11 August 2016, Renew Economy, Frydenberg to push ahead with repeal of ARENA grant funding. New environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg says the Coalition government intends to go ahead with its plan to strip $1.3 billion of funds from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and end its grant-funding mechanisms, and says he expects Labor to support it. In an interview with RenewEconomy on Thursday, Frydenberg also canvassed other policy areas under his new combined portfolio. Among the highlights: He repeated his pledge that the current renewable energy target is “set in stone”, despite a big push from some in the fossil fuel industry to have the target weakened further. He will seek “co-ordination” from the states on their climate and energy policies, although he did not say whether he would be insisting that individual states abandon their own targets. (Three states – South Australia, Victoria and Queensland – and one territory, the ACT, have renewable targets that are more ambitious and longer lasting than the federal target, which is equivalent to a 23.5 per cent target by 2020). In a response that will disappoint many in the climate policy arena, Frydenberg insisted that next year’s climate policy review will be a “sit-rep” – a situation report that will assess the ability of current policies to meet existing targets – and will not look at longer-dated targets (such a zero emissions by 2050), or as an opportunity to set more ambitious targets. He says the price of gas is the key component of future electricity prices, and he will be bringing “many” of the recommendations by the ACCC and the AEMC to the COAG energy ministers meeting next week. He said he was monitoring the progress of solar thermal with storage plants, such as the new $1 billion plant in Nevada, although he did not mention any specific policy or initiative to bring the technology to Australia. The tone of the interview – which you can read in full here – was one of caution. Frydenberg shows no sign of deviating from Coalition policies, even if he does recognise that a lot of effort needs to be thrown at climate and clean energy policies to avoid an economic and political train crash. Read More here
Yearly Archives: 2016
7 August 2016, The Guardian, Scientists warn world will miss key climate target. Grim backdrop to vital global emissions talks as new analysis shows 1.5C limit on warming is close to being broken. Leading climate scientists have warned that the Earth is perilously close to breaking through a 1.5C upper limit for global warming, only eight months after the target was set. The decision to try to limit warming to 1.5C, measured in relation to pre-industrial temperatures, was the headline outcome of the Paris climate negotiations last December. The talks were hailed as a major success by scientists and campaigners, who claimed that, by setting the target, desertification, heatwaves, widespread flooding and other global warming impacts could be avoided. However, figures – based on Met Office data – prepared by meteorologist Ed Hawkins of Reading University show that average global temperatures were already more than 1C above pre-industrial levels for every month except one over the past year and peaked at +1.38C in February and March. Keeping within the 1.5C limit will be extremely difficult, say scientists, given these rises. These alarming figures will form the backdrop to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change talks in Geneva this month, when scientists will start to outline ways to implement the climate goals set in Paris. Dates for abandoning all coal-burning power stations and halting the use of combustion engines across the globe – possibly within 15 years – are likely to be set. Read More here
5 August 2016, The Conversation, One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts is in denial about the facts of climate change. The notion that climate science denial is no longer a part of Australian politics was swept away yesterday by One Nation Senator-Elect Malcolm Roberts. In his inaugural press conference, Roberts claimed that “[t]here’s not one piece of empirical evidence anywhere, anywhere, showing that humans cause, through CO₂ production, climate change”. He also promoted conspiracy theories that the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology are corrupt accomplices in climate conspiracy driven by the United Nations. His claims conflict with many independent lines of evidence for human-caused global warming. Coincidentally, the University of Queensland is releasing a free online course this month examining the psychology and techniques of climate science denial. The very first video lecture addresses Roberts’ central claim, summarising the empirical evidence that humans are causing climate change. Read More here
4 August 2016, The Guardian, CSIRO cuts: Turnbull government orders U-turn on climate science research. Only 20 climate science positions will be lost from the CSIRO, down from an initial 96, after the Turnbull government intervened, issuing a ministerial directive to the independent agency. Guardian Australia understands 35 climate scientist will still be sacked, but there will be 15 new hires. It is also understood there is no new money for the appointments, but must come from existing CSIRO funding. The cuts were first announced by the CSIRO in February this year. The decision was made by the CSIRO, which acts independently from government, but were a result of cuts the government made to environmental research funding. Greg Hunt, who replaced Christopher Pyne as minister for science and innovation in July, said on Thursday there would be 15 new climate science jobs and $37m invested in climate science research over 10 years. First reported in Fairfax Media on Thursday, Hunt said he made the changes by issuing a ministerial directive to the CSIRO. When the CSIRO first decided to make the cuts, the plan was to cut about 100 climate scientists. After a public outcry, the numbers were quickly reduced to just 70, and by April the number had reduced to about 35 jobs. Speaking on ABC’s AM program, Hunt said the move indicated a new government with a new focus. “It’s a decision that the prime minister and myself have taken. It’s a new government and we’re laying out a direction that climate science matters,” he said. Read More here