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Climate of the Nation report finds 80% think heating effects are now being felt and only 12% back government’s ‘gas-led recovery’

Battling a global pandemic and the first recession in 30 years has not prompted Australians to worry less about the impacts of climate change, and a substantial majority of voters believe we are already experiencing the effects of warming, according to an authoritative snapshot of community attitudes.

The latest Climate of the Nation report, an annual national survey of almost 2,000 voters that has been running for 13 years, will be launched on Wednesday by the New South Wales environment and energy minister, Matt Kean.

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Being told they pay too much attention to concerns of ‘inner-city left wing elites’ by their own boss was bound to shock ABC journalists

If there’s one phrase likely to raise the hackles of ABC journalists, it is “inner-city left-wing elites”. They hear it all the time from their most dogged denigrators. According to the Chris Kennys and Andrew Bolts in the Murdoch press, to the Eric Abetzes and Barnaby Joyces in the coalition ranks, ABC journos are themselves members of the inner-city elite, and share its pre-occupations and biases on a host of topics – in favour of action on climate change, in favour of gay marriage, against tough policies to deter boat people, and so on.

The very word “elite”, used as a pejorative, has become a cliché of the culture wars, in Australia, as in the US.

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A new poll from The Australia Institute shows 71% of Aussies want the country to be a global leader in climate action. Yet Australia lags behind the rest of the world. Rebecca Colvin, Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Swedish utility Vattenfall’s ETS-covered fossil-based power output fell 28% year-on-year for the first nine months of 2020, outpacing an overall generation drop amid ample hydro supply, the company said in quarterly results on Tuesday.

European carbon prices closed higher on Tuesday after trading lower for most of the session following another weak auction results and amid nervousness in wider financial markets.

The Utah legislature is unlikely to restore funding this year to challenge California’s cap-and-trade programme and emissions performance standards (EPS) due to budget constraints, though the issue may return next year, a state lawmaker told Carbon Pulse.

The European Commission plans to launch a second call for projects under the Innovation Fund in early December, shortly after the deadline for the first call has ended, an EU official said on Tuesday.

Campaigners fear that a body designed to protect the environment is being undermined.

Rescuers made a "sterling effort" to save the 21ft-long animal found in a tributary of the River Clyde near Glasgow Airport.

The energy demand drop due to the coronavirus pandemic will remove some 2.5 years’ worth of global energy emissions through 2050, according to researchers, who nonetheless say that the world is still heading for 3.3C of global warming.

BloombergNEF's new report suggest emissions peaked in 2019 and cheaper renewables than running fossil fuel plants in 2025.

The post Peak emissions are here but decline needs to be faster: new BloombergNEF report appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has released guidelines that will allow facilities with emissions or offset obligations at state level to establish projects under the federal carbon credit programme.

The viral image has raised questions about the conservation impact on the animal native to Indonesia.

Conservationists accuse Sussan Ley of choosing ‘rocks over koalas’ after she approved 52 hectares of habitat destruction to expand Brandy Hill quarry

More than 50 hectares of koala habitat in the New South Wales town of Port Stephens is set to be cleared after the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, approved the expansion of a quarry.

The minister, whose decision comes as the government considers the koala for an official endangered listing, said on Tuesday the department’s assessment found the development would “not rob the area of critical koala habitat”.

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The sounds of chainsaws will haunt us forever. It adds to the intergenerational trauma shadowing our people

On Monday our biggest nightmare became a cold hard reality. The sounds of chainsaws, excessive police force, the crying of children. We feel defeated as an element of our culturally significant landscape is torn away, taken, gone forever. We are the last generation to ever be in the powerful presence of our directions tree on Djab Wurrung country.

Meriki Onus: “ I’m really saddened to see the directions tree chopped down. I feel like Victoria are dancing on our graves with doughnuts and whisky”.

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17m tonnes of carbon dioxide to be stored beneath the North Sea every year

After decades spent extracting fossil fuels from the UK’s North Sea, a consortium of oil companies is preparing to pump Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions back beneath the seabed to help meet the government’s climate ambitions.

BP has set out plans to lead an alliance of energy companies in siphoning off the carbon dioxide from factory flues under new plans in which almost half the UK’s industrial emissions will be stored beneath the North Sea from 2026.

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Vietnam has signed a deal with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) that could earn the country over $50 million from cutting greenhouse gas emissions from forests over the next five years.

Local government approves 33MW Gilberton solar and battery farm, with hopes it will attract high-tech, low carbon industries to the northern Gold Coast.

The post Solar and battery “microgrid” approved for development by Gold Coast Council appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian company fined $500,000 for illegally importing a synthetic greenhouse gas that is thousands of times worse than carbon dioxide in its contribution to global warming.

The post Australian company fined for importing potent greenhouse gas, 1000s times worse than CO2 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Marian Wilkinson weaves a narrative through decades of political ineptitude and cynicism, and the role of activists funded by the fossil fuel industry in stopping climate policy.

The post Carbon Club: The backroom lobbyists and corporate titans who helped kill climate action appeared first on RenewEconomy.