Ardern Calls For End On Subsidies Of Fossil Fuels

NewstalkZB - NZ Newswire

Jacinda Ardern made the call at an APEC conference. Photo/Getty

Sitting next to the vice president of the world's largest public oil and gas company, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called for an end to subsidies for fossil fuels.
Instead the world needs to find the right incentives to drive change toward sustainable resources, she told the APEC CEO's Summit where she appeared on a panel alongside Exxon Mobil vice president Robert Franklin.
Ardern has frequently described climate change as the greatest issue of her generation and did so again on Friday.
"It's literally lapping at our feet," she said.
"Our relative size or contribution doesn't matter when it comes to our international responsibility. No matter how small we are we have a role to play, as we all do."
Ardern shared her government's plan for a climate commission and a transition to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2035.
Described by the panel moderator as "one of the youngest and most vibrant leaders we have ever seen on this stage" Ms Ardern took aim at the US$500 billion spent by governments every year to subsidise fossil fuels which is four times the amount spent on renewables.
"We must faze them out. It is incumbent on us to begin incentivising investment in the right technologies."
Franklin said energy had to be provided in a way that was affordable to all users but acknowledged it had to be done in a way that was respectful to the environment.
Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly listed oil and gas company, has indicated in the past that climate change would not stop it selling fossil fuels.
"Having theoretical resources which are not affordable for consumers punishes economies around the world and we've seen that many times," Franklin said.
He talked up the the substitution of natural gas and coal as being behind to the largest industrial sector
"People don't like to hear it but in practice it has reduced CO2 emissions in the US by more than every (solar) panel and every wind turbine," he said.
But he added that fact wasn't to say governments and industries shouldn't explore those options.
Ardern finished up the panel by recognising the issue of competing demands around the affordability of renewable energy for developing nations, but pointed out that many of those would feel the effects of climate change first.

Links

• Jacinda Ardern makes debut on world stage telling APEC 'climate change is the greatest challenge facing this generation'
• Everyone must address climate change: Ardern
• Jacinda Ardern: It's my responsibility to lead on climate change
• Jacinda Ardern: New Zealand's female PM takes on Apec

Medibank To Dump Holdings In Fossil Fuels Over Climate Change Health Fears

Fairfax - Nicole Hasham

Medibank, one of Australia's biggest health insurers, has announced it will dump its holdings in fossil fuel companies amid concern over the health effects of climate change.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday morning, Medibank said it would transition to low-carbon investments in its international portfolio within the next year, to reflect the global transition to clean energy.

Medibank chairwoman Elizabeth Alexander. Photo: John Woudstra

"We are also committed to exploring a similar approach with our domestic equity portfolio, and so we will be actively encouraging fund managers to develop a suitable product for us that is socially responsible, cost effective and delivers a sustainable investment return," the statement said.
The announcement by chairwoman Elizabeth Alexander preceded the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne on Monday.

Medibank said it would transition to low-carbon investments in its international portfolio within the next year. Photo: AP

"We understand that the health of the environment has an impact on the health of the community ... Medibank acknowledges the science of climate change and the impacts on human health," the statement said.

"We also recognise our role as a corporate citizen, and the increasing expectations the community has of corporate Australia."
Divestment from fossil fuel companies has emerged as a key front in the fight against climate change, helped by major institutions that have started to divest, including Norway's government pension fund.
Since about 2011, institutions across Australia – which is among the world's highest per person emitters of carbon dioxide – have been under pressure to offload their stakes in mining and non-renewable energy companies.
Campaigns have targeted universities, churches, local councils, superannuation funds and banks.
Environmental finance group Market Forces said the announcement by Medibank, which has 3.8 million members, means all of Australia's major health insurers have now agreed to shift their money from fossil fuels.
"It's extremely positive that Medibank has ended its unhealthy addiction to fossil fuels," campaigner Pablo Brait said.
"The medical profession has long understood that climate change has a devastating effect on people's health, so it stands to reason medical insurers should not be invested in the industries which drive it."

Links

• Medibank to pull back from carbon polluting investments
• Medibank drops fossil-fuel investments worth tens of millions of dollars
• Medibank to cut high-carbon investments
• Medibank reduces exposure to carbon-intensive assets

COP23: With Trump Absent At UN climate Talks, Pope Francis Blames 'Short-Sighted' Humans For Global Warming

The Independent - Jeff Farrell

The pontiff has become an authoritative voice on climate change, all the more so as the US leadership has abdicated responsibility

Pope Francis shares the concerns of the president of Nauru, Baron Waqa, over rising sea levels that are affecting the tiny Pacific island AP

Pope Francis has denounced "short-sighted human activity" for causing global warming and rising sea levels, and urged world leaders at climate talks in Germany to act in tackling heat-trapping emissions.
The pontiff spoke out as he met a delegation of Pacific leaders in the Vatican and told them he shares their concerns about rising sea levels and increasingly intense weather systems that are threatening their small islands.
He decried in particular the state of oceans, where overfishing and pollution by plastics and micro-plastics are killing fish stocks and sea life that are critical to Pacific island livelihoods.
While several causes are to blame, "sadly, many of them are due to short-sighted human activity connected with certain ways of exploiting natural and human resources, the impact of which ultimately reaches the ocean bed itself," the pontiff warned.
History's first Latin American pope has often spoken out against global warming and the impact it has in particular on poor and indigenous peoples. Praise Be, his landmark 2015 encyclical (a type of letter concerning Catholic doctrine), denounced how wealthy countries exploit the poor, risking turning God's creation into an "immense pile of filth”.
The Pacific leaders praised the encyclical for drawing attention to those most vulnerable to climate change, including residents of small Pacific islands for whom rising sea levels pose an existential threat.
The president of Nauru, Baron Waqa, told Pope Francis that Pacific island leaders would urge negotiators at Bonn to uphold the Paris climate accord, where governments made commitments to keep global temperature rise this century below 2C above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C.
Mr Waqa warned that the 1.5C-rise was a crucial threshold: "There only remains a few years before we exceed carbon dioxide levels that will make temperature rise to levels that will see many parts of the Pacific disappear," he said.
Pope Francis told the Pacific leaders that he hoped the Bonn talks would take their plight into consideration, and look for a shared strategy to confront the "grave problems" facing the environment and oceans.
World leaders are meeting in Bonn in the first major conference on climate change since US president Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.

Links

• Vatican climate change meeting 'big deal' for Pacific
• Pope Francis calls for leaders to address climate change and pollution
• US 'should be kicked out of UN climate talks because of Trump'
• Trump is not invited to our next climate change summit, says France
• Syria signs Paris Agreement leaving US only country to refuse deal