Thread: Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

Tomorrow, maybe a great update for Australia. But for now, I’m posting some minor news articles from last week.

• ‘Action on climate change is very urgent’: Climate Change and Energy Minister

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the “action on climate change is very urgent”, and the Albanese government is acting immediately to tackle these climate-change issues.

“Today, the other place, the Senate, has passed the final piece of legislation necessary for offshore wind in Australia,” Mr Bowen said

“I’m very confident the senate will pass our electric vehicle tax cut this week.

“Next Thursday, on behalf of the government I’ll be delivering the nation’s first climate change statement.”

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• Victorian gas project under threat

A $32 million taxpayer funded loan for a Victorian gas project could be stopped under a motion to be introduced by the Greens in the Senate.

The former Morrison government finalised the loan with GB Energy in March earlier this year, for the Golden Beach gas production and storage project, offshore from Gippsland.

More than 1700 jobs are estimated to be supported by the project, which was granted in a bid to help alleviate gas shortfalls in the east coast market.

Greens resources spokeswoman Dorinda Cox will on Monday move a disallowance motion in the Senate to block the commercial loan.

"Labor can't criticise gas corporations one day, then hand out public money the next," she said.

"Real climate action in Victoria means stopping new coal and gas projects from the 12 Apostles to Gippsland, and that is what the Greens will do."

The International Energy Agency has said no new oil and gas projects should be developed if the world is to limit global warming to 1.5C and avoid its worst impacts.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt said Labor couldn't keep backing new coal and gas projects.

"The big gas corporations are making giant profits and the public shouldn't be on the hook for a new gas project that will make the climate crisis worse," he said.

"Labor needs to work with the Greens to ditch this terrible Morrison decision to back more gas."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the government will make an announcement before Christmas, as it considers a price cap on gas to help Australians with soaring energy prices.

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• Snowy Hydro asked to explain nearly $30 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses

Snowy Hydro has become the latest federal government-owned business asked to explain tens of millions of dollars in staff bonuses, after new data showed it paid out nearly $30 million last financial year.

The Australian Financial Review revealed earlier this month that Australia Post had paid $28 million in bonuses to its best-paid employees last financial year, while NBN Co paid out $4.1 million in bonuses.

Labor has asked the Remuneration Tribunal to consider pay for the chief executive of Snowy Hydro Ltd, with the independent body to consider new boundaries for bonuses and total remuneration at the company.

Snowy Hydro told a Senate committee it paid $29.6 million in bonuses – described as “incentive” payments – in the 2022 financial year. The cash went to 1446 staff, with an average payment of $20,492.

A year earlier, the renewable energy company paid out $24.9 million in bonuses, an average of $17,100 to 1457 staff.

The government has asked Snowy Hydro board chairman David Knox to undertake an external review of remuneration decisions and possible improvements to bonus rules.

The board will explain to shareholder ministers Katy Gallagher and Chris Bowen details of its governance arrangements for performance targets and assessments.

The Financial Review revealed last month that at least 24 public servants and government-owned corporation executives last year earned more than $1 million, including multiple executives from Australia Post, NBN Co and Snowy Hydro.

Changes recommended by the Remuneration Tribunal could be used to guide expectations for other Snowy Hydro staff, including on bonuses.

Former Snowy Hydro boss Paul Broad abruptly left the company in August. The move came in the middle of a costly expansion of the Snowy Mountains hydropower project, which is running late and over budget.

Mr Broad was named as a special adviser to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, in an appointment that surprised the state’s Energy Minister, Matt Kean.

The company’s annual report showed Mr Broad received $1.4 million in bonuses last financial year, part of $2.7 million in total pay. Details of any payout related to his departure from the company is yet to be released.

The report included details of $4.47 million in bonuses for the company’s nine most senior executives.

Snowy Hydro told the Senate it had “significantly reduced the maximum incentive under the long-term incentive scheme and increased the fixed annual remuneration and short term incentive opportunity”.

“The overall effect is to reduce the maximum potential reward from variable pay components and increase the percentage of total remuneration paid as [fixed annual remuneration].”

Earlier this month, Senator Gallagher and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland asked Australia Post and NBN Co to explain how tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses were in keeping with community expectations.

Senator Gallagher and Ms Rowland said greater transparency and rigour was needed to ensure bonuses were “in keeping with community expectations”.

Labor was highly critical of Australia Post’s bonuses while in opposition.

Australia Post’s eight senior executives collected $4.45 million in bonuses last financial year, or about $556,579 each.

NBN Co cut the number of executives and senior staff eligible for a bonus from about 3500 in 2021 to less than 50 in 2022. Total bonuses paid were $4.1 million last financial year, of which $1.6 million went to senior executives.

Government corporations benchmark pay to be competitive with private sector competitors. Most top-tier government salaries are set by the independent Remuneration Tribunal.

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• Which states are doing best on switch to EVs and transport emissions

The ACT and New South Wales are leading the charge on lowering transport emissions, while Western Australia and the Northern Territory are lagging behind, according to new analysis by the Climate Council.

Climate Council’s Are we there yet? Clean Transport Scorecard has found massive disparities in performance between the states and territories when it comes to transport emissions.

The report tracks each state and territory’s emissions and examines their progress towards clean transport solutions, including public transport, walking and riding, and the uptake of electric vehicle fleets.

ACT bagged the top spot, leading on many clean transport metrics. NSW came in second, ranking particularly highly in it share of passengers using public transport, while Tasmania and New South Wales took equal third place, with Tasmania receiving recognition for rapid emissions slashes.

The report notes that each state and territory leads on some areas over others, with even the lowest-ranked, the NT, ranking highest in its share of travellers walking and bike-riding, while South Australia, which came in fourth, was found to be an electric vehicle infrastructure powerhouse.

Transport is Australia’s third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 18.7% of the nation’s national emissions contribution. Of that share, cars and light commercial vehicles make up the biggest emitters.

Alarmingly, while other sectors are making strides to clean up their act, transport is one of Australia’s fastest-growing sources of emissions.

The analysis finds that if Australia were to reach net-zero by 2035, a commitment the Government has not enshrined in law but which the Climate Council recommends if the nation is to play its part in limiting global warming to safe levels, transport emissions would need to plummet by an average of 7 million tonnes annually, around the level of reduction seen during COVID-19 lockdowns.

https://thedriven.io/2022/11/24/whic...ort-emissions/

Chris Bowen - Breaking; The Government’s electric vehicle tax cut has passed the Senate 31-24. Despite LNP opposing cheaper EVs for Australian businesses, the Senate has supported the Government’s Bill.: https://twitter.com/Bowenchris/statu...12981602504705

• Tax Cuts Coming for New EVs After Passing Through the Senate

The Bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Electric Car Discount) Bill 2022, includes changes to the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Bill.

The specific amendment? Making electric cars, hydrogen cars and plug-in hybrids below the luxury car tax threshold exempt from the fringe benefits tax, slashing costs for employers and allowing them to provide EVs to employees at a much cheaper cost.

Employers could save up to $12,500 on the purchase of an EV for an employee, while individuals could save up to $4,300, according to Treasury estimates and as reported by AAP.

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• 'Unacceptable climate change risks': Court rules against Clive Palmer's Galilee coal project in Queensland

Clive Palmer's planned thermal coal mine in Queensland should be rejected because it "risks unacceptable climate change impacts", a court has found.

The Land Court of Queensland on Friday found in favour of a case against the Palmer-owned Waratah Coal project in central Queensland's Galilee Basin after a three-year court battle.

The Environmental Defenders Office, on behalf of Youth Verdict and The Bimblebox Alliance, opposed the mine on human rights grounds due to its potential contribution to climate change and destruction of a nearby nature reserve.

On-Country evidence in landmark case against Clive Palmer’s coal project

Court President Fleur Kingham has found that carbon emissions from burning coal mined at the project "will contribute to environmental harm, including in Queensland".

She has recommended that a mining lease and environmental authority for Waratah's project be refused by the state government.

"In the end, I have decided that the climate scenario consistent with a viable mine risks unacceptable climate change impacts to Queensland people and property, even taking into account the economic and social benefits of the project," President Kingham said in her ruling on Friday.

She said the uncertain market demand for thermal coal raised the "real prospect" the mine would not be viable throughout its planned life, or provide the economic benefits.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/...land/t3f4kopf5

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• Australia’s election results.........

Daniel Andrews defeats Matthew Guy; Labor to remain in government

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/v...25-p5c1ej.html

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• Drier, hotter, wetter: CSIRO, BoM confirm Australia’s weather to get even worse

Australia’s weather will become even more chaotic in coming years and decades, the State of the Climate report warns, piling pressure on the federal government to increase its climate targets.

The decade began with record-breaking drought and heatwaves, when bushfires blazed across the east coast. Now floods have inundated NSW and Victoria after extreme rainfall fell onto a landscape drenched for the past three years.

CSIRO climate science centre research director Dr Jaci Brown said global warming was driving increasingly erratic weather and people on the eastern seaboard must look beyond the current floods to prepare for the next dramatic shift.

“Extreme events are going to keep happening, we need to start thinking about the next drought,” Brown said. “It’s hard to imagine right now but that is Australia’s climate,” she said. “It’s variable and we need to think about our water management into the next few years as we move inevitably to El Nino after La Nina.”

The State of the Climate report is written by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology. It is updated every two years and uses the latest data and science to make projections about Australia’s weather.

It found climate change would cause “an increase in the risk of natural disasters from extreme weather, including ‘compound extremes’, where multiple extreme events occur together or in sequence, thus compounding their impacts”.

Australia’s already variable rainfall patterns would become increasingly so, with more frequent droughts, heatwaves and declining rain over the south-east of the continent.

Brown said greenhouse gases had reached record levels in the atmosphere that had raised Australia’s average temperature by 1.47 degrees since 1910.

https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/...22-p5c09x.html

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• Australian Lawmaker Alleges Widespread Coal Industry Fraud

An Australian politician on Monday accused several coal giants, including U.S.-based Peabody Energy, of “lying for years about the quality” of Australian coal exports.

In an explosive speech before Parliament, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said a whistleblower — a high-level executive in Australia’s coal sector — provided him with thousands of pages of documents detailing widespread industry fraud that involved falsifying lab tests to make coal appear to be of higher quality.

“Coal companies operating in Australia are using fraudulent quality reports for their exports, and paying bribes to representatives of their overseas customers to keep the whole scam secret,” said Wilkie, speaking under parliamentary privilege, which gives members of parliament certain legal immunity. “And this has allowed them to claim, for years, that Australian coal is cleaner than it is in order to boost profits and prevent rejection of shipments at their destination.”

Wilkie called the scheme “environmental vandalism” that puts Australia’s reputation at risk and “makes all the talk of net zero emissions by 2050 a fiction.” He called for parliamentary investigation into the matter.

Australia is one of the world’s top coal producers, and industry supporters have long argued that Australian coal is “cleaner” than overseas competitors. Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of the center-left Labor party, recently defended ongoing coal development, saying that if Australia halted its exports there would be “replacement coal from other countries that’s likely to produce higher emissions.”

The alleged scandal threatens to turn that narrative on its head.

Wilkie said the documents implicate mining companies Peabody Energy, Terracom, Anglo American and Glencore, and that fraudulent exports went to Japan, South Korea, China and India. The documents also implicate coal testing companies SGS and ALS, as well as accounting firm Ernst and Young and Macquarie Bank, he said.

Wilkie highlighted one instance where a draft quality test by SGS purportedly showed a batch of coal with 16.7% moisture content, which he said is “pretty damp and won’t burn well.” In the final document, however, SGS listed the moisture content for that same coal at 15.9%.

“That represents hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra profit from the relatively small shipment to Japan and ensured it wouldn’t be rejected on arrival,” Wilkie said.

Peabody, the only U.S. company named in the alleged scam, did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment Monday. But in a statement to The Guardian, a company spokesperson said Peabody “strenuously denies Mr. Wilkie’s claims.”

A spokesperson for Anglo American told The Guardian the allegations are “entirely false.”

Wilkie’s testimony widens a coal-testing scandal that first rocked the industry back in February 2020. As the Australian Financial Review first revealed, a commercial manager at Terracom sued the company after he said he was fired for refusing to participate in manipulating quality test results. In the wake of AFR’s reporting, ALS conducted an internal probe that found up to 50% of its coal test results had been “manually amended without justification” over several years, as Wilkie highlighted on Monday.

AFR reported Monday that the Australian government has been fighting to keep records related to the scandal from becoming public, saying their release would have an “unreasonable adverse effect on the coal industry.”

Wilkie said Australian authorities, including federal police and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, have so far failed to act on the alleged criminal activity, despite clear evidence of misconduct, and called for his colleagues in Parliament to support an inquiry that would allow for witnesses to “safely present their testimonies and evidence.”

“Let’s ditch the game playing and go straight to an inquiry so the industry can be held accountable for its sins, and so Australia can restore its reputation as an honest trading partner,” he said. “And, most importantly, so we can learn just how dirty the world is and how much more urgent our response to climate change must be.”

Several other members of Parliament were quick to voice support for such a probe.

“The reality is there is no such thing as clean coal, and the evidence provided by this brave coal industry whistleblower suggests that the coal industry has been misleading the world for years,” Independent MP Sophie Scamps said in a statement.

Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King told The Guardian that the allegations are “concerning.” She pledged to look into the matter and said the government is “committed to maintaining Australia’s reputation as a reliable and competitive supplier of high-quality metallurgical and thermal coal.”

Wilkie’s bombshell allegations came as the United Nations annual climate summit drew to a close. At the conference, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry praised his Australian counterpart, Chris Bowen, and the nation’s new climate commitments.

“He is doing an incredible job of demonstrating the difference an election makes,” Kerry said of Bowen, who serves as Australia’s minister of climate change and energy. “The government of Australia has stepped up in remarkable ways and we’re pleased with that.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/austr...b0c57396231d33

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• AGL to close SA gas power plant in 2026 as renewables accelerate

Energy giant AGL will close South Australia’s Torrens Island B gas-fired power plant in 2026 as ageing fossil fuel-based generators across the grid face escalating pressure from wind and solar pummelling their profits and viability.

