Australia's Politics Only Barrier To Clean Energy System, Report Finds

The Guardian - Michael Slezak

Climate Council finds agreement among experts and authorities that there are no technological or economic obstacles to a grid powered by renewables

Only ‘political will’ is stopping Australia’s switch to a grid powered by renewable energy. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Politics is the only barrier to modernising Australia’s ageing electricity system, according to a synthesis report by the Climate Council.
The council found there was agreement among a series of major independent reports that there were no technological or economic barriers to a clean, secure, affordable and reliable grid.
The Climate Council report coincides with international law firm Pinsent Masons’ release of research findings that 90% of energy utility companies around the world are actively seeking acquisitions or joint ventures with companies that implement smart energy technologies like batteries, vehicle-to-grid technology and smart meters, but policy uncertainty is limiting investment in Australia.
Within a decade, more than one-third of Australia’s coal plants in the national electricity market will be more than 50 years old – after which the vast majority of coal plants fail to operate.
Reports by the independent operator of the grid, Aemo, CSIRO and the chief scientist, Alan Finkel, found there were no technical barriers to modernising the grid, the Climate Council report found.
“Combining low-cost wind and solar PV [photovoltaic] with other renewable energy technologies, such as solar thermal, hydro and biomass plants, can provide round-the-clock or on-demand power, as well as meeting technical requirements for grid stability,” said the report, authored by Andrew Stock, a Climate Council councillor who previously spent four decades in the energy industry.
The report said combining those technologies with grid-scale batteries, pumped hydro and heat storage would would increase the reliability of the system, as well as add competition to the market.
There was also a large degree of consensus among the surveyed reports that modernising the system in that way would increase reliability in the face of climate change and increased extreme weather.
Relying on a large number of smaller distributed renewable generators, rather than a small number of massive fossil-fuel generators, meant single outages in the system caused by wild weather would be less disruptive.
“Generating and storing power closer to where it is needed – for example, using solar and storage technologies – can reduce risks of grid failure for critical infrastructure,” the Climate Council report said.
The surveyed reports also found renewable energy would push down energy prices for consumers. One CSIRO report this year concluded a zero-emissions grid by 2050 would save the average household $414 a year compared with a business-as-usual approach.
“There’s no disputing it – fossil-fuel technology is obsolete, expensive and unreliable,” Stock said. “It’s time to look to the future with an energy system fit for the 21st century.”
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the minister for the environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, have been unable to get a climate and energy policy through the party room, leaving the industry in limbo.
This means businesses have been discouraged from investing in new electricity generation because the federal government can give them no confidence about future policy that would affect their investments.
The Climate Council chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said the lack of a bipartisan policy was the only barrier remaining.
“The nation’s leading energy experts, scientists and major authorities are all in agreement – Australia is ready to switch to a modern grid, powered by renewables and storage,” she said. “However, the only thing stopping this is political will.”
The vast majority of large energy companies globally also appear keen to invest millions in smart-grid technologies that would enable the transition. Pinsent Masons surveyed 250 senior-level executives from 200 energy generation and distribution companies (and investors in those markets) with revenues over US$1bn across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific.
The firm found 90% of the utility companies in the survey were planning a joint venture with, or an acquisition of, a smart-grid technology company.
Australia was among the top five countries that the surveyed businesses were targeting for investment, but was being limited by lack of policy clarity.
Uncertainty and lack of legislation were highlighted as the biggest investment blockers for 13% of utilities in the survey.
Nordic countries took the top place for attractiveness for investment, partly because energy policies there were clear.
“The Nordics are not only ahead in the technology bit, but their policies are also the best,” said one investor quoted in the report. “They have gradually changed their energy consumption and have successfully achieved their transformation targets, which are just increasing year-on-year as their policies are in favour of consumers. Businesses are benefiting either way with growth and rising interests of new consumers.”
A chief financial officer of an Australian utility was quoted as saying: “Countries without a cohesive energy policy are usually in turmoil when it comes to issues around energy distribution and management. For an investor looking to enter that market with smart energy solutions, it means a lot of uncertainty.”

