Thread: Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

^While your intense concern for a country with the minuscule rate of under 1% of worldwide emissions making promises they can't keep to make everyone happy for now is admirable, can you show us where you're as active at keeping tabs on your own country with its 30% of worldwide emissions and triple the rig count of 3 years ago? Or would even acknowledging these verifiable figures and gross hypocrisy be too inconvenient

Biden signs Inflation Reduction Act affecting health, climate and the economy

With the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Tuesday Aug 16, the most significant climate legislation in US federal history (so far) became law.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Biden signs Inflation Reduction Act affecting health, climate and the economy

With the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Tuesday Aug 16, the most significant climate legislation in US federal history (so far) became law.

And just remind us of the drastic emission reductions of your country that is responsible for much of the current problem.

still hurt?

^Let's see what happens when the per capita parameter is removed and we look at the real figures:

^Forgot to add, with Chyna and India having a combined 65 times Australia's emmisions from coal I'm assuming someone is keeping tabs on how their transitions to clean energy are going

I'm done with this topic, its a total joke from top to bottom and anyone who can't see that needs to give their heads a shake.

^Help is on the way for the soon to be unemployed.

• Unions call for energy transition authority to help workers exiting fossil fuel sector

Australian unions have called for an energy transition authority to be established in the May budget, pushing the Albanese government towards greater investment in decarbonisation.

The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Michele O’Neil, will make that call in an address to the National Press Club on Tuesday, proposing the authority coordinate schemes to retrain, redeploy or compensate redundant workers in fossil fuel industries.

The ACTU also released a letter to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, signed by more than 70 prominent business peak bodies, unions, investors and climate organisations backing the creation of an authority. These include the Australian Industry Group, the Investor Group on Climate Change and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Last week the Greens called for a national energy transition authority in a Senate inquiry backing their private senator’s bill. The move was rejected by Labor senators on the basis it will duplicate the work of existing agencies.

The ACTU, with its 38 affiliated unions and 1.8m workers, has much greater institutional sway within Labor. The call for an energy transition authority is backed by the mining union and the Electrical Trades Union, both affiliates of the Labor Party.

According to excerpts of her speech, O’Neil says the authority would “support the workers at fossil fuel facilities that will phase down in the transition to a net zero carbon future”.

“That means individualised labour adjustment packages to guarantee workers affected by the transition have access to quality, secure, and safe jobs,” she says.

“These should include industrywide pooled redundancy and redeployment schemes, education and training opportunities, income replacement and relocation packages where necessary, and early retirement packages where voluntary and appropriate.”

According to O’Neil, the government has “concluded rightly that it can’t just rely on high carbon industries to reduce their emissions at the pace required by climate science… That is why we needed legislation”.

“Likewise, we cannot rely on these industries to simply do the right thing by their workers when a facility is closing down.”

“The authority has to make sure employers are doing their fair share—not just turning their back after doling out the bare minimum redundancy payments.”

O’Neil says the authority would also “help fund robust economic diversification plans for regions transitioning away from fossil fuel industries” and make sure that education and training is in place.

Diversification could include “leveraging federal and state incentives and investments to drive new renewable infrastructure into those regions—whether a factory manufacturing batteries, an electrolyser producing green hydrogen, or a processing plant refining Australian cobalt for export”.

O’Neil says some of this work is already occurring “in the absence of federal leadership” and the authority would complement existing work “by conducting analyses of feasibility and comparative advantage only possible at the national level; and by compelling participation from all of the key players, including industry”.

The Greens senator, Penny Allman-Payne, introduced a private member’s bill to establish a transition authority in September.

The Senate economics legislation committee, chaired by Labor’s Jess Walsh, said that parliament could “work together towards a flexible, inclusive transition authority” but it would be “premature” to establish one now.

It cited the work of the net zero economy taskforce in the department of the prime minister and cabinet, and said the authority could risk “duplication” of the advice role of the Australian Energy Market Operator.

The Coalition senators suggested that “instead of creating another government body, the market should be further supported to invest in low and zero emissions energy and transmission infrastructure”.

After delivering the Greens’ dissenting report, Allman-Payne said “the case for a national energy transition authority is overwhelming”.

“The latest IPCC report sheets home just how quickly we must get off coal and gas and transition to a zero emissions economy,” she said in a statement.

“In this parliament, the only thing standing in the way of climate action is Labor. If Labor wanted it, Australia could have a transition authority in place by June.”

continued

Premier Chris Minns sworn into parliament

Tamsin Rose - The 47th premier and his squad. https://twitter.com/tamsinroses/stat...12332089679872

We have a new New South Wales leadership team.

The interim cabinet:

The premier, Chris Minns.
The deputy premier and education and early learning minister, Prue Car.
The treasurer and gig economy minister, Daniel Mookhey.
The environment and heritage minister, Penny Shape.
The roads, arts, night-time economy and music minister, John Graham.
The health, regional health, mental health and Illawarra and South Coast minister, Ryan Park.
The transport minister, Jo Haylen.
The NSW attorney general, Michael Daley.

Continuing

Some organizations will show 45 and some 46

another showing 45

Originally Posted by Headworx

^Forgot to add, with Chyna and India having a combined 65 times Australia's emmisions from coal I'm assuming someone is keeping tabs on how their transitions to clean energy are going

I'm done with this topic, its a total joke from top to bottom and anyone who can't see that needs to give their heads a shake.

This is Landreths' pet project as he is the majority contributor. He doesnt appear to understand that emissions per head mean absolutely nothing. He has been perpetuating a piece of propaganda put out by the major emitters such as the USA, India and China who are the only ones that can limit the problems of global warming. It is now too late to totally mitigate the problem in part thanks to people like him who keep perpetuating this per person furphy helping to remove the pressure to make serious cuts by the major polluters like USA China etc.
"Net zero" emissions, like carbon offset is a pup sold to the gullable. Hydro power has proved problematic in regions where drought is affecting water levels. There is still a massive problem with pollution from wind turbine blades currently buried in "mass graves" and recycling of solar panels. Germanies bold carbon reduction plans have been stalled by keeping lignite mines open to feed some of their power stations which is about the dirtiest fuel possible. A direct result of closing about 14 nuclear powers stations over the last 15 years. Most countries that have carbon reduction strategies have a fair degree of nuclear power for base load power, something that successive weak Australian governments have resisted building due to fear mongering from the green lobby.

^still hurting

• Labor and the Greens have cut a deal to get its key climate policy through the parliament.

After weeks of negotiations and plenty of strong words, the federal government has secured the support it needs to pass its key climate policy into law.

Labor's changes to the "safeguard mechanism" are going to become a reality from July 1, with some key changes secured by the Greens.

It is a critical plank of the government's plan to reach its 2030 emissions target, and its passage will mark a fairly significant political victory too.

Climate policy has troubled successive federal governments, so getting a bill through the parliament and into law is no small feat.

While business groups are tentatively supportive, the Greens and many climate advocates argue that much more is needed to ensure Australia is helping avoid dangerous climate change.

But for now it has the support it needs to get through the Senate — from the Greens, from independent Senator David Pocock, and from senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammie Tyrrell, while the Coalition remains resolutely opposed.

Related

Adam Bandt - Every new coal and gas project has to go through this pollution test, and the government’s got the power to stop it … I heard someone from the Australian Industry Group saying that it’s likely to mean that projects are less likely to go ahead.

And I think that’s right, because that is what we need to do to tackle the climate crisis.

Nothing to add to this debate, but can a mod please change the title to keeping tabs on Australia's...?

It's driving me up the wall.

Albanese government faces decisions on coalmines that could add 16m tonnes of CO2 emissions annually

The Albanese government could have to make decisions on whether to approve up to 28 coalmine developments that would make it harder to meet targets set under its newly approved climate policy, according to a new analysis.

A coalmine tracker website published by the Australia Institute includes a breakdown of all projects that have been formally referred to the government for approval under national laws.

The group estimated that if all 28 coal projects that have been referred went ahead as proposed, it would add up to 16m tonnes to the country’s annual carbon dioxide emissions. There could be up to another 564m tonnes a year released overseas after the coal was exported and burned in Asia.

Combined, they could add nearly 18bn tonnes of emissions if the mines operated for their proposed lifetimes.

While it is unlikely all 28 proposals will go ahead at full scale, the website stresses that the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, will face decisions on a significant list of fossil fuel projects at odds with warnings from the world’s climate scientists.

The biggest projects on the list are the China Stone coalmine (linked to an estimated 4.9bn tonnes of emissions), the Peak Downs coalmine (3.2bn tonnes) and Alpha North coalmine project (3.1bn tonnes). All are in Queensland.

In addition to the coal projects, there are several proposed gas developments seeking approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The future of new coal and gas has been at the heart of negotiations over a planned revamp of a policy known as the safeguard mechanism.

The government rejected the Greens’ call for a ban on new fossil fuels – which was in line with what climate scientists and major international institutions have said is necessary from OECD countries if countries are to meet their promises to avoid an escalating climate crisis.

But it agreed to a deal that promises a rolling five-yearly cap on total onsite industrial emissions, expected to start at a level equivalent to about 140m tonnes a year and come down over time, and a requirement that some gas developments spend more than previously agreed on carbon offsets. The Greens argue both steps could prevent some fossil fuel developments from going ahead.