AGL, which has already mothballed one unit at the gas plant because of “challenging conditions”, on Thursday said the three remaining units would close on June 30, 2026. It had originally intended to keep running the plant until as late as 2035.

The company cited the planned completion of a new interconnector cable linking the South Australian and NSW power grids, known as Project Energy Connect, which would enhance the flow of renewable energy across state lines. This would “further impact gas-fired generation in South Australia,” AGL said, “and, as a result, the economic viability of the power station”.

“It was a very tough decision today, particularly for our people at Torrens Island,” AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof said.

AGL’s 120 workers affected by the plant’s closure were notified on Thursday morning. Brokhof said the difficult decision had followed years of consultations with SA’s current and former state governments, and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

AGL’s Torrens Island B power station, which opened in 1976, is running at a loss because its ageing technology cannot quickly ramp up and down in response to sharp swings in wholesale electricity prices. The influx of cheaper-to-run renewable energy can regularly push power prices into negative territory during the middle of the day when solar power is most abundant.

“We are losing money with this power station in the current environment,” Brokhof said on Thursday.

It comes as AGL, the nation’s largest power supplier and heaviest greenhouse gas emitter, is continuing to face intensifying pressure from billionaire activist investor Mike Cannon-Brookes and other key shareholders to accelerate the decarbonisation of its power generation fleet. Earlier this year, the board resolved to close its last-remaining coal plant, Loy Yang A in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, up to 10 years earlier in 2035, and invest $20 billion on renewable energy and back-up “firming” assets by 2036.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/comp...24-p5c0wv.html

Again, way too many articles to post in just one post. So, a little today and a little more tomorrow.

• Anthony Albanese stresses Australia needs to be part of global response to climate change in passionate speech in Renmark

Anthony Albanese has told the parliament to "wake up" about the climate change crisis and stressed Australia had to be united and respond with the rest of the world.

The Prime Minister was on Saturday visiting the regional South Australian town of Renmark, near Victoria's border, ahead of expected flooding in the area.

The Murray River, which sits on the edge of the town, has been slowly rising the past month from Victoria's floods and is expected to peak around December 14.

Daily flows are predicted to exceed the levels experienced back in the 1970s and reach between 170 and 180 gigalitres a day or about 70,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Mr Albanese was taking questions from the media when he was posed if more could be done in the region in terms of being prepared and if any lessons were learnt.

He believes the town was prepared enough but one of the learnings was having a $4 billion disaster fund, which the government has legislated for.

The Prime Minister then highlighted the recent unpredictable devastating floods in the New South Wales rural towns of Eugowra and Forbes in November.

"How can we better plan for these events? It is far better to mitigate and to get ahead of disaster than it is to respond to them after the event," he said alongside South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas before taking a swipe at Parliament.

"Forbes had four floods in recent times and I don't know what it takes to have all of the Parliament wake up that climate change is real.

"We need a long-term response and it needs to be a global response and Australia has got to be part of it."

Mr Albanese pointed to the Black Summer fires in 2019/2020 where he visited a number of decimated towns after becoming the federal Labor leader.

The bushfires destroyed an estimated 24 million hectares and more than 3,000 homes across a number of states and territories in the country.

It killed at least 34 people and 450 others later from smoke inhalation.

About three billion animals, such as kangaroos and koalas were killed or displaced, with a World Wildlife Australia study fearing some species could be pushed to extinction.

The Labor leader then pointed to the several devastating flooding events along the east coast this year that killed a number of people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

"...When you have a one-in-1oo-year flood that happens every few months, then there is something happening with the climate," he said.

"We need to address it.

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• Gas giant Santos loses appeal against Tiwi Islands traditional owners

Tiwi Islands traditional owners have had their landmark legal victory upheld, after resources giant Santos failed in its appeal against a Federal Court judgment that forced it to halt drilling on its multibillion-dollar Barossa gas project off Australia’s northern coast.

On Friday, the Federal Court dismissed the appeal, saying it was clear the original appellant, Dennis Tipakalippa, and the Munupi clan had interests that required them to be consulted, including cultural and spiritual interests.

“We have fought to protect our sea country from the beginning to the end and we will never stop fighting,” said Dennis Tipakalippa, a senior lawman for the traditional owners of the northern Tiwi Islands.

Our sea is like our mother - we are part of the sea and the sea is part of us. Santos and every other gas company must take note that this is our country and we must be consulted,” he said.

During the appeal, the lawyers for Santos argued the clan did not legally count as “relevant persons” and that it was unreasonable to expect the company to consult with “each and every” individual clan member.

But Friday’s decision from the full Federal Court found differently: “We reject the submission that ... it is just too hard to consult with traditional owners as was required in this case,” said the decision from justices Susan Kenny, Debra Mortimer and Michael Lee.

“To the contrary ... it is possible to construe a consultation requirement in a practical and pragmatic way that makes a process both reasonable and workable.”

This court decision is likely to set a new standard for consultation between First Nations people and resources companies before offshore projects began. It does not mean that Santos will abandon its drilling plans, but it will now need to properly consult traditional owners.

The court’s decisions will have implications for other resources companies. Oil and gas company Woodside has plans to develop an offshore field for gas export – the $18 billion Scarborough project off Western Australia – but still needs environmental plans approved by NOPSEMA.

Greens spokesperson for resources and Yamatji-Noongar woman and Senator Dorinda Cox congratulated Tipakalippa and the Munupi traditional owners.

“Today we have seen cultural giants defeat a billion-dollar company,” Cox said.

“The fact that Santos didn’t consider the Munupi people relevant is appalling and I’m happy to hear the court has upheld its decision.”

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• NSW wind farm defies high-profile critics

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has invested $1.5 billion in wind farms over the past 10 years, including one off the Hume Highway near Canberra that was officially opened on Tuesday.

"Our role continues to evolve as a renewable energy financier," CEFC chief executive Ian Learmonth said at the opening ceremony.

"We're needed, maybe more than ever, as we try to reach, as a country, 82 per cent renewables by 2030.

"That's a big task, and needs the leadership of many."

The Collector Wind Farm, backed by supply deals with Aldi supermarkets and energy utility Iberdrola, is the largest wind farm RATCH-Australia has built in this country.

The green energy from Collector is expected to save 320,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year, or the equivalent of taking 120,000 combustion engine cars off the road, by displacing coal-fired power.

The 226.8 megawatt project was once slammed by local Liberal MP Angus Taylor, a former federal energy minister, as being part of an "economically unviable" industry that relied on massive subsidies.

Granted permission by energy market operators last year to become fully operational, the 54 Vestas turbines can produce enough to power 80,000 homes.

The wind farm employed more than 150 people during construction and is now managed by 10 full-time staff.

But the project near Lake George in NSW was scaled back from an initial proposal for 63 turbines after local opposition led by Friends of Collector founders Rodd Pahl and Tony Hodgson, who were concerned it would damage their view and health.

Other landowners say they are "drinking silver" from the revenue stream, and they don't mind the view.

"It's like watching fish in a fish tank," farmer Ron Ryan told AAP.

The CEFC helped the project get off the ground as its first lender, and remains an important partner for RATCH-Australia.

As sole debt financier in 2019, the CEFC backed the wind farm before it secured energy off-take contracts.

Other banks have since provided financing, which frees up capital for the corporation to back new renewable projects.

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• Wong in NZ talks on climate, security

Climate and regional security will be discussed at a meeting between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta.

The talks will take place in Canberra on Friday, following the first ministerial consultation between the pair in Wellington earlier this year.

"We are closely aligned in our responses to regional and global challenges, and we share aspirations in common with fellow members of the Pacific Islands Forum closer to home," Ms Mahuta said.

"I anticipate discussion on cooperation in the Pacific, including support for Pacific nations for mitigation and adaption to the impacts of climate change, and on the geo-strategic situation in the wider Indo-Pacific."

They will also discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and Iran's human rights violations in the wake of the deadly protests against its authoritarian regime.

Next year will mark a series of milestones for the trans-Tasman relationship including closer economic ties, the special travel arrangement and 80 years of diplomatic missions in Australia and New Zealand.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has flagged an easier pathway to citizenship and voting rights for Kiwis, pledging to have a proposed framework ready by early 2023.

Mr Albanese has also promised to take on a more "commonsense" stance on the deportation of New Zealand citizens convicted of crimes in Australia.

• Australia’s first Annual Climate Change Statement

1 December 2022

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, has delivered the Australian Government’s first Annual Climate Change Statement to Parliament, outlining:

• Australia’s progress to achieve our 2030 and 2050 emissions reduction targets
• the economic, environmental and social impacts of climate change
• Australia’s action in the context of global efforts
• Australia’s domestic policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

As required under the Climate Change Act 2022, the Statement also responds to the independent advice received from the Climate Change Authority.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the first Annual Statement showed Australia has much work to do to reduce emissions by 43%.

“The first-ever Annual Climate Change Statement shows we are on the right track, but it is also a wake-up call for the nation to do more,” Minister Bowen said.

“Reducing emissions by 43% is an ambitious target and we are going to need a collective effort and determination across all of the economy to meet our goal.”

Future Statements will evolve as our capability to measure and report on climate action improves and the CCA implements its methodology to assess our progress in transitioning to net zero emissions.

The Climate Change Authority’s first Annual Progress Report, the 2022 Emissions Projections report and the latest Quarterly Update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory and the Minister’s speech to Parliament will be tabled alongside the Annual Statement.

Read the Minister’s media release: First Annual Climate Change Statement.

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• Australia argues against 'endangered' Barrier Reef status

Australia's environment minister said Tuesday her government will lobby against UNESCO adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites, arguing that criticisms of government inaction on climate change were outdated.

Officials from the U.N. cultural agency and the International Union for Conservation of Nature released a report on Monday warning that without "ambitious, rapid and sustained" climate action, the world's largest coral reef is in peril.

The report, which recommended shifting the Great Barrier Reef to endangered status, followed a 10-day mission in March to the famed reef system off Australia's northeast coast that was added to the World Heritage list in 1981.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the report was a reflection on Australia's previous conservative government, which was voted out of office in May elections after nine years in power.

She said the new center-left Labor Party government has already addressed several of the report's concerns, including action on climate change.

"We'll very clearly make the point to UNESCO that there is no need to single the Great Barrier Reef out in this way" with an endangered listing, Plibersek told reporters.

"The reason that UNESCO in the past has singled out a place as at risk is because they wanted to see greater government investment or greater government action and, since the change of government, both of those things have happened," she added.

The new government has legislated to commit Australia to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below the 2005 level by 2030.

The previous government only committed to a reduction of 26% to 28% by the end of the decade.

Plibersek said her government has also committed 1.2 billion Australian dollars ($798 million) to caring for the reef and has canceled the previous government's plans to build two major dams in Queensland state that would have affected the reef's water quality.

"If the Great Barrier Reef is in danger, then every coral reef in the world is in danger," Plibersek said. "If this World Heritage site is in danger, then most World Heritage sites around the world are in danger from climate change."

The report said Australia's federal government and Queensland authorities should adopt more ambitious emission reduction targets in line with international efforts to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.

The minor Greens party, which wants Australia to slash its emissions by 75% by the end of the decade, called for the government to do more to fight climate change in light of the report.

Jodie Rummer, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Townville who has worked on the reef for more than a decade, supported calls for Australia to aim for a 75% emissions reduction.

"We are taking action, but that action needs to be much more rapid and much more urgent," Rummer told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"We cannot claim to be doing all we can for the reef at this point. We aren't. We need to be sending that message to the rest of the world that we are doing everything that we possibly can for the reef and that means we need to take urgent action on emissions immediately," she added.

Feedback from Australian officials, both at the federal and state level, will be reviewed before Paris-based UNESCO makes any official proposal to the World Heritage committee.

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• Big five banks scope out climate losses

Australia's banking sector will be more susceptible to big economic shocks as a result of lending losses from climate change, a new analysis suggests.

The banking watchdog has been working with the banks to assess how climate risks will affect the nation's financial institutions.

The good news is the big five do not expect severe stress from the lending losses they expect climate change will cause.

The bad news is those losses will make the banking sector more susceptible to economic downturns, and less willing to lend to climate vulnerable regions and industries.

ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac took part in the climate vulnerability assessment, led by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

They were asked to model two scenarios: one where global emissions keep rising to 2050 and beyond, and another where rapid cuts kick in from 2030.

"Results showed that, for the climate scenarios assessed, physical and transition risks would increase overall bank lending losses in the medium to long term," the assessment found.

"However there was significant variability in lending losses across the banks."

For the banks' mortgage portfolios, results ranged from no lending losses being directly attributable to the climate scenarios, to lending loss rates up to three times higher than historic averages by 2050.

For business lending, overall lending losses arising from transition risks rose substantially under both scenarios, but were higher under a future of rapid emissions cuts from 2030.

"Overall, the modelled increases in lending losses arising from climate change would be unlikely to cause severe stress to the banks," the assessment found.

"However, the potential for higher losses arising from climate change could lead to the banking sector being more vulnerable to future economic downturns."

https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/...ian-banks.html

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• ACCIONA Energia to double MacIntyre Wind Precinct capacity

ACCIONA Energia has announced the development of the Herries Range Wind Farm, an expansion of the MacIntyre Wind Precinct that will double its capacity to 2000MW.

The 1023MW MacIntyre Precinct, already under construction, will be equipped with 180 5.7MW turbines.

It currently consists of two wind farms: MacIntyre (923MW), owned by ACCIONA Energia (70%) and Ark Energy (30%), and government-owned energy company CleanCo’s proposed Karara Wind Farm.

“Today we’re proud to announce that we have commenced development activities for the Herries Range Wind Farm to add an additional thousand megawatts of renewable energy to Queensland’s energy mix,” said ACCIONA Energia Managing Director in Australia Brett Wickham.

