What a stunning turnaround. The man who lost the leadership by fighting to introduce a carbon price is now railing against renewable energy.
Category: Climate
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Conservatives push carbon tax to address climate crisis.
Conservatives push carbon tax to address climate crisis
By John Upton on 9 February 2017 Climate Central
With President Trump and Republicans in Congress moving swiftly to repeal regulations that slow global warming, a group of prominent conservatives on Wednesday touted a different potential solution — a carbon tax that pays cash dividends to Americans. (more…) -
CHRISTIAN DOWNIE. The security threat from climate change
The Turnbull Government’s decision to continue to back coal is not just bad economics, it also makes no sense from a national security perspective as the worsening impacts of climate change threaten international stability. (more…)
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RICHARD ECKERSLEY. The Trump imbroglio: confusion and contradiction everywhere
Global consumer capitalism, is reducing quality of life: stripping our lives of intrinsic worth and meaning; weakening communities; undermining health and wellbeing; creating grotesque inequities; destroying the natural environment; and undermining our faith in humanity’s future.
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Trump and Turnbull.
The problem is not with America and Australia – it is with Trump and Turnbull, and more urgently with Turnbull. Sooner or later he will have to decide: does he continue as the next in line of Trump’s Aunt Sallies, punching bags and door mats or does he have a plan B? Perhaps it is finally time to unleash his inner political animal – assuming, of course, that he actually has one. (more…)
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FRANK JOTZO. New coal plants wouldn’t be clean, and would cost billions in taxpayer subsidies.
Following a campaign by the coal industry, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has argued for new coal-fired power stations in Australia. But these plants would be more expensive than renewables and carry a huge liability through the carbon emissions they produce.
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GEOFF DAVIES. Brexit, Trump and a Rigged System. Part 2 of 2.
Neoliberalism let loose the anarchic forces of free markets just at the time when we most needed them to be restrained and redirected so as not to wreck our planetary home. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. The new squatters on public land.
The new squatters on public land are being given a leg-up as they were in the 19th Century to seize and occupy public land. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. Rex Tillerson and Australia’s national interest
President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks are being cross-examined in public for the first time. Here begins the real business of assessing how a Trump administration might behave––in more than 140 characters. The indications so far suggest the need for an early reappraisal. (more…)
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BRUCE THOM. Agonies of an American scientist under Trump.
A truly great nation must be compassionate, loving, kind, rational and celebrate diversity. (more…)
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Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 2 – The response of those left behind
It would be hasty to attribute the Brexit and Trump votes to a “swing to the right”, or to an ill-informed electorate. The most compelling explanations are in terms of protest votes. People’s anger of electorates has given an opening for political opportunists.
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 3 – Globalization takes the rap, unfairly
Globalization has been only one of the developments that has led to widening inequality and social exclusion. Countries that have globalized have also introduced a raft of neoliberal domestic policies, against which people are reacting.
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JON STANFORD. Australia’s climate change policy mess: quo vadis?
Make no mistake: Malcolm Turnbull’s pusillanimous refusal even to consider the option of an emissions intensity scheme (EIS) for electricity generation represents a massive abdication of responsibility to the Australian community. (more…)
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull blaming everyone but himself.
The constant refrain of economists who get it wrong is that we should never rely on just one set of figures. (more…)
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FRANK JOTZO. Trump and Climate – but new opportunities for China.
The Trump Presidency is a fork in the road for climate action. While it may set back global climate efforts, an inward-looking US government that ignores climate change provides new opportunities for leadership elsewhere, Frank Jotzo writes.
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GILES PARKINSON. Turnbull leads attack on wind as Coalition readies carbon price backflip.
A rebadged carbon tax!
In its review of its climate change policies, the government will try to dance its way through internal politics, the demands of the fossil fuel lobby and comparisons with Labor’s proposals. Turnbull and Frydenberg appear to have concluded that the best way to appease the far right rump of the Coalition is to abandon direct support for renewables, help open up the Galilee coal resource and push for more coal seam gas. (more…)
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VINCENT MAHON. China ready to step up and lead on climate change.