Links

• How Australia's climate policies came to be poisoned by pragmatism
• Analysis 13 ways Frydenberg sold 'climate policy' to coal-loving MPs
• China’s emissions trading scheme puts Australian companies on notice
• Clean energy target: how the states might make it work
• Most Australians want renewables to be primary energy source, survey finds
• Windfarm settings triggered South Australian blackout, final energy report finds
• Energy executives say gas market – not windfarms – to blame for South Australia's woes
• Government 'clean coal' push would be likely to make Australia's emissions worse
• Turnbull says own rooftop solar not inconsistent with 'clean-coal' message
• Chief scientist to lead review into Australia's energy security
• Renewable energy: get your story straight, ACT tells Coalition

Protect Indigenous People To Help Fight Climate Change, Says UN Rapporteur

The Guardian - Matthew Taylor

World leaders must do more to defend custodians of natural world whose lives are at risk from big business, says UN rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

Native Americans march to a sacred burial ground disturbed by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline. Protesters were attacked by dogs and sprayed with a respiratory irritant when they arrived at the site. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Global leaders must do more to protect indigenous people fighting to protect their land and way of life if the world is to limit climate change, according to the UN special rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.
Speaking ahead of key climate talks in Bonn next month she urged politicians to recognise that indigenous communities around the world were the most effective custodians of millions of hectares of forest “which act as the world’s lungs”.
“Indigenous people’s rights need to be protected in the best way possible, not just for them but because they are also able to provide solutions to many of the world’s problems from climate change to biological diversity.
“It is in the self interest of states and even corporations in the medium and long term to protect and listen to these people – the question is, will they realise this in time?” said Tauli-Corpuz.
A recent study found that a quarter of the carbon stored above ground in the world’s tropical forests is found in the collectively managed territories of indigenous peoples and local communities.

In Brazil, deforestation in indigenous community forests from 2000 to 2012 was less than 1%, compared to 7% outside those areas.
“They are the most effective stewards of these key areas,” said Tauli-Corpuz. “The needs of these indigenous people are converging with the wider environmental needs to protect these areas.”
Indigenous people are locked in fierce conflicts with mining, logging and agricultural companies and their private security firms in hundreds of places from Indonesia to Brazil. 2016 was the deadliest year on record for land rights defenders with about 200 people killed in conflicts in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In addition, thousands more community activists were threatened or harassed. A Guardian project working with Global Witness is highlighting the pressure many of these groups face and has identified at least 134 people who have been killed so far this year.
Tauli-Corpuz, who was speaking at the launch of a new global institution dedicated to securing the land rights of tens of millions of indigenous people, said there was an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in many of these communities.
The event in Stockholm was the official launch of the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility which aims to help communities protect their land resources as well as combat climate change.
Funded by Sweden, Norway and the Ford Foundation, a US charity, the Tenure Facility, has already provided grants and guidance for pilot projects in six nations.
The Ford Foundation president Darren Walker said it was an important development in the fight against climate change and inequality. “Creating mechanisms that allow indigenous peoples and local communities to gain tenure over their land or forests is a way to tackle both these problems.”

Rukka Sombolinggi represents 17 million people in Indonesia: “Our houses are being burnt down, people are being killed, tortured, and sent to jail .” Photograph: Roberto Cenciarelli/FAO

The Ford Foundation has pledged $5m, and Norway has announced a grant of $20m over the coming years. Sweden pitched in $10m during the pilot phase and will fund future projects. Walker said he expects donations to rise to $100m overall within a year.
The project aims to boost forestland properly titled to indigenous peoples by 40m hectares, an area twice the size of Spain, within a decade. Organisers say this would prevent deforestation of 1m hectares and the release of 500m tonnes of CO2, more than the annual emissions of Britain or Brazil.
Indigenous leaders representing tens of millions of people involved in land disputes in Asia, Africa and South America attended the conference. They said the tenure programme was an important step towards stopping the persecution of indigenous communities – but warned more needs to be done.
Rukka Sombolinggi, the first female secretary-general of the world’s largest indigenous organisation, Aman, which represents 17 million people in Indonesia, said: “Our houses are being burnt down, people are being killed, tortured, and sent to jail as we speak.”
Sombolinggi said some progress had been made, with much of the forests where indigenous communities live in Indonesia mapped for the first time. And she said “dominant communities” would benefit, not only environmentally from more rights for indigenous people, but argued they could also learn important lessons from the way many of these groups lived.
“If we want to see the beautiful centuries ahead … we need to shift our paradigm of what constitutes wealth or prosperity because too many people see happiness only in terms of material goods and achievements and it is having a devastating impact. Many of us have lost our ability to connect with natural things and no longer seem able to live in harmony with the simple happiness around us.”

