Australian to head Green Climate Fund
29 October 2016. The Green Climate Fund will this year approve hundreds of billions of dollars towards projects that help poorer nations mitigate the effects of climate change and transition to low-emission technologies.
Howard Barmsey, a former Australian climate change envoy and former head of the Global Green Growth Institute, will lead the GCF which will play a role in trying to fulfil the Paris Agreement to limit the world’s temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/green-climate-fund/7976180
Adani coal mine: Queensland Government publicly embarrassed over handling of megamine
October 26, 2016. A POWERFUL lobby of regional councils and business groups have started to publicly embarrass the State and Federal governments over their inability to pave the way for the $21 billion Adani megamine… (subscribers only)
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/adani-coal-mine-queensland-government-publicly-embarrassed-over-handling-of-megamine/news-story/5fe5d13935e1c187df9c0248a3d81053
Kimberley’s Indigenous fire management experts featuring at UNESCO climate talks
Kimberley representatives head to Morocco to share traditional fire management techniques ABC Kimberley By Leah McLennan, Matt Bamford and Fi Poole, Representatives from the Kimberley region of Western Australia will travel to climate talks in Morocco to discuss their strategic burning methods.
Traditional fire management techniques have generated more than $85 million for Indigenous groups across northern Australia.
Kimberley Land Council chief executive Nolan Hunter will deliver a presentation on Indigenous fire management in Australia at the UNESCO Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change conference in Marrakech next month.
“We have been invited to go over there to present the work we have been doing with traditional owner groups in the north Kimberley on fire abatement and the role of Indigenous people in climate change and biodiversity,” Mr Hunter said……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-28/indigenous-fire-management-delegation-climate-change-conference/7972486
Extreme heat events increase: State of the Climate report 2016
State of the Climate report 2016: Extreme heat events increasing in duration, frequency and intensity By national science reporter Jake Sturmer, ABC News 28 Oct 16 The duration, frequency and intensity of extreme heat events have increased across large parts of Australia, a climate report has found.The Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO’s biennial State of the Climate report also found May-July rainfall had reduced by around 19 per cent since 1970 in the south-west of Australia.
The report offers a snapshot of how Australia’s weather has changed over the last two years. According the latest report, there has been an increase in extreme fire weather days, and a longer fire season, across large parts of Australia since the 1970s.
Temperatures in Australia — both in the air and on the sea surface — have warmed by a degree since 1910, the report said.
It may not sound like much, but according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Karl Braganza, it is a big deal.
“It’s not significant when you think about the shift from night to day, but we’re talking about a shift in the actual climatology of Australia,” Dr Braganza said.
“If you move from one climate zone to another in Australia — where there’s only a degree or two of difference — you’ll notice quite a different environment.”
So is anything changing globally? Last year was the warmest on record for the globe since reliable surface air temperature records began in 1880 — 15 of the last 16 years have been the hottest recorded.
Sea levels globally have risen more than 20 centimetres since the late 19th century — one third of this rise is because of ocean warming and the rest from water stored on the land and melting land ice.
It is that melting land ice that could cause a huge shift in sea levels.
Take the ice on Greenland, for example. CSIRO’s Steve Rintoul said if that melted, there would be enough ice to raise global sea level by seven metres.
What makes this even more challenging is that scientists are not sure at what level of temperature rise this melt would happen.
“It could be as low as 1.5 degrees Celsius [or] it could be as high as 3C, but once we cross that threshold we have committed ourselves to losing most of the ice on Greenland,” Dr Rintoul said.
What do we do about it?
Scientists say there is not a moment to lose and we must reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and consequently lower CO2 emissions……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-27/extreme-heat-events-increasing-in-duration-frequency-bom-report/7965650
Coal Seam Gas industry far too influential in CSIRO research
The report highlighted how the original research advisory committee of the CSIRO-led body – known as the Gas Industry Social & Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA) – had been dominated by industry representatives and the CSIRO.
While this committee have since been split into NSW and Queenslandones, industry continues to have a significant presence that raised doubts about how arm’s length the research work could be, said Matt Grudnoff, a researcher with the TAI.
“It’s not just the industry is sponsoring this research,” Mr Grudnoff said. “Industry also sits at the table that decides the questions, and decides what projects get funded.” “It’s a no-brainer that they should get gas executives off these research committees” if the industry wanted to be accepted by communities worried about interference and possible contamination of aquifers from CSG wells, he said.
