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Our climate is in crisis, but authoritarians and technocrats don’t have the answers

What the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report confirmed this month is that the stable climate many of us grew up with is gone and has been replaced by a fundamentally unstable one. Sea levels will almost certainly rise and storms will get more intense. Amid a drumbeat of depressing news and decades of inaction, there’s a sort of folk wisdom emerging that liberal democracy might just be too slow to tackle a problem as urgent and massive as the climate crisis. It’s an enticing vision: that governments can forgo the messy, deliberative work of politics in favour of a benign dictatorship of green technocrats who will get emissions down by brute force. With a punishingly tiny budget of just 400 gigatonnes of CO2 left to make a decent shot of staying below 1.5C of warming, is it time to give something less democratic a try?

It would be easy to look at the longstanding stalemate around climate policy in the US, the world’s second biggest emitter and embattled superpower, as evidence that something more top-down is needed. Yet the failure isn’t one of too much democracy but too little. The US Senate empowers West Virginia’s Joe Manchin – a man elected by fewer than 300,000 people – to block the agenda of a president elected by more than 80 million. Climate-sceptical Republicans, backed by corporate interests, have attempted to gerrymander their way to electoral dominance, halting progressive climate action in its tracks. The fossil fuel industry can engulf lawmakers with lobbyists and virtually unlimited campaign donations to sway their votes. And as the Republican party’s leading lights flirt with authoritarians like Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, comprehensive bipartisan climate action remains a pipe dream.

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APA reports mixed earnings from its wind and solar farms, but is keeping wary eye on the proposed Copperstring project in Queensland.

The post Profits from wind and solar farms fall, as APA keeps wary eye on Copperstring appeared first on RenewEconomy.

They are blamed for damage to crops but numbers are falling due to predators and disease

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is perhaps the most often seen mammal in the British countryside. It is also a favourite food for foxes, badgers, weasels, stoats and various birds of prey, especially buzzards, whose numbers often fluctuate depending on rabbit populations.

Yet the rabbit is classed as an invasive species. It was first imported by the Romans from its native habitat in the Iberian peninsula in about AD43. It did not thrive and was reintroduced again by the Normans before becoming established in England. It was so valued as a winter food source that the landed gentry had to have special permission to create a carefully guarded warren and the peasants were kept well away.

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The government is launching a consultation on more reintroductions to the wild after a successful trial in Devon

Beavers will be released into the wild under government proposals to support a “cautious” return of the semi-aquatic mammals to English rivers.

The native animals will also be given legal protection in England, making it an offence to deliberately capture, kill, disturb or injure them, or damage their breeding sites or resting places, as part of efforts to support their recovery.

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Labor to ramp up scrutiny of energy minister's involvement in $21 million Beetaloo gas grants, but won't back Greens call to abolish the program altogether.

The post Labor to target Taylor’s role in grants given to gas company with Liberal Party links appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Up to $US68 billion of US coal and gas assets could end up stranded as mix of federal and state policy incentives drive rapid shift to renewables.

The post Lessons from the US, where politically boosted renewables leave coal and gas in dust appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Announcing its annual result, NZ renewables gen-tailer confirms ongoing review of Australian businesses, due to significant political and regulatory uncertainty.

The post Meridian confirms possible exit from “highly politicised” Australian energy market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Vast majority of big utilities, battery storage, inverter and software suppliers say AEMO's proposed reforms could kill market for virtual power plants.

The post “Backward step:” Industry warns VPPs could be killed by AEMO metering changes appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Greenland’s melting ice sheets threaten to significantly hamper humanity’s efforts to mitigate climate change. Willow Hallgren, Adjunct Research Fellow, Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

China's MingYang Smart Energy unveils 16MW, 264-metre tall offshore wind turbine which now rates as the world’s largest.

The post China’s MingYang unveils “world’s largest” offshore wind turbine, a 16MW colossus appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Plans to decarbonise homes are too complicated and confusing, say consumer and industry groups.

The country is on the brink of experiencing the world's first "climate change famine", the UN says.

The UK government is seeking people's views on whether beavers should return to England's rivers.

UN experts say rapid innovative solutions are needed to end our dependency on fossil fuels. Could this new project provide an answer?

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

The Oregon Clean Fuels Program (OCFP) posted its largest ever quarterly deficit during the first three months of 2021 due to a spike in fossil-based fuels and a decline in renewable alternatives, according to state data published Tuesday.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices could see some volatility should voters recall Governor Gavin Newsom (D) next month, but the programme itself is likely to persist, traders and regulatory sources said.

Myanmar has submitted a revised NDC to the UN featuring its first mitigation goals and specifically referencing a South Korean programme it intends to develop under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 international trading provision.

There are 191 different species of bat across the Pacific Island. They are vital parts of the region’s biodiversity, and many species have cultural significance. John Martin, Research Scientist, Taronga Conservation Society Australia & Adjunct lecturer, University of Sydney David L. Waldien, Adjunct assistant professor, Christopher Newport University Junior Novera, PhD Candidate, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland Justin A. Welbergen, President of the Australasian Bat Society | Associate Professor of Animal Ecology, Western Sydney University Malik OEDIN, PhD Population Biology and Ecology, Université de Nouvelle Calédonie Nicola Hanrahan, Terrestrial Ecologist, Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security, Northern Territory Government & Visiting Fellow, Charles Darwin University Tigga Kingston, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University Tyrone Lavery, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The high-speed evacuated-tube transportation company reveals its plans for passenger pods