Around The Web

Rooftop solar and battery storage to play central role in WA energy transition, but the state's new 20-year blueprint does not include stretch climate targets.

The post Rooftop solar and battery storage take centre stage in W.A energy transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The NZ EPA is looking for a Registry Analyst to provide analysis, business and administrative support to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Register.

Tilt Renewables says Dundonnell wind farm gradually resuming production as investigations continue into what caused a blade to fall from one of its massive turbines.

The post Dundonnell wind farm powers back up, still looking for cause of fallen turbine blade appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A new CSIRO assessment suggests climate change could compromise the Morrison government's plans to reduce emissions through storage in 'soil carbon'.

The post CSIRO report questions Morrison’s faith in soil carbon due to warming climate appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Drought-hit Murray cod in the Macquarie River will receive a helping hand during their spring breeding season, with water to be delivered throughout October and November.

Solar power met 100 per cent of South Australia's demand on Sunday for the first time. It won't be the last.

The post Solar meets 100 per cent of South Australia demand for first time appeared first on RenewEconomy.

From a purely environmental perspective, owning multiple reusable face masks, and machine-washing them together, is the best option. Mayuri Wijayasundara, Lecturer, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The government needs an environmental sense of purpose that specifies the appropriate ends for economic activity

Saving the planet ought to be a goal for, not a cost to, humanity. Yet this insight appears lost in the discussion about the climate emergency. Last week, it emerged that the Treasury was thinking about levying a UK-wide carbon tax. This approach, it was suggested, could be sold as a way of “raising revenue while cutting emissions”. Properly targeted taxes can change behaviour. But “revenue raising” green policies invariably end up being valued by the amount of taxes they produce rather than on their effectiveness in combating the climate crisis. UK governments have frozen fuel duties for a decade because it is politically easier to rake in cash than deter driving.

A carbon tax is superficially appealing. The Treasury desires taxes to offset government spending. No 10 would like to align, rhetorically, with the green agenda. But without careful thought a carbon levy could backfire. A maladroit attempt to tax fuel on environmental grounds kindled France’s gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests.

Continue reading...

Modelling shows moving towards a net zero emissions economy would unlock financial prospects in sectors including renewables and manufacturing

Australia could unlock an investment boom of $63bn over the next five years if it aligns its climate policies with a target of net zero emissions by 2050, according to new economic modelling.

The analysis, by the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC), finds the investment opportunity created by an orderly transition to a net zero emissions economy would reach hundreds of billions of dollars by 2050 across sectors including renewable energy, manufacturing, carbon sequestration and transport.

Continue reading...

It's officially autumn; EU carbon allowance (EUA) compliance buyers are weighing up the choice between doing their 2020 buying now or waiting till the spring, fuel prices are on the rise as temperatures fall, and analysts have updated their price predictions for the rest of the year. Time for a stock-take.

Australia setting a climate target in line with the Paris Agreement would create A$63 billion ($45.3 bln) worth of investment opportunities by 2025, with more than half of that tied to carbon sequestration and the offset market, according to a report released Monday.

Investor group says size of Australia's green investment opportunity could total $1 trillion by 2050, if governments embrace a net zero by 2050 target.

The post Australia could lose $265bn in green investment without zero emissions target appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Tide went out for global economy in 2020 and just about everybody was caught skinny-dipping

Warren Buffett once quipped it was only when the tide went out that it was possible to see who had been swimming naked. The legendary investor had companies up to their eyeballs in debt in mind when he made that comment but it now has a wider significance. In 2020 the tide went out for the global economy and just about everybody was caught skinny-dipping.

Clearly, there is never a good time for a pandemic but the brutal reality is that the world was ill-prepared for the arrival of Covid-19 at the start of the year. Policymakers had turned a blind eye to problems that had been getting steadily worse for years. Weaknesses that ought to have been tackled were left unaddressed.

Continue reading...

Charity says licensing system is needed to prevent ‘unacceptable’ damage to countryside, plus stricter enforcement of existing laws

The RSPB is demanding new regulations and better enforcement of existing laws to control the shooting of game birds in the UK. The charity made the call yesterday at its AGM after publishing a review that found self-regulation by the shooting community had failed to address the environmental impacts of the game bird industry.

Illegal killing of birds of prey, the use of poisonous lead ammunition, the burning of vegetation on peatlands and the release of 57 million game birds - mainly non-native pheasants and red-legged partridges - into the countryside each year are now causing unacceptable damage, the organisation claims.

Continue reading...

K&L Gates LLP have released The H2 Handbook, a first-of-its-kind, extensive review of the legal, regulatory, commercial, and policy issues that will impact and shape the future of hydrogen.

The post K&L Gates Energy Practice releases hydrogen handbook to help clients capitalize on growing global hydrogen sector appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Vaccines may cause wide-scale changes in the immune system which can boost the body's protection.

New research suggests New Zealand's Cook Strait could be used as a source of tidal power, if the cost of the technology can be reduced.

The post NZ’s Cook Strait has ‘huge potential’ for tidal power, researchers say appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Red Planet is unmissable in the night sky right now as its orbit aligns with Earth's.

Amid the lockdowns, the sounds and sights of birds reminded me, most of all, of the extent of our connections to one another

• This is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020

London midwinter, and I dream of black cockatoos. Dreams lacking vision, sonic dreams of startling intensity. At dawn the rusted-hinge sound of the cockatoos swerves away, revoked by the thin daylight.

I have been based out of the UK for several months. Having passed through a blue solstice into January, the news bulletins from Australia chronicle unprecedented fire fronts, razing tracts of the eastern seaboard to ash. Columns of smoke expunge the stars. I see that in only the barest elements of topography and geology will the landscapes I return to resemble the places I left.

Continue reading...

William Perry Pendley says ‘I have the support of the president’ despite court ruling he is serving illegally as head of the Bureau of Land Management

A controversial environment chief in the Trump administration has said he has no intention of leaving his post after a US district court judge deemed his tenure and ongoing occupation of the position illegal.

William Perry Pendley, head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), said this week that the judge’s ruling “has no impact, no impact whatsoever”.

Continue reading...