“With this project we expect to dramatically accelerate the decarbonisation of Queensland’s electricity grid.

“Our goal is to roll from construction of MacIntyre straight into the neighbouring Herries Range. This means that workers can move from one large scale project to the next whilst staying in the same area.

“In total, the MacIntyre Precinct would reach a capacity of 2GW, representing an overall investment of more than A$4bn (€2.5bn) and enough clean energy to supply the equivalent of 1.4m homes per year.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk added: “Our Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan is all about bringing more cheaper, cleaner energy into the system, while building the Queensland economy and that’s exactly that this deal does.

“ACCIONA Energia are one of the world’s leading developers of renewable energy projects and this additional A$2bn commitment is a strong endorsement that Queensland is a renewable energy superpower.”

https://renews.biz/82109/acciona-ene...inct-capacity/

Posting a few articles today. Saturday’s post will show more progress being made by the Australian Government to move away from fossil fuels.

• Australia urged to lead COP15 biodiversity talks

Conservationists have urged the Australian government to take a leadership role at the United Nations (UN) COP15 biodiversity conference.

Delegates will meet in Montreal, Canada, from Dec. 7 for the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to discuss plans to halt the decline of ecosystems and wildlife.

Australia will be represented by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Kelly O'Shanassy, chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), said Plibersek had an opportunity at COP15 or the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference to champion ambitious international targets.

"Australia's leadership is critically important because Australia has an abundance of nature and those abundant species aren't found anywhere else," she told the Guardian Australia on Monday.

Leaders at COP15 are expected to adopt a new plan to protect biodiversity under the CBD that would set a target of zero new extinctions and 30 percent of land and sea areas protected for conservation by 2030.

During negotiations on the plan, Australia will focus on reducing extinction risk, control and eradication of invasive species, participation of Indigenous people in the biodiversity framework, conservation, marine and coastal biodiversity and waste management.

Plibersek said she is optimistic about striking a deal that can be translated into action.

"The conference for nature this month in Montreal could be what Paris was for climate. We must seize this opportunity," she said.

"The Labor government has already committed to protecting 30 percent of our land and oceans by 2030. We will be calling for other countries to do the same." ■

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A start......

• Hydrogen to help power Perth homes

Renewable hydrogen has been introduced into Perth's natural gas network for the first time as part of Western Australia's renewable energy strategy.

Natural gas company ATCO will supply about 2700 businesses and households in Perth's south with a blend of 98 per cent gas and two per cent hydrogen from Monday.

The company plans to increase the blend up to 10 per cent hydrogen in the future.

Energy Minister Bill Johnston said hydrogen would play a lead role in WA's transition to net zero emissions by 2050.

"ATCO's hydrogen blending project shows how emerging technology can be integrated with existing assets in the gas distribution system and balance energy needs," he said.

"Blending renewable hydrogen with natural gas creates a pathway to lower emissions and drives us towards our net zero future."

ATCO and Fortescue Future Industries also on Monday opened WA's first renewable hydrogen refuelling station.

The station can fill hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in five minutes, providing for a range of up to 500 kilometres, emissions-free.

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Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

The only reliable low emmission base load power currently is Nuclear and Australia will need to modify its legislation to do this.

Nope. Doesn’t look like that’ll happen any time soon.

• Nuclear off table as states seek power fix

A popular state premier is preparing to make some powerful enemies over their "ill-founded" opposition to nuclear energy.

SA premier Peter Malinauskas left the door open to nuclear on Monday, stating submarines his state would build via the AUKUS deal would bust myths about how safe the energy alternative is.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek were quick to shoot their Labor colleague down, each pointing out nuclear energy wouldn't work out financially.

The discussion comes as Australia desperately seeks a fix for soaring power bills, the PM labelling talk around nuclear energy as a distraction.

"I have a great deal of respect for 'Mali', but everyone's entitled to get things wrong," he told FiveAA radio.

"Every five years or so we have economic analysis of whether nuclear power stacks up and every time it's rejected."

Ms Plibersek was similarly strong, saying nuclear power was "slow to build and really expensive".

"All this nonsense about small-scale nuclear reactors in every suburb, I don't know if there's people up your street who want a nuclear reactor in the local park ... I really don't think that's the case," she told Seven.

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• Seawalls to combat SA coastal erosion

Seawalls will be constructed at key locations across the South Australian coast to help mitigate erosion sparked by climate change.

The federal government has provided $6.7 million for the work, with walls to be built near Kingston in the state's southeast, and at Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide.

South Australian Environment Minister Susan Close said recent modelling showed the state could expect more extreme weather over the next 25 years, and coastal projects would be vital to reduce the impact on local communities.

Projects funded under the scheme include the construction of rock seawalls and breakwaters, large-scale beach erosion protection, and work to improve community awareness of coastal hazards.

"It is absolutely critical we build resilience to climate changes within our communities, and these projects will help to do this," Ms Close said.

"Climate change is expected to increase the risks of flooding, storm surges and erosion, so it's vital we get on with these type of projects aimed at mitigating risk."

• MEETING OF NATIONAL CABINET

Energy

First Ministers noted that rising energy prices are placing pressure on Australian households, businesses and industry, due to global energy price shocks, including Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The National Cabinet agreed to the Energy Price Relief Plan that will limit gas and coal prices, provide targeted energy bill relief for households and businesses, and drive investment in cleaner, cheaper more reliable energy for the future.

National Transformation Principles

First Ministers agreed National Transformation Principles for an orderly transition to a clean energy future.

The principles demonstrate a shared commitment by the Commonwealth, States and Territories to support regional communities transforming as a result of decarbonisation to capture the benefits of the energy transition.

The principles are the foundation for closer collaboration between governments and with key stakeholders; including local government, regional communities and industries.

Governments look forward to further engagement with stakeholders as this work progresses.

The Transformation Principles are published at www.federation.gov.au.

From the www.federation.gov.au. link......

National Transformation Principles

9 December 2022

National Cabinet

Global efforts to decarbonise present opportunities for regional communities to be active players in achieving and sharing the benefits of the net zero economy. These principles reflect the National Cabinet's intent to capture the benefits of the energy transition, with a focus on supporting regional pathways for economic transformation associated with decarbonisation for those communities that have helped grow Australia's prosperity. They also guide how the Commonwealth and state and territory governments will work together and with local government, regional communities and industries.

Maximise opportunities: Working in partnership with local communities, actions by governments are evidence based and align with a region's strengths to work towards a sustainable future. Governments encourage innovation, support emerging industry needs, support outcomes for First Nations people, and help attract investment for long-term success. Governments ensure local communities have access to services, like training and employment pathways, to support their future. Governments actively consider how to support those most vulnerable to the impacts of decarbonisation and have regard for the needs of future generations.

https://www.pm.gov.au/media/national-cabinet-2022-12-09

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• Why hybrid car sales are powering ahead

More Australians are choosing eco-friendly vehicles for their next ride, with sales figures revealing low-emission cars are soaring in popularity.

It's not high-profile electric cars racking up the greatest sales though, but hybrid vehicles that combine battery and fuel technology.

Hybrid vehicles have become so popular in Australia they now make up more than one in every three cars sold by Toyota.

But experts say the trend may be a "halfway" measure in Australia's transition to a more environmentally friendly fleet and a result of overdue electric vehicle policies.

New sales figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries this week revealed Australians' new love for hybrid vehicles, with more than 8500 sold in November - almost double the number of battery electric vehicles at 4457.

Plug-in hybrid cars, which feature electric and fuel engines, represented a much smaller percentage of the market, selling just 459 vehicles during the month.

Chamber chief executive Tony Weber said recent tax cuts on low-emission vehicles would boost sales but introducing fuel quality and efficiency standards could have a bigger impact in the coming months.

"Purchase incentives for zero and low-emission vehicles and increased fuel quality standards are both important levers in reducing CO2 emissions from Australia's light vehicle fleet," Mr Weber said.

Australia's top-selling car brand, Toyota, dominated the hybrid vehicle sales surge, with its cars making up 85 per cent of all hybrids sold in Australia during November

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• SQUADRON TO LEAD AUSTRALIA'S ENERGY TRANSITION

Squadron Energy (Squadron) today announced it has acquired CWP Renewables (CWP), in an agreement that takes Squadron's renewable energy operating portfolio to 2.4 gigawatts (GW) with an Australian development pipeline to 20GW.

Squadron, part of the Tattarang group of companies, is 100 per cent Australian owned and operated, and dedicated to accelerating Australia's decarbonisation. Once fully operational, Squadron's portfolio will provide enough electricity to power 8.5 million homes, more than double the number of homes in New South Wales.

CWP will be integrated into Squadron's existing business, which includes majority ownership of Windlab, and provide Squadron with the scale it requires on the east coast of Australia to meet the huge demand from large commercial and industrial customers for reliable green energy.

Chairman of Tattarang Dr Andrew Forrest AO said Squadron is now superbly positioned to ensure Australia can accelerate the development of renewable energy, creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs, at the scale and pace that our economy requires.

"Squadron is proud to bring a very significant portion of Australia's renewable energy assets home to local ownership. It means that Squadron has the renewable energy critical mass to help Australia step beyond fossil fuels," said Dr Forrest.

"Australian industries' ability to consign fossil fuel to history, is robustly demonstrated by the strong track record and commitment of Fortescue Metals, Fortescue Future Industries and other world- leading companies committed to decarbonising. We share a vision of Australia and the world, looking back on the dark era of fossil fuel as an aberration in humanity's history. One that could have ended with that fuel, but is now powered by cheap, pollution free, democratic inexhaustible energy.

"It is paramount that Australia continues to increase cost-efficient renewable green energy, to economically power homes and industry at pace and rid the Australian consumer of its forced reliance to increasingly expensive, dangerously pollutive fossil fuels.

"We are realising significant value by combining CWP's wind, solar and battery farm portfolio with Squadron's existing renewable power and firming assets. Their combined leadership and management teams strongly complement each other.

"We are committed to ensuring that Australians benefit from the rising employment opportunities, and massive investment in the renewable energy sector. The new jobs, manufacturing and training opportunities, particularly in regional areas, are so important to making sure generations of Australians benefit across the nation."

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• RESOURCESMEDIA RELEASESENERGY MINISTERS SAY ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’ TO COALKEEPER AND ‘YES PLEASE’ TO RENEWABLES

Federal and State Energy Ministers have confirmed that clean renewable energy backed by storage is the centrepiece of Australia’s electricity system, consigning fossil fuels to history, where they belong.

All jurisdictions have agreed to deliver a Capacity Investment Scheme that will incentivise more clean renewable energy and storage into the electricity market, where and when we need it. This will ensure that electricity is more reliable and power bills are more affordable for Australians as we transition to a grid powered by clean wind and solar.

Today’s announcement will:

• Make energy prices lower and more stable for homes and businesses
• Attract even more new investment in renewable electricity backed by batteries, pumped hydro and other long duration storage technologies
• Provide a kick start for domestic battery manufacturing in Australia
• Drive a huge reduction in Australia’s largest source of emissions.

Climate Council Head of Advocacy Dr Jennifer Rayner said: “Energy Ministers from across the political spectrum have agreed to turbo charge renewables. A huge win for all Australians as it will open up clean, cheap and secure power for our future.”

“Moving to cheap, clean renewable energy will free Australians from the huge energy bill shocks they’ve been facing. It also puts us on track to make deep cuts in emissions needed this decade to avoid more harmful climate change.”

https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/re...wables-strong/

____________

• National environment law reform at last? Ambitious reform road ahead…

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has released the Federal Government’s response to Professor Graeme Samuel’s once-in-a-decade review of Australia’s national environmental laws. The response, which addresses Professor Samuel’s recommendations to modernise the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act), is a good starting point, containing some long overdue reforms and positive steps forward. But there are still some gaps, and some concerning proposals which could undermine outcomes for our at-risk ecosystems and endangered animals. A lot of critical detail will need to be negotiated to ensure new laws are up to the challenge.

This legal update analyses the top 10 elements of the Minister’s announcement in the context of the climate and extinction crises, the need for rapid and effective law reform, and the importance of ensuring that our environmental laws are robust enough to protect our natural environment for years to come.

1. What we need to see in 2023

1. Legally enforceable National Environmental Standards applied at all levels

1. An independent and well-resourced federal Environment Protection Agency

1. Restored trust in the law: accountability and transparency

1. Mandatory climate change considerations and requirements

1. First Nations empowerment

1. Best practice biodiversity offsetting that is ‘like for like’

1. Fixing the failure of Regional Forest Agreements

1. Addressing cumulative impacts

1. Commonwealth leadership and responsibility

Conclusion

With ecosystems, habitats and species around the country on the brink, it’s crucial these reforms get it right – and quickly. While it’s a shame the timeframe has blown out to well over 12 months, EDO recognises the Government’s response as a good overall starting point, that must be followed by legislation in 2023. The devil will be in the detail however, and there is a lot more work to be done before we can be assured that these laws will adequately protect nature. As the Government continues to consult on these reforms and begins drafting legislation, EDO will keep advocating for best practice improvements which will protect our environment now, and into the future. This is a crucial opportunity to fix our failing environmental protection framework, and ensure that national laws truly conserve and protect our precious places for generations to come.

https://www.edo.org.au/2022/12/08/na...rm-road-ahead/

• Gas prices capped for a year after energy bill passes parliament

Power price relief is now headed for Aussie budgets with gas prices to be capped for a year after the government passed its energy intervention package through parliament.

The four-point energy plan, spruiking a $1.5 billion bill, was agreed upon by national cabinet last week but now the plan is law.

It includes money paid to state and territory governments to ease pressure on energy bills, capping gas prices at $12 a gigajoule for a year, capping coal prices at $125 per tonne in NSW and Queensland, and bolstering the country's renewable energy capacity.

The energy relief bill passed the Senate 28 votes to 22 after earlier progressing through the House of Representatives.

