20/12/2018

'Greater Warming': Different Species Under Threat

Fairfax - Ben Weir

Entire ecosystems are under threat due to warming oceans with parts of the Australian coast stretching from Sydney to Adelaide experiencing the most stress, experts warn.
Eight of the 10 warmest years of sea surface temperatures have been recorded since 2010 contributing to coral bleaching, oceans acidifying and altering the habitats of different species, a joint study by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has found.
"The warming has been most noticeable, particularly around the south-east of the continent, and it's not just coral reefs that are impacted but kelp forests and commercial fisheries," the bureau's head of climate monitoring, Dr Karl Braganza, said.
Trends in sea surface temperatures in Australia from 1950 to 2017. Credit: Bureau of Meteorology
Rising CO2 levels change the pH make-up of oceans and as waters become more acidic this impacts everything from plankton to coral, the study found.
“There has been a southwards migration of subtropical and tropical fish species, down the east coast of Australia associated with this warming,” Dr Braganza said.
Further north, rising temperatures have contributed to coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, with parts experiencing "thermal stress" and potentially the loss of many types of coral in future heatwaves.
Bleaching along the Great Barrier Reef is a common sight for divers. Credit: XL Catlin Seaview Survey
“In February to May 2016, the bleaching was associated with some of the warmest sea surface temperatures ever recorded,” Dr Braganza said.
Sea levels globally have also increased around 3 centimetres per decade in recent years, with rises in northern and south-east Australia higher than the average around the world. (See chart below)
“Rising sea levels have implications for impacts on infrastructure in our coastal regions and coastal erosions so it is important to think about what that looks like around Australia,” CSIRO director of climate change, Dr Helen Cleugh said.
The rate of sea level rises around Australia by satellite observations from 1993 to 2017. Credit: CSIRO
Rising ocean temperatures and levels impact climate change more broadly with around 90 per cent of the extra energy created by greenhouse gases stored in the ocean.
“Oceans play a really important role in modulating the rate and pace of our changing climate,” Dr Cleugh said.
The State of the Climate 2018 report, to be released on Thursday, also predicts a longer fire danger season in south-eastern areas due to rising temperatures. While other regions of the country will experience more time in drought.
Fire weather conditions are worsening, particularly in the south and east of the country.
Credit: Bureau of Meteorology
"The amount of climate change expected in the next decade or so is similar under all plausible global emission pathways, however by the mid-21st century higher ongoing emissions will lead to greater warming," the report's summary said.
The fifth annual report comes after recent UN climate talks in Poland ended with an agreement to increase transparency of national emissions-reduction pledges, but failed to deal with how to raise aid for developing nations and standard accounting rules for carbon credits.

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Federal Government Must End Its ‘Climate Wars’, NSW Energy Minister Says

The Guardian - Australian Associated Press

Don Harwin urges Coalition to ‘put science, economics and engineering ahead of ideology’
NSW energy minister Don Harwin says the Morrison government is out of touch on climate and energy policy. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP 
The New South Wales energy minister, Don Harwin, wants the federal government to end its “climate wars” and start reducing emissions, ahead of a meeting with his colleagues from across Australia.
But the Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, says the federal coalition is “beyond hope” on the issue and that NSW is calling them out too late.
In an opinion piece published in the Australian Financial Review, Harwin suggested the federal Liberal-National coalition is out of touch on energy and climate policy.
“We recognise that climate change is a scientific fact,” Hawin wrote in the piece published on Wednesday.
“It is the responsibility of all governments to address greenhouse gas emissions into the future.
“We need to end the “climate wars” and put science, economics and engineering ahead of ideology.”


Australia's climate wars: a decade of dithering

He will come face-to-face with the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, and his counterparts from most other states and territories at a Council of Australian Governments meeting on Wednesday.
Taylor is hoping to secure agreement at the Adelaide gathering on a policy aimed at improving the reliability of the energy grid by encouraging investment in new generation.
“I look forward to working with my Coag energy council colleagues to bring power prices down while ensuring the reliability of the grid,” Taylor said.
But Harwin stressed that such energy policies should be matched with efforts to grapple with climate change.
“The NSW government has consistently made it clear that we believe that there should be an integration of climate and energy policy,” he said.
The Liberal-National NSW government announced a target in 2016 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Harwin said he will push on Wednesday for the Energy Security Board to provide policy options to ministers to achieve that vision.
D’Ambrosio will not be at the meeting but says she expects the federal government will uphold its poor performance on the issue.
“We could possibly say they’re beyond hope. They have still no plan, still no policy, on energy and climate change,” she told reporters in Melbourne.
The discussion comes after the federal government dumped its flagship energy policy – the National Energy Guarantee – in August.
It was aimed at dealing with energy prices, reliability and emissions, but conservatives in the coalition took issue with its emissions targets, with their distaste contributing to Malcolm Turnbull’s downfall.
Harwin said the government may have abandoned the policy but it must still “confront the facts”.
“The market and industry is looking for certainty on emissions, and policy uncertainty will lead to higher wholesale prices and delayed investment decisions,” he said.

