For those in the know, it has been clear for a long time that the Coalition Government in NSW despises the Coalition Government in Canberra when it comes to energy and climate. That has never been more clear than today with the launch of the NSW renewable energy plan, at the ABC: Households and industry
Primary Section
Deloitte: Climate change to cost Australia $3.4tr by 2070
Via Deloitte: If climate change goes unchecked, then Australia’s economy will be 6% smaller and have 880,000 fewer jobs by 2070. That’s a $3.4 trillion lost opportunity over the next half a century. But there’s a $680 billion dividend that’s ours for the taking if we do rise to this challenge, along with 250,000 more
Rebel LNP think tank demands zero carbon
Lordy, are there a few brain cells left in the LNP? From Blueprint, a young liberal think tank aligned with Chris Pyne and Robert Hill: Australia has committed to full decarbonisation by some point this century. But if we don’t commit soon to rapidly decarbonise, the decision may be forced upon us. Japan, South Korea,
Morrison’s carbon loons freak over ANZ push
We have this at Bloomie: Financing options open to Australia’s coal operators dwindled further after another of the country’s largest banks said it would end almost all investment in thermal mines and power stations by 2030. The move by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. will add to the increasing difficulty miners face in
The gas cartel wins
The new energy issues paper released by the Minister for the Gas Cartel, Keith Pitt, has produced a debate as devoid of ideas and facts as the paper itself. As usual, it is all rentier and no Australia at the AFR: A new Morrison government discussion paper on gas reservation has flagged a sensible backflip
First the Gas Unplan, now for Gas Unreservation
I can’t find this paper, which is no doubt the intention, at The Australian: Scott Morrison is moving to reassure gas producers that a domestic reservation scheme will not jeopardise investment or put at risk Australia’s $49bn LNG export market, while ensuring there is enough cheap gas available for east coast energy users that are
If Bob Brown fell in a wood, but no Green saw it, did it happen?
That is the question confronting every Fake Green today. The godfather of Australian environmentalism, the man who got arrested, who blockaded Franklyn Dam, who ploughed through the slings and arrows of fossil-fuel rent-seekers, who gave environmentalism power, who is gay, who is left, who is a living legend of global green politics, is now being
Albo’s renewable energy plan FAR superior to Morrison gas unplan
Via Albo at the AFR: Our transmission system was built for a time when solar panels ran pocket calculators, not the one in four households which have rooftop solar. The current network takes no account of the rise of renewables as the cheapest new energy source and doesn’t help link these new sources up to
Greenland ice sheet going, going…
Via ABC: Melting of the Greenland ice sheet has hit a rate unmatched in the last 12,000 years and is accelerating, scientists have confirmed. Research published in Nature today predicts that the Greenland ice sheet will be melting by as much as six times its current rate by the end of the century if we don’t
China pledges carbon neutral target in 2060
Via The Fake Left: Australia’s resistance to a mid-century net zero emissions target is likely to become increasingly unsustainable after China surprised global leaders by pledging it would reach “carbon neutrality” before 2060, climate analysts and advocates say. The announcement by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the UN general assembly on Tuesday means the
Dr Keen: Economics “drastically underestimating climate damage”
Via Dr Steve Keen, cross-posted from Taylor and Francis: ABSTRACT Forecasts by economists of the economic damage from climate change have been notably sanguine, compared to warnings by scientists about damage to the biosphere. This is because economists made their own predictions of damages, using three spurious methods: assuming that about 90% of GDP will
Basically, everybody wants climate action
Via…well, everybody, today: The Australian Climate Roundtable (ACR) is a forum that brings together leading organisations from the business, farming, investment, union, social welfare and environmental sectors. Since 2014 we have sought and found common ground on responding to the challenge of climate change. The public debate over the costs of increased ambition to reduce
Michael Pettis on China’s new down is up economic model
Via FTAlphaville comes Michael Pettis, finance professor at Peking University and a senior fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center. Ever since May, when President Xi Jinping first introduced the concept of a “dual circulation” economic model, analysts who follow the Chinese economy have been struggling to understand exactly what the Chinese leadership has committed to. From
Climate change flooding to cost 20% of GDP
Via Nature: Projections of global-scale extreme sea levels and resulting episodic coastal flooding over the 21st Century Ebru Kirezci, Ian R. Young, Roshanka Ranasinghe, Sanne Muis, Robert J. Nicholls, Daniel Lincke & Jochen Hinkel Abstract Global models of tide, storm surge, and wave setup are used to obtain projections of episodic coastal flooding over the coming
