Data centres could consume 13 per cent of National Electricity Market power by 2036. Australia should require them to bring new firmed renewable energy rather than add pressure to the grid. (more…)
Category: Climate
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Rolling back Victoria’s energy transition could cost billions
With the Yallourn power station closing and electricity demand rising, abandoning major renewable and transmission projects could add billions to Victoria’s power costs and leave new supply years behind. (more…)
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Albanese, climate change and the case for greater independence
Australia faces worsening climate risks while expanding fossil fuel projects and deepening its ties with Washington. Could Anthony Albanese pursue a more independent path on climate, energy and foreign policy? (more…)
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Do ‘fuel breaks’ stack up for us and our forests?
Victoria plans thousands of kilometres of fuel breaks, but evidence suggests they could damage endangered forests, increase carbon emissions and deliver limited protection against the most dangerous bushfires. (more…)
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The world is living beyond its water means
Humanity is living beyond its means as wetlands disappear and World Heritage sites face growing water risks – while one company plans to illuminate the night from space. (more…)
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Albanese backflips on renewables for data centres
The Albanese government has retreated from requiring new data centres to prioritise renewables, allowing states greater control over energy sources as Queensland and the Northern Territory pursue fossil fuels. (more…)
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Labor’s carbon offsets look better on paper than in practice
Labor’s latest carbon offset proposal shows how economic ideas that work neatly on paper can deliver far less environmental benefit when put into practice. (more…)
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Farmers turn to renewables as fertiliser costs soar
Australian farmers are turning to wind and solar to produce fertiliser locally, cut rising costs and reduce their dependence on volatile global supply chains.
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The world is heading towards a food crisis of its own making
Climate change, war and fragile supply chains are driving a growing global food crisis, with hunger rising and the world’s food systems under increasing strain. (more…)
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Battery projects stalled by serial objectors
Two NSW battery projects face independent review after attracting dozens of objections, many from opponents living hundreds of kilometres away. (more…)
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The 80,000 native forest jobs claim doesn’t add up
The forest industry claims 80,000 jobs are threatened by a proposed new forest carbon method. But employment data from three states tell a very different story, according to David Lindenmayer (more…)
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The answer to NSW’s wind investment drought may be its biggest electricity users
NSW is using the enormous electricity demand of Tomago and new data centres to drive investment in wind and storage, potentially unlocking gigawatts of new capacity as coal plants retire. (more…)
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The coming Super El Niño could push a hotter world towards food crisis
A super El Niño could intensify heat, drought, fire and crop losses across Australia and Asia, while fertiliser shortages raise the risk of a wider food crisis. (more…)
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Zen Energy’s collapse is no vindication for coal
The collapse of renewable energy retailer Zen Energy has been seized on by critics of Australia’s energy transition, but its failure says little about the broader shift towards renewable energy. (more…)
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The planetary emergency is here. The warnings are getting louder
Decades of scientific warnings have done little to change humanity’s course. A new warning looks at the interconnected pressures facing the planet and what can be done about them. (more…)
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Australia knows the climate risk – and keeps waiting
Australians increasingly accept that climate change is real, yet governments continue approving fossil fuel expansion and development in known risk zones. The longer action is delayed, the harder and costlier it becomes. (more…)
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Five Fijian sparkies and the real challenge of remote renewable energy
A remote solar and battery system can replace diesel, but lasting energy independence depends on something less easily shipped – local people with the skills and confidence to maintain it. (more…)
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Environment: Australia’s diesel use increasing despite the harm it causes
Australia is subsidising rising diesel use, personal carbon footprints distract from systemic change, forest loss is accelerating and feral cats are killing even more native wildlife than we thought.
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Who should build the low-carbon economy?
Clean technologies are spreading rapidly, but the ability to design, manufacture and profit from them remains concentrated in a handful of countries. A just transition requires developing nations to build their own capacity to innovate. (more…)
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Australia should vaccinate threatened wildlife against bird flu
With H5N1 now killing Australian wild birds, targeted vaccination could help protect threatened species and prevent local extinctions before catastrophe strikes. (more…)
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Hothouse Earth is arriving faster than predicted
New climate data and risk modelling suggest global heating is accelerating far faster than expected, with catastrophic consequences unless fossil fuel use is rapidly reduced. (more…)
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Why I support a carbon method for limiting the emissions from native forest logging
Carbon offsets have rightly earned distrust, but the new Improved Native Forest Management method could protect native forests, store carbon and penalise future logging rather than delay decarbonisation. (more…)
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Environment: Shoddy impact assessments satisfy fossil fuel companies and governments
Oil and gas risks in the Arafura and Timor Seas are being underplayed, small bushland remnants deserve protection, and solar’s rapid growth still has not displaced fossil fuels.
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Plug-in solar could bring renters into the renewables boom
New Zealand has recommended legalising plug-in solar, potentially opening rooftop-style savings to renters, apartment dwellers and others previously locked out of renewables. (more…)
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Climate action starts with clearer language
Many Australians are concerned about climate change but do not know how petrol, diesel and gas drive it, because climate language has become too technical, opaque and disconnected from daily life. (more…)
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Australia needs green energy statecraft
Australia’s iron and steel sector shows why climate policy, industrial strategy and national security now need to be governed together, not treated as separate problems. (more…)
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Environment: Six revolutions and four billion years made today’s biosphere
This week’s environment round-up looks at the metabolic revolutions that remade Earth, China’s simultaneous coal and renewables boom, habitat gardens and Australia’s Cape Grim climate monitoring. (more…)
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With hyperscale data centres, water governance faces its biggest challenge
Hyperscale data centres are adding new pressure to already stressed freshwater systems, testing whether governments can allocate, monitor and protect water fairly.
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Coal extensions are holding back clean energy investment
Uncertainty over coal plant closure dates is weakening investor confidence in renewable energy, creating a circular problem where coal stays open because new investment is delayed.
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Albanese sees the problem. Labor still cannot name the system
Anthony Albanese acknowledged structural problems in the economy at its National Conference, but Labor still treats capitalism as a system to be repaired rather than transformed. (more…)