It comes after the government struck a deal with the Greens, all but guaranteeing the bill's passage.

Some crossbenchers also voted to pass the plan.

"We stand for Australian manufacturing. And we stand for Australian households. And this legislation will support both," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

But not everyone was impressed with the legislation, as the opposition mostly voted against it.

The Greens said households will be hundreds and even thousands of dollars better off under the agreement.

"It's time to take on the greedy coal and gas corporations, bring down power bills and put more money in people's pockets," Greens leader Adam Bandt said.

The federal government's plan is all about intervening in the energy market after this year saw threats of blackouts and skyrocketing prices due to shortfalls in the system.

Now that the government can intervene on gas and coal price caps, it's hoped it will filter down to ease pressure on consumer budgets.

Energy market intervention will slow but not stop wholesale price increases but big coal and gas companies are not impressed after their previous monopoly on choosing their price was slashed by this energy bill.

Parliament was specially recalled today to vote on the bill but the Coalition was furious they only saw the bill late last night.

"This bill isn't going to give enough relief from the rising energy costs, but it's something," senator Tammy Tyrrell said.

Gas companies share the fury claiming it will ruin the market as the plan provides more incentives for households to switch to electricity, but not everyone was buying their argument.

"The gas industry are the biggest bludgers in Australia," CEO at Smart Energy Council John Grimes said.

The question now turns to when exactly households can expect to see some relief.

Energy Price Relief Plan | Prime Minister of Australia

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• The energy price cap explained: what is it, and will it help me? – video

Parliament for 2022 is finally over. After an extraordinary one-day sitting, the Albanese government has passed its power relief bill. The extraordinary market intervention puts a cap on gas prices in a bid to help with the cost of living crisis. Will the new legislation bring down power prices? What does this mean for the future of gas and renewables? Guardian Australia's political reporter Amy Remeikis takes you through the details of the bill and the political fall out: The energy price cap explained: what is it, and will it help me?

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• Prime Minister Denies Fossil Fuel Companies Will Be Compensated Under Price Cap Plan

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denied fossil fuel companies will receive compensation from the federal government under a plan to cap prices.
But the Prime Minister did admit a “payment” may be made to companies as an incentive to maintain supply, The Guardian reported.

Greens leader Adam Bandt says his party won't support the price caps designed to address soaring power prices, insisting asking taxpayers to compensate producers for any losses would be unfair.

But, Albanese says there is "nothing" in the legislation that compensates producers, with gas prices simply temporarily capped at $12 a gigajoule for 12 months and coal at $125 a tonne.

Federal parliament will return on Thursday in order for the government to pass its plan to lower rising energy costs for households and small businesses, and with the coalition opposing the move, Labor will need Greens backing to get it through the Senate.

Bandt said his party would engage constructively with the government.

"We've been saying for some time this is urgent ... we're doing that in good faith and that's a different approach to what the opposition is taking where they're just saying 'no' to everything," he told ABC Radio.

"This question of whether the public at a moment where people are doing it tough, why should the public be asked to put its hand in its pocket to give money to coal corporations who have been making record profits, including off the back of a dictator's invasion of the Ukraine?"

The Greens have also argued power bill relief should be higher than the $230 per bill, treasury analysis suggests.

The Prime Minister said it struck the right balance and remained positive the bill would get through parliament to provide the pre-Christmas relief.

"Why can't it be $1000 or $2000? ... Why not $5000?" he told ABC Radio.

"We've come up with measures which are responsible, that won't have a negative impact on investment.

"We've consulted about these measures for a long period of time ... we've negotiated with states and territories to achieve an outcome in the interests of the nation."

The relief measures aren't expected to come into effect until the second quarter of 2023, with state and territory governments paying out the funds to customers.

Oil and gas exploration stakeholders have also requested an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister over the proposal, saying the intervention could reduce gas supply, pushing up prices for households and businesses. The coalition has also criticised the energy plan, saying there is little detail on how it will work.

"It is a monster in the making because it not only will fail in the short term but it will have a disastrous effect on the industry over the longer term because it kills supply," energy spokesman Ted O'Brien said.

https://10play.com.au/theproject/art...tpa221212orlkv

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• Wong and Birmingham hold joint presser in Vanuatu

Vanuatu’s minister for foreign affairs, international cooperation and external trade, Jotham Napat, thanked the Australian politicians for taking time out of their busy schedules “to grace us with their presence”. He acknowledged Australia’s role as Vanuatu’s primary humanitarian partner and stressed that the climate crisis is a security threat:

On the issue of regional security, we acknowledge the existential threat of climate change, identified by the Boe declaration as the single greatest threat … Vanuatu welcomes Australia’s recommitment to the Paris agreement. Furthermore I acknowledge Australia’s policy on climate change.

___________

• Businesses forced to show emissions action

Big businesses will be forced to divulge their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and manage climate risk under the Albanese government's new green investment rules.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said an Australian climate risk disclosure framework will help boost investment in clean energy and other infrastructure needed to transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy.

Dr Chalmers said investors and industry were ahead of the curve on climate risk reporting, with more than half the companies in the ASX200 providing some form of disclosure in the past financial year

"So progress has been pretty good here, even without Commonwealth leadership," he said at an Australian Sustainable Finance Institute event in Sydney.

"And as more and more capital markets and investors demand quality, comparable information on climate risks, any sort of guidance gap in Australia has the potential to quickly become an even greater investment gap."

On Monday, the government released a consultation paper to develop Australian reporting standards that align with international standards.

The government wants reporting to be mandatory for large firms, although Dr Chalmers gave an assurance there would be a transition period before firms were made to report.

The rules will also apply to financial institutions and relevant Commonwealth entities.

https://www.southcoastregister.com.a...action/?cs=202

• NSW unveils stronger new emissions target, aiming for 70 per cent reduction by 2035

New South Wales will seek to increase its emissions reductions under a new plan which Treasurer Matt Kean says will bolster the economy and the state's commitment to combating climate change.

Under the new target, NSW will aim for a 70 per cent reduction in emissions compared to 2005 levels by 2035.

"There is no bigger fight that we as a nation must face, than the fight against climate change," Kean said.

The treasurer pointed to the catastrophic impacts of climate-driven natural disasters like the 2019-20 bushfires and recent floods as a reason for pushing for greater emissions reductions.

"As any of those families who have lost their homes to fire or food, or their livelihoods to drought will tell you, this fight is one that we cannot afford to lose," he said.

"The costs of defeat are too great to contemplate. Our action on climate change will determine the prosperity of our children and define the way we are remembered by our grandchildren."

______________

• Australia opens up first zone for offshore wind farms

Australia on Monday opened up its first zone for developing offshore wind farms in a region off its southern coast, looking to jumpstart a new industry to help achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

As expected, the government selected the Gippsland coast off the state of Victoria for the first offshore wind power zone, where an A$9 billion ($6 billion) project that has been on the drawing board for a decade, known as Star of the South, will be located.

"Australia has huge potential in offshore wind and today the Albanese government is giving this industry a green light," Energy Minister Chris Bowen said in a statement.

The government on Monday also awarded major project status to Star of the South, which will help fast-track approvals for the 2.2 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm.

The project's operator, also known as Star of the South, said if all went as planned it could start construction around 2025 and begin producing power around the end of the decade.

"As the most advanced offshore wind project in Australia, we're helping pave the way for this new industry to grow, so this is good news for everyone involved," Star of the South Chief Executive Officer Charles Rattray said in a statement.

Another developer, Flotation Energy teamed up with Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co 9501.T, is looking to build a 1.5 GW project called Seadragon and said it could be ready in six years and power up to 1 million homes.

The projects will help the state of Victoria meet its ambitious target of hitting 2 GW of offshore generation by 2032 and 4 GW by 2035, but the country faces several challenges building the industry from scratch.

The government is considering opening other regions for offshore wind farms, including off the state of New South Wales on the east coast, off western Victoria, off northern Tasmania, and off the south coast of Western Australia.

_________

Chris Bowen - Another day, another big step forward in our drive to 82% renewables. https://twitter.com/Bowenchris/statu...92445130162176

• Governments strike $7.8bn deal to connect Snowy 2.0 and NSW renewable zones to the grid

Nеw South Wаlеs’s rеnеwаblе еnеrgy zonеs аnd thе Snowy 2.0 hydro projеct will bе pluggеd into thе grid undеr а lаndmаrk $7.8bn аgrееmеnt bеtwееn thе fеdеrаl аnd NSW govеrnmеnts.

Thе dеаl will bе аnnouncеd by thе primе ministеr, Anthony Albаnеsе, аnd thе NSW prеmiеr, Dominic Pеrrottеt, on Wеdnеsdаy, oncе thе stаtе pаrliаmеnt pаssеs lеgislаtion to аllow thе cаpping of gаs pricеs аftеr Cаnbеrrа’s plаn to put downwаrd prеssurе on еnеrgy pricеs pаssеd through fеdеrаl pаrliаmеnt lаst wееk.

Thе fеdеrаl govеrnmеnt hаs committеd $4.7bn to thе plаn, which is thе lаtеst аnnouncеmеnt from its “rеwiring thе nаtion” commitmеnt to connеct morе rеnеwаblе powеr gеnеrаtion into thе nаtionаl еlеctricity grid.

Thе primе ministеr sаid thousаnds of jobs in thе rеnеwаblе еnеrgy sеctor will bе crеаtеd undеr thе plаn, аs wеll аs morе rеliаblе аnd аffordаblе еnеrgy аlong thе еаstеrn sеаboаrd.

“Thе commonwеаlth hаs workеd hаnd in glovе with thе stаtеs аnd tеrritoriеs to shiеld Austrаliаn housеholds аnd businеssеs from thе worst impаcts of thе еnеrgy crisis cаusеd by Russiа’s illеgаl invаsion of Ukrаinе,” Albаnеsе sаid.

“But аs wеll аs thаt criticаl short-tеrm аction, thе Austrаliаn еconomy cаn sеizе thе opportunity of morе аffordаblе аnd rеliаblе rеnеwаblе еnеrgy ovеr thе long tеrm – crеаting jobs in thе rеgions thаt hаvе аlwаys powеrеd Austrаliа аnd insulаting oursеlvеs from globаl fossil fuеl shocks аt thе sаmе timе.”

Hе sаid support for criticаl infrаstructurе, likе thе Sydnеy Ring trаnsmission link, thе VNI Wеst intеrconnеctor аnd HumеLink linе – which аrе аll includеd in thе schеmе – would hеlp to “trаnsform Austrаliа into а rеnеwаblе еnеrgy supеrpowеr”.

Also includеd аrе thе cеntrаl-wеst Orаnа, Huntеr-Cеntrаl Coаst аnd south-wеst rеnеwаblе еnеrgy zonеs.

Pеrrottеt sаid thе plаn would support projеctеd privаtе invеstmеnt in rеgionаl еnеrgy infrаstructurе of $32m ovеr thе nеxt еight yеаrs.

“This is our opportunity to invеst in our futurе industriеs thаt will drivе jobs аnd wеаlth crеаtion in our stаtе,” thе prеmiеr sаid.

Govеrnmеnt modеlling prеdicts thе plаn would support аlmost 4,000 jobs in rеgionаl NSW. Thе dеаl follows similаr joint аgrееmеnts mаdе with Tаsmаniа аnd Victoriа.

Thе NSW trеаsurеr аnd еnеrgy ministеr, Mаtt Kеаn, dеscribеd thе dеаl аs а “hugе win” for thе stаtе.

“This invеstmеnt will support thе dеlivеry of our еlеctricity infrаstructurе roаdmаp through fаst-trаcking thе dеvеlopmеnt of rеnеwаblе еnеrgy zonеs аnd trаnsmission infrаstructurе,” hе sаid.

__________

• Australia’s environment minister Tanya Plibersek has taken to social media with a statement outlining the conference’s achievements and saying Australia “can be proud” being one of the nations which pushed for more ambitious action at the conference:

History has been made.

For the first time ever, we have a global agreement to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

This is a big step towards achieving a nature positive planet.

We secured high ambition on restoring degraded land, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems.

We agreed a good target on reducing invasive species, recognising island sites, including in the Pacific, as a priority.

We successfully advocated for placing the rights and interests of First Nations peoples at the forefront of nature conservation.

And large companies will be required to disclose their nature related risks and impacts.

Australia led the way in the negotiations, pushing for an ambitious agreement. We can be proud.

We didn’t get everything we wanted. Others didn’t either. But with a bit of cooperation, compromise and common sense, we have achieved a lot for the world.

Now it’s back home to Australia to get on with delivering our own ambitious plans to protect and repair nature.

https://twitter.com/tanya_plibersek/...74608007475206

Australia will reduce its CO2 emissions but no one should be in any doubt that it will make absolutely no difference to climate change.



You have never been accused of being the sharpest tool in the shed

Hey retard, my statement is correct. Best you go back to google and just keep posting pretty graphs if you didnt understand the statement. I do apreciate the subject itself is obviously way past your intelligence level. In my defence I did over simplify the sentence for you but alas, obviously not simple enough. Next time I will get my seven year old to reply to your dumb statements as I find it quit mentally taxing trying to explain to fukwits like you that obviously have no idea. Rest assured I will stress on her however, to dumb it down to a level you that might have some level of understanding.
Jeezus H christ you really do make Greta look like Einstein...Wanker.

Holiday season so not much going on.

_________

• The PM says he wants Australia to become a renewable energy “superpower”:

We know that the best possible version of Australia’s future sees us taking our rightful place as a renewable energy superpower.

As a nation, we are blessed with so much sunshine and wind that it would be an act of perversity to not harness them.

They are there for the taking. With them we can drive down emissions …

… drive down power prices for households and for businesses …

… and drive forward a renaissance in advanced manufacturing.

With our $20 billion Rewiring the Nation program, we will bring our power grid into the 21st century, creating the infrastructure for transmission that is essential if we are going to be able to transition. And we are under way.