Vincent Mahon contends that China is poised to promote global leadership on climate change should the US under Trump walk away from its Paris commitments. (more…)
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CHRISTIAN DOWNIE. Why China and Europe should form the world’s most powerful ‘climate bloc’.
Filling the void created by Donald Trump!
It seems almost certain that US President-elect Donald Trump will walk away from the Paris climate agreement next year. In the absence of US leadership, the question is: who will step up?
Sadly this is not a new question, and history offers some important lessons. In 2001 the world faced a similar dilemma. After former vice-president Al Gore lost the 2000 election to George W. Bush, the newly inaugurated president walked away from the Kyoto Protocol, the previous global pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (more…)
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SAM HURLEY, TRAVERS McLEOD, JOHN WISEMAN. Company directors can be held legally liable for ignoring the risks from climate change.
Company directors who don’t properly consider climate related risks could be liable for breaching their duty of due care and diligence, a new legal opinion has found.
Although the alarm for business leaders has been sounding for some time, the release of the opinion by senior barristers and leading solicitors confirms the potential liability for Australian company directors.
Australian companies are particularly exposed to the physical, transition and liability risks posed by climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement, which comes into force today, brings the transition risks (and opportunities) forward, given the policy and business changes necessitated by the agreement’s commitment to a sustainable economy. (more…)
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ROSS GARNAUT. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Part 2.
The Challenge of Globalisation.
This is the second of a two-part series of extracts from an address which Professor Ross Garnaut gave to the Sydney Democracy Network, University of Sydney, 7 September 2016. The full text of his address can be found on his website.
PART 2. RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBALISATION.
Democratic capitalism’s return to success depends on reconciling concerns for ordinary citizens’ standards of living with the demands of globalisation.
A global economy would work better with global governance. However, there is little tolerance for international governance in contemporary democratic polities. There are some real advantages in governance at smaller scales where it is appropriate. Efforts towards global economic governance should therefore concentrate on issues where it has the greatest value.
I focus here on trade and development, where we can build on the role of the World Trade Organisation. (more…)
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PETER CHRISTOFF. The Paris climate deal has come into force – what next for Australia?
The Paris climate agreement comes into legal force today, just 11 months after it was concluded and 30 days after it met its ratification threshold of 55 parties accounting for at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
By contrast, the Kyoto Protocol, which this treaty now replaces, took more than 8 years to come into force, slowed by the United States’ persistent and erosive opposition.
At the time of writing, the Agreement has been ratified by 94 parties, including the world’s four largest emitters: China, the United States, the European Union and India. As Climate Analytics reports, these nations account for 66% of greenhouse emissions. Even if the United States were to withdraw its support under a Trump presidency, the Paris Agreement will remain in force. (more…)
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ROSS GARNAUT. The economics of the future energy system.
How can we provide a high degree of energy security in Australia at the lowest possible cost, while contributing our fair share to the global effort to contain the costs of climate change?
I take as my starting point Prime Minister Turnbull’s admonition that we put ideology aside as we seek answers to this question.
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GILES PARKINSON. Coalition’s stunning hypocrisy – and ignorance – on renewable energy.
The Coalition appears to have abandoned all pretence that it supports renewable energy, now contradicting assurances by the grid owner and market operator – and now the biggest generator in the country – that the source of energy was not at fault for the massive blackout in South Australia last week.
After Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg used the opportunity to use the blackout to try to force the Labor states’ targets. They were joined by Industry, Science and Innovation Minister Greg Hunt on Monday.
In an opinion piece written for the Australian Financial Review, reported as the front page lead, “SA blackout could have been avoided”, Hunt claimed that a coal fired generator could have kept the lights on in Olympic Dam and Whyalla and avoided much of the damage. He also chastised the states for chasing unrealistic targets. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Dumb politics means we may be stuck with an even dumber grid
It was just six years ago when Malcolm Turnbull, then deposed Liberal Party leader, attended the launch of the Beyond Zero Emissions Zero Carbon plan for 2020, which suggested Australia should and could attain 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020.
