurately reveals itself. ……
If “job creation” truly is our government’s motive, then let them choose honestly. The weapons industries lack accountability, transparency, moral and social value. They thrive in the presence or expectation of deadly conflict. Their cost to the world’s physical and social environments is incalculable.
There are many sectors in Australia and globally that produce jobs and social benefits. With generous investment, they could produce more. In land and agricultural regeneration alone, as well as high-tech research and manufacturing, in renewable energy, the arts, community development, health and education, defence-sized investment would undoubtedly pay employment dividends – while simultaneously boosting our social and moral wellbeing. These are choices that have profound consequences. They could make the world safer. Or not. Reverend Dr Stephanie Dowrick is a writer and social commentator www.stephaniedowrick.com www.facebook.com/StephanieDowrick http://www.theage.com.au/comment/secret-mens-business-of-the-arms-industry-needs-exposure-20180202-h0spx3.html
Australian uranium mining company Paladin: most shares in hands of creditors
Paladin to return to ASX, most shares in hands of creditors http://www.miningweekly.com/article/paladin-to-return-to-asx-most-shares-in-hands-of-creditors-2018-02-02/rep_id:3650 2ND FEBRUARY 2018 BY: MARIAAN WEBB CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR RESEARCHER AND DEPUTY EDITOR ONLINE JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Uranium miner Paladin Energy will apply for its securities to be reinstated to official quotation on the ASX, the Australia-based company said on Friday, announcing the completion of its restructuring and the appointment of two new directors.
With the deed of company arrangement (DOCA) effected, deed administrators have retired and the day-to-day management and control of Paladin has reverted to the company’s directors. The two new board appointments are iCobalt MD David Riekie and former interim CEO and MD of Atlas Iron Daniel Harris.
The DOCA was put forward to the administrators of Paladinby a group of the company’s unsecured bondholders, known as the Ad Hoc Committee. The DOCA’s key terms included the debt-for-equity swap, the raising of $115-million pursuant to the issue of a high-yield secured note and the reinstatement of Paladin to trade on the ASX.
In terms of the DOCA, 98% of Paladin’s shares have been transferred to creditors and other investors and only 2% are retained by shareholders. If a shareholder held 10 000 Paladin shares before the restructuring, they will now hold 200 shares.
Creditors all agreed to a restructuring proposal in December, although major creditor Electricité de France (EDF) previously said that it may seek to have the DOCA terminated.
Paladin appointed administrators in July last year after the company was unable to agree a delay to the repayment of $277-million it owed EDF.
On Wednesday, Paladin published its quarterly activities reports for the June, September and December quarters, as well as its June 2017 annual report.
The most recent quarter’s results show that the Langer Heinrich mine, in Namibia, produced 873 107 lb of uranium oxide (U3O8), up 4% on the prior quarter. Sales were at 1.24-million U3O8 at an average selling price of $22.39/lb.
The Kayelekera mine, in Malawi, remains under care and maintenance. 
Australian banking giant Macquarie invests in energy storage system
Business Green 12th Jan 2018, Connected Energy has secured a £3m investment from Australian banking giant Macquarie and French utility ENGIE to support the rollout of its
stationary storage system, it announced yesterday. The E-STOR system
offered by Connected Energy uses second-hand batteries from electric
vehicles (EVs), repurposing them into an energy storage system to help
homes and businesses cut energy costs and manage their power use more
effectively.
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3024303/connected-energy-banks-gbp3m-investment-from-engie-and-macquarie
Adani struggles to get funding for coal megamine, ends $2bn deal to outsource project
Adani scraps $2bn deal to outsource Carmichael coalmine operation
Decision to end Downer EDI agreement follows Palaszczuk government’s blocking of federal loan for the Queensland project, Guardian, 19 Dec 17, Adani has blamed the Queensland government’s decision to kill off a taxpayer-funded loan for its decision to ditch a $2 billion agreement with a major contractor.
But the Indian miner says it remains committed to building its controversial Carmichael coalmine and the decision to part ways with Downer EDI has no bearing on that.
Adani had intended to outsource the operation of its Carmichael mine to Downer under an agreement that was worth $2bn at the time of its announcement in 2014, but now says it will run the mine itself.
