Feed aggregator

But the government will use the legislation for the fund to try to wedge Labor. Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Failure to pass Build Back Better would disillusion a generation of voters, and potentially fracture the Democratic party

Deep into the night last Friday, long past the hour when most Americans had ceased paying attention, Congress passed the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill otherwise known as the BIF. Its passage was heralded as a victory for President Biden, and the daily news chyrons dutifully marked a point in his column. But beyond the horserace myopia of the Beltway – and especially among young people – the news came tinged with the threat of disaster. Because for those of us interested in sustained human civilization on a habitable planet, the most relevant fact about the BIF is this: without consequent passage of the clean energy and social welfare bill known as Build Back Better, the BIF alone will exacerbate the climate crisis.

The reasons are manifold. The bill is riddled with exemptions and subsidies for corporations like ExxonMobil, whose lobbyists were caught bragging about their role in shaping the text. It invests in highways, bridges and airports that – in the absence of an aggressive drive to electrify cars and planes – will only add to emissions from the transportation sector. And the climate funding it does contain is focused not on drawing down emissions but on preparing Americans for worsening floods, fires and superstorms. If this is all we get, the message to young people is clear: Exxon will continue to be allowed to drown your homes, but not to worry, the government is investing in some life vests. Good luck!

Daniel Sherrell is the author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Penguin Books) and a climate activist

Continue reading...

At Cop26 Sir Patrick Vallance has said he eats less meat and cycles but society needs to change more

Changes in behaviour are needed to tackle the climate emergency, the UK’s chief scientific adviser has said at the Cop26 summit.

Sir Patrick Vallance said behaviour change was starting to happen but needed to go further and said he cycled to work, ate less meat and had taken the train to the climate summit in Glasgow. He also said the climate crisis was a far bigger problem than coronavirus and would kill more people if immediate changes were not made.

Continue reading...

It suits governments to lecture us on our consumption, but they need to offer systemic change if we are to tackle the climate crisis

• Stephen Reicher is a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science

The protesters gathered in Glasgow for Cop26 are a diverse group – at the demonstration on Saturday I watched everybody file past – from international socialists to Scottish nationalists, healthcare workers to striking refuse workers, from indigenous activists at the very front to cycling enthusiasts at the very back.

But while the groups were all very different, I was struck by the commonality of their message: they all recognise that we cannot solve the climate crisis through the same means that created it. Whether that is the extractive industries destroying indigenous lands, or the carbon-hungry transport systems that crowd out cyclists.

Stephen Reicher is a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science. He is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an authority on crowd psychology

Continue reading...

Australia falls to dead last in global rankings of climate policy after its refusal to lift short term ambition at Glasgow.

The post Australia ranked dead last in world on climate policy after Glasgow Cop-out appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Country was down four places on greenhouse gas index and was the only one to score zero on policy

• Download the free Guardian app; get our morning email briefing

The Australian government’s policy response to the climate crisis was ranked last in an assessment of 60 countries released at the global climate summit in Glasgow.

The Morrison government’s lack of policies, high per capita greenhouse gas emissions, weak targets, low levels of renewables and high levels of energy use, saw the country given an overall ranking of 54 among individual countries.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

• Climate crisis is driving up deadly combination of temperature and humidity, says study released at Cop26
• Tuvalu minister gives Cop26 speech while standing in the sea – video

The foreign minister of Tuvalu, the low-lying Pacific island nation, has recorded a video speech for Cop26 while standing knee-deep in seawater.

Simon Kofe stood in a suit and tie to deliver his speech about Tuvalu’s struggle against rising sea levels.

Continue reading...

Five things you need to know about COP26 - the United Nations climate change conference - on Tuesday.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has unveiled a new lending policy to provide cheaper funding to carbon reduction efforts, a move analysts say can inject at least a trillion yuan ($160 billion) into the market.

It’s science day in Glasgow, while negotiations carry on under the guidance of ministers appointed by the UK COP Presidency.

Not so long ago Morrison said Labor’s electric cars policy would ‘end the weekend’. Now he’s spruiking his own plan, but there’s no substance to it

• Scott Morrison denies attacking electric vehicles in 2019 as he unveils new Coalition policy
• What is the Morrison government’s electric cars policy – and will it actually drive take-up?

It’s hard to say which element of Scott Morrison’s new electric vehicle strategy is most galling.

If you missed the unveiling on Tuesday, there’s not much to catch up on, given the strategy has all the substance of a Corn Thin.

Continue reading...

A recent warning from a shipping industry group that lack of investment in green technologies presents the biggest hurdle to the industry’s decarbonisation targets has sharpened focus on the technical and financial challenges facing the sector, whose emissions are seen as hard to abate, if it is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Hawaiian Electric commits to adding nearly 50,000 new rooftop solar systems across the islands as part of an ambitious new emissions reduction target.

The post Hawaii targets another 50,000 rooftop solar systems, to close last coal plant appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A review of studies of Parramatta demonstrates an extensive deep-time archive of Indigenous activity extending over 14,000 years. Alan N Williams, Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, UNSW Jo McDonald, Director, Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, The University of Western Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

New Zealanders are increasingly concerned about the state of the environment, but many don’t feel a strong enough connection to nature to become involved in conservation projects. Scott Burnett, Research assistant, Massey University Apisalome Movono, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, Massey University Regina Scheyvens, Professor of Development Studies, Massey University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As the global corporate renewable energy purchasing market matures, three new trends are shaping its journey.

The post What is corporate renewable energy purchasing and how is it changing? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scott Morrison's electric vehicle strategy has completely missed the bus. Little wonder that it was launched at a hydrogen refuelling station.

The post Scott Morrison’s hopeless spin and failure on electric vehicles appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

We asked climate experts from around the world what they want to see agreed at COP26 this week.

A photographer is using her art to inspire, hoping to keep the iconic animals at home on the range.