Central banks: Climate change 25% GDP shock by 2100
Here it is from Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), that is, global central banks including the RBA: This modeling is next to useless of course. The RBA can’t even model local inflation in a tiny economy. But intuitively it is about right. We are on track for the disorderly scenario of 3 degrees
No idea Albotross hearts coal
Via Bernard Keane at Crikey: After the second hottest year on record globally, the hottest year on record in Australia, our second hottest summer ever after 2018-19, an unprecedentedly catastrophic summer of bushfires and record-breaking Arctic and Antarctic temperatures, Labor has opted to, in effect, surrender on climate to the denialists of the Coalition. Anthony
Angry China’s diplomats fuel fires of global rage
Via The Australian: China’s embassy in Australia has taken aim at Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s call for the communist nation to show more transparency over the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Dutton called last week for China to reveal more about the origins of COVID-19, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison pushed for an independent global review
Put Wagga Council in charge of China relations
Via The Guardian: The city of Wagga Wagga has moved to formally sever ties with its sister cities in China, based on a report that claims the country’s regime is responsible for “death and destruction” from the coronavirus outbreak. The council vote was pushed through with the support of three conservative councillors, while others, including
Morrison on track to murder elderly for budget
From a deeply awry Scott Morrion at the AFR yesterday: Scott Morrison has ruled out a fiscal stimulus package as the government announced that the economic effect of the coronavirus would be worse than that of the bushfires and all but conceded the forecast budget surplus had gone. At the same time, Mr Morrison hinted
Scotty from Marketing rebrands bushfires
Via the AFR: A national royal commission into Australia’s unprecedented summer bushfire crisis will consider natural disaster preparedness and coordination between state and federal governments. Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the establishment of the landmark probe on Thursday, to be led by former Defence Force boss Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin. After consultation with state
ScoMo to keep border shut as chaos engulfs COVID-19 numbers
Via ZH: Yes, in the sixth edition of its diagnostic criteria released Wednesday for covid-19, the National Health Commission has undone what it did just one week earlier, and has eliminated the distinction between how cases would be classified in Hubei province and other regions. Cases will now be reported under two categories: “suspected cases” and “confirmed
Victoria Balkanises national electricity market
Via Reneweconomy: Victoria has announced a dramatic intervention – and set the stage for an interesting COAG meeting of state energy ministers next month – after announcing a split from national electricity rules in a bid to fast-track urgent grid upgrades and to unlock more large-scale renewables and encourage more big batteries. Victoria energy minister
SmoCo, coal smashed in new poll
Via The Guardian: Australia’s bushfire crisis has caused a spike in concern about the environment, a hit to the popularity of the Coalition and Scott Morrison and a drop in support for new coalmines, even among Coalition voters. Those are the conclusions of a poll of 3,249 Australians conducted by the Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research and
Scotty from Marketing rebrands global climate effort
At The Australian comes the reality: Scott Morrison is caught between an immovable object and an irresistible force. The business community has escalated its demand for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but the National Party rules out any such leap for the Morrison government. The logic of the huge 2050 transition is a carbon
Finkel endorses ScoMo gas plan for climate change
It never ceases to amaze. Dr Alan Finkel today: “Make no mistake, this will be the biggest engineering challenge ever undertaken. The energy system is huge, and even with an internationally committed and focussed effort the transition will take many decades.” “It will also require respectful planning and re-training to ensure affected individuals and communities,
Aussies warm to electric cars
Roy Morgan Research has released a new survey showing that more Australians are looking to buy an electric car: New automotive data from Roy Morgan shows the proportion of Australians looking to buy electric or hybrid vehicles in the near future continues to grow as petrol vehicles decrease in popularity. Among Australians who intend on
Andrew Bolt backs climate change
From the greatest skeptic of them all, Andrew Bolt: We sceptics can’t go on like this. These bushfires demand we all stop pretending and face the facts. And, yes, it starts with me. So I admit: the planet has warmed. I admit: this warming could affect a lot of people. I admit: man’s emissions probably