The Australia Institute’s research director, Rod Campbell, said the coalmine tracker provided more in-depth information about the coal proposals before the government. He said Plibersek had clear power over whether to approve them.

“New coalmines don’t just suddenly appear on the day they are approved,” he said. “These processes take years and involve multiple decisions from different parts of government.”

A spokesperson for Plibersek said all relevant projects would be subject to the redesigned safeguard mechanism. According to the agreement between the government and Greens released on Monday, it includes a requirement that the climate change minister would have to assess whether any new project that emits more than 100,000 tonnes of CO2 a year is consistent with the goal of bringing down industrial emissions under the scheme.

“The government’s reforms have been supported across the parliament by the minor parties and independents because they are critical to cutting emissions to put Australia on a path to net zero,” Plibersek’s spokesperson said.

Independent senator David Pocock confirmed on Tuesday that he would support the safeguard mechanism changes. He said he welcomed the government including a cap on pollution, which he said gave Australians “certainty that there will be a reduction in emissions under the policy”.

But he said he would have preferred a bolder reform that included an economy-wide carbon price and a limit on how many carbon credits some industries could use. “Reforms to the safeguard mechanism are imperfect, but represent a step towards a credible climate policy,” he said.

The safeguard changes will require more than 200 industrial facilities, including fossil fuel mines and production sites, to cut emissions intensity by up to 4.9% a year by either paying for onsite cuts or buying carbon offsets. The government expects to pass the legislation this week and for the changes to start on 1 July.

Some outlets are showing 4 seats still left to call and the one below says 3

• Australia passes most significant climate law in a decade amid concern over fossil fuel exports

Australia’s parliament has passed the country’s most significant emissions reduction legislation in more than a decade after the government won backing from Greens and independent MPs for a plan to deal with pollution from major industrial sites.

After weeks of closed-door negotiation, a deal was brokered between the Labor government and Greens, a minor party with 15 parliamentarians, that included legislating an explicit requirement that total emissions from major industrial facilities must come down, not just be offset.

Australia is the world’s third biggest fossil fuel exporter. The Greens argued the deal would stop some new gas and coal development proposals, but acknowledged it would not prevent further industry expansion.

The deal to pass changes to the policy known as the safeguard mechanism is considered key to prime minister Anthony Albanese’s commitment to cut national carbon dioxide emissions 43% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

From 1 July, many of the country’s 215 major polluting facilities – including fossil fuel operations, other mines, refineries and smelters – will need to cut emissions intensity by 5% a year, either through absolute cuts or by buying contentious carbon offsets. Together, they are responsible for about 30% of emissions in Australia.

While individual companies can buy an unlimited number of offsets, total absolute emissions under the scheme cannot increase and are required to come down over time. New gas fields opened for export project must offset all CO2 emissions, increasing costs for developers. Labor had rejected an initial offer from the Greens to support the bill if the government agreed to ban new coal and gas developments in line with scientific warnings.

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, hailed the deal as a “landmark reform” that delivered on a promise to reverse nearly a decade of inaction on the climate crisis under the rightwing Coalition administration that held power from 2013 until last year.

He said it would lead to a 205m tonne reduction in emissions by 2030, which he described as equivalent to taking two-thirds of the nation’s cars off the road. “Today is an historic day for the country to ensure our economy can take advantage of the opportunities of decarbonisation and meet our ambitious climate targets,” Bowen said.

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, described negotiating with the government as “like negotiating with the political wing” of coal and gas companies, but said fossil fuels had “taken a huge hit”.

“To everyone who is despairing about the future and wants real climate action, today you should have a spring in your step, because it shows we can take on the coal and gas corporations and win,” Bandt said. “The fight is not over, because in the middle of a climate crisis, Labor still wants to open more coal and gas.”

The legislation was opposed by the rightwing Liberal-National Coalition, despite it having introduced the safeguard mechanism in 2016. It initially promised the safeguard would stop industrial emissions increasing, but in practice often allowed companies to emit beyond onsite limits without penalty.

The Coalition’s climate change spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, said the changes to the scheme made it a “carbon tax by stealth” that would increase costs. But the policy won broad support from major business and industry groups. Environment groups also supported the deal, but called on the government to stop allowing developments that expanded Australia’s fossil fuel exports.

_________

NSW election: crossbench to push Labor on gambling reform as hopes of majority government fade

Crossbench prepares to flex its power while NSW Labor still short of forming majority government

New South Wales Labor will come under pressure to go further on gambling reform than a modest trial of the cashless gaming card, with several crossbench MPs prioritising the issue as part of their support for a minority government.

Labor’s chances of forming a majority government were fading rapidly on Wednesday, after the party fell short in two key knife-edge contests after Saturday’s election.

Five days after polls closed in the state, and with a new interim government sworn in to power, Labor still needs two additional seats to reach the 47 needed to govern in its own right.

• Women to make up half of Chris Minns’ ministry in NSW Labor government

Women will make up half of all ministers in the New South Wales government for the first time, it has been confirmed, after the Labor premier, Chris Minns, unveiled his new ministry.

A number of portfolios will also be held by women for the first time in history, with Yasmin Catley announced as minister for police and counter-terrorism and Jennifer Aitchison taking on regional transport.

Courtney Houssos will become finance minister, while Tara Moriarty will have the agriculture, regional NSW, and western NSW portfolios.

It will also be the first time a woman has led the government in the upper house, with Penny Sharpe taking on the portfolios of energy and climate change, and environment and heritage.

In a statement, Minns said he is proud of his new ministry.

“We have a clear mandate from the people of NSW to rebuild our essential services, to invest in the people who look after us – our nurses, teachers, paramedics, firefighters and police officers,” Minns said.

Minns also announced Paul Scully, who was shadow police minister in opposition, will now take on planning and public spaces.

David Harris will have the tricky task of enacting the new government’s gambling reform package after being appointed to the racing and gaming portfolio, amid calls from the crossbench for more ambitious goals. Minns has committed to installing an expert panel to oversee an expanded cashless gaming trial by July.

Alongside gaming, Harris will also service as the minister for Aboriginal affairs and treaty, veterans, medical research, and the Central Coast.

Ron Hoenig will take on the local government portfolio. Greg Warren was shadow minister for local government but he – along with Julia Finn, who was the shadow minister for youth and sport – were not included in Minn’s ministry.

Jihad Dib will be the first minster to be sworn in on the Qur’an as he takes on the customer service, digital government, emergency services and youth justice portfolios. Daniel Mookhey, who will serve as treasurer, will be the first to be sworn in on the Bhagavad Gita.

Meanwhile, Minns will support the independent MP for Lake Macquarie, Greg Piper, in becoming the lower house speaker when parliament returns in May.

“Notwithstanding that ours is an adversarial parliamentary system, there is room for considerable improvement in the chamber and I look forward to working with all members to raise the regard for proceedings in the eyes of the public,” Piper said.

The new ministry expands on the seven senior ministers sworn in last week.

Minns on Monday defended his decision not to have a health minister dedicated just to regional health as the previous government did, insisting Ryan Park was well placed to advocate for the regions.

“He has got a unique insight into what regional communities need in terms of the allocation of resources,” he said.

Minns will lead a minority government and will require the support of the crossbench to pass legislation after Labor failed to secure the 47 seats needed for a majority government at the election.

“We’re headed to a minority government in NSW with a hung parliament but we’re prepared for that,” Minns said.

“We’ve got confidence and supply from three independents. There’ll be a large crossbench in the legislative assembly … We feel we’ve got a mandate from the people of NSW.”

Just one seat – Ryde – was yet to be called on Monday but it is widely expected to remain in Liberal hands, despite an almost 9% swing against the party after the resignation of the popular government minister Victor Dominello.

Minns has said he will refer Gareth Ward to parliament’s privileges committee when parliament resumes following the former Liberal’s re-election in Kiama after pleading not guilty to sexual assault charges.

The new premier has also promised not to work with Mark Latham, after the NSW One Nation leader made offensive comments on Twitter that he has since deleted but refused to apologise for.

Latham is on leave while the upper house election results are finalised.

One down and about 200 more to go.

• Palmer's Waratah coal mine denied environmental licence

A major coal mine that was the subject of a landmark court battle fought on climate change and human rights grounds has been denied an environmental licence.

The Clive Palmer-backed Waratah mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin had its environmental authority application rejected on Monday.

The decision by the Queensland Department of Environment follows a Land Court recommendation in November to refuse both the environmental authority and mining lease applications

The thermal coal project should be rejected because it "risks unacceptable climate change impacts" on the environment and on human rights, the court ruled.

Land Court President Fleur Kingham found that even though the mine was intended for exports, "wherever the coal is burnt the emissions will contribute to environmental harm, including in Queensland".

The hearing took place over seven weeks beginning in April last year, and included evidence taken on-country in the Torres Strait and Cairns.

It was the first time a Queensland court has advised a coal mine should be refused due to its contribution to climate change, and the first time an Australian court has linked climate change to human rights.

There are no review or appeal rights under Queensland's Environmental Protection Act for the department's decision, however a judicial review can be applied for via the Supreme Court.