It made pointed references to the Palaszczuk government’s loan veto and the need to keep production costs down in announcing the “mutual” split with Downer……
Anti-Adani protesters, who have targeted Downer over its involvement in the project, say it’s a welcome blow.
“Downer walking away from Adani is the biggest nail in the coffin for the Carmichael mine thus far. Adani are unlikely to find another Australian company willing to risk building and operating such a controversial mine,” Galilee Blockade spokesman Ben Pennings said.
“Adani have never operated a mine of this scale and have absolutely no experience operating mines in Australia.”
The very first act of Queensland’s newly re-elected Labor government was to make good on its election promise to veto a loan to Adani of up to $1bn from the federal Northern Australian Infrastructure Fund (Naif).
The government has said it backs the mine and wants the jobs it will create, but also says the project must be viable without taxpayer funds, including federal funds.
Adani is yet to secure funding for mine. Earlier this month, Chinese lenders ruled out providing finance, joining Australia’s big four banks in avoiding the controversial project……..https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/18/adani-scraps-2bn-deal-to-outsource-carmichael-coalmine-operation
Australia’s top companies ignore climate change, and we let them
the mis- or non-management of climate risk is rampant in corporate Australia.
Whether the situation stays like this is up to investors
http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/companies-ignore-climate-change-and-we-ve-let-them-get-away-with-it-20171208-p4yxjg.html Julien Vincent , 8 Dec 17
Last week, APRA Executive Board member Geoff Summerhayes warned the transition to a low carbon economy is already underway and “institutions that fail to adequately plan for this transition put their own futures in jeopardy, with subsequent consequences for their account holders, members or policyholders.”
The speech followed a Centre for Policy Development discussion paper on how companies can follow the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
The TCFD has set the standard for climate risk disclosure since its draft recommendations were released a year ago. Its final recommendations were backed by over 100 companies with a combined market capitalisation of over $3 trillion, which should give an idea to how seriously the TCFD is being taken.
But is it though? Market Forces has just examined the ASX top 50 companies’ responses to the TCFD. Only seven had delivered on the key recommendation to disclose information on how their company performs in a scenario where global warming is held below 2°C, while 31 don’t even mention the TCFD recommendations, let alone implement them.
It isn’t the first warning sign that corporate Australia is failing to manage climate risk. Continue reading
Chinese banks won’t fund Adani’s Carmichael coal mine
Adani: Chinese banks not interested in financing Carmichael mine project http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-03/chinese-banks-not-interested-in-financing-adani-carmichael-mine/9221750
Key points:
- Two of China’s major banks have ruled out funding the Carmichael mine
- This leaves Adani “increasingly reliant on public funding”, expert says
- Adani previously claimed it would have finance in place by the end of this year
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) issued a statement to clarify it had no intention of funding Adani’s proposed mine in Queensland.
“ICBC has not been, and does not intend to be, engaged in arranging financing for this project,” ICBC said in a statement on its website.
“ICBC attaches great importance to its social responsibilities and keenly promotes green financing.”
While not mentioning coal, ICBC said it had provided finance in Australia “for a series of renewable energy projects”.
Earlier, China Construction Bank also rejected financing links with Adani saying it “is not involved with, nor considering involvement with, the Adani Carmichael Mine project”.
The anti-Adani lobby has hailed the rejection by two of China’s major banks as a significant development in blocking the construction of the mine.
Blow follows failure to secure finance from other banks
Market Forces executive director Julien Vincent said arranging finance from China was one of Adani’s last remaining hopes given that Australian banks had walked away.
“Having failed to secure finance from banks in the US, Europe and Australia, Adani has now seen the world’s largest and second largest banks by assets rule out support for its massive proposed coal mine,” Mr Vincent said.
“This leaves their attempts to open up Australia’s largest coal mine in tatters, and increasingly reliant on public funding.” Mr Vincent said Adani has been working to contract China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CEMC) into the Carmichael mine and rail project.
However, CEMC would potentially need to source credit and support from Chinese banks to participate in the Adani project.
Adani has, on numerous occasions, pushed back the start date for the mine.