Last week, we announced a major renewable energy partnership with the NSW government, creating multiple renewable energy zones that will create jobs as we build the future …

… and taking that one vital step the last federal government never quite got around to taking with Snowy 2.0 – plugging it in.

We are working on power in Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland.

As we do it, you can see the hallmarks of our approach. Consultation and co-operation between federal and state governments, and communities. Mutual respect, and a national cabinet actually worthy of the name.

And each and every decision guided by the national interest, not political self-interest.

__

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

The only reliable low emmission base load power currently is Nuclear and Australia will need to modify its legislation to do this.

Strange. Absolutely no word about nuclear energy in his speech.

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• Modern Microgrids Set To Secure Regional Resilience

The Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory

Queenslanders living in First Nations and storm-prone regional communities can now apply for funding to improve their energy independence and resilience through stand-alone electricity microgrids as part of the Palaszczuk Government’s Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.

Announcing the release of guidelines and opening of applications, Energy and Renewables Minister Mick de Brenni said the Palaszczuk Government’s new $10 million Queensland Microgrid Pilot Fund will accelerate work to more new-age, resilient power supply in across Queensland.

“The two-year program offers grants for communities on the edge of the electricity grid to deliver shovel-ready microgrid projects or provide support to develop future projects through feasibility studies,” Minister de Brenni said.

“We know that regional and remote communities endure tough weather conditions and are at risk of power outages so this fund is designed to support innovation to improve reliability of energy supply, create more local jobs, and help keep the lights on when extreme weather hits.

“Our plan is to help people to take advantage of Queensland’s clean energy revolution, by installing new renewable generation and storage, as well as contributing to the decarbonisation of regional Queensland,” he said.

Assistant Minister for the 50% Renewable Energy Target by 2030 Lance McCallum said the program was a huge opportunity for First Nations communities who want to take more ownership over their energy independence.

Minister de Brenni said programs like this provide real opportunities for our regions to benefit from the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan’s future of cheaper, cleaner and secure energy for Queenslanders.

“No one wants to be sitting back in years to come thinking we could have done more – the time for action is now,” Minister de Brenni said.

“Queenslanders care about the climate, they care about cost of living, and they care about protecting each other – our plan takes real action on all three.

"Our plan reduces household and business electricity emissions by 96% by 2040 – protecting the reef, taking real action on climate and responding to worsening natural disasters,” he said.

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Extra.

• Polar mission to uncover million-year ice

Australian researchers have set off on their most ambitious polar expedition in two decades, aiming to drill down into million-year-old ice to learn about climate change.

A convoy of five specially designed tractor trains intends to traverse 1200 kilometres to Little Dome C in Antarctica, where - if successful - they will set up a camp for scientists to start drilling as early as next summer.

The team of 10, which includes a field leader, glaciologist, doctor, engineers and mechanics, began their journey from Casey research station in East Antarctica on December 23.

They are travelling at about 10km/h and are set to face temperatures potentially as low as minus 50 degrees, changing ice conditions, and challenging terrain.

The tractors are pulling sleds containing living quarters and equipment.

Scientists hope to ultimately drill down about 2.8km to retrieve cores from ice that is more than one million years' old.

Little Dome C, the site of the ice core, is 3230 metres above sea level.

Researchers will analyse air bubbles trapped in the cores to help inform what scientists understand about the climate system's stability over the past one million years.

The mission should also help scientists make predictions about the future, and shed light on why the ice age cycle changed from a 41,000-year cycle to an 100,000-year cycle about one million years ago.

Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek hailed the mission as "one of the most significant Antarctic science endeavours ever undertaken by Australia", or indeed, any country.

"The departure of the traverse team is a major milestone in the Million Year Ice Core Project," she said.

"The effort of this team and their summer expedition will provide the logistical support for Australia to drill and return the ice core for climate research.

"If successful, it will be the oldest ice core ever obtained."

Ice cores were like "pages in a climate diary" containing chemicals and air bubbles that revealed changes in the atmosphere and climate, Ms Plibersek said.

"Understanding our planet's climate history provides us with invaluable knowledge to help guide us in the future."

The team managed to travel 37km before they sat down to a dinner of roast turkey and pudding cooked in their mobile kitchen on Christmas Day.

On Boxing Day, they managed to travel 105km over 10 hours in good weather conditions.

The expedition is expected to take more than a month, with the team slated to return to Casey station in early February.

Originally Posted by sabang

Apart from being the incoming aussie Ambassador to the US, for those that don't know he is an ex PM, and happens to speak fluent Mandarin. Quite an enlightened choice as Ambassador I reckon.

Not really, he's a bit of a chinky kiss arse. Perhaps he can do a bit of translation for the seppos.

And they in turn can hopefully reciprocate by not throwing our valuable, nay essential, trade relationship with China under the bus. The current government is certainly doing a better job of managing our relations with China than the last twerps did anyway. Good riddance to scomo.

Originally Posted by sabang

The former prime minister stressed he was speaking in his capacity as president of the Asia Society and had not begun his ambassadorial role.

Apart from being the incoming aussie Ambassador to the US, for those that don't know he is an ex PM, and happens to speak fluent Mandarin. Quite an enlightened choice as Ambassador I reckon.

He should work out fine.

Kevin Rudd will be ‘well received in Washington’ as Australia’s ambassador to the US, experts say

Experts have predicted Kevin Rudd will be “well received by Washington and highly active in policy circles” as Australia’s ambassador to the US, though the nomination has triggered criticism from some Coalition MPs.

Andrew Wallace, a Liberal party MP, said the appointment could go down in history as “a foreign policy disaster for Australia with its most important ally” if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, as Rudd called him “the most destructive president in history”.

“Love him or loathe him, Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States,” Wallace said, and it was possible that Rudd “could be Australia’s ambassador to the United States with Donald Trump as its 47th president.

“It remains to be seen whether those chickens will come home to roost for Dr Rudd in Washington.”

Rudd is close to senior officials in the Biden administration, including national security council Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell, and the former Labor prime minister has continued to build up his contacts during his time at the helm of the Asia Society thinktank.

The chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, Richard Fontaine, said those Washington contacts would stand Rudd in good stead when he takes up the post in March.

“He’s put in the time over the years and that is a major asset as he comes to town,” Fontaine said.

“By all accounts he is close to and has a direct line to prime minister Albanese, which of course is a distinguishing feature for any ambassador – the throw-weight within one’s own government.”

Fontaine said Rudd’s expertise on China was “a disproportionate benefit at this stage of the US-Australia relationship given how much of it focuses on China’s role in the Indo-Pacific.

“Adding all of this together, I expect Kevin to be well received by Washington and highly active in policy circles,” Fontaine said.

In an Asia Society webinar last year, Campbell praised Rudd as “the best, by far, China analyst – the person who gives us the most interesting insights about how China sees its position in the world, its challenges and opportunities ahead”.

The US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, welcomed the nomination of “distinguished former prime minister Kevin Rudd” as ambassador, saying it would “further strengthen the US-Australia alliance”.

Former Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey, who served as US ambassador between 2016 and 2020, agreed Rudd’s appointment was good for Australia.

“It says a lot that you now have American royalty in the form of Caroline Kennedy, who is the American ambassador to Australia, with a direct line to the president and a former prime minister for Australia with a direct line to the prime minister,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

Over the past few years, Rudd has been particularly outspoken against Trump and the influence of News Corp in both the US and Australia.

In February, when Trump praised the Russian president Vladimir Putin as “smart”, Rudd tweeted: “Donald Trump is a traitor to the West. Murdoch was Trump’s biggest backer. And Murdoch’s Fox Television backs Putin too. What rancid treachery.”

The director the Australia Institute’s international and security affairs program, Allan Behm, said he did not believe Rudd’s comments about Trump would “come back to bite” Australia.

“They’re no more or less pointed than many of the comments that have been made in the United States itself,” said Behm, who was a senior adviser to then shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, from 2017 to 2019.

Behm noted the work of the January 6 congressional committee, which recommended to the justice department this week that Trump face criminal charges for assisting an insurrection and conspiring to defraud the United States.

“If through some miracle Trump were to return – winning the Republican nomination and finding himself as president of the United States again – we would have to do some management at that time, but that’s increasingly improbable,” Behm said.

The Coalition raised concerns about Rudd’s commitment to the Aukus partnership, given he said in September 2021 that Scott Morrison saw the French relationship as “expendable” and had not set out the need for nuclear-powered submarines.

Rudd said at the time he suspected Morrison wanted “to make himself look big, important and hairy-chested in dealing with his domestic Australian political audience on the nature of the China challenge”.

Wallace said Albanese should clarify why he appointed the former PM to steer Australia’s involvement in Aukus “in circumstances where Dr Rudd considers that the Aukus agreement was simply throwing red meat to the conservative base”.

The Albanese government has recommitted to Aukus and is focused on reaching a submarine deal with the US and the UK by March.

Rudd said he was “greatly honoured” by the government’s decision, announced by Albanese on Tuesday. He said he had had the pleasure over the past decade of “building relationships with Republicans and Democrats across politics”.

• $41.5M to Research Ultra Low Cost Solar Tech

On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has today announced it has awarded $41.5 million in funding across 13 research projects to support research and development (R&D) and commercialisation activities that aims to significantly reduce the cost of solar.

Funding for ultra low cost solar R&D will build on ARENA’s previous investment into solar PV and is supporting projects that align with ARENA’s ‘Solar 30 30 30’ target of 30 per cent module efficiency and 30 cents per installed watt at utility scale by 2030. To support this ambitious timeframe, funding has also been made available to focus on commercialisation prospects, which will take place after each project’s core R&D phase, to assist getting the new technologies into the market.

The funding has been awarded to researchers from three Australian universities; The University of New South Wales (UNSW), The Australian National University (ANU) and The University of Sydney (USYD).

ARENA initially opened for applications in February this year and increased the funding allocated by a further $1.5 million due to the strength of the applications that have the potential to reduce the levelised cost of solar PV and improve cell and module efficiency across two streams:

Ultra low cost solar will be a key input into ARENA’s strategic priorities for scaling up the production of low cost renewable hydrogen and unlocking decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry including low emission materials such as green steel and aluminium.

ARENA has championed ultra low cost solar and set an ambitious target of ‘Solar 30 30 30’ to improve solar cell efficiency to 30 per cent and reduce the total cost of construction of utility scale solar farms to 30 cents per watt by 2030.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the funding will go to some of Australia’s leading universities and researchers in solar PV that have helped to make Australia world leaders in solar innovation.

“Australia’s solar researchers have helped to make solar PV the cheapest form of energy in history, but to create a future in which Australian solar energy supplies the world with clean power, fuels and products, we need to be ambitious and drive the cost of solar even lower,” Mr Miller said.

“ARENA is supporting these universities with $41.5 million in funding to get behind the target of ‘Solar 30 30 30’ to deliver ultra low cost solar, helping to optimise Australia’s transition to renewable electricity and achieve our emissions reduction targets.”

Since 2012, ARENA through its R&D programs has committed $118.5 million in grant funding to 145 solar PV projects with 17 institutions. In addition to this, ARENA has also supported the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) with $128.99 million in funding over 18 years up until 2030.

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• Greenwashing: Black Mountain Energy fined $40,000 as ASIC steps up campaign

Black Mountain fined $40,000 over net zero greenwashing as ASIC sharpens blades

The corporate regulator “anticipates” it will take legal action this year against companies making green claims they cannot back up, warning the sector should now be well aware of its focus, after lodging greenwashing infringement notices against Black Mountain Energy.

Black Mountain Energy has paid $39,960 in three separate penalties after allegedly making misleading net zero claims in relation to its natural gas developments, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said on Thursday.

The Black Mountain Energy statements were made in three ASX announcements between December 23, 2021, and last September 8, which said it was creating a natural gas development project named Project Valhalla with “net zero carbon emissions”, and that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the flagship project would be net zero.

In the notices, ASIC said the representations were false or misleading as, at the time of publishing, Black Mountain had not progressed any specific works related to its net zero claims, or allocated funding to support its net zero claims.

It said Black Mountain also had not carried out any modelling of carbon dioxide emissions likely to be generated by the project, or the cost or process of offsetting or mitigating those emissions.

“Black Mountain Energy had no credible basis for asserting that the natural gas it produced would be carbon-neutral; and further and accordingly, Black Mountain had no reasonable grounds for making the representations regarding net zero carbon emissions from Project Valhalla,” ASIC said in a statement.

Black Mountain paid the penalties on January 3. However, ASIC noted that the payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability.

“ASIC issued eight infringement notices for alleged greenwashing in 2022 and has started the year with further action against a listed company,” ASIC deputy chairman Sarah Court said.

“ASIC will continue to closely monitor sustainability claims and take action where we consider representations cannot be substantiated or are factually incorrect.”

She said she anticipates ASIC will take court action this year in relation to greenwashing claims.

It marks the continuation of a sustained campaign against greenwashers, which ASIC began in October 2022, fining Tlou Energy $53,280. ASIC in October told the House of Representatives economics committee that it had several investigations under way.

In 2022, ASIC also issued infringement notices against Vanguard Investments and Diversa Trustees. Vanguard paid $39,960 and Diversa paid $13,320.

“For these particular companies, they’ve paid the infringement notices. This matter, from our perspective, is now finalised,” Ms Court said.

“Obviously, if any of these companies went on to repeat these kinds of claims, we wouldn’t be issuing infringement notices next time – we’d be going to court. And certainly, we think given the number of enforcement activities we’ve taken, we think the sector more broadly should also be on notice.”

ASIC is fielding “no shortage” of complaints about potentially greenwashed claims, filed by members of the public, investors and competitors within the sector, she said.

“We’re not looking at a particular suite of companies... We’re really looking broadly across the financial services sector, so superannuation trustees, insurers, banks – the full suite of businesses that ASIC is regulating.”

Companies that say new projects and operations will reach net-zero need to have the necessary evidence to show they can do it, and have put the legwork in to show a commitment to meeting the claims made in marketing materials, she said.