__________

• With the NSW Labor government looking to be elected on a minority, they will need to negotiate with the 12 members of the crossbench.

Here are the key policies of NSW Labor, Greens and independents on climate:

NSW Labor:

Jihad Dib expected to be named NSW minister for energy and climate change and says the No 1 priority is to “keep the lights on”.
Clean energy target of 50% renewable energy by 2030 and close as possible to 100% by 2050.
Pass new laws for carbon emissions reduction targets of 50% by 2030, net zero by 2050.
Set up Net Zero Commission to monitor and review energy prices, progress and impact on jobs and industry.
Create state-owned NSW Energy Security Corporation, a $1bn body to attract private investors to bankroll renewables projects.
Continue the Coalition’s $1.2bn transmission acceleration fund.
New $25m hydrogen vocational training centre in Glenwood to reskill workers and train new apprentices.

NSW Greens:

NSW Energy Transition Authority with at least $500m annually to support communities and workers.
Establish PowerNSW, a publicly-owned nonprofit electricity company to reduce power bills.
Invest in publicly-owned renewable energy generation projects.
Tackle energy poverty with a rollout of household efficiency upgrades.
Get 1m homes off gas over six years and ban gas connections on new builds from 1 July 2024.
Increase coal royalties to share industry profits.
Phase out existing coal and gas projects, along with coal-fired power stations, by 2030 to avoid worst climate outcomes.
Ban new coal and gas projects, including Santos Narrabri gas project.
Crookwell wind farms, Crookwell, NSW, Australia.
The NSW Greens promised to push for investment in publicly-owned renewable energy generation projects. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Independents:

Stop coal seam gas development on Liverpool Plains, including Narrabri.
Require climate impact statement for every new coal and gas project or expansion.
All projects must have climate impacts considered before approval.
Give communities the right to test merits of projects in land and environment court.
Reduce cost of living by accelerating transition to renewable energy and permanently cheaper power bills.

Australia news

___________

• Former NSW deputy Liberal leader says party has ‘moved too far to the right’

The former NSW deputy leader of Liberal party Bruce Baird is speaking on ABC Sydney radio this evening about the Aston byelection.

As a self-described Liberal moderate, he said “the party has moved too far to the right” when reflecting on the election result.

I saw Peta Credlin on the weekend say the problem is that [the Liberal party] needs to become more conservative… and I’m thinking to myself, how did that work out for Tony Abbott and Warringah when we had Liberals who wouldn’t even hand out on some of the booths.

So I think that’s it, and we need real change in the party so that we’re more open to diversity, we are more open in terms of women in the party and their voice.

Baird also said it’s worth looking at the overall leadership of the party:

Peter Dutton himself on a personal level is a really nice guy … I won’t be that harsh, but I think it is time to look at the general question of leadership.

Although there were some good articles last week, I’m only going to post one today. And for good reason. Michael Mann

• Australia’s climate battle has moved on – leaving deniers behind

I departed Australia three years ago, cutting my sabbatical short as Covid-19 spread and lockdowns ensued. I had just lived through Black Summer, a climate change-fueled disaster marked by unprecedented heat, withering drought and destructive and deadly bushfires. Though I had come to Australia to research the impacts of climate change on extreme weather events, it instead became my lived experience.

The governing Coalition had left a trail of death and destruction, both figuratively and literally. Thousands of homes were destroyed, dozens of lives lost, 24 million hectares burned, and Australia was shunned from an international climate summit over the then prime minister Scott Morrison’s climate intransigence. Meanwhile, the rightwing Murdoch media machine continued to spew climate disinformation, cynically blaming the devastation on arson and “back-burning”. Things appeared pretty bleak. Yet at the same time, I sensed that something had changed.

There was fiercer-than-usual pushback against the Murdoch disinformation campaign. The media narrative had shifted from questioning to highlighting the role climate change was playing in the unfolding crisis. I had numerous opportunities during my brief sojourn to help the public connect the dots.

But denial was not dead. My media appearances on ABC’s Q&A and 60 Minutes featured tussles with climate-denying politicians, including former Liberal party senator Jim Molan and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. A year later I would encounter more of the same. I was testifying remotely at an Australian Senate media diversity inquiry about the role of the Murdoch media in promoting climate denial and delay in Australia. Queensland Liberal party senator Gerard Rennick confronted me with what he purported (without any context or sourcing) to be conflicting data from different climate reports. We were somehow supposed to believe that this “gotcha” invalidated all of climate science. He was reprimanded by the chair for his transparent effort to try to deflect the conversation from the topic at hand.

One year later, Rennick would be widely mocked for insisting to CSIRO head Larry Marshall, as he testified in a Senate committee hearing on economics legislation, that the Heisenberg uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics somehow invalidates global climate models. Having done graduate studies in both theoretical physics and climate science I can assure the reader that this is laughably absurd.

And this is where we intersect the current timeline. This past week I exchanged words once again with Rennick. He had posted a clip of his exchange with Marshall on Twitter, insisting – quite nonsensically – that CO2 cannot warm the atmosphere because of “gravity” and “convection”. As supposed evidence he insisted that “the surface of the Earth is warmer than say the top of Mt Everest” because gravity “traps convection”. I politely explained to him that this is not the case.

I informed him that the cooling of the atmosphere with altitude has nothing to do with “convection” but rather is a consequence of the balance of forces (pressure and gravity) and the conservation of energy (in fact, convection actually tends to the very opposite of what he’s claiming, tending to relieve the gravitational instability of having lighter air beneath heavier air by transporting heat upward, reducing the cooling with altitude). I even provided the lecture notes from my introductory college course on atmospheric science where I derive the relationship, inviting him to point out any errors he could identify.

Rennick chose not to do that. Instead, he insisted I was “making a fool” of myself, disparaged my scientific work and called me “champ”. At this point, I became a bit less charitable in my online engagement with him. Other participants have been similarly uncharitable. Among the links readers have supplied to put his tweet in a more accurate context is a climate explainer for young children from Nasa.

We should view these outbursts of denialism as rearguard skirmishes in what I’ve called “The New Climate War”. Climate denial is now a distraction, a sideshow intended to feed the conservative base with red meat while pacifying polluters. In a post-Black Summer world, where the reality and threat of the climate crisis have been laid bare, the true battle has moved on, from outright denial to deflection, distraction, and most of all, delay.

Thanks in part to delay tactics from the Liberal party, voters rejected them in the federal election of May 2022, and now in every state but Tasmania. In fact, the battle lines on climate have retreated so far now that the real fight isn’t over whether climate change is real or human caused, or even whether we should act. It’s now about what form action should take.

Next month I return to Australia for a speaking tour after a three-year absence, and at a poignant moment indeed.

The climate crisis continues to deepen. In place of the unprecedented bushfires of 2020 we have the floods of 2022 and 2023. In place of scorched koalas in New South Wales we have village-dwelling crocodiles in Queensland. It’s a reminder of the shape-shifting nature of a crisis that promises ever-greater extremes at both ends of the scale. That’s the bad news.

The good news? After nearly a decade, Australia once again has a meaningful climate policy, after ongoing and somewhat heated negotiations between the Albanese government and the Greens. One can quibble over whether it goes far enough. But Greens leader Adam Bandt put it this way: “To everyone who is despairing about the future and wants real climate action, today you should have a spring in your step, because it shows we can take on the coal and gas corporations and win.”

Is that enough? Climate action requires global cooperation. After substantial progress at Cop26 in Glasgow, the Cop27 meeting in Sharm El Sheikh late last year yielded minimal additional progress, failing to secure emissions reductions from the countries of the world that will keep warming of the planet below a catastrophic 1.5C. The recently-released UN IPCC Synthesis Report finds that this target is still within reach but it will require dramatic action in the years ahead.

So we find ourselves in an atmosphere of uncertainty, a bit like the erstwhile-ambivalent Rick Blaine and resistance fighter Victor Laszlo at the end of Casablanca. The fate of the second world war remained unclear, but there was an air of optimism. As Laszlo said to Rick, we say now to Australia: Welcome back to the fight.

__________

Oh wait. Just one more……

• Anthony Albanese makes Time magazine’s most influential people list

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has claimed a title not even Scott Morrison, in his many roles, managed to snag.

He has been named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in the world, joining the ranks of Jennifer Coolidge, Beyoncé and Joe Biden.

The annual list honours leaders, icons, artists, titans, pioneers and innovators, with Albanese lauded by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, for choosing a “path of hope and opportunity” in a world where “it’s easy for politicians to sow fear and division”.

“From growing up in public housing to taking office last spring as Australia’s new prime minister, he is a symbol of hope and inspiration,” Trudeau said.

“To choose the path of hope and opportunity takes immense courage, and that courage lives within Anthony Albanese.”

• Liddell Power Station: The End Is (Really) Nigh

First switched on back in 1971, coal- fired clunker Liddell Power Station will very soon be switched off for good. So, what impact will this have on electricity prices? Will there be blackouts?

Located adjacent to Lake Liddell near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, the intention to construct Liddell Power Station was announced in the mid- 1960s as a response to growing electricity demand in the state.