The industry also wants to convince the public that gas is cleaner than coal as part of efforts to gain “social licence”, Mr Grudnoff said. CSIRO executives will face a fresh grilling at Senate estimates on Thursday.
Emails released earlier this year revealed the nation’s premier research agency was looking to shift its emphasis away from “science for science sake”.
“Public good is not enough, needs to be linked to jobs and growth, but science that leads to SLO [social licence to operate] is OK,” Andreas Schiller, an executive in the Oceans and Atmosphere division, said in one email.
According to CSIRO, GISERA funding totalled $13.05 million for the 2014-15 to 2016-17 years. Industry chipped in about half, or $6.65 million, with governments and CSIRO providing the rest…….http://www.theage.com.au/environment/nobrainer-calls-for-csiro-to-make-its-csg-gas-research-more-independent-20161019-gs5vvg.html
“Direct Action” effect on greenhouse emissions would be wiped out if Adani coal mine goes ahead
Adani coal mine would wipe out Direct Action gains within a year, estimates show, The Age, Peter Hannam, 20 Oct 16,
Carbon cuts made by the federal government’s Direct Action climate change plan by 2020 would be wiped out by pollution from a single coal mine in just over a year, new data revealed at a Senate estimates hearing shows.
Officials from the Clean Energy Regulator said that projects paid for from the first three auctions of the Emissions Reduction Fund – the backbone of Direct Action – would trim pollution by just 42 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent by 2020.
Even if all the remaining funds were spent – with a fourth auction planned for November 16 – emissions reductions are projected to total only 92 million tonnes by the year 2020, officials told senators.
By contrast, the Adani coal mine proposed for Queensland’s Galilee Basin would trigger emissions of about 79 million tonnes a year – nullifying the ERF’s pre-2020 abatement in little over a year if it proceeded……http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/adani-coal-mine-would-wipe-out-direct-action-gains-within-a-year-estimates-show-20161018-gs4v2r.html
Australian taxpayers’ funded publishing of climate denialist Bjorn Lomborg’s book
Government funded Lomborg’s ‘vanity’ book: Senate Estimates, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/govt-funded-lomborgs-vanity-book-senate-estimates/news-story/c910a37727718a081b303897238a3913, JULIE HARE, Higher Education Editor Canberra @harejulie , 21 Oct 16, Taxpayers contributed $640,000 to a book edited, written and published by Bjorn Lomborg and his Copenhagen Consensus Centre which was ridiculed in Senate Estimates on Thursday as “vanity publishing”.
Australia under question at UN over its climate change policy
Australia facing questions at UN over post-2020 climate change stance, The Age, 13 Oct 16, Adam Morton Australia is facing renewed international pressure to explain what it is doing to tackle climate change, with a United Nations reviewfinding its emissions continue to soar and several countries calling for clarity about what it will do after 2020.
Countries including China and the US have put more than 30 questions to the Turnbull government, asking for detail about how Australia will meet its 2030 emissions target and raising concerns about a lack of transparency over how the government calculates and reports emissions.
It comes as the federal government has been facing calls at home – sparked by its own criticism of ambitious state renewable energy targets – to reveal what it would do on climate change and clean energy beyond 2020.
An expert review commissioned by the UN found, based on data submitted by Australia, its emissions would be 11.5 per cent higher in 2020 than they were in 1990. Industrial emissions – not counting those from forestry and land-clearing – were expected to rise 33.5 per cent over the three decades.
The reviewers found a recent Australian report lacked transparency about how it estimated its future emissions. And they noted the report failed to mention the abolition of the carbon price scheme, or explain what impact scrapping the policy would have on it meeting targets……..
Physicist Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Action Tracker and an adviser to developing countries at climate negotiations, said the questions asked of Australia showed deep scepticism and frustration beneath a diplomatic veneer. “It is very strange that the government had put forward no projections, which are the sine qua non [essential ingredient] of this area of policy,” he said. “It is as if the Treasury produce a report for the International Monetary Fund with no future numbers in it. It raises alarm bells.”
A Climate Action Tracker analysis found Australia’s emissions were headed to be more than 27 per cent greater than 2005 levels in 2030…….. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-facing-questions-at-un-over-post2020-climate-change-stance-20161011-gs0avq.html
Should Australia follow Canada – let the states lead on climate?