Turnbull, by all accounts, was an enthusiastic participant, and was particularly excited by solar towers and molten salt storage. “There is a real opportunity there, with that technology, to generate baseload power from solar energy – something of a holy grail.” (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Uhlmann’s bizarre prediction of “national blackout” if we pursue wind and solar
The ABC is supposed to have a ban on advertising. But even if it was allowed, money couldn’t buy the sort of advocacy the fossil fuel industry and incumbent energy interests are receiving this week from the network’s chief political correspondent, Chris Uhlmann.
On Thursday, we took Uhlmann to task for the way he reported the blackout event in South Australia, and his suggestion that the state’s large portfolio of wind energy assets were at fault.
Later that day, Uhlmann doubled down, in an article on the ABC website, and then on a major piece to camera on the flagship 7pm TV news. The result, presented as “analysis” and to the layman as a collection of “facts”, was more than the fossil fuel industry could ever wish for. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. Malcolm Turnbull – the last straw on climate change and renewables.
Let’s be clear. All the experts tell us that the power blackout in SA had nothing to do with the energy mix – coal, gas, solar or wind. They all tell us that the blackout was due to the collapse of the key distribution towers and lines.
Yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull blamed the blackout on excessive haste with renewables and called for cuts in renewable energy targets. It was part of a continuing war by the coalition against renewable energy with the ABC now joining in. The Victorian Premier called Malcolm Turnbull’s comments ‘ignorant rubbish’.
With his populist nonsense Malcolm Turnbull finally and fully embraced the coal lobby. He has taken the final step from a believer in climate change to a sceptic. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Coalition launches fierce attack against wind and solar after blackout.
The Coalition government launched a ferocious attack against wind and solar energy after the major South Australian blackout, even though energy minister Josh Frydenberg and the grid operators admit that the source of energy had nothing to do with catastrophic outage.
Frydenberg, however, lined up with prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, independent Senator Nick Xenophon and a host of conservative commentators, including Andrew Bolt, Alan Moran, the ABC’s Chris Ullmann, and Fairfax’ Brian Robins to exploit the blackout to question the use of renewable energy.
Frydenberg used the blackout to continue his persistent campaign against the renewable energy targets of state Labor governments in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, saying that the blackout was proof that these targets were “unrealistic.” (more…)
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DYLAN McCONNELL. Was the SA blackout caused by wind or wind turbines?
It has everything to do with wind – because that’s what blew over the transmission lines. But it has nothing to do with South Australia’s wind turbines. Transmission lines are large power lines that take electricity from generators to the smaller distribution lines that bring power to our homes.
South Australia’s energy generation mix is mixture of wind, gas and some solar, and as of this year, zero coal. The state is connected to the rest of eastern Australia’s electricity market through two inter-connectors, one of which is down for service. (more…)
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Anti-global backlash is realigning politics across the West.
In the WorldPost, Nouriel Roubini writes “Across the West establishment parties of the Right and the Left are being disrupted – if not destroyed from the inside. Within such parties, the losers from globalisation are finding champions of anti-globalisation that are challenging the formal mainstream orthodoxy.” (more…)
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JOHN TULLOH. Olympics and oil – a tale of two South American countries.
Back in 2009, the International Olympic Committee made a bold decision. It decided the 2016 Games would be held for the first time in South America, a continent not noted for its political, economic or social stability. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil would be the host city even though the evaluation of three others – Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago – was superior. At the time, Brazil’s economy was thundering along, overtaking Russia in strength and sitting comfortably in the world’s top 10. It was boom time in Rio. Today it is more like gloom time as Brazil’s economy contracts and suffers its worst recession since the 1930s. This should have come as no surprise in a continent synonymous with volatility. Nor is it a surprise that another South American country, Venezuela, once awash in oil revenue and wealth, should implode and now be mixing it with the world’s most hopeless economic cases. (more…)