Construction began in 1969 and was completed in 1973, but the first generator started cranking in 1971. Fully completed, Liddell Power Station was comprised of four 500-megawatt (MW) units, totaling 2,000 MW of nameplate generation capacity. That was later reduced to an operational capacity of 1680 MW as pushing the old turbines any harder would have likely ended badly.

After nearly 50 years of spewing harmful emissions and creating monster quantities of toxic coal ash, Liddell owner AGL formally notified the Australia Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in 2019 that the first generation unit was to close in April 2022. Following an independent engineering assessment, AGL determined the remaining three units will close in April 2023.

A staggered approach will be used for unit shutdowns:

Unit 1 – April 29, 2023
Unit 2 – April 25, 2023
Unit 3 – shut down last year
Unit 4 – April 19, 2023

By switching Liddell off, AGL says this will reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 17% by FY24. It’s been claimed that in 2019/20 AGL was responsible for 42 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – more than 8 per cent of Australia’s total emissions and allegedly making it Australia’s “biggest climate polluter“.

The company has been keen to paint itself in a more positive light, recently launching its Join The Change campaign that seeks to strut its renewables street cred and convince Australians:

__________

• Electric car changes needed to stop 'going in reverse'

Ten years from now, six in every 10 cars sold in the United States could be electric.

That is the goal of proposals from America's Environmental Protection Agency, revealed this week, that have been described as "the most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks".

And three years later, in 2035, Europe will have all but banned the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles.

But academics, environmental and lobby groups say Australian motorists could face a very different fate to drivers overseas.

Six months after submissions to the country's National Electric Vehicle Strategy closed, the federal government has yet to respond or introduce new policies.

Experts say the delay could mean the country not only trailed the rest of the world in zero-emission transport but could see it "going in reverse" and the new international policies should put further pressure on policymakers to act.

America's newest proposal - an extension of its long-standing fuel-efficiency standard - is designed to cut pollution from light, medium and heavy vehicles by more than 50 per cent between 2027 and 2032.

If passed, the EPA forecasts electric vehicles to make up 67 per cent of new car sales and 46 per cent of medium-duty vehicle sales by 2032.

"By proposing the most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks, we are delivering on the Biden-Harris Administration's promise to protect people and the planet, securing critical reductions in dangerous air and climate pollution and ensuring significant economic benefits like lower fuel and maintenance costs for families," EPA administrator Michael S. Regan said.

Behyad Jafari, the chief executive of Australia's Electric Vehicle Council, says America's bold approach should encourage Australia to follow, and could also stymie the country's loudest electric vehicle critics.

The US and Australia had a "cultural affinity" in the automotive market, he said, with a preference for big cars, including utes and SUVs, and a tendency to drive long distances.

Seeing America propose stricter vehicle pollution controls, he said, proved restrictions could be introduced to Australia.

"Previously, if you were to make an argument that Australia could go slower (on electric vehicles), it was because of the US," Mr Jafari said.

"Just like every other market, they too have shown that 60 to 70 per cent of their vehicles will be electric by 2032, and more than half will be electric by 2030.

"Adopting what the US has done is really the least we could do in Australia."

But the US is not the only country to introduce or tighten rules on car pollution in 2023.

New Zealand introduced a fuel-efficiency standard in January that fines car makers if they exceed emission targets.

Following the policy's introduction, sales of electric vehicles in the country rose to 22 per cent last month, up from just four per cent in January 2022.

The European Union will introduce even stronger emissions cuts later this year by passing laws that effectively ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2035, and require automakers to cut emissions by 55 per cent in 2030.

________

• Government plans fuel efficiency standards to improve EV supply

As expected, the federal government said today it would legislate a fuel efficiency standard designed to improve the supply of hybrid and electric vehicles for Australian buyers.

It now plans to spend the next few weeks designing the standards with stakeholders and plans to introduce a final plan to parliament by the end of 2023.

From there, assuming the bill passes both houses, the onus will be on Australia’s car brands to deliver more low-emissions cars to Australian private buyers and fleets – the latter sector in particular held back by restricted supply that undermines recent fringe-benefits tax cuts.

Australia is one of very few countries of similar economic standing without fuel efficiency standards, which punish car manufacturers should their new vehicle average CO2 emissions exceed an agreed, imposed limit.

The idea is to push multinational carmakers to divert greater factory supply of their CO2-reducing electrified vehicles to Australia in order to avoid these penalties, which usually come in the form of fines.

Over time, as the fuel efficiency standard is tightened (meaning the maximum amount of CO2 that can be emitted is reduced), carmakers must sell higher numbers of lower and zero-emissions vehicles to avoid ratcheted penalties.

Australia and Russia are among the only developed countries that don’t have fuel efficiency standards of some variety.

This situation is commonly chalked up as one key reason why car brand executives based here – Tesla and BYD excluded – keep failing to secure sufficient stock of their EVs and hybrids to meet burgeoning demand from buyers keen to slash their fuel bills and CO2 footprint.

Such a supply-side situation has an upward pressure on EV prices and slows their proliferation, or as the government itself put it in today’s statement:

“The absence of a standard has meant Australians households and businesses are missing out on greater choice of car models and paying more in fuel costs to run their cars because manufacturers prioritise sending more efficient vehicles to countries with standards in place.”

As such, new cars in Australia are claimed to use on average 40 per cent more fuel than those in the European Union, 20 per cent more than the US, and 15 per cent more than New Zealand – though this doesn’t take into account some specific geographic and behavioural factors.

While EV sales are spiking, sitting at a record 6.5 per cent market share this year, they’re still proportionately far lower than most other developed markets – to a large degree on account of limited supply in the market that creates huge wait lists and puts off fleet buyers.

In what must be seen as an unusual situation – given it’s a form of regulation – Australia’s car brands and the body that represents them have been calling for a policy like this for quite some time now.

“If we don’t have that legislation in the market, then they’re [HQ in Wolfsburg] going to prioritise the markets that have got it, to avoid very significant fines. It changes the game completely, it really does,” said former Volkswagen Group Australia boss Paul Sansom when discussing the policy with us last year.

The next step in this drawn-out process, says the federal government, is to finalise all the details over the coming months while consulting with the car industry – even though today’s announcement comes after a widely-answered discussion paper already did the rounds.

__________

• Bowen announces $70 million round of grants for innovative EV charging

The federal government has announced a new $70 million round of grant funding for innovative charging infrastructure to be delivered through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

The new round of grant funding follows today’s release of the government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy (NEVS) and will be available to Australian businesses, local governments and councils as well as state and territory owned corporations.

The announcement is part of a total funding package of $146.1 million to be delivered by ARENA over the next five years, and the agency says the focus will be on innovative technologies and business models such as vehicle to grid technologies, and other solutions.

“Today’s announcement through ARENA is in addition to the Government’s National Electric Vehicle Charging Network which will deliver a truly national EV charging network with a charger approximately every 150km on our major highways,” said climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen in a statement.

“Australians know that electric and more fuel-efficient vehicles are cleaner and cheaper to run and after less than a year in Government, more Australian households and businesses can access them,” he said.

ARENA says the new funding round will be focused on two parts. The first will be innovation in public charging, while the second area of focus will be on smart charging, vehicle to grid and “orchestration. All projects must be powered by renewables, and will have grants offered between $500,000 and $15 million, which needs to be be matched by proponents.

The new funding round comes after the government was criticised by a number of groups for failing to provide a timeline and details for the implementation of a Fuel Efficiency Standard as part of the National Electric Vehicle Strategy that was announced earlier today.

The government has been accused by a number of groups of kicking the can down the road for its decision to conduct yet another public consultation on the specifics of a fuel efficiency standard after it first committed to implementing one during the National Electric Vehicle Summit in August last year.

The government is now taking public submissions on Australia’s Fuel Efficiency Standard.

https://thedriven.io/2023/04/19/bowe...e-ev-charging/

____________

• Australian Treasurer hosts roundtable on path to becoming renewable energy superpower

Australia's Treasurer Jim Chalmers has convened a roundtable of experts to chart a course toward the country becoming a renewable superpower.

Chalmers on Friday hosted discussions with leading clean energy experts and investors including banks and global asset managers on Australia's transformation to clean energy.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Chalmers said Australia must embrace its big opportunities in the sector over the next "defining decade."

"Australia has a huge opportunity to be a renewable energy superpower but to grab this opportunity, we must align efforts across the economy," he said in a media release on Friday.

"Today's Investor Roundtable focused on investment opportunities for Australia in the net zero transformation, action needed to support the growth of sustainable finance in Australia and opportunities to unlock savings for consumers through better financing energy performance upgrades."

His comments echoed those of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who in mid-2022 declared that Australia has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to become a renewable energy superpower.

Australia ranks high globally for deposits of minerals that are essential for the transition to clean energy.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) estimates that demand for some metals will increase up to 500 percent by 2050 as more wind turbines, large-scale battery storage and electric vehicles are built.

Friday's meeting coincided with Rod Sims, former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), arguing that green energy is a bigger opportunity for Australia than the resources boom of the past years.

"Australia has the world's best combinations of wind and solar energy resources, and it has enormous sources of biomass for a zero emissions chemical industry," he wrote in a piece for the Guardian Australia.

