The Australian Energy Market Operator has cited climate change, and the potential for large fossil fuel generators to fail in the summer heat-wave as the biggest threat to Australia’s electricity supplies in the coming years. (more…)
Category: Climate
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EMMA CARMODY. Murray, Darling, what’s all this 4 Corners fuss about?
This article examines the contents of a recently aired 4 Corners episode, Pumped, which included allegations of water theft, corruption and regulatory capture in the Murray-Darling Basin. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Super cheap solar – and why that’s good for Australia’s mining sector
Australia’s most pre-eminent solar researcher, Dr Martin Green, says the cost of solar PV technology will fall substantially in coming years, and while bad for the country’s thermal coal industry it will spell good news for other Australian mineral and materials exports.’ Any loss in thermal coal sales due to strong solar PV uptake will be offset 5 times over by increased demand for more valuable resources- coking coal,iron ore,alumina and copper’ (more…)
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. The shambles of Australia’s national electricity policy.
Australia has rich energy resources, both fossil and renewable, and a well considered electricity market design, as evidenced by the National Electricity Market (NEM), so why is our electricity market policy overall in such a shambolic state? Successive national governments have failed to address the core policy issues that are fundamental if the ‘trilemma’ of current challenges are to be resolved. (more…)
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BOB DOUGLAS An algal industry ready to bloom
A high level Roundtable held in Canberra in November 2017 concluded that algal technology can help to protect the Great Barrier Reef and create new jobs and growth for regional areas. (more…)
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DAVID KING AND PETER BROOKS. Coal is the new tobacco.
Coal is the new tobacco in terms of the harms it has on our health. No hospital would think of lending its logo to support the marketing of cigarettes or allowing any of its key decision makers to have strong links to cigarette companies. Yet, such an extraordinary situation has arisen around the Mater Hospital in Brisbane. (more…)
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JULIAN CRIBB: When optimism spells disaster…
One of the most dangerous threats to the human future in this, the Age of Perils, is … optimism. (more…)
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Minimising existential threats of our own making
Events that could permanently and drastically curtail humanity’s potential or even cause human extinction are often referred to as existential threats. A moderate sized asteroid hitting our planet is a prime example. It could wipe us all out in a flash, as apparently happened to 75% of the species on earth at the time a 10 Km diameter asteroid hit the Earth about 65 million years ago. (more…)
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JOAN STAPLES. Environmental NGOs, Public Advocacy and Government
Environmental NGOs fear the Federal Government is moving to limit their public’ advocacy by requiring them to spend 50% of their income on practical environmental tasks such as tree planting. (more…)
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LESLEY HUGHES. Solving the climate crisis: one city at a time
Although Trump has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, many cities in the US (and in Australia) are taking climate change matters into their own hands, thumbing their collective noses at ideological-driven policy paralysis at the federal level. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. How the far Right have hijacked Australia’s energy policy
If you ever wondered just how comprehensively the Far Right has hijacked the Coalition’s energy policy, it’s worth reading the speech by NSW energy minister Don Harwin we reported on last week. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Garnaut: CET may be useless without higher emission targets
Leading economist professor Ross Garnaut says the clean energy target recommended by the Finkel Review could be useless in meeting current emission reduction targets, because technology change and coal retirements will get us there in any case. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Coal on limited lifespan as CCS hopes go up in smoke
The coal industry is facing a new crisis point as a group of leading scientists call for the construction of new coal generators to cease within three years, and as the industry’s flagship “clean coal” and carbon capture and storage project went up in smoke in the US. (more…)
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TONY MAHER. Energy future debate needs to put people first
Without bipartisan support for the key planks of energy policy, we will continue to have electricity shortages, higher than necessary prices and investment decisions being made by governments based on populism. Workers shouldn’t be used as a pawn in a political game by politicians. Workers should be centre stage – changes to the energy system should make sure workers and their communities don’t continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden of this unholy mess. (more…)
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STEVE DOVERS. Australia as world leader in conservation?