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NSW Excoriates Federal Coalition Over Blocking Of Emissions Reduction Vote

The Guardian - 

NSW energy minister Don Harwin said he was ‘very disappointed’ with federal minister Angus Taylor heading off a COAG vote
Don Harwin said emissions reduction needed to be debated in the context of its ability to help bring power prices down. Photograph: Lucy Hughes Jones/AAP
The New South Wales energy minister has blasted his Coalition colleagues in the federal government for blocking his attempt to debate emissions reduction at an energy ministers meeting.
Don Harwin said he was “very disappointed” with the outcome of the Council of Australian Governments energy council on Wednesday because an obligation to reduce emissions is “absolutely critical” to encourage investment in new power generation and lower prices.
Before the meeting in Adelaide Harwin challenged the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, to allow a debate about tasking the Energy Security Board to draw up a new emissions trajectory with an obligation to reduce emissions.
The commonwealth was supported by Liberal states Tasmania and South Australia, but was set to lose a vote five to three before Taylor used procedural grounds to prevent a vote on what he said was “new business”.
The Australian Capital Territory energy minister, Shane Rattenbury, told Guardian Australia the meeting became “extremely tense” and noted NSW had changed position from earlier meetings when only the Labor states and the Australian Capital Territory had called for greater emissions reduction ambition.'
The Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said that Labor’s re-election in her state showed “voters expect governments to take action to reduce emissions” and suggested the NSW government’s renewed vigour on climate shows they have “finally woken up” but it may be “too little too late”.
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Harwin said that “all the states and territories want climate and energy policy brought together”. “They want re-election and they want the silliness of Canberra to stop and for us to focus on getting a sensible national approach,” he told reporters in Adelaide.
“This is an issue that concerns a lot of Australians. This is an issue that people expect their governments to be dealing with. We’ve heard that message and we’re going to keep doing that.”
The meeting adopted South Australia’s proposal to consider emissions in an out-of-session process between meetings, starting in early February.
The federal government has not had a climate change policy since August, when Malcolm Turnbull ditched the emissions reduction component of the national energy guarantee in a bid to save his leadership.
Under Scott Morrison, the Coalition has moved to decrease power prices through competition law measures and a scheme to underwrite new power generation, including from coal power plants, but has failed to release any new emissions reduction measures.
Harwin said the need for an emissions reduction obligation became “crystal clear” in a meeting last week with investors who wanted to increase generation capacity and “by having more supply help bring prices down for the average consumer”.
Harwin said there was “no time for delay” and said it could have been dealt with at Wednesday’s meeting, denying the issue was “new business”.
“We supported the national energy guarantee. Our position hasn’t changed. It’s the federal government’s position that’s changed.
“And it’s not good enough. We want them to reconsider their position. We want Australia to move forward on climate change, not stand still.”
The energy council meeting agreed to laws to impose a reliability obligation on energy retailers, designed to “incentivise investment in dispatchable generation”. South Australia – which is on track to source 75% of its power from renewable sources – was allowed to “enact state specific settings”.
Energy ministers also agreed to prepare for a regulated standing offer price, following a recommendation of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Victoria has its own legislation for such a price and states noted the federal government should not impose such a price without prior agreement. Taylor told the meeting the commonwealth could impose the price unilaterally.
Taylor said the federal government had “achieved everything we wanted”, citing the reliability obligation, which will apply from 1 July.
“What it means is retailers now are accountable to ensure there’s enough supply in the market years ahead of time to keep prices down and to keep the lights on and to keep Australians in work in those energy-intense industries that are so crucial to our economy,” he said.
Asked about the tussle with NSW, Taylor said: “We didn’t get distracted and had a good outcome.”
He repeated the Morrison government’s mantra that Australia will meet its emissions reduction target of 26% by 2030 “in a canter”, despite the latest emissions data and the climate scientists and economists contradicting the claim.
Taylor said the reliability obligation will “sit alongside” the Coalition’s “underwriting mechanism to attract new dispatchable 24/7 reliable supply”.
Rattenbury said there was “no pathway” for the states to dispute or derail the commonwealth’s underwriting plan.
“It wasn’t up for discussion – the commonwealth have got their pathway, and said they’re doing it.”
The energy council meeting agreed to develop a national hydrogen strategy for consideration by the end of 2019. But a push to change building codes to require seven-star energy ratings in new buildings was deferred at Tasmania’s request.

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