"The world is moving to a zero emissions economy -- albeit at an uncertain speed -- and we can have the lowest-cost zero emissions electricity available for large-scale economic development in the world."

https://english.news.cn/asiapacific/...c73d38a/c.html

• Majority of Australians keen to switch from gas to electric to lower emissions, survey finds

The majority of Australians feel positive about switching off the gas and turning to cleaner energy options, with environmental reasons one of the biggest drivers behind the shift, according to new research by the Australia Institute and research firm SEC Newgate.

In a poll about electrification, 55% felt positively about electrifying more homes, with 59% mentioning environmental reasons as a main driver of their opinion and 18% pointing to the potential for cheaper electricity bills.

Of those polled, 13% said they felt negatively about electrifying more homes.

When asked which appliances they wanted in their homes, electric heating, ovens and hot water won out convincingly over their gas counterparts. Respondents were more divided on cooktops, with 46% preferring electric to 43% who chose gas.

Of those who expected to buy a new car within 10 years, 25% said they expected it would be an electric car and 40% expected it to be a hybrid car. For those who had already bought or were considering an EV, environmental benefits, reduced running costs and the increasing cost of petrol and diesel were among the top motivators.

Noah Schultz-Byard from the Australia Institute said the Albanese government could support the shift in attitude by assisting the electrification of households.

“With electric technology now readily available, the biggest barrier to making that switch is the upfront cost of transition,” he said. “This is where the government could come in and support those families who want to go electric.

“This data shines a light on the policy pathway forward. Electric homes, cars and appliances underpinned by clean energy and battery storage will play a key role in confronting our economic and environmental concerns.

“Combining electric homes, battery storage and vehicles will open up a range of benefits for households and our research has shown that Australians are ready to make the switch.”

The Victorian government announced a gas substitution roadmap to try to meet its target of reducing carbon emissions by 75% by 2030. As part of that, homes are being encouraged to switch from gas to electricity, with the state the largest consumer of gas in Australia.

Gas is touted as a cleaner energy source when compared to coal-fired power, but studies have found its effect on the climate is increased when factors such as methane leaks during extraction and transport are included.

_________

• Record renewables help bring down Australia’s energy prices and emissions

Australia’s record levels of renewable energy helped extend the slide in wholesale power prices in the first three months of 2023, displacing fossil fuels and sending carbon emissions from the sector to new lows for the first quarter.

The latest energy dynamics report by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) showed wholesale spot prices in the national electricity market (NEM) averaged $83/MWh, down more than a 10th from the December quarter and two-thirds lower than the record average $264/MWh in the June quarter last year.

Rooftop solar output alone averaged almost 3GW for the March quarter, up 23% from a year earlier. That increase contributed to a drop in “operational demand” in the NEM to an average of 14.38GW, or the lowest since 2005. Low demand records were set in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

“Growing renewable output across the NEM helped drive a first-quarter record with 12% of dispatch intervals having negative or zero prices,” the Aemo chief executive, Daniel Westerman, said. “Between 9am and 5pm, wholesale electricity prices were negative in South Australia and Victoria 60% and 55% of the time, respectively.”

Gas, typically the most costly fuel for electricity generation, provided its smallest first-quarter share of supplies since 2005. Overall gas demand in eastern Australia fell 9%, with domestic consumption dropping to its lowest for any March quarter since 2016, Aemo said.

Aemo’s quarterly energy reports offer snapshots of the electricity sector’s trajectory. Rising energy costs in the past year have been one propellant for inflation, while supply has arguably become less reliable as ageing coal-fired power plants close or break down.

However the pace of renewable energy’s advance, according to the Clean Energy Council, is not yet sufficient to meet Australia’s emission goals

New and recently commissioned grid-scale solar and wind units lifted generation by an average 330MW and 134MW, respectively, Aemo said. Output averaged 4.65GW, or 11% more than for the March quarter of 2022.

For a half hour on 5 March, renewables supplied 65.8% of NEM generation, a record share for that quarter, topping the previous high set a year earlier by 4.4 percentage points.

NEM emissions both in total and per MWh declined to record lows for the first quarter of the year. Electricity makes up about one-third of Australia’s carbon pollution, the largest share of the economy.

For the quarter, emissions totalled 28.8m tonnes of CO2-equivalent, down by 5.1% from a year earlier.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...ices-says-aemo

______________

• Labor extends gas price cap to 2025 to protect power bills

The Albanese government will extend its price cap on wholesale gas prices until at least mid-2025 in an attempt to limit soaring energy costs.

It will also offer exemptions for producers in the domestic market if they can deliver enforceable promises to maintain a certain level of supply.

The price limit extension is part of the final consultation planned for a mandatory code of conduct for the gas industry, released on Monday.

“The gas code will ensure sufficient supply of Australian gas for Australian users at reasonable prices, give producers the certainty they need to invest in supply, and ensure Australia remains a reliable trading partner by allowing LNG producers to meet their export commitments,” the energy minister, Chris Bowen, the resources minister, Madeleine King, and the industry minister, Ed Husic, said in a joint statement.

“Coupled with action to cap coal costs for power generators, gas price caps under the Government’s Energy Price Relief Plan nearly halved wholesale energy prices.”

However, Bowen’s office said the coal price cap will cease when its 12-month period ends.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...ct-power-bills

__________

• End of an era for coal-fired Liddell as grid goes green

The Liddell power station will be switched off after more than 50 years of service to NSW and the national electricity grid, with today the last of a 10-day phased shutdown.

Thousands have worked at the site over the years and many are gathering to farewell the plant that they refer to as “the old girl”, AAP reports.

Although activists are celebrating the demise of the coal-fired “clunker”, critics are concerned shutting down the Muswellbrook plant in the Hunter region will remove 10% of the state’s power.

Owner AGL Energy insists the lights will stay on and says it’s been preparing for the closure for the past seven years by adding more wind and solar.

Once powering the equivalent of more than 1m homes, the carefully engineered shutdown that began a year ago will end with the last of Liddell’s units switched off today.

More than 90% of the materials in the plant are expected to be recycled during demolition, including 70,000 tonnes of steel – more than the total weight of steel works for the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Demolition will begin next year and take about two years.

Boilers, chimneys, turbine houses, the coal plant and various buildings will go and the site will be levelled with crushed concrete.

But transmission connections will be retained as the site gears up to become an industrial energy hub, equipped with a grid-scale battery.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...-power-station

• A new national Net Zero Authority

The Australian Government is establishing a new Authority to ensure the workers, industries and communities that have powered Australia for generations can seize the opportunities of Australia’s net zero transformation.

The Government will work to legislate the Net Zero Authority following detailed design in consultation with stakeholders. To kick-start the Authority’s responsibilities immediately, the Government will recommend to the Governor-General that an Executive Agency is established from 1 July this year in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The new Net Zero Authority will:

• Support workers in emissions-intensive sectors to access new employment, skills and support as the net zero transformation continues.
• Coordinate programs and policies across government to support regions and communities to attract and take advantage of new clean energy industries and set those industries up for success.
• Help investors and companies to engage with net zero transformation opportunities.

The Australian Government has a huge agenda to make Australia a renewable energy superpower. The Government is rewiring the nation, investing in new renewable storage and generation capacity, revitalising manufacturing and developing clean industries.

The Authority will help steer the Government’s agenda to support communities, workers and industries. Its mission is aligned to the Paris Agreement and is about making sure that no one is held back as the economy changes.

The Authority will include a focus on regions and industries that have traditionally powered Australia’s economy. As traditional industries adapt and transform, the Authority will work to ensure new industries are coming online, and workers, communities and regions are supported.

It will work with state and territory governments, unions, industry, First Nations groups and others to help key regions, industries, employers and others are proactively manage the transformation to a clean energy economy. The Authority will also work collaboratively with state and territory governments, and existing regionally-focused bodies, reflecting the shared responsibility of all levels of government to support the change to a clean energy economy.

The Government will recommend to the Governor-General that an interim Agency at PM&C be created from 1 July 2023 to establish the Authority and begin some of its core functions. This will include engaging with key regions, industries, investors and others to start to develop strategies for how the Australian Government can best support positive transformation. The Agency will also consult across government and stakeholders to refine the functions and powers of the authority before legislation is developed.

The Agency will be led by an independent Chair, supported by an Advisory Board. These appointments will be announced by the Government in due course.

https://www.pmc.gov.au/news/new-nati...zero-authority
________

• Tanya Plibersek rejects two Queensland coalmines over failure to provide detail on environmental impact

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has struck off two proposed coal projects in Queensland after the developers failed to submit requested information about impacts on threatened species and water.

The two projects are Macmines’ China Stone coalmine in the Galilee basin and Stanmore Resources’ Range Coal project 35km south-east of Wandoan, in central Queensland.

Both projects had stalled after applications were submitted nine years ago by Macmines and 12 years ago by Stanmore Resources.

Activist groups welcomed the decision, with the Lock the Gate Alliance saying it ended uncertainty over “zombie” applications for projects that had not progressed but caused concern for communities.

The group also called for the minister to reject other coal projects that remain in the pipeline, such as the Isaac River coalmine.