Adani has previously claimed it would have finance in place by the end of this year and, later, said it expected to finalise finance by the end of the Indian fiscal year in March.
Global banks, including Australia’s major banks, have baulked at funding the Carmichael coal mine on concerns about its financial viability and the push towards renewable energy sources.
Adani coal mine ‘fundamentally not in Australia’s interests’ – could be a financial disaster
The ‘Kodak moment’ for coal, and why the Adani mine could be a financial disaster, ABC Radio, The World Today By Stephen Long 27 Nov 17, The woman who led the world to a global climate change agreement has a message for Australia: “You really do have to see that we are at the Kodak moment for coal.”
Christiana Figueres, until last year the executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, doesn’t mean happy snaps for the family album.
Rather, the decimation of the once dominant photographic company Kodak by digital change — in the same way that coal-fired power is being eclipsed by renewable energy.
She hopes to see coal, like those sentimental moments in time captured in photographs, confined to history — with the world remembering the contribution the fossil fuel has made to human development, while recognising the need to retire it as a fuel source because of its contribution to global warming.
And, she says, it’s happening.
“We just had 25 countries come together [at the latest international climate change talks] in Bonn to say that they are moving out of coal in the short term.
“That does not include Australia or India or China, but you can begin to see the trend.
“India is headed for peaking its coal consumption by the year 2027.”
Adani ‘fundamentally not in Australia’s interests’
Which makes arguments that India needs the coal from Adani’s planned mega-mine in North Queensland — and the Federal Government’s determination to see the mine ahead — baffling to Ms Figueres.
The Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, or NAIF, is considering Adani’s request for a subsidised loan of up to $1 billion to help it build a railway to connect the Carmichael mine in outback Queensland to the Abbot Point Coal Mine near Mackay, which Adani also owns.
By law, the NAIF is not permitted to make loans for projects that would damage Australia’s international reputation……..
this issue of the Carmichael coal mine which, if it goes ahead, would frankly blow completely out of the water any emissions reductions that Australia has committed to.
“Admittedly, those emissions from that coal will not be on Australian territory but they will affect the atmosphere and directly affect the livelihoods and the survival of Pacific islands around Australia.”…….
Various parties are considering court action against the NAIF should it grant the loan to Adani, including NGOs and commercial parties in other coal-mining regions……..
Lest climate change not be a concern, Ms Figueres has a warning to those considering investing in Adani’s Carmichael project that appeals to self-interest — she says it could be a financial disaster.
“I put it to you: do we not have here a financial house of cards?” she said.
Her assessment is based on various considerations.
These include the huge debts Adani’s Australian operations are carrying; the financial plight of Adani’s giant power plant at Mundra, which is meant to take much of the coal, but is on Adani’s own admission financially unviable — losing money and barely covering interest payments on its debt.
Adani Group is trying to flog the power plant to the Gujarat state government for just 1 rupee (about 2 Australian cents) with no guarantees that the Government would use coal from the Queensland mine if it were to take over the ailing plant.
Then there is the possibility that the giant mine, with a license to extract 60 million tonnes of coal a year, would become a stranded asset as the world introduces tougher measures to limit climate change…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-27/the-kodak-moment-for-coal,-and-why-adani-could-be-a-disaster/9197134
BHP aims to make a decision about a $2.76 billion expansion of Olympic Dam in the next few years
Cameron England, Business Editor, The Advertiser, 28 Nov 2017
BHP is considering a $2.76 billion expansion at Olympic Dam which it expects to make a decision on by mid 2020.
The company also said it has already started a $1 billion program to upgrade surface infrastructure as part of the Southern Mine Area Expansion, currently under way, which will increase its copper production to 230,000 tonnes per year.
The mine produced 166,000 tonnes last financial year which is expected to drop to 150,000 this year due to a major smelter upgrade. At an investor briefing in Adelaide today, Jacqui McGill, asset president Olympic Dam, said the company was working on a three phase expansion plan for Olympic Dam
The first phase — the SMA — will increase production to 230,000 tonnes of copper equivalent by 2020.