“You can’t just make these claims at large. You need to have turned your mind to: ‘If we’re going to say that we’re going to be net zero by 2030 for example, then how are [we] going to do that? What’s the business plane? What consultants have you got to assist you to do that.’”

In a statement to the stock exchange, Black Mountain Energy said it had received ASIC’s infringement notices and elected to pay the penalty on a no-admissions basis.

The resources company, which listed on the ASX in December 2021, has a market value of just $1.9 million.

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• Climate summary information for 2022 – Friday 6 January 2023

Australia's national mean temperature was 0.50 °C warmer than the 1961–1990 average, making 2022 the equal-22nd-warmest year on record.

Nationally-averaged rainfall was 25% above the 1961–1990 average at 582.2 mm, which makes 2022 the ninth-wettest year on record for Australia.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/

Have to split the post up today. One today and one tomorrow.

• Comment on the Australian Government's Safeguard Mechanism Reforms Position Paper

The Smart Energy Council – the peak independent body for Australia’s renewable energy and renewable hydrogen industries – welcomes today’s release by the Australian Government of the Safeguard Mechanism Reforms Position Paper.

“The Safeguard Mechanism is one of Australia’s most important climate action policies and the Australian Government is right to reform this critical policy to make sure Australia’s biggest polluters slash their emissions,” said Wayne Smith, Acting Chief Executive of the Smart Energy Council.

“Action on climate change creates jobs and economic opportunities, particularly in regional communities across Australia.”

“The Smart Energy Council welcomes the establishment of a $1.9 billion Powering the Regions Fund. This is good news for regional communities and good news for those who care about action on climate change.”

“Australia’s biggest polluters should be directly reducing their emissions through projects in Australia. International offsets should be banned. Domestic offsets should only be used by hard to abate industries, as a last resort.”

“The Safeguard Mechanism should be reviewed every two years to ensure it is consistent with climate science and Australia’s international climate change commitments, with an appropriate emissions reduction trajectory.”

“The Smart Energy Council welcomes consideration of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, crediting, trading, hybrid baselines and other mechanisms.”

“The Smart Energy Council welcomes actions proposed by the Australian Government and will be actively involved in the consultation process to help ensure a robust, ambitious Safeguard Mechanism is put in place.”

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• Prime Minister of Australia

And as the world looks to a more sustainable model for growth, PNG has a tremendous opportunity to expand your Green Economy.

I know a number of Australian companies are keen to explore what can be done in this area, including in hydro and hydrogen production, for example.

Together, I am confident we can ensure that the rich natural resources of Papua New Guinea are made to deliver good jobs, lasting investment and sustainable development for your nation.

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• Chris Bowen - Where better to hold the 2024 IREC than South Australia, with their world leading integration of renewables into their grid.

Congrats to the Malinauskas Govt. in securing Adelaide as the host city to sell Australia to the world as the renewable energy superpower we will become. https://twitter.com/Bowenchris/statu...14457496858625

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• Carbon border tariff on the table

The government is considering a carbon emissions tariff on imports to support Australian firms covered by the revamped safeguard mechanism.

The safeguard mechanism requires Australia's largest greenhouse gas emitters to keep their net emissions below a baseline emissions limit.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the government was considering options to stop Australian companies being undercut by firms operating in places with weaker environmental rules.

While a border adjustment mechanism has not been included in the suite of changes to the safeguard mechanism announced on Tuesday, Mr Bowen said the government was investigating its options.

"We've taken on board that feedback and said yes, this is something we should look at alongside all the other options available to government to ensure that now Australia has a decent climate policy," he told ABC radio.

Late last year, the European Union struck a deal on a carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imported emissions-intensive goods such as steel.

The tariff is designed to impose a cost on polluting imports so European firms covered by stronger pollution regulations can remain competitive.

Opposition climate spokesman Ted O'Brien said businesses and households would face higher costs.

"If businesses don't collapse under the weight of Labor's expensive energy policies, it's likely they will pass costs on to customers including everyday Australian households," he said.

The changes include $600 million from the $1.9 billion Powering the Regions Fund for trade-exposed facilities covered by the safeguard mechanism to compensate them for the cost of change.

Mr Bowen defended the government's decision to support large companies.

"We are requiring businesses to make big investments, but where we can provide that extra bit of support to provide that certainty and to enable, in some cases, management to convince the boards, then that is very much in the national interest," he said.

While many of the 215 firms covered by the scheme have already committed to net zero, Mr Bowen said the bolstered mechanism would increase the pressure.

"It's easy to make a commitment to net zero ... achieving it is a little harder," he said.

Critics say the policy encourages emitters to buy credits to offset their emissions rather than directly stop polluting.

Australian National University professor Paul Burke said while some companies would be incentivised to reduce their direct emissions, companies without low cost opportunities to cut carbon would likely opt for offsets.

"Australia has headed down a road of relying a lot on carbon credits," he told ABC radio.

"And it is a risky road because it can be difficult to know the true integrity level of those carbon credits."

Visiting central Queensland on Wednesday, where many carbon-intensive industries are based, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said businesses needed policy certainty to reduce their emissions.

"The way that you achieve positive environmental outcomes is to make sure that whilst reducing emissions and dealing with the challenge of climate change, you also ... seize the opportunities that are there with the shift to a clean energy economy by creating jobs at the same time."

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Extra

antarctica.gov.au - We did it.

After five years of planning and 1200kms across an untravelled and icy landscape, our ten person traverse team has arrived at Little Dome C.

Congratulations to the traverse team and the @MillionYearIce team.

An epic effort. https://twitter.com/AusAntarctic/sta...79990022459393

Million Year Ice Core
10 January 2023
Arrived at Little Dome C!

This season we faced challenges: An untravelled route, a record distance to cover with new equipment and a new generation of traversing expeditioners. https://twitter.com/MillionYearIce/s...43442668986371

• WA dishes out land for $70 billion of Pilbara green megaprojects

International appetite to harness renewable energy capacity in WA’s Pilbara region has been revealed by the allocation of industrial land for mainly hydrogen-related projects to companies including BP, South Korean steelmaker POSCO and Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Mining Group.

The WA government announced on Friday it had earmarked land for seven projects collectively valued at $70 billion at two heavy industrial estates near the Pilbara coastal towns of Port Hedland and Onslow.

WA state development minister Roger Cook said providing the land for projects including hydrogen, ammonia and green iron ore would help transform the two sites into globally competitive, multi-product industrial precincts.

BP, POSCO, Fortescue, Alinta Energy and UK firm Tees Valley Lithium were allocated land at the 4000-hectare Boodarie strategic industrial area south of Port Hedland where most of Australia’s iron ore exports are loaded.

BP secured the land to support the $53 billion Australian Renewable Energy Hub it has operated since it bought a 40 per cent stake in June 2022.

BP plans to progressively develop 26 gigawatts of wind and solar energy – about half the capacity of the East Coast National Electricity Market – at a remote 6500-hectare site 250 kilometres from Port Hedland.

The electricity would be used to produce green hydrogen and then transform it into more easily transported green ammonia for export.

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• More electric buses to hit Aussie roads

More than 50 electric buses will be on the road in Queensland by the end of the year in the latest Australian commitment to zero-emissions public transport.

Plans to launch another 17 electric buses were revealed on Friday, with nine of the vehicles launching in the Redland region in February.

The new buses will be part of a larger push to electrify Australia's public transport networks, with four states and territories introducing mandates for electric bus purchases.

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey announced the new vehicles at Volgren's Eagle Farm manufacturing plant, where the buses will be built, saying the technology was not just climate-friendly but a better way to get around.

"Electric buses, electric vehicles are the way of the future. These buses are not just zero-emission, they're much quieter buses than the buses people are used to," he said.

"They're very quiet. They're very comfortable. You know the difference when you get in an electric bus and we're going to be seeing more and more of them coming into our public transport system across Queensland by 2025."

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• 14 Jan 2023 = Townsville, Queensland - Prime Minister

JOURNALIST: Both the Coalition and the Greens are raising concerns about your planned changes to the safeguard mechanism. How willing are you to substantially alter those plans in order to get legislation through the Senate?

PRIME MINISTER: Sounds to me like we've got the balance right. When you have some people saying it's too hard and some people saying it's too soft. We have got the balance right. We want to make sure that we have a reduction in emissions, that we work with industry and we work with businesses. That's what we're doing here today at this zinc refinery. We're working with the private sector. Because they know that they want to reduce their emissions. We want to assist them to reduce their emissions. And that's what safeguard mechanism is about.

JOURNALIST: Would you consider limiting the number of carbon credits that can be used by companies, as suggested by conservation groups and the Greens?

PRIME MINISTER: We've got the balance right. And I'd say to those people in the Parliament that they should listen to what industry are saying, listen to what economists are saying as well. What you need to do is to provide a pathway for lowering emissions. That's what our program of Powering Australia is doing. That's what our Rewiring the Nation program is doing. That's what our hydrogen hubs are doing as well. Not disrupting the system so that it loses support because you have disruption and industry not being able to reduce their emissions over the shortest time possible. We want to work with industry to do that. We've got the balance right, which is why both the Coalition and the minor parties should support our program when it goes to the House of Representatives and the Senate. Thanks very much.

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• Household solar boom back on track after severe weather and supply disruptions lead to 14% drop in capacity

When record rainfall caused flooding in south-east Queensland last February, Steve McLean’s solar installers were kept off roofs, blowing a $60,000 hole in his firm’s budget and setting back what might have been another record year for his business.

“If we didn’t do a system for five weeks, you can imagine that no one else did … We got absolutely smashed in February and March,” McLean, the owner of Gold Coast Solar Systems, said. “If you take that number out of the marketplace, well, that was disastrous.”

Bad weather and Covid-related supply disruptions for solar panels and installers contributed to a 14% drop last year in new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity added to Australian rooftops. The total capacity was 2.76GW nationally, making it the third-biggest yearly tally behind 2021’s 3.21GW and 2.94GW in 2020, Green Energy Markets said.

But after that early setback the industry regained its footing, with December the third-busiest month on record with 306MW installed, Green Energy Markets’ projects manager, Emily Perin, said.

Electricity price spikes from the middle of last year – and the prospect of more to come – also stoked PV demand. “Things really started improving for the remainder of the year,” Perin said. “But obviously, it didn’t make up for the first half.”

She said the industry “will probably see a modest increase on 2022” provided Covid-related supply issues don’t return. However, higher interest rates will squeeze discretionary spending by households and companies, Perin predicted.

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Just for fun.

• Electric planes sound like a fantasy but they may be the future for short-haul in Australia

In less than two months, Northern Territory Air Services, a scheduled airline and charter operator, order to bring 20 planes to Australia with plans to carry passengers from Darwin to Uluru and Mount Isa.

It’s a small sign that the wind may be changing for zero-emission aviation in Australia, one of the most flight-dependent countries in the world.

Until recently, there was no industry body advocating for change, and even the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which operates the country’s largest aircraft fleet and has traditionally been a hotbed of innovation, has no plans to buy or develop electric aircraft.

However, away from the limelight, a small number of startups and aviation companies are working on electric flight.

Among them is Sydney Seaplanes, an emerging charter company plans to become the first all-electric airline in the country and Bader Aero, a two-seater electric pilot training company co-founded by Barry Rogers set the record for the longest journey in an electric plane – a seven-day flight with 18 stops across South Australia in June 2021.

In July, the American company Wisk announced about memorandum of understanding with the Queensland Council of Mayors to help clear the way for its four-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) drones to operate as “safe, sustainable and scalable” air taxis in Brisbane by 2032, when the city hosts the Olympics.

Temple sixth generation aircraft looks like an enlarged drone and will have a range of 144 km, a cruising speed of up to 120 knots and can charge in 15 minutes. Its wingspan reaches 15 meters, and six propellers are installed on each wing. When it goes up, it flies like a small airplane.

Brazilian company EmbraerX, too planning to bring air taxis to Australia, this time in Melbourne by 2026, in partnership with Airservices Australia.

Whether these various plans will come to fruition remains to be seen. In addition to questions about whether there are services such as air taxis preferablyauthorities need to develop the regulations, insurance and infrastructure necessary for them to operate.

But the proposals show that at least the conversation about the electrification of aviation has begun.

The big emissions challenge

In accordance with International Energy Agency in 2021, the global aviation industry accounted for about 2% of energy-related CO2 emissions. Australia has domestic aviation presented 8% of transport emissions in 2019.

The country’s largest airline, Qantashas increasingly started talking about its plans to achieve zero emissions, in addition to the usual carbon offsets it offers its passengers.

Qantas fleet in 2019, 4.9 billion liters of jet fuel were burned in the last year before the pandemic, it temporarily reduced its activity and generated 12.4 million tons of CO2.

At the launch of the company Art climate action plan in April, chief executive Alan Joyce stressed that “hydrogen or electric powered aircraft are still decades away” and said the airline wanted to focus on “the technologies that are available today”.

Qantas ever since announced it will begin replacing its domestic fleet from late 2023 to include the introduction sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Qantas plans to fuel its planes with 10% SAF – made from bio-waste or renewable materials – by 2030 and around 60% by 2050.

There are no SAF refining facilities in Australia, but a spokesman said Qantas had helped set up a $200 million fund to develop the industry.

“Zero-emissions technologies like electric planes or green hydrogen are still a long way off for aviation, and even further for long-haul flights like London to Australia,” they said. “Therefore, SAF and high quality carbon offsets are critical on the path to net zero.”

The cost of SAF fuel is expected to decrease, but is expected to remain more expensive than fossil fuels. Despite Qantas’ claims that SAF fuel is a “stepping stone” towards zero, there are fears that its investment will create a new oil refining industry that could hinder the adoption of technologies that eliminate the need to burn fuel.

Its biggest competitor, Virgin Australia, has a commitment to zero carbon emissions by 2050 but a spokesman said the company was being held back by a lack of in-house processing for the SAF and “electric aviation is not something we are actively looking at at the moment”.