In 2018, the environment department sought further information from Macmines about threatened species and water. The same was done for the Stanmore Resources proposal a decade ago in 2013.

In July 2020, both developers indicated they wished to progress with the developments and would submit the information – but this did not occur.

The minister issued lapsed notices this week. The companies can reapply but would have the start the assessment process from scratch.

“I’ve been clear I will have zero tolerance for businesses who refuse to provide adequate information about the impact their projects will have on nature,” Plibersek said.

“If companies aren’t willing to show how they will protect nature, then I’m willing to cancel their projects – and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

Ellen Roberts, national coordinator at Lock the Gate, welcomed the decision.

“Zombie projects like these cause stress and uncertainty for regional communities who would be impacted while company bosses in city offices far away weigh up whether or not to proceed,” she said.

“We congratulate minister Plibersek for ending this uncertainty.”

__________

• Future Super hit with greenwashing infringement notice

Future Super has been served a greenwashing infringement notice by the corporate regulator following a Facebook post.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) said the superannuation fund’s post might have been false or misleading by overstating the positive environmental impact of the fund.

It said the post from 29 May 2019 included the statement: ‘Naysayers don’t join together to move nearly $400m out of fossil fuels.’ The post remained on the fund’s Facebook page until October 2022.

At the time of the post, Future Super had about $400m in total funds under management. Asic said it had ‘no basis to represent that the entirety of those funds had been invested in fossil fuels prior to being invested in the fund’.

The super fund paid the infringement notice in April but the regulator noted the payment was not an admission of guilt or liability.

Asic deputy chair Sarah Court said the regulator was continuing to focus on greenwashing broadly in statements to the market, disclosure documents, marketing material and on social media.

Asic has issued more than $150,000 in greenwashing infringement notices since October 2022 and has commenced civil proceedings in the Federal Court against Mercer Super for alleged greenwashing.

Tlou Energy, Vanguard Investments Australia, Diversa Trustees and Black Mountain Energy have been the entities hit with greenwashing infringement notices by the regulator.

https://citywire.com/au/news/future-...otice/a2415749?
________

• Toyota Australia executive says it’s too early for electric vehicles to replace nation’s cars

Australia’s top-selling carmaker has fired an early shot in the debate over a vehicle pollution limit, with a Toyota executive arguing electric vehicles are not ready to replace all cars and a push to do so could leave thousands of motorists behind.

The comments, from the automaker’s sales boss Sean Hanley, come less than two weeks after the federal government launched its national electric vehicle strategy and a public consultation into a fuel efficiency standard.

But environment and electric vehicle groups say the manufacturer’s comments do not reflect the state of vehicle technology and are based on Toyota’s delay in launching electric models.

Toyota, which dominates the Australian auto market, sold more than 230,000 vehicles in the country during 2022 – more than twice its nearest rival.

Hanley said the brand strongly supported the government’s commitment to a fuel-efficiency standard that would cap vehicle pollution and encourage the import of more low-emission cars.

But he said the view that vehicle pollution should be cut by EVs alone was “simplistic” and would leave some motorists without like-for-like replacements.

“It is too early,” Hanley said. “What battery electric vehicle do we have right now on sale in Australia that can tow 2.5 tonnes for 600km? We don’t. It doesn’t exist.

“If we just move to only zero-emission vehicles, what are you going to tell the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Australians who tow caravans, who use their cars for work, who need their cars on the land, who need their cars in the mine, who need more than a 200 or 300km range?”

Despite his comments, Hanley said Toyota was “not against battery electric vehicle technology” and would launch its own model in Australia before the end of the year.

But he said hybrid vehicles were a practical technology for now and Toyota would lobby for a standard with a generous time-frame that cut pollution without cutting vehicle choices.

“We’ve spoken to the government and I think we have represented the silent voices of hundreds of thousands of Australians consumers who use their cars for leisure, towing, and lots of other activities,” he said.

“I know some lobby groups have alleged we’ve tried to stop, prevent, stall electrification but that’s not true. We’ve simply represented the market truth and the market reality.”

____________

• Queensland looks to turbocharge electric car sales amid debate over government incentives

In the race to adopt electric cars, one Australian state or territory is several laps in front of the rest.

The Australian Capital Territory has become the nation’s clear frontrunner, consistently recording electric vehicle sales more than twice as high as any other part of the country.

And while New South Wales is in second place, it is Queensland that is now looking to challenge the lead with the nation’s richest electric car incentive scheme.

Industry experts say the growing competition will be vital to Australians adopting zero-emission transport technology and seeing the country catch up to progress in other countries.

But some argue the money could be better spent on infrastructure needed to keep electric cars on the road, while the price of electric vehicles falls as their popularity increases.

Australia’s first state-based electric car incentives were first launched in 2021, after modest discounts on vehicle registration and home chargers.

The stimulus packages now range from cashback on new electric car purchases, like $3,500 in Western Australia, to stamp duty exemptions in NSW, three years’ free registration in South Australia, and zero-interest loans of up to $15,000 in the ACT.

The latter offer, along with stamp duty and registration discounts and the country’s only ban on the sale of petrol cars by 2035, has seen electric vehicle sales soar in the nation’s capital.

Almost one in every five new cars sold in Canberra were electric in the first three months of the year – a rate more than twice as high as other states (NSW is in second place with 7.9%, followed by Queensland at 6.9%).

It’s an achievement the Queensland government intends to challenge with its means-tested $6,000 rebate that Queensland’s energy minister Mick de Brenni said would make “EVs more affordable and more accessible” when it launches in July.

The revised Queensland scheme will be available on a bigger range of cars – 23 models – after raising the purchase threshold to $68,000.

Dr Jake Whitehead, head of policy at the Electric Vehicle Council, said the growing competition for incentives would ultimately benefit motorists and Australia’s efforts to cut pollution.

“That competitive tension between state and territories in Australia has a long tradition,” he said.

“It helps them to push one another to do better and that’s ultimately what we should all be doing. The task ahead of us is not trivial – reducing emissions by 43 per cent in 2030 is huge – and we will not coast across the finish line.”

Despite growing sales, Australia still lags behind many countries in electric vehicle adoption.

The International Energy Agency this week reported electric vehicles made up 14% of all new car sales worldwide in 2022 – a figure dwarfing the 3.8% figure recorded in Australia.

Dr Whitehead said the gap underlined the need to accelerate Australia’s transition to zero-emission vehicles and the need for financial support.

“Incentives will remain important, particularly as we get an increase in supply,” he said.

“There’s no major economy in the world that has been able to accelerate electric vehicle sales quickly without some form of incentive. I expect once we start to get over, say, 20 to 25% of all new vehicles being electric we can start to look at some of these incentives being phased out.”

The federal government also launched fringe benefits tax cuts for electric vehicle purchases in 2022, potentially cutting $4,700 off the cost of buying an electric vehicle for individuals and $9,000 for employers.

But Curtin University’s distinguished professor Peter Newman argues Australians will buy electric vehicles whether they are given incentives or not, and more will invest in the technology when manufacturers produce cheaper, more accessible models.

“My sense is that we’ve to get beyond subsidies to make this happen,” he said.

“You can encourage it with government help but in the end the most important thing is that the companies take it on as an exercise that needs to be beyond the role of government.”

Newman points to BYD’s Seagull as an example of a car that could change what Australians buy.

The five-door hatchback went on sale in China this week for the equivalent of $17,100, and attracted more than 10,000 pre-orders in 24 hours.

BYD has yet to commit to launching the vehicle locally, however, and the cheapest electric vehicle in Australia currently costs more than $40,000.

Newman said more small, inexpensive, Chinese-made vehicles would come to Australia over the next two years, winning more buyers and allowing governments to invest their funds in charging stations to keep them on roads.

“We can afford to focus on putting money into the provision of services and regulations that need to be sorted,” he said.

“The infrastructure to support electric vehicles is what we should be focusing on and how vehicles can fit into the grid.”

_________

• Northern Territory clears way for fracking to begin in Beetaloo Basin

The Northern Territory government says it is satisfied the recommendations of an independent inquiry into fracking have been met, clearing the way for gas production and the expansion of wells across the Beetaloo basin.

The NT chief minister, Natasha Fyles, announced Wednesday morning her government was giving a green light for gas production in the region between Katherine and Tennant Creek, a move environment organisations and scientists have warned will have an unacceptable impact on the climate.

Wednesday’s announcement means gas companies can apply for production licences and environmental impact assessments.

“Along with our world class renewable resources, our highly prospective onshore gas resources will support the energy transition to renewables not only for the Northern Territory, but for Australia and the world,” Fyles said.

On Wednesday, 96 scientists published an open letter calling for the Northern Territory government to ban unconventional gas projects because of their effects on the climate.

The International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said no new coal and gas projects can proceed if the world is to limit global heating to 1.5C.

“This is a profoundly sad day for the Northern Territory. As we look down the barrel of unliveability here in the Northern Territory due to climate change, the Chief Minister has today given the green light for a carbon bomb that will hurtle us towards climate collapse,” Kirsty Howey, the executive director of the Environment Centre NT, said.

Environmental groups said that despite the government’s announcement, several of the 135 recommendations from the Pepper inquiry in 2018 had not been fulfilled, which Howey said was a broken promise to Territorians and an “unacceptable capitulation” to the gas industry.