The term “copper equivalent” refers to the value of the mine’s production when also taking into account the gold, silver and uranium it produces.
The second phase of the project — brownfield expansion or BFX — would cost $US2.1 billion with the company currently running the numbers on the project with a view to making a decision on going ahead in mid 2020…. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/jobs/bhp-aims-to-make-a-decision-about-a-276-billion-expansion-of-olympic-dam-in-the-next-few-years/news-story/1a9f517cb561e7f46ea58cfbdc7983f3
Centre for Policy Development urges companies to tell shareholders of climate change risks
Australian shareholders should be told of climate risk to profits, says thinktank
Centre for Policy Development urges companies to adopt standardised analysis of climate’s impact on business, Guardian, Gareth Hutchens, 29 Nov 17, Australian companies need to start developing sophisticated scenario-based analyses of climate risks, and incorporating them into their business outlooks so shareholders know how climate change will affect profitability, a thinktank has said.
However, the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) said companies needed to do so in a standardised way, so investors and regulators were able to easily understand economy-wide risks to whole industries.
The progressive thinktank urged Australia’s biggest businesses to use the Paris climate agreement as the centrepiece for their scenario planning, saying it provided a credible, long-term anchor for policies that limit global warming to well below 2C.
The groups has released a discussion paper, called “Climate horizons: next steps for scenario analysis in Australia”, explaining the best way to do so.
Australia’s financial regulator warned in February that climate change posed a material risk to the entire financial system and urged companies to start adapting. Geoff Summerhayes, from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra), told the Insurance Council of Australia’s annual forum in Sydney in February that Apra wanted companies to start incorporating “scenario-based analysis” of climate risks into their business outlooks.
He said Apra intended to start running stress tests of the financial system to see if it would survive various climate shocks, and all Apra-regulated entities would need to adapt to the coming regulatory changes. “I think the days of viewing climate change within a purely ethical, environmental or long-term frame have passed,” Summerhayes said.
The CPD’s new discussion paper suggested how Australian businesses could be consistent with the country’s international climate commitments under the Paris agreement and with the leading international framework for robust climate disclosures, the Financial Stability Board’s taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD).
It said businesses ought to try to develop a standardised approach to scenario-based analysis, and that all scenario analyses should include:
- A scenario that is genuinely consistent with Paris targets. It should therefore incorporate a high probability of limiting warming to below 2C, and towards 1.5C
- A scenario that includes the physical impacts of climate change, not just transition risks
- Engage with the most relevant sectoral or regional scenarios and resources available
- Be transparent about assumptions and parameters used to develop the scenarios, in line with the TCFD disclosure framework
- Show evidence that management is overhauling their business models in response to scenario analysis results…….
- The CPD discussion paper will be discussed at a public forum in Sydney on Wednesday. Summerhayes will be speaking at the event, along with Steven Skala, the chair of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Christina Tonkin, the managing director of specialised finance at ANZ, and new CPD board member Sam Mostyn. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/29/australian-shareholders-should-be-told-climate-risk-to-profits-says-thinktank
1.4 billion to be saved, by replacing Liddell coal mine with renewable energy
Replacing Liddell with renewables is $1.4 billion cheaper than government plan, report says, The Age, Nicole Hasham, 20 Nov 17
The Turnbull government’s plan to keep the worn-out Liddell power station running for another five years would cost about $1.4 billion more than replacing it with clean energy, and spew millions of tonnes of damaging carbon pollution, a new analysis shows.
The findings cast further doubt on the wisdom of keeping Australia’s oldest operating coal plant open beyond its slated closure in 2022, and have implications for the expected retirement of most existing coal-fired power stations within 15 years.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg in September ordered energy giant AGL to keep open the coal-fired plant for five extra years or sell it to a party that will…….
The University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures compared the financial cost and pollution of three possible scenarios for Liddell: extending its life by five years, pursuing AGL’s plans for a combination of renewable and fossil fuel solutions to replace the lost capacity, and a package of clean energy measures.