The main obstacle for long-haul operators is weight. Two decades before the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, a two-man crew took the airship La France during the plane’s first round trip. It carried a 435kg zinc chloride battery during its 8km journey – the equivalent of carrying around a grand piano.

A modern battery of this mass would still only provide a fraction of the energy needed for a commercial passenger aircraft with 150 or more seats.

In January, Carnegie Mellon University professor Venkat Viswanathan wrote an article for the Nature about the future of batteries in aviation, which was a call to arms for engineers in the industry. Viswanathan and his co-authors concluded that significant advances in battery chemistry for aviation use could be made by 2030, but only if things go right. And even in this case, they still will not be able to provide energy for the largest passenger aircraft.

This means that the future of electric aviation in Australia is largely dependent on short-haul operators.

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Working things out. Hopefully

• ‘Billionaire biffo’ shines light on hugely ambitious $30bn Sun Cable solar project

Behind the “billionaire biffo” between Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest over the future of Sun Cable is a project that has analysts dubbing “visionary” but also “extremely ambitious”.

In Australia’s first big business story of the year, Sun Cable was placed into voluntary administration on Wednesday. That signalled the company won’t be able to meet debt payments without another injection of funds said to be $60m, with Forrest the one not “aligned” with other investors in a willingness to dig deep again.

One day on, a spokesperson for Cannon-Brookes’s investment arm, Grok, said it was committed to Sun Cable and if there was an opportunity to “remain invested alongside a consortium with constructive partners it is something we would certainly consider”.

Calling in administrators should not be interpreted as Forrest definitely walking away, a well-placed source said.

But Sun Cable’s main project, the Australia Asia PowerLink, will now get greater scrutiny from outsiders as they try to understand its viability and lure others to invest or even buy out existing shareholders.

Self-described as “the world’s largest solar infrastructure network”, the $30bn project would carpet 12,000 hectares – more than 40 times the size of Sydney’s central business district – of the Northern Territory with solar panels. Electricity would help power Darwin and, via a 4,200km-, 3.2 gigawatt-cable, meet 15% of Singapore’s electricity needs and parts of Indonesia’s.

The problems are technical, economic and even geopolitical. Giving some observers solace is the presence of David Griffin, Sun Cable’s founder and chief executive, who is a veteran of the renewable industry. “He’s very competent at these kinds of things,” said one industry insider. “He loves obstacles, he loves challenges.”

Griffin will have many of these. Georgious Konstantinou, a senior lecturer in energy systems at the University of New South Wales, said the length of the cable alone makes the project “extremely ambitious”.

Skipping a lot

Despite the financial troubles, climate and energy minister Chris Bowen said on Thursday he remained “very upbeat and excited about Sun Cable’s future”.

“Sun Cable has enormous potential for Australia as a renewable energy export powerhouse,” Bowen said, adding he had spoken with “very senior people in Sun Cable in the past 24 hours.

“They tell me that there is absolutely no reduction in their ambition, there is no change in their plans for this to be going forward as a very important investment in Australia,” he said.

Whether that investment ever happens, though, remains to be seen.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-solar-project

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• Australian Antarctic division set to drill for oldest ice on record after 19-day journey

• New CEO appointed to Snowy Hydro Limited

Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, Minister for Finance, Minister for Woman, Minister for the Public Service The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy

The Albanese Government is pleased to confirm the appointment of Dennis Barnes as the Managing Director of Snowy Hydro Limited (SHL) following the SHL Board’s appointment of Mr Barnes as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Mr Barnes served as CEO of Contact Energy in New Zealand from 2011 to 2020 and brings a wealth of experience to the position.

He will replace Roger Whitby, who has been acting CEO since August 2022, following a comprehensive recruitment process by the Board of SHL.

SHL has been providing electricity to Australia for more than 70 years and plays a pivotal role in Australia’s energy security through supporting the renewable energy transformation.

Minister for Finance Senator Katy Gallagher welcomed Mr Barnes’ appointment saying: “Mr Barnes will help Snowy Hydro continue its work to build Australia’s largest renewable energy storage project and bolster the grid.

“Dennis has demonstrated strong leadership qualities in the energy sector, including through his tenure as CEO of Contact Energy.”

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said Mr Barnes’ appointment comes at a pivotal time for the organisation.

“The work of Snowy Hydro over the next few years is crucial to Australia’s efforts to reach net zero by 2050 and its operations and strategic direction align with Mr Barnes’ previous experience leading development of renewable energy projects,” Minister Bowen said.

“He’ll be tasked with overseeing key projects, such as Snowy 2.0, it’s connection with HumeLink and the Hunter Power Project. Snowy Hydro operations are crucial to Australia’s transformation to a cleaner, cheaper and more secure energy system.”

Minister Gallagher and Minister Bowen also thank Mr Whitby for his great work as interim CEO. He will return to his role of Chief Operating Officer when Mr Barnes starts work on Wednesday, 1 February 2023.

__________

• NSW environment watchdog to require companies to show how they will hit net zero and then nudge them to improve

New South Wales’s environmental watchdog has released what it calls Australia’s “most comprehensive plan” to regulate carbon emissions, requiring firms to show how they will hit net zero by 2050 and nudging them to improve resilience in a warming world.

The Climate Change Policy and Action Plan 2023-26, released on Friday by the Environment Protection Authority, will identify what progress is already under way by companies now covered by pollution licences and encourage them to improve.

Licensees will be given a mandatory survey to show how they are contributing to the NSW government’s climate change objectives, including cutting 2005-level emissions by 70% by 2035.

Firms will have to prepare and develop their own climate change mitigation and adaptation plans (CCMAPs), and report their progress over time, including on company websites. Advisory groups will develop targets for each industry sector.

Tony Chappel, the EPA’s CEO, said this plan “means for the first time in Australia, there will be a comprehensive approach around emissions reduction pathways”.

Sectoral targets would not initially be binding “because there is a huge variety of what is and is not cost-effective abatement”, Chappel said. “We don’t want to have a simple one size fits all approach.”

NSW’s approach was triggered by a case brought before the state’s land and environment court in 2021 by the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BSCA). They argued the EPA had a duty under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 to develop objectives, guidelines and policies to ensure environmental protection from climate change.

They won the case and Matt Kean, then the environment minister and now treasurer, opted not to appeal.

The survivors group and the NSW Environmental Defenders Office both welcomed the action plan as “groundbreaking” but also as a first step with more to do.

“As a result of that case, the NSW EPA is now an environmental regulator with teeth,” said Fiona Lee of the BSCA, who lost her home in the black summer bushfires of 2019-20.

__________

Anthony Albanese - “My government was elected on a platform of taking climate change seriously – we introduced the first legislative caps of 43% by 2030 and net zero by 2050, we are engaged in setting a whole range of mechanisms that will drive private sector investment through,” Albanese said.

“Here in Australia the business community was well ahead of the government in action and now we are working with all the state and territory governments as well as the private sector in driving that change through.”

___________

• Fiery new round in years-long battle for controversial Qld mine begins

The latest round of fighting over one of Australia’s most controversial coal mines kicked off on Monday when the groups objecting to its approved expansion claimed new expert evidence warranted a backflip.

The Queensland government last year granted New Acland Coal [NAC] the necessary mining leases and associated water licence to allow the mine out of care and maintenance and to begin digging up to 7.5 million tonnes of power station coal per year as part of its stage 3 expansion, about 50 kilometres north-west of Toowoomba.

But living up to their vows to fight on, long-time NAC foes – the Oakey Coal Action Alliance [OCAA] and environmental lobby group Lock the Gate – have applied to the Queensland government to review its “shocking error of judgment” regarding the stage 3 water licence and revoke the original decision.

Citing experts who reviewed the case over the summer, the allied objectors claimed the groundwater modelling presented to the Water Department by NAC and its own retinue of experts contained too much uncertainty, made questionable assumptions and “likely underestimated” drawdown predictions, potentially leading to dry or depleted farm bores.

“The Palaszczuk Government should be prioritising farmers’ water security over coal,” OCAA secretary Paul King said. “New Acland’s coal mine expansion threatens dairies that produce ten million litres of milk each year, and would tear up some of Queensland’s best farmland.”

A spokesman for the mine’s owner, New Hope Group, said the government “critically assessed New Acland Stage 3 and found it stacks up environmentally, socially and financially”.

Should the Water Department reject the application, the objectors may attempt to take the matter back to the Queensland Land Court, which for years served as the principal battleground for the dispute – and was once a scene of victory for the objectors on the grounds of water concerns – until December 2021, when the court eventually found in the miner’s favour.

Approved work on the mine’s expansion began in earnest in November. New Hope Group proudly said at the time the mine had received more than 1000 expressions of interest, mostly from Darling Downs locals, to fill the projected 600 construction jobs and 400 jobs ongoing.

The spokesman said 100 workers were expected to be on site at the end of next month.

The objectors’ application, however, claimed the benefits did not outweigh the risks to prime agricultural land. It also reminded the department that taxpayers received few benefits from the New Acland mine by way of royalties, which mostly went to the landholder – an organisation called Acland Pastoral Company, another subsidiary of New Hope.

“In simple terms, it is not worth the risk,” the application said.

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• Australia to plug clean energy gender gap

Australia has signed an international pledge to equal pay, leadership and opportunity for women in the clean energy industry.

The Equal By 30 campaign has 180 signatories worldwide including organisations, companies and governments committed to gender equity across the sector by 2030.

"There is an urgent need for gender-responsive policies in Australia and around the world to support women in roles across the clean energy sector," Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Tuesday.

Assistant minister for climate change Jenny McAllister said the campaign would help address women's low participation rates and help them actively lead Australia's energy transformation.

"Women make up less than 39 per cent of the clean energy sector workforce, with the number even lower in leadership positions," she said.

The federal government will establish an Australian Women in Energy Roundtable for industry to promote and share work on equality.

A new government hub will provide advice and guidelines for companies so they can use all available talent to develop a low-carbon economy.

Signatories to the Canada-led initiative include the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, the European Commission, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

___________

• Sun Cable update - Australia-to-Asia power project to go up for sale in January

A huge solar power project in Australia that collapsed last week will be put up for sale before the end of January and the sale process is expected to take about three months, administrators at FTI Consulting said on Friday.

The administrators said they plan to appoint an adviser shortly to run the sale of Sun Cable, a Singapore-based company that collapsed after its two top investors, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest, failed to agree on future funding plans. https://www.reuters.com/article/sun-...-idAFL1N3450AO

Originally Posted by malmomike77

^ Christ do you get paid by the word? or is this an attempt to shut the thread down

It would be apreciated if he made shorter posts so one could waste less time scrolling past them.

• Inquiry launches on marine carbon changes

A new federal inquiry will consider how to regulate the use of seabeds and the geology below for storing carbon emissions.

An international protocol is in force but there are proposed amendments that date back to 2009 and 2013 that need to be considered before Australia starts sucking in carbon.

The London Protocol started as an international anti-dumping measure to control and prevent marine pollution, with limited exceptions that require a permit.

But there are two amendments yet to be accepted by Australia that the inquiry will examine, committee chair Tony Zappia said on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water will consider the environmental benefits and impacts of importing and exporting carbon for sub-seabed sequestration.

The committee's remit also includes the international market for carbon storage and the interaction of the proposed amendments with Australia's greenhouse gas inventories, regulations and reporting systems.

Marine geoengineering activity, such as ocean fertilisation, for scientific research will also feature.

Submissions are due by March 10.

___________

• Record levels of renewable energy push demand for electricity from the grid to all-time low for December quarter

Milder temperatures and record levels of renewable energy drove electricity demand to its lowest levels for any December quarter, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Wholesale power prices also retreated during the period, particularly after the Albanese government imposed price caps on black coal and gas that are used to generate power, AEMO said in its quarterly report released on Wednesday.

“Electricity futures prices saw steep falls in the mainland states through to the end of the quarter” after the price limits were imposed on 9 December, said Violette Mouchaileh, an AEMO executive.

The average price of $93/megawatt-hour across the national electricity market (NEM) that serves eastern Australia was less than half the $216/MWh cost in the September quarter. Still, it was almost 80% higher than for the final three months of 2021.

Renewable energy from wind, solar and hydro supplied an average of 40.3% of power in the NEM, a record for any quarter since the NEM started in 1998.

It exceeded the previous high, set a year earlier, of 35.8%, AEMO said.

The tail end of the third La Niña event in as many years trimmed power demand for daytime air-conditioning.

A 16% increase in electricity output from rooftop solar panels, or 410MW on average, also decreased demand from the grid.

As a result, operational demand fell 2% from a year earlier to an average 19,431MW, the lowest December quarter reading. New record lows for a quarter were set in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, while the 11,892MW use on 6 November was a new low for the NEM in the December quarter.

The government hailed the early signs of a retreat in wholesale power prices as early proof that its price caps were having an effect on household bills. However, wholesale prices make up only about a third of retail costs and are subject to external events, such as an extended fault at coal-fired power plant, or heatwave-driven spikes in demand that could erase price falls.

Wholesale costs may also have been lower due to a drop in gas prices from record highs in June and July. At an average of $17.79/gigajoule, though, the price remained two-thirds higher than a year earlier.

Gas demand actually fell 7% in the December quarter from a year ago in part because of lower LNG production after unplanned outages at export plants in Queensland.

Power generation from black and brown coal-fired plants was the lowest since the NEM started. Higher prices for the fossil fuel in Queensland and NSW – at least before the price caps began – was one factor for the reduced use but also plant failures, particularly in Queensland.

Increased output from renewable energy, with its near-zero fuel cost, also nudged more coal and gas out of the generation market.

New instantaneous renewable penetration records were set in the NEM at 68.7% on 28 October – up 4.6 percentage points on the previous record – and in the Western Australian market at 84.3% on 12 December, up 3.7 percentage points. The records were “largely driven” by rooftop solar, AEMO said.