They include an expansion of the water trigger, which the Albanese government has proposed but not yet made law, comprehensive assessment of likely cultural impacts of fracking on First Nations people and cultural rights, and provision of “reliable, accessible, trusted and accurate” to Aboriginal people about fracking.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...beetaloo-basin
_________

• NT government accused of failing to address climate risks before approving Beetaloo Basin gas project

A letter from one of the panel members of the Northern Territory’s fracking inquiry says the Fyles government has not fully implemented key recommendations, including those aimed at reducing the risk new gas developments pose for the climate.

Environment groups say it shows “serious outstanding issues” remain with plans to expand the gas industry in the Beetaloo Basin a day after the NT government cleared the way for a move from exploration to production.

Dr David Ritchie, who was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Pepper inquiry’s 135 recommendations, wrote there had been “material departures” from some of its recommendations.

They include recommendations to mitigate the risk of excessive greenhouse gas emissions, the risk of distrust in government and the risks to Aboriginal people and their culture.

Recommendation 9.8 of the inquiry required the NT and federal governments to “seek to ensure” there was no net increase in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Australia from gas projects in the Northern Territory.

On Wednesday, the Northern Territory chief minister, Natasha Fyles, said “we have absolutely met the recommendation” but later acknowledged that meeting this requirement for scope 2 – the energy used by gas companies – and scope 3 – when the gas is sold and burnt – emissions would require work with the commonwealth government.

Ritchie’s letter disagrees this recommendation has been implemented and states “there has been no progress on the crux of this recommendation”.

The letter also says risks the inquiry identified to Aboriginal people and their culture were “substantially unaltered” and remained “at an unacceptable level”.

Dr Sam Phelan, the Katherine region coordinator of Protect Big Rivers, said the letter suggested there were serious outstanding issues with the implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations despite the NT government’s claims the necessary conditions had been met to move to production.

“Dr David Ritchie’s letter exposes how, despite Natasha Fyles making claims to the contrary, the NT government has fundamentally not implemented all 135 recommendations of fracking inquiry,” she said.

Kirsty Howey, the executive director of the Environment Centre NT, said the territory government’s claims the recommendations had been implemented were “misleading”.

“This is a project whose emissions will be so vast they’re significant on a national and a global scale,” she said.

“To pretend that that issue in particular has been resolved as promised is outrageous and a betrayal.”

Alina Leikin, special counsel at the Environmental Defenders Office, said the office’s own analysis of the 135 recommendations found less than half had been fully implemented.

“The government made a promise that it wouldn’t detonate the carbon bomb in the Beetaloo unless every single fracking inquiry recommendation was implemented,” she said.

Fyles said as the world transitioned to a net zero economy, her government’s priority was creating opportunities for territorians.

“All 135 recommendations from the Pepper inquiry have now been completed and there are now much stronger environmental, cultural, social, economic and health protections in place than ever before,” she said.

She said the government would carefully manage the onshore gas industry through a “strengthened regulatory framework, ensuring greater transparency and accountability – and with Aboriginal people having a seat at the table”.

“In terms of 9.8 we have a large emitters policy, we have a climate change policy and in regards to scope 2 and 3 we acknowledge the work that needs to be done with the commonwealth government who we are partnering with,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...in-gas-project

Missed one from today’s news

• Climate scientists first laughed at a ‘bizarre’ campaign against the BoM – then came the harassment

For more than a decade, climate science deniers, rightwing politicians and sections of the Murdoch media have waged a campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the Bureau of Meteorology’s temperature records.

Those records say Australia has warmed by 1.4C since 1910, the year when the bureau’s main quality-controlled climate dataset starts.

Extremely hot days come along more often than they used to, and the warming trends are happening everywhere, at all times of the year.

As a target for those with an often visceral distrust of the established science of human-caused global heating, the bureau’s temperature record might be seen as ground zero.

“This has frankly been a concerted campaign,” says climate scientist Dr Ailie Gallant, of Monash University. “But this is not about genuine scepticism. It is harassment and blatant misinformation that has been perpetuated.”

Despite multiple reviews, reports, advisory panels and peer-reviewed studies rejecting claims that its temperature record was biased or flawed, Gallant says the “harassment” of the bureau has continued.

In the latest challenge, the Australian newspaper – which over the years has elevated claims from sceptics and bloggers on to its pages – is calling for a “proper, expert appraisal” of temperature records after running claims that mercury thermometers occasionally used by the bureau were recording lower temperatures at one location than newer automatic probes in the same place.

One former executive, who for eight years was responsible for the bureau’s main climate record, says the constant criticism has affected the health of scientists over many years, who were diverted from real research to repeatedly answer the same questions.

One of the earliest formal attacks came in 2010, when the then Liberal senator Cory Bernardi joined sceptics to demand the National Audit Office investigate the internationally-recognised technique known as homogenisation, which aims to remove artificial changes in temperature readings such as if a weather station is moved or buildings are erected that could alter readings.

‘Fever swamp’ of climate science denial

A small band of sceptics have long claimed a conspiracy, without evidence, that the bureau deliberately used homogenisation in its centrepiece dataset of 112 weather stations – known as the Australian Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (Acorn-Sat) – to make the heating of the continent’s climate appear worse.

That effort to engage the audit office failed, but the bureau established its own review with a panel of independent international experts.

That panel reported that “as the world’s first national-scale homogenised data set of daily temperatures” it had “a high level of confidence in the national temperature trends” from Acorn-Sat.

Another independent expert panel reported for three years from 2015 and again backed the bureau’s methods, despite “unsolicited submissions” which they said “do not provide evidence or offer a justification for contesting the overall need for homogenisation and the scientific integrity of the bureau’s climate records.”

Undeterred, sceptics have continued, sending a barrage of questions to the bureau while publishing blogs that were echoed by multiple stories and opinion pieces in the Murdoch media.

Former bureau boss Rob Vertessy, who left the agency in 2016, has said the attacks were pushed by an organised “fever swamp” of climate science denial.

“Every minute a BoM executive spends on this nonsense is a minute lost to managing risk and protecting the community. It is a real problem,” he told Guardian Australia.

Neil Plummer worked at the bureau for 33 years, leaving in 2019, and between 2010 and 2018 was the senior executive responsible for Acorn-Sat.

“The answers [from the reviews] should have been very clear,” he says. “There was always a close to zero chance that the bureau had deliberately introduced a warming trend.”

The warming trend in Australia is visible in the adjusted and unadjusted data, and Plummer says it also aligns with the warming seen in the ocean around the continent, and with “18 other independent data sets around the world, including from satellites looking at the lower atmosphere”.

Plummer says from 2010 onwards, a constant stream of “distractions coming from critics” meant leading climate scientists under his charge were having to respond repeatedly to the same questions.

“The cost was high because we were diverting scientists to addressing these very, very specific questions which overall had very little public benefit.”

Plummer says when the bureau was accused of conspiring to make warming seem worse, he thought it was initially “bizarre and laughable”.

“But then we heard climate scientists in Australia and overseas were receiving death threats or getting hate messages and there were personal attacks on our own people. Then it gets serious and raised a big concern about where this was all going. Would we end up in some politicised inquiry that was potentially career-ending?

“My biggest concern was for the health of the climate scientists. They did that work admirably and stuck with it but for a significant number it affected their health and wellbeing and their professional standing. They were concerned it was going to damage their careers.”

Dr Greg Ayers, a former director of the bureau and leading CSIRO atmospheric scientist, has written four peer-reviewed papers testing claims made by sceptics.

“There’s a lot of assertion [from sceptics] but I haven’t seen much science,” said Ayers. “If you are going to make claims then we need to do peer-reviewed science, not just assertion.”

In one paper, Ayers, who left the bureau 13 years ago, compared the Acorn-Sat warming trend with four other international data sets that use weather balloons, satellites and raw data from the bureau. In all cases, Ayers found a comparable warming trend.

One longstanding bureau critic is Dr Jennifer Marohasy of the rightwing Institute of Public Affairs – the Melbourne-based group that has been a central cog in attempts to deny or undermine human-caused climate change in the eyes of the public since the 1990s.

For several years, Marohasy has claimed the bureau’s practice of taking automatic measurements from the final second of each minute breached guidelines from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization, which recommends temperatures should be averaged over a minute.

But Ayers and the bureau say the response time of its automatic probes means the recorded measurement is effectively an average of the temperature over the previous 40 seconds to 80s.

In another study, Ayers examined if the bureau’s recording method could generate a bias towards higher temperatures.

Ayers took all the data recorded at two locations to see if taking extra readings across a minute made any difference to the temperatures recorded. While tiny differences were found, the study concluded the bureau’s method was “not at risk of bias”.

Electric Vehicle Council of Australia

• Electric vehicle ad campaign claps back at ex-PM's jibe

The push for one million electric vehicles on Australian roads by 2027 has received a boost from a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign poking fun at comments by the former prime minister.

The Electric Vehicle Council launched its campaign on television and online on Monday, showcasing a range of zero-emission vehicles, including the country's first electric ute.

The advertisement also mocks comments by former prime minister Scott Morrison in 2019 that electric vehicles would "end the weekend".