Canada lets the states lead on climate, should Australia do the same? The Conversation,October 11, 2016 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed Australia a thing or two when he announced a new climate change plan last week – and not just because it was delivered impeccably in two languages. Trudeau has decided to leave climate policy to the provinces, while forcing them to act.Is this state-based approach a model for Australia? Continue reading
‘reckless’ and ‘indefensible’ Carmichael coal mine approved by Queensland govt
Queensland fast tracks ‘reckless’ and ‘indefensible’ Carmichael coal mine, Independent Australia Renew Economy 11 October 2016 Minus financial backing, reneging on the Paris Agreement and even ignoring Adani’s own loss of interest in the project, the Queensland Government is fast tracking the Carmichael coal mine, writesRenewEconomy‘s Sophie Vorrath.
IN A MOVE that has been labelled “indefensible” and “reckless” by green groups, the Queensland Government has declared the massive Carmichael coal mine and port proposed for the State’s Galilee Basin as “critical infrastructure”, in an effort to fast-track its development.
State development minister Anthony Lynhamsaid on Monday that the Labor PalaszczukGovernment had invoked special powers to help progress Adani’s $21 billion project, reinstating and expanding its “prescribed project” status to include its water infrastructure…….
while governments of all colours appear to be rolling out the red carpet for the coal project, there are other hurdles it has yet to clear – not least of all economic ones – as coal looks more and more like a high-risk investment.
As John Quiggan wrote last month, a long list of banks and other funding sources have announced they won’t touch the project, or have pulled out of existing finance arrangements.
The list includes the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (formerly a big lender to Adani), NAB, the Queensland Treasury and global banks including Standard Chartered (another former big lender), Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays, as well as BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale. The U.S. and Korean Export-Import banks and the State Bank of India have been touted as possible sources, but appear to have backed away.
Even Adani Group, the Indian conglomerate behind the project, has appeared to lose interest in its coal plans. And just this week, the energy minister for India – the main market for the coal that would be dug up at Carmichael – called on the country’s power generators to cease coal imports if the nation was to come good on its “One Nation, One Grid, One Price” energy goal…..https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/queensland-fast-tracks-reckless-and-indefensible-carmichael-coal-mine,9578
Legal challenge to Adani’s Abbot Point plans in Queensland’s Supreme Court
Adani’s Abbot Point plans face court challenge,SMH , 7 Oct 16 Whitsunday residents are bound for court in a bid to show the Queensland government failed the environment when it approved a port expansion for Adani’s new mega-coal mine.
Whitsunday Residents Against Dumping say dredging required for Adani’s expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal, north of Bowen, could do untold environmental harm and the mine itself will fuel global warming and endanger the reef.
Lawyers for the group will appear in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday, arguing Queensland’s environment department failed to properly assess the port project before it gave Adani the go ahead.
The expansion is needed to ship coal from Adani’s planned $16 billion Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin…….
The action group’s case will be heart in the Supreme Court in Brisbane from 10am (AEST). http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/adanis-abbot-point-plans-face-court-challenge-20161007-grx2s3.html
Malcolm Turnbull could, and should, now ratify the Paris climate agreement
Australian ratification of international treaties is done through the executive, not the parliament. Prime Minister Turnbull makes the final decision as to whether Australia will ratify the Paris Agreement.
Paris climate agreement comes into force: now time for Australia to step up, The Conversation, The Paris climate agreement is set to enter into force next month after the European Union and Canada ratified the agreement overnight. The agreement, reached last December, required ratification by at least 55 countries accounting for 55% of global emissions to become operational.
US President Barack Obama hailed the news as perhaps “a turning point for our planet”, but also noted that it “will not solve the climate crisis” alone.
So far, 73 countries accounting for 56% of emissions have ratified the agreement. This includes the world’s two largest emitters: China and the US. This week the European Parliament approved ratification of the agreement for the EU. The European Council has formally adopted this decision and finalised ratification.
This has put the agreement over the 55% threshold and triggered entry into force. However, by the rules of the agreement, 30 days must now elapse before the agreement becomes operational. The agreement will enter into force on November 4.
This will mean that, from that date, the agreement will be active and legally binding on those who have ratified it……..
Ratifying Paris imposes few additional actions on countries, aside from making a pledge every few years. Not ratifying would make the dissenting country a climate pariah internationally. There is little for parliaments and leaders to debate.