During a fault that cut South Australia off from other states for several days in November, renewables’ share of generation peaked at 91.5%.

“Output from wind and grid-scale solar grew strongly as new facilities were connected and commissioned,” AEMO said. Even with relatively calm days producing the lowest recent quarterly utilisation rate, total windfarm output exceeded any previous December quarter.

__________

• JWA Net Zero by 2050 Target Welcomed, Gas Plan Urgently Needed

The Western Australian Government’s announcement that it will legislate a net zero emissions by 2050 target is a welcome step, but proposed major gas projects in the state will undermine the goal, Greenpeace Australia Pacific says.

The details of the Bill, announced today by Climate Action Minister Reece Whitby, will be introduced to WA parliament this year, and will put the state on track to slash emissions in the coming decades.

Jess Panegyres, Head of Clean Transitions at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said while the move by the government was welcome, the continued expansion of the gas industry – including Woodside’s Burrup Hub project – are jeopardising the state’s clean future.

“Greenpeace welcomes the plan to legislate the net zero by 2050 target and set five-yearly targets, but the state government needs an urgent plan to transition away from gas in order to meet these goals,” she said.

“This move brings WA in line with other states which have legislated net zero, and is important in creating policy certainty. WA has incredible opportunities in the clean energy economy – the biggest opportunities in Australia. However, the continued expansion of the gas industry is short-sighted and will undermine WA’s ability to meet this important goal.”

Ms Panegyres said the next urgent priority is a plan for the state’s orderly transition out of gas.

“Gas is a fossil fuel that drives dangerous climate change. The McGowan government has already vowed a transition away from coal by 2030, and now it’s time for Western Australia to move away from dirty gas projects, and make meaningful headway on their new and ambitious clean future targets,” she said.

___________

• Australia and Germany to invest $90 mln for joint hydrogen supply chain projects

Australia and Germany have earmarked A$50 million ($35.5 million) and 50 million euros ($54.4 million), respectively, towards a joint initiative to establish a green hydrogen supply chain, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said on Friday.

The two countries, which signed a bilateral alliance on hydrogen production and trade in June 2021, announced funding for four projects under the German–Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator (HyGATE) initiative.

The collaboration further helps Australia strengthen its renewable energies export infrastructure, while allowing Germany to meet its growing energy needs via cleaner sources.

Green hydrogen is made by using electrolysers powered by renewable energy to split water.

Of the earmaked funds, Australian cleantech firm Vast Solar and Solar Methanol Consortium won grants worth A$19.48 million and 13.2 million euros, respectively, to develop a 10 MW electrolyser producing green hydrogen for solar methanol production in Port Augusta, South Australia.

Another grant recipient, Hysata, an electrolyser company, was awarded A$8.98 million to work with Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology to develop a new 'capillary-fed' electrolyser to deliver low-cost hydrogen in Port Kembla, New South Wales.

Currently, data from the Office of the Chief Economist at the Federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources, showed hydrogen projects made up for A$266 billion of potential investment from the total value of as much as A$705 billion of resource and energy projects in the pipeline in Australia.

"Working hand-in-hand with our international partners will help Germany to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2038 and aid Australia to reach net zero by 2050," said Bettina Stark-Watzinger, German Minister of Education and Research.

___________

• Since being elected Prime Minister last year, Labor politician Anthony Albanese has reversed many of his predecessor Scott Morrison’s environmental policies, which scientists and activists criticized as being unambitious and favoring fossil fuel companies over net-zero commitments.

In his less than a year as Prime Minister, Albanese has redirected an unprecedented amount of funds towards climate initiatives. In November, his office announced an AUD$500 million ($350 million) fund to help launch Australian businesses working on projects and technologies designed to reduce emissions.

Also in November, Rumin8 announced the government had provided AUD$5 million ($3.5 million) in R&D grants to 11 projects working on low-emissions feeding supplements for livestock. Rumin8 is involved in three of the federally-backed projects.

“It’s great to have Australia engaged in climate,” Gates said in his interview. “The world isn’t going to trade with people who don’t have serious climate commitments. Australia was a bit of an outlier until quite recently.”

https://fortune.com/2023/01/23/bill-...-cows-methane/

_________

Extra

• Graham Readfearn - Australian Antarctic expedition drills for answers on global heating

An Australian Antarctic expedition is now returning to the country’s Casey station base after the first summer of work to drill ice cores that could yield a continuous 1.5m-year history of the Earth’s climate.

The 10-strong team made a historic 1,200km journey across an untraversed frozen landscape to reach their drilling site on 10 January.

After nine days of setting up camp at Little Dome C and carrying out test drills, the team – part of the Million Year Ice project – turned back for Casey at the weekend before temperatures, which had been at -30C, turn even colder.

The ice cores that will be drilled in three-metre sections for the next four or five summers contain ancient trapped air and other elements that can show how much CO2 was in the atmosphere and how warm (or cold) the planet has been.

The previous oldest continuous record – from an ice core drilled about 35km away from the Australian site – covers about 800,000 years.:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-antarctic-ice

• Allegra Spender - I’ve told the Industry Climate Action Summit we should cut carbon emissions 75% by 2035. https://twitter.com/spenderallegra/s...23695878942720

Dropbox - 20230130 Allegra Spender_Smart_Energy_Council Industry_Climate_Action_Summit.pdf - Simplify your life

___________

• Adam Bandt accuses Albanese government of ‘greenwashing’ for allowing new coal and gas mines

Adam Bandt has accused Labor of “gaslighting” and “greenwashing” for allowing new coal and gas mines to offset emissions in its upgraded safeguards mechanism.

The Greens leader will tell the Smart Energy Council on Monday that new coal and gas mines “will be the biggest sticking point” for the minor party, whose 12 Senate votes will be required to pass legislation for the scheme.

The comments indicate the Greens will reboot demands to add a climate trigger in environmental regulations to limit new fossil fuel developments, which Labor refused before striking a deal with the minor party to pass its legislation for a 43% emissions reduction, or limit use of emissions offsets.

Earlier in January the Albanese government released its plan to require Australia’s big polluting sites to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by nearly 5% a year with no limits on the use of carbon offsets, paying for cuts elsewhere.

Ian Chubb, a former chief scientist who headed the government’s review of the carbon credit scheme, warned that polluters should make deep cuts in their own emissions and not rely heavily on offsets.

In an advance excerpt of the speech, seen by Guardian Australia, Bandt says that Labor are “as wedded to new coal and gas as the Liberals were”, with a pipeline of as many as 118 coal and gas projects.

Bandt notes the December emissions projections reveal assumptions that by 2030 new gas projects will be operating at: Woodside’s Scarborough gas field off the Western Australian coast; a Pluto LNG terminal at Burrup Pensinula; Shells’ Crux field west of Darwin, the Browse basin; Santos’ Narrabri field; and the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory, which “on its own has the potential to increase Australia’s entire emissions by 11%”.

“Every single new gas project championed by Scott Morrison is now backed by Anthony Albanese,” he says.

“You can’t put out a fire while pouring more petrol on it, but that is exactly what the Albanese government is doing. These coal and gas projects will push out our pollution for decades longer and put a safer climate further out of reach.”

Bandt says that 57% of the emissions covered by “Labor’s reheating of the Liberals’ climate policy – the safeguard mechanism” are coal, oil and gas facilities.

Bandt complains the policy allows new coal and gas mines because all “big corporations have to do is buy a few tree-planting permits”.

“It is greenwashing of the highest order. We are shooting past 1.5C [of heating] with no sign of stopping at 2. But under Labor’s safeguard mechanism, pollution from gas will continue to go up.”

____________

• Chris Bowen Another step forward in our drive for renewable jobs.

A key port for exporting green hydrogen to Europe will be Rotterdam.

The MOU I signed today with my friend @RobJetten Climate Minister of The Netherlands will see AU and NL working together closely on green hydrogen exports. https://twitter.com/Bowenchris/statu...66040432041984

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• Teals and other NSW independents seek to kill controversial Pep-11 gas permit

The “kingmaker” Sydney MP, Alex Greenwich, and a coalition of independent political hopefuls will attempt to kill the controversial Pep-11 gas exploration licence by banning development of the area through a change in New South Wales law.

The six independents, who could hold the balance of power in under two months, will on Saturday unveil a bill that would amend the State Planning Act to ban certain types of development on land and at sea, negating possible future federal approval.

“It’s remarkable that the federal Labor government would seek to overturn the only good environmental policy of the former Coalition government,” Greenwich said.

“We will do everything we can in NSW to stop this.”

The move will be unveiled after the federal government and Asset Energy agreed to void the former prime minister Scott Morrison’s decision to block further exploration of the gas field, which stretches from Manly to Newcastle, before it played out in court.

On Friday night the state premier, Dominic Perrottet, said he had told Anthony Albanese that his Coalition government remained opposed to the project.

A final decision on the project now rests with a joint federal and state authority.

If re-elected, Greenwich will co-sign the new bill along with any of the five independent candidates who win their seats.

The bill would kill off the plan to drill offshore, regardless of the federal government’s wishes.

Jacqui Scruby, the independent candidate in Pittwater, said her community was “incensed” by the project and would do everything she could to stop it.

“This will be a critical factor in my decision-making should I be in the position to guarantee supply in a minority government,” she said.

Manly candidate Joeline Hackman, Vaucluse candidate Karen Freyer, North Shore candidate Helen Conway and Land Cove candidate Victoria Davidson will also support the bill as they gear up to campaign heavily on climate for the coming six weeks.

“The waters off NSW’s coast are no place for a gas field,” Freyer said.

“I am supporting this bill because my community does not want oil and gas mining off their coastline. It is as simple as that.”

___________

• Gas market volatility kills off $590m gas terminal

A major gas import terminal project at the Port of Newcastle said to one day supply up to 80 per cent of NSW's gas needs is no more.

Energy Projects and Infrastructure Korea (EPIK) has declared the $589 million project "economically unfeasible" and ceased development activities in September.

After an inquiry from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for its gas inquiry, EPIK said the "volatility of the international LNG market and high LNG benchmark pricing" had "placed a downward pressure on the economics of the project".

It previously described the Newcastle terminal its flagship project.

The terminal had been declared critical state significant infrastructure in August 2019 by then-planning minister Rob Stokes, and was expected to add 110 petajoules to NSW's domestic market.

"The terminal could be operational by 2022-23 and provide supply for gas-fired power stations, helping to manage energy security during the period in which the Liddell power station is scheduled to close," John Barilaro said in 2019 as acting premier.

But EPIK never made it over the second planning hurdle - the filing of an environmental impact statement.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/business...inal-c-9637707
___________

• Election funded by Australia’s richest, AEC reveals

Community crowdfunder Climate 200 spent more than $12 million in last year’s federal election, arming them with the ability to kick Liberals out of six blue-ribbon seats and hold another four in favor of “teal” independents.

All up, ten individual donors spent more than $137 million in the lead up to last year’s federal election, with billionaires spending big to get their preferred side of politics a seat in Canberra.

The AEC annual donation disclosure returns, released on Wednesday, revealed less than a dozen donors made up nearly 77 per cent of all political donations.

Campaign spending for the May 2022 federal election was at a record high of $439.4 million.

In an election that wiped out moderate Liberals in blue-ribbon seats, Climate 200 was the second biggest individual donor – donating more than $7.8m to individuals and third parties backing independents.

The organisation itself – which backed “teal” independents in targeted Liberal seats – received $8.29m in donations, including a $200,000 boost from the group’s founder, Simon Holmes a Court.

Australia’s third richest person Mike Cannon-Brookes’ donated $1.15m through his charity Boundless Earth Limited to Climate 200.

Scott Farquhar, his co-founder of Atlassian, made a $1.5m donation – making him the fourth largest individual donor.

In total, the group – responsible for wiping out the likes of former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, and moderates Trent Zimmerman and Dave Sharma – received donations from 11,200 people.

In total, the group received $12.92m – including through other means of income – and spent $12.97m.

Meanwhile, billionaire cardboard king Anthony Pratt, through Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd was the third largest donor during the financial year.

All up, he donated $3.924 million – splitting his money almost equally between the Labor Party and the Coalition.

Share market trader Rob Keldoulis, through his Keldoulis Investments Pty Ltd, donated $1.07m – including $870,000 to Climate 200, and $200,000 to ACT senate kingmaker David Pocock.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer, through his mining company Mineralogy, was the biggest single donor, having poured more than $116m into the United Australian Party – gaining only one senate seat.

There were two individual donations to the UAP of $50m and $30m from Minderalogy.

The Mineralogy donations were the highest in any single year by any single party.

Snip

FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuel companies donated $2 million to the major political parties, with Santos donating $153,000 across the Labor, Liberal and National parties.

Woodside Energy gave $109,000 to all three major parties as well.

Research co-ordinator from Market Forces, Axel Dalman, said the donations were “clearly aimed at sweetening deals to expand coal, oil and gas production”.

“Fossil fuel companies are buying favour while trying to ram through 118 new projects, despite the International Energy Agency stressing there can be no new coal, oil, or gas expansion if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change,” he said.

More in the article: https://www.news.com.au/national/pol...3bcfa9a2aaba52

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Happy to see you’re reading this thread. Maybe you’ll learn something, you climate denying loser. Or you’ll learn what your new and improved government is doing.

I've always appreciated your posts, keeping the news going, greened you probably more than anyone else here for your effort.

One thing, though if I may. Part of this forum is the exchange of opinion and having so many very lengthy articles posted by you fairly well stops that as there is no continuity of discussion. That doesn't only apply to this thread, but others as well; Biden, climate, Trump, Lula etc...

Would it be possible that you post the title and first paragraph of the article and posters can then read the article if they wish . . . and you can still see responses to a discussion. I also find myself not wanting to read this many articles, rather looking for opinion and discussion on the matter, which is informed by your posts, of course.

Please don't see this as a rebuke or criticism as it meant as neither . . . just a thought to stimulate discussion.

Thank you.