With the environment a low political priority and few significant environmental initiatives in recent years, maybe Australia just isn’t up to being the world leader in conservation it once was. But an analysis of our past achievements shows that we could indeed show the way internationally, and a recent report identifies the many initiatives we can implement. (more…)
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BRUCE THOM. Disaster preparedness and climate change: a national conundrum
Australia’s policies on climate adaptation and disaster preparedness are not being brought together across jurisdictions to make the nation more resilient to inevitable shocks, let alone the insidious effects of reduced rainfall and water supplies. Professor Bruce Thom suggests how the imbalance between emission control and adaptation can be addressed with three related policy suggestions. (more…)
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BRUCE DUNCAN. A scorecard on Pope Francis
Unexpectedly, Pope Francis has emerged as one of the most significant world leaders. Largely unknown before his election, Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis has assumed the moral stature of a new Mandela, and not just among Catholics. (more…)
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TONY SMITH. The political ugliness we cannot hide
Half a century ago in The Australian Ugliness Robin Boyd reminded us what happens when architectural planners embrace utilitarianism and abandon aesthetics. During the days of the Howard Coalition Government, examining the invasion of Iraq and policy on asylum seekers, moral philosopher Raimond Gaita reminded us what happens when decision-makers abandon ethical considerations. Under the Turnbull Government, mendacity, hypocrisy and arrogance are producing an observable ugliness in its spokespersons. The great fear is that this ugliness is reflecting our own grotesque faces back to us. (more…)
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OISÍN SWEENEY & KEVIN EVANS: Coalition governments have abandoned nature. Can we turn this round?
As the Coalition’s relentless internal struggles over energy ideology capture media headlines, a dramatic roll-back of protections for nature is underway. At State and Commonwealth levels Coalition governments have defunded environment programs and unpicked key legislation. Even fundamental conservation actions like the creation of protected areas have stalled as governments appear to see protections of nature as impediments to economic progress. But this is a false dichotomy. (more…)
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FRANK JOTZO. Reviewing the Finkel Review and the political response
Alan Finkel’s electricity review offers a chance to break the political impasse over climate and energy policy. Its key recommendations, including for a clean energy target – which would support a gradual transition from coal to renewables – are supported by cabinet, accepted by the Labor party, and embraced by large parts of Australia’s energy industry. But some Coalition parliamentarians are pushing for new coal fired plants, which would further weaken the environmental ambition of the package and lessen the prospect for a bipartisan approach. (more…)
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IAN VERRENDER. Why you’re about to pay through the nose for power
It was a rare moment of triumph for a Prime Minister frustrated in his dealings with a difficult Senate.
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Finkel Report and Malcolm Turnbull – compromising at the expense of the planet.
It has little if anything to do with the real issues around climate change: it is all about satisfying Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, George Christensen and Eric Abetz. (more…)
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GILES PARKINSON. Finkel decoded: The good, the bad, and the very disappointing
The Finkel Report on the future of the national electricity market falls short of its opportunity to redefine energy markets. It has been focused on trying to find a pathway through the toxic energy politics in Australia, and accommodating the Coalition’s modest climate targets, rather than seizing the moment and outlining what can and should happen, and what Australia would need to do to meet the Paris climate targets.
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JULIAN CRIBB. Green China.
Capitalising on failures of US leadership, China is emerging as a potential ‘great green power’ of the 21st century. (more…)
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BERNARD KEANE. Low emissions target: a win for both Turnbull and climate denialists, a loss for everyone.
The beauty of a Low Emissions Target as a climate action policy is that, as a kind of lowest common denominator, it means everyone wins — and for that matter loses. (more…)
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CHRISTIAN DOWNIE. Time for China and Europe to lead, as Trump dumps the Paris climate deal
President Donald Trump’s announcement overnight that he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement comes as no surprise. (more…)
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CHRISTIAN DOWNIE. If the US can’t make coal clean, what hope is there for Australia?
The Prime Minister’s recent decision to back coal rests on the assumption that it can somehow be made “clean”, or more precisely, that carbon, capture and storage (CCS) technologies can be made to work for coal plants. The problem is that they can’t and the US experience shows why. (more…)
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IAN DUNLOP. The Leaders We Deserve?
Rarely have politicians demonstrated their ignorance of the real risks and opportunities confronting Australia than with the recent utterances of Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and other ministers promoting development of Adani and Galilee Basin coal generally, along with their petulant foot-stamping over Westpac’s decision to restrict funding to new coal projects. Likewise, Bill Shorten sees no problem in supporting Adani. (more…)
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PETER Sainsbury. Crisis … what crisis? Australian government discussion paper downplays climate change
By ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change in November 2016 the Australian government committed to a target of reducing Australian carbon emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. The government also agreed to review its climate change policies during 2017 to ensure that its policies ‘remain effective in achieving’ the 2030 target and the other commitments in the Paris Agreement. In March 2017 the government released Terms of Reference for the review and a discussion paper ‘Review of climate change policies’ (http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/review-climate-change-policies). (more…)
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RICHARD CURTAIN. Good information on outcomes is missing in the Higher Education Reform Package.
The Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham, in the new Higher Education Reform Package released on 1 May, states that ‘Students deserve improved information from which to make an informed choice on the most relevant course of study for them…’. There is much emphasis in the package on reforms to the information provided to students at the front-end of tertiary education but precious little on providing better information on graduate employment outcomes. (more…)