Links

• ‘Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of world's biodiversity’
• The defenders: recording the deaths of environmental defenders around the world
• 'We'd rather die than lose': villagers in Indonesia fight for a land rights revolution
• Land defenders call on UN to act against violence by state-funded and corporate groups
• In the fight to stop climate change, forests are a vital weapon
• Environmental defenders being killed in record numbers globally, new research reveals

Most Australians Oppose Adani Mine, Poll Shows, Amid National Protests

The Guardian - Michael Slezak

Thousands of people gather at 40 locations across the country on Saturday as part of the Stop Adani Alliance

People form a sign at Nobby’s Beach in Newcastle as part of the Stop Adani protest. Photograph: Ryan Jago

New polling shows the majority of Australians oppose Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine going ahead, and an even bigger number are against Queensland allowing the company to receive a $1bn federal loan.
The polling, commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance, was released on Saturday as thousands of people are expected to attend rallies at dozens of locations around the country, expressing their opposition to the project.
The ReachTel survey of almost 2,200 people across Australia found 55.6% of respondents opposed the mine going ahead. That was more than twice the number who supported the mine, with 18.4% of respondents saying they were “undecided”.

Support for Adani coalmine going ahead

Question: “Indian mining company Adani wants to build a new coal mine in Queensland, which it argues will create local employment opportunities, but concerns have been raised about the company’s corporate track record and the impact of the mine on the environment. Do you support or oppose the Adani coal mine going ahead?”
Guardian graphic | Source: ReachTEL

When told that the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, had made an election commitment not to spend public funds on Adani’s project, 65.8% of those polled said she should use her power to veto the possible $1bn loan the federal government might give the project through the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (Naif).
That view was unanimous across voters of all persuasions – respondents who said they voted Liberal, National, Labor, Green, One Nation, Australian Conservatives, as well as those who were undecided, were all more likely to think Palaszczuk should veto the loan.

Should the Queensland government veto any $1bn federal loan to Adani?

Question: “The Queensland Premier made an election commitment that her Labor government would not spend public funds on Adani’s private rail line for their coal mine. Should the Queensland government keep its promise and use the power is has to veto the federal government loan of $1 billion to Adani for the rail line?”
Guardian graphic | Source: ReachTEL

Support for the mine to go ahead was extremely divided among backers of different political parties.
Australian Conservative voters were the only group with clear support for the mine, with 57% saying they backed it.
Liberal voters were almost split down the middle – 39.3% backed the mine and 34.1% opposed it, while 25.7% were undecided.
A clear majority of most other voters opposed the mine proceeding – 69% of Labor, 58% of National and 90% of Greens voters. Among the One Nation voters, more opposed the mine going ahead (44.9%) than supported it (37.7%).
The polling follows earlier surveys showing similar numbers, including one commissioned by GetUp in January, finding that three-quarters of respondents believed a loan to Adani was not a good use of public money. And polling by The Australia Institute in May found 59% of Queensland voters were opposed to any state or federal assistance for the mine.
Federal Labor has had some divisions over the question of whether to support the mine and the Greens have sought to push them to say they will review any commonwealth funding for it.
The Greens are launching their Queensland state election campaign today, which will focus on opposition to the Adani mine, and place the heat on Queensland Labor for its strong support to the mine.

Protesters wearing masks depicting Malcolm Turnbull and Gautam Adani at Sydney’s Bondi beach. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Members of the Stop Adani Alliance – which comprises more than 30 environment groups – began to gather at 40 protests around the country on Saturday.
They plan to spell out “Stop Adani” in “human signs” at beaches and other prominent locations around the country.
“While the Queensland and federal governments remain staunch supporters of this dirty mine, new polling shows the Australian community is angry that $1bn of public money could be handed to Adani for a mine which will wreck the climate and the Reef,” said Blair Palese, chief executive of 350.org Australia.
“Voters are clear. They believe the Queensland government should stick to its promise and block the $1bn loan to billionaire Adani for his private rail line.”

Links

• Adani mine 'not a positive thing for Australia', Labor's Mark Butler says
• Details of royalty deal for mega mine are still being negotiated with Adani, says Queensland
• Adani mine loses majority support of traditional owner representatives
• Adani gives 'green light' to $16bn Carmichael coal mine
• Most Queensland voters oppose taxpayer support for Adani coalmine – poll
• Adani mine: Palaszczuk faces factional fight to seal new royalties deal
• Anti-Adani activists vow 'direct action' against mine contractor Downer
• Adani mine leases and national parks in doubt after native title court decision
• Most Australians oppose government's $1bn Adani loan for coal railway line