It found keeping Liddell open until 2027 would cost $3.6 billion in capital and operating expenses, and that 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would be generated over this time.By comparison, a clean energy package would cost $2.2 billion and create no emissions. This would involve energy efficiency, new wind energy, managing the power demands of consumers and flexible pricing, which means electricity is charged at different rates depending on the time of day or year………
ACF chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy said Australia desperately needs a comprehensive climate change policy to allow a rapid transition to clean energy.
Any such policy “must be designed to encourage as much clean energy and smart technology as possible, and not prop up polluting coal plants that are damaging our planet”, she said.
ISF research director Chris Dunstan said replacing Liddell’s lost capacity with renewables could set a powerful precedent as the majority of Australia’s coal-fired power stations approach retirement age…….. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/replacing-liddell-with-renewables-is-14-billion-cheaper-than-government-plan-report-says-20171118-gzo86a.html
Australia business leaders Michael Myer and Geoff Manchester oppose Adani’s coal mine project
THEY know how to make a million and these two successful Australian businessman say claims about Adani’s coal mine are delusional. 14 Nov 17
OPPOSITION to Adani’s coal mine continues to build as two prominent Australian business leaders come out against the project.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Myer of the prominent Myer retailing family, and Intrepid Travel founder and chief executive officer Geoff Manchester, have both decided to speak out against the $16.5 billion project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
The two men share similar concerns but were not aware of the other’s views before going public.
“The mine itself is an outrage,” Mr Myer told news.com.au.
“It’s a stranded asset … and the proponent (Gautam) Adani is basically doing a very good job at conning our politicians at all levels of government.”
But he said the fact that governments were subsidising the project was also concerning. Federal, state and local governments have all agreed to, or are considering, providing the project with financial assistance.
Mr Myer said the economics of the project did not stack up and the leading supporters of the project were politicians, not those in the business world.
“The whole line that this is good for Queensland jobs is farcical and delusional,” Mr Myer said.
“It doesn’t stack up economically and as time goes on the economics get even worse.”
While the governments have continued to spruik the “10,000 jobs” that will be created, Adani’s own expert has admitted the figure will be closer to 1400 once jobs lost in other areas are taken into consideration.
Mr Myer believes the 10,000 number is “mythical” and the real number will likely be even less than 1400 as many operations can now be automated.
These jobs could also come at the expense of others.
At risk is Australia’s lucrative tourism industry with many concerned about the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.
“Tourism operators are very concerned about this because we’ve already seen some negative impact on the Great Barrier Reef from bleaching in the last couple of years,” Intrepid CEO Geoff Manchester said.
“We’ve already had seen some local tourism operators impacted.”
Intrepid runs tours around the world so Mr Manchester is not too worried about his own business but he said the reef was of huge importance to Australia.
“We are coming into an era of potential growth in Australia, Asian countries are becoming more wealthy and travelling in larger numbers,” he said.
Mr Manchester said Asian tourists, especially those who lived in polluted cities, wanted to experience nature and animals they would not necessarily see in their home countries. This provided Australia with a significant opportunity to boost its economy.
“People are less interested in owning things and are becoming more interested in experiences,” he said.
“They see travel as part of life rather than a luxury that you only do when you can afford it.”
As leaders in their industries, both men said they wanted to voice their opposition publicly to the mine and a potential $1 billion concessional loan that the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is considering.
“There are lots of tourism businesses in Australia and it’s hard for them to get together and speak with one voice, we hope to speak up for them,” Mr Manchester said.
“We are a private, significantly sized company and I feel we have a duty to speak out against it.
“Hopefully this will make other companies feel more comfortable about speaking out as well.”
Mr Manchester said tourism was the biggest employer in Australia.
“It seems wrong to be threatening the (tourism) industry, and wrong to be subsidising the (coal) industry.”
Their remarks come as another entrepreneur warned Australia’s economy had serious problems.
In analysis published in news.com.au today Matt Barrie and Craig Tindale point out that coal consumption in China had dropped three years in a row, and in January 2017, 100 coal fired power plants were cancelled.
“China has announced that it is spending a whopping $360 billion on renewables through 2020, and this year is implementing the world’s biggest cap-and-trade carbon market to curb emissions,” the authors noted.