The speed of entry into force may simply betray how little is expected of parties to the pact. It could be a sign of weakness, rather than strength and momentum.
What about Australian ratification? Continue reading
Australia still an international leper on climate change
“A key reason why countries have moved so fast after Paris is that they now recognise the great attractiveness of the growth and development paths for both rich and poor countries that will result from the transition to a low-carbon economy,”
Australia, however, is showing no such ambition. The Coalition is rejecting any talk of increasing its targets in next year’s policy review, and is looking at trying to force states that have higher renewable energy targets to bring them back to the less ambitious national target.
On green finance, Australia is also moving in the opposite direction……..“The race has begun: September has been an extraordinary month for green finance globally”……But, not in Australia.
Australia on the outer again as Paris climate treaty comes into force http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/australia-on-the-outer-again-as-paris-climate-treaty-comes-into-force-32276 By Giles Parkinson on 5 October 2016
The speed of the ratification – less than a year after the Paris treaty was voted to general acclimation last year – compares with the eight years it took to get its predecessor, the Kyoto Protocol, into force after it was adopted in 1997.
The move will impact Australia in two ways. Firstly, under current arrangements only those countries who have ratified the treaty can vote in negotiations for the next step in the treaty’s implementation. That means Australia would be excluded from these processes, although it may have observer status.
It also means that Australia will reinforce its status as a climate outlier, a reputation it earned when former prime minister Tony Abbott and former Canadian prime minister Steven Harper were branded “climate villains” because of their opposition to action on climate change.
Malcolm Turnbull was expected to change this. but has instead entrenched the policies of his predecessor. Continue reading
Ignite Energy Resources pulls out of a $90 million clean coal project
Company withdraws from government-funded clean coal scheme in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley ABC Gippsland, 4 Oct 16
The call comes as Ignite Energy Resources pulls out of a $90 million Advanced Lignite Demonstration Program to find cleaner uses for Victorian brown coal.
Chinese company Shanghai Electric last year also withdrew from the program, after being offered $25 million to develop a demonstration plant to convert coal into briquettes.
Environment Victoria campaigns manager Nicholas Aberle said there needed to be a focus on other ways of developing the Latrobe Valley economy, outside of coal………
Dr Aberle said the continued focus on coal was distracting from other efforts to develop the regional economy.
Greens energy spokeswoman Ellen Sandell said government grants for failed coal schemes should be redirected to renewable energy initiatives in the Latrobe Valley.
“This money should support the transition to clean, modern jobs, not prop up dead-end coal projects,” Ms Sandell said.
“The future will be powered by the sun and the wind. With support the Latrobe Valley could become a renewable energy powerhouse.”……..
State says ‘not one dollar’ went to Ignite
A spokeswoman for Victorian Resources Minister Wade Noonan said not one government dollar had gone to Ignite Energy Resources because the company had failed to meet the benchmarks for the Advanced Lignite Demonstration Program.
Ignite was offered $10 million from the State Government and $10 million from the Federal Government.
The Victorian Government said it was yet to allocate those unused funds.
A third company, Coal Energy Australia, remains in the Advanced Lignite Demonstration Program, with access to $30 million in government support. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-04/clean-brown-coal-fail-in-latrobe-valley/7899900
Australia’s farmers feeling the effects of climate change
Betting the Farm: Farmers confront climate change http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-30/farmers-confront-extreme-reality-of-climate-change/7887720 Climate change is here, and Australian agriculture is acutely feeling the effects. Three farmers explain how it’s impacting their lives and livelihoods.
In some instances the rates of warming are tracking at 2050 scenarios.
Scientists concerned that climate change is biting harder and faster than models anticipated are campaigning for more research investment to protect Australia’s $58 billion agriculture industry from extreme weather.
Background Briefing has learned that their concerns about the capability of Australian research to address climate change will be validated in an independent review by the prestigious Australian Academy of Science.
The review, due for release in the next few weeks, has identified a substantial shortfall in the nation’s climate research firepower.
It’s understood that the review will recommend that the number of scientists working for CSIRO and its partners on climate science needs to increase by about 90. That is almost double the current number of full time positions.
Meanwhile, the reality is already confronting farmers on the front line, many of them battered by this last year of wild conditions.
Climate change makes farming more of a gamble than it ever was. It should be a complete concern to everyone who eats on this planet, because the whole world is going to be gambling on food production.
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