The new ads come at a pivotal time for electric vehicle policy in Australia, with less than four weeks left to debate a fuel-efficiency standard that could encourage car makers to bring more low and zero-emission cars into the country.

The campaign also launches a week after an executive from Australia's most popular car brand, Toyota, told AAP it was "too early" for some Australian drivers to transition to electric vehicles.

Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the campaign was designed to promote the benefits of driving an electric car, including better air quality, lower energy costs, and reduced pollution.

"The ads call on Australians to get behind the push to have a million EVs on Australian roads by 2027, which coincides with the federal government's plan to introduce strong fuel-efficiency standards," he said.

"We need to incentivise car makers to make their best range of EVs available to Australians so that Australian consumers have the same choice as drivers in the United States or Europe."

The "My next car will" video shows some of the high-powered electric vehicles available in Australia from brands including Tesla, Hyundai, Porsche and LDV, along with a promise the vehicles will "transform the weekend".

The video also shows two couples camping, with a morose woman commenting to her partner, "Hey Scotty, I thought you said these EVs were going to ruin the weekend".

Her comment alludes to a statement from former prime minister Scott Morrison in April 2019, who said electric vehicles would not tow trailers, boats or "get you out to your favourite camping spot".

"Bill Shorten wants to end the weekend when it comes to his policy on electric vehicles where you've got Australians who love being out there in their four-wheel drives," Mr Morrison said during the election campaign.

Despite his comments, and a comparatively slow adoption of the technology in Australia, electric vehicles made up eight per cent of new car sales in April, up from 3.8 per cent last year.

Two electric cars from Tesla, the Model Y and Model 3, also ranked among the top 10 most popular vehicles during the month.

The federal government launched its National Electric Vehicle Strategy on April 19, including a commitment to introduce a fuel-efficiency standard to put a limit on carbon emissions from car maker's fleets to encourage them to import more low-emission vehicles.

Public consultation on the standard will remain open until May 31, with a draft of the law expected before the end of the year.

_________

• Australia to invest $1.4 billion to scale up renewable hydrogen industry

Australia will invest A$2 billion ($1.4 billion) to scale up development of its renewable hydrogen industry, the government announced in its annual budget on Tuesday, as it looks to accelerate clean energy projects in the country.

Funds will be allocated under a “Hydrogen Headstart” programme that provides revenue support for large-scale renewable hydrogen projects through competitive hydrogen production contracts, the announcement said.

The government said the funds would help bridge the commercial gap for early projects and put Australia on course for up to a gigawatt of electrolyser capacity by 2030 through two to three flagship projects.

Australia already has the largest pipeline of renewable hydrogen projects in the world, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said, adding that getting to the country’s target of net zero emissions by 2050 will require renewable hydrogen.

“The government is making the biggest ever investment in Australia’s energy transformation,” Chalmers said in his speech.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government has also allocated about A$4 billion to renewable energy projects in the budget. It brings the total investment into renewable energy to more than A$40 billion, it said.

That includes part of the A$15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to support green industries.

The budget also allocated funds to the critical minerals industry needed to make batteries and other green technologies.

Supplier of nearly half of the world’s lithium, Australia is also the world’s third-largest cobalt exporter and a significant producer of rare earths, copper, graphite, manganese and other minerals key to the global energy transition.

However, those minerals are largely processed in China and turned into materials essential in batteries and magnets for products from electric vehicles to missiles.

The budget allocated A$57.1 million for a critical minerals programme aimed at drawing foreign investment into such projects in Australia.

____________

• New Australian Agency to Coordinate Shift to Renewables

Australia says a new government agency that will guide coal-dominated areas away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy will start work in July. The Net Zero Authority will support workers in finding new jobs and training, coordinate official policy and advise businesses.

Australia has some of the highest per capita rates of greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world.

The government says the new Net Zero Authority will “proactively manage the transformation to a clean energy economy”, adding that the “global transformation to a net zero economy is a massive source of economic opportunity for Australia.”

Business groups, conservationists and academics have been calling for an overarching body to help co-ordinate Australia’s energy transition.

The new agency is supported by trade unions, which are eager for their members in the mining and energy sectors to be retrained in the new green economy.

Anna Skarbek, chief executive officer of the Climate Works Center, an independent non-profit organization, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that the Net Zero Authority will have a positive impact.

“It is right for a national government to set this up especially in an economy like Australia that has a federal government and state governments,” Skarbek said. “But also, it is right to give it three focus areas and that is to support the workers in emissions-intensive areas and it is also to coordinate government policies and programs across many governments and to coordinate with investors and the companies who will be doing much of the investment.”

Australia has a target to cut carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Electricity generation in Australia continues to be dominated by coal and gas.

However, the shift to renewable sources of power in Australia appears unstoppable.

An April 2023 report by the Clean Energy Council, an industry association, reported that clean energy accounted for 35.9% of Australia’s total electricity generation in 2022.

This was an increase from 32.5% in 2021.

The report stated that there was “still a significant way to go if Australia is to meet its ambition of 82% renewables by 2030” but there has “nevertheless been encouraging progress.”

___________

• Traditional owners call for ban on shale gas fracking

"What do we want? Clean water! Who do we want it for? Our sons and daughters!"

So chanted protesters on the lawns of parliament house as they called on the federal government to listen to traditional owners and ban shale fracking.

Widjabul-Wiabul woman and GetUp chief executive Larissa Baldwin-Roberts said they were standing in solidarity with traditional owners from the Northern Territory.

Ms Baldwin said the Labor federal and NT governments had broken promises to Indigenous people.

"For decades traditional owners across this country have been saying 'no'," she said.

"They've been saying no to fracking on their country and they've been saying that they want to protect their cultural heritage and their water.

"What we saw in last night's budget was millions and millions of dollars going in to super-charge these projects and steamroll our communities in order to get fracking going."

Nicholas Milyari Fitzpatrick, a Yanyuwa-Garrawa traditional owner from Borroloola, said they didn't want gas mining on their country.

"We've been saying no to fracking for decades," he said.

"How can we trust the government to listen to this gammin voice if they can't put a stop to the very thing that is destroying our land, our songlines and our water?"

Ms Baldwin said the Albanese government was in one breath talking about support for an Indigenous voice and in the next it was ignoring the voices of thousands of traditional owners.

"We know, in terms of our climate, what has been happening," she said.

"Earlier this year we saw across the Kimberley and the NT, thousands of people displaced because of climate disasters. We cannot keep fracking fossil fuels."

The Northern Territory government announced last week fracking could go ahead after it lifted a five-year moratorium.

About 500km southeast of Darwin, the Beetaloo Basin contains an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of gas, making it one of Australia's most energy resource-rich areas.

While fracking for gas in Australia has been used in coal seams in the past two decades, shale fracking - which is done much deeper below the surface - is yet to be trialled.

Ms Baldwin said the federal government needed to step in and strengthen environmental controls over the gas industry.

"Shale gas fracking requires drilling down to a depth of up to 4km, that's a long way and that hasn't been done commercially in this country," she said.

"What does that mean when you start messing with deep aquifers?

"In the Beetaloo Basin, some of the aquifers they're talking about fracking could also affect the Great Artesian Basin."

__________

Off the tracks......

• Albanese government approves first new coalmine since taking power

The Australian government has approved a new coalmine development for the first time since it was elected last year.

Tanya Plibersek, the federal environment minister, indicated she would give the green light to the Isaac River coalmine in Queensland’s Bowen basin. It was announced late on Thursday.

The mine, to be developed by Bowen Coking Coal, is planned for 28km east of Moranbah, next to five other coalmines, and expected to produce about 500,000 tonnes of metallurgical coal a year for five years. Metallurgical coal, also known as coking coal, is used in steelmaking.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...e-taking-power

An international group has scored Australia’s latest UN climate pledge a “zero” because it fails to recognise the health risks and benefits of its approach to reach its greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The Global Climate and Health Alliance assessed the climate pledges of the 58 countries that submitted revised versions to the UN’s climate convention between 1 October 2021 and 23 September 2022.

In June last year, the Albanese government submitted a revised pledge – known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – to cut emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030, an improvement on the previous Coalition government’s 28% cut.

Australia was one of only six countries to score zero in the report, alongside Bahrain, Belarus, Japan, New Zealand and Turkey.

Fiona Armstrong, founder of the Australia-based Climate and Health Alliance affiliated with the global group, said:

The latest [report] reveals just how far Australia has fallen behind other countries in the last decade when it comes to action to protect people’s health from climate change.

As many other countries recognise the deep links between a changing climate and the health of populations, Australia is being left far behind as other countries adopt an integrated approach to climate change.

This assessment of Australia’s NDC takes a deep dive into the extent to which climate’s consequences for human health are recognised in Australia’s global commitments to act on climate change.

The 0/18 score reflects the current absence of any policies mentioned in the NDC that explicitly invest in health, including, for example, a national climate and health adaptation plan, investment in strengthening the capacity of the health workforce to respond to climate change, or investing in climate strategies that also deliver health benefits.

Only 16 countries scored above 10 out of a possible 18 in the report, and all were low to middle income nations, with Burundi in first place and Cote d’Ivoire in second.