“Blind to the reality of this situation, Australia is ramping up coal production while China commits to ending coal imports in the very near future in what can only be described as a last-ditch “dig it up now, or never” situation.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2015-16 the entire Australian mining industry which includes coal, oil and gas, iron ore, the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals and exploration and support services made $179 billion in revenue.
But it had $171 billion in costs, which meant it delivered an operating profit before tax of $7 billion — representing a wafer thin 3.9 per cent margin on an operating basis.
“Collectively, the entire Australian mining industry (ex-services) would be loss making in 2016-17 if revenue continued to drop and costs stayed the same,” the authors said.
Mr Myer said companies like BHP were now getting out of coal assets because they could see the writing on the wall.
“China and India both have to, and are, decarbonising their economies,” he said.
“So the notion that Adani is going to build this mine and produce 60 million tonnes a year (of coal), it’s delusional.”
Instead of giving Adani a $1 billion taxpayer-funded loan, Mr Myer said putting the money towards something like a Tesla Gigafactory to produce lithium-ion batteries, would create far more long term jobs than a coal mine.
“It could piggyback an electric vehicle factory,” he said. “That’s the future and that’s where the state should be investing.”
The Australian Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility will be making a decision soon on whether to grant a $1 billion loan to Adani to build a 388km rail link to Abbot Point.
The Queensland Government has already agreed to a royalty deal that may allow Adani to defer the royalties it pays to the government.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said the royalties will be paid in full but has left option the possibility of royalties being deferred for the first few years.
Meanwhile local councils have been falling over themselves trying to accommodate the mine, with Townsville and Rockhampton councils both putting in at least $15 million each to fund an airstrip at the Carmichael mine.
Financial peril for Adani’s Carmichael mine company
Profits of Adani’s Carmichael mine company tumble, leaving it in financial peril
Owner of Carmichael project can’t walk away from mine without descending further into distress, says energy expert, Guardian, Michael Slezak, 14 Nov 17, Profits of Adani Enterprises – the company in Adani Group’s complex structure that owns the proposed Carmichael coalmine – have collapsed almost 50% year-on-year, according to a half-yearly report released this week which does not mention the mine.
The results further show the company is in financial distress, according to Tim Buckley from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, who says they also reveal the company can’t walk away from the unviable Carmichael project without descending further into financial distress.
The Carmichael coalmine, which would be the largest ever built in Australia, has struggled to find financing for either the mine itself or the associated infrastructure such as the rail line that would transport coal to an export terminal on the Great Barrier Reef.
Every major Australian bank has said it will not be involved in the project, and the company has been seeking subsidised government finance from the Australian government and possibly also from China.
“If they tried to exit the project now, they would either have to write it off or find someone willing to buy it,” said Buckley.
If the project was written off or sold for significantly less than its current book value of US$1.15bn, the company would find it increasingly hard to finance its many other projects around the region, said Buckley.
Currently, the Adani Enterprises Limited – which is the only publicly listed company in the Adani Group – has a book value of just under US$2.3bn. Meanwhile, its latest report shows its debt has risen by almost US$400m to US$3.83bn………https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/15/profits-of-adanis-carmichael-mine-company-tumble-leaving-it-in-financial-peril
1.This month
For international news go to https://nuclear-news.net/
A selected few submissions to the Senate Inquiry on process for siting nuclear waste dump have been published on the Senate website
The Terror Will Cost You Extra
Nuclear Dialogue: Libbe HaLevy talks about Nuclear HotSeat on 7 Years of Fukushima Accident
We Say No
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See our page: Submissions on Radioactive Waste Code 2018/ Submissions published by ARPANSA are overwhelmingly critical, and in opposition to the Federal nuclear dump plan for rural South Australia. [not to be confused with the current SENATE INQUIRY Selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia.]
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PETITIONS
– End Julian Assange’s isolation
Don’t Let Frydenberg approve Yeelirrie uranium mine or extinction!
No Nuclear Bundabunda at Brewarrina – bad poison [SIGN THE PETITION]
Defend Country – No Extinguishment of W&J Native Title https://www.facebook.com/events/1593390687411565/ Parliament Qld
Westinghouse, Quit India! [Sign Statement Against Kovvada Nuclear Project]
