Qld To Cop Dramatic Rise In Extreme Heat

The Canberra Times - Nicholas McElroy AAP

In Brisbane, days where temperatures rise above 35C will increase sevenfold in 30 years' time.

Key points: Rockhampton will see 121 days per year over 35 degrees by 2090 under current government policies. The number of days over 40 degrees in Roma is expected to increase to up to 84 days per year by 2090 under a business as usual scenario. Townsville nights over 25 degrees are expected to increase to 197 nights per year by 2090. Major heatwaves like these have been dubbed the ‘silent killer’ -- causing more deaths in the last century than all natural disasters put together in Australia.

Queenslanders will have to battle through significantly more days of scorching extreme heat if no changes are made to carbon emissions, new research shows.
In Brisbane, days where temperatures rise above 35C are expected to increase sevenfold in thirty years' time, according to a report from The Australia Institute released on Wednesday.
The current average is two days per year above 35C, but the report forecasts an increase to 14 days per year in 30 years' time, and to 45 days by 2090.
The report crunched data from the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.
The Australia Institute's Richie Merzian said the forecasts also paint a bleak future for those in regional areas.
He said children living in towns like Roma, about 500 kilometres west of Brisbane, could experience up to 185 days over 35 degrees within their lifetime.
He said this would severely impact lives and industries.
"Extreme heat days could jeopardise many of Queensland's major industries like tourism, agriculture, and mining, where it is unsafe to work in such extreme temperatures," he said.
However, the report states that if emissions are reduced, "relatively safe" conditions could be ensured for future generations.
The report says extreme heat could peak in most areas by 2070 if steps are taken.
"Rising extreme heat is not inevitable; our analysis shows that if Australia cuts its emissions, much of these impacts can be avoided," Mr Merzian said.

Links

• Australia Institute: Queensland facing more climate chaos
• Australia Institute: HeatWatch
• Climate change and human health Risks And Responses
• ‘It’s been extreme’: Australia’s summer smashes seasonal heat records
• Australia: Projections for Australia’s NRM Regions
• Queensland Health (2015) Heatwave Response Plan

Al Gore Slams Adani, Tells Queensland 'Good Luck' In Selling Coal To India

Sydney Morning Herald - Tony Moore

Former US vice president Al Gore has taken a swipe at Adani during a climate change conference in Brisbane, casting doubt on the proposed Carmichael mine's viability as India moves away from coal-fired power.
The Indian company hopes to export thermal coal to India once the mine goes through its final approval processes.

Al Gore took a swipe at Adani during a presentation in Brisbane on Wednesday. Credit: Tony Moore

Mr Gore, who in his post-political life has become one of the world's most influential climate change activists, received a loud cheer when he told delegates at the Climate Reality Project conference that India was dramatically shifting away from coal as an energy source.
"This is what is happening in India," Mr Gore said as he punched through a nearly two-hour slide and video show supporting his view that world economies needed to rapidly shift away from fossil fuels to keep keep atmospheric warming as low as possible.
"This is what they have under construction right now in India for solar; 225 gigawatts. They are not going to continue with coal.
"You want to sell coal to India? Good luck with that."
Adani Mining plans to extract up to 20,000 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum from the Carmichael mine and export it to Adani-owned coal-fired power stations in India.
Mr Gore said the statistics showed India was rapidly shifting towards solar and wind energy and not investing in coal.
Financial institutions worldwide were increasingly reluctant to back new coal projects, he said.
"That is one of the reasons why not a single global financial institution, after doing the financial analysis, would put any money up for the Adani mine, not a single cent," Mr Gore said.
"May I just say. This is nuts. But I doubt [Adani] is ever going to happen anyway."
In March 2019, coal produced 56.4 per cent of India's energy, with hydro plants producing 15 per cent and solar and wind about 18 per cent.
"India is now getting bids for electricity produced from solar that is one-quarter lower than electricity from coal," Mr Gore said.
Forbes magazine made a similar observation last year, reporting how the cost of renewable energy in India had decreased by 50 per cent over the 2016-18 period.
Mr Gore said he could not understand why the coal in the Galilee Basin was being considered when some coal reserves in India had higher "inherent energy" output levels than the Queensland coal.
He said Indian financial experts were pointing to the increasing investment in renewable energy in India and the decline in new coal investment in India.
"I am trying to tread carefully here, but what do they know that some people in other countries don't seem to know?" Mr Gore said.
Adani Mining Australia as recently as last week said its Carmichael Coal Mine project was more than viable and they were ready to provide $2 billion to construct the mine and the railway to connect the mine to the existing Aurizon rail line which runs to Abbot Point port near Mackay.
Mr Gore, who advocates against fossil fuels in favour of expanding renewable energy such from wind and solar sources, said Australia should be concentrating on expanding its renewable energy framework and coupling that to new battery systems.
"This is the future, we are getting away from these dirty fossil fuels," he said, praising the recent push into electric vehicles in Australia and New Zealand.
He said Queenslanders were passionate supporters of solar rooftop systems.
"On a global basis we get as much energy from the sun in one hour as the entire global economy uses in a full year," he said.
"Since Australia has the best solar resource of any nation in the world, you would only have to capture 0.1 per cent of the solar energy that god makes available to you in order to meet 100 per cent of your energy needs.
"If we can increase the fraction that we can profitably harness and use then we can stop using the atmosphere as an open sewer."
Mr Gore drew a loud laugh when he told how Kentucky's famous coal museum has recently installed solar panels.
His presentation was punchy and updated with lots of recent Australian, Queensland and Brisbane observations.
He noted the Sydney Opera House "an iconic Australian symbol" had on World Environment Day vowed to generate all its electricity from renewable energy sources.
He appreciated both Queensland and New South Wales governments committing to having zero net emissions by 2050.
However, he saved his closing remarks for the expanding battery sector which he said would allow renewable energy to be stored and used in large scale energy systems "when the sun didn't shine and the wind isn't blowing".
"The technologists and engineers and scientists have given us  much cheaper batteries," he said.
"This is a $1 trillion industry emerging in the next 20 years. This is an amazing transformation.
"The cost of batteries is coming down quite dramatically. You combine them with solar and you can really transform the entire world's energy system."
Queensland possesses many of the rare earths needed for future battery manufacture, an 18-month Ernst and Young report into the state's future climate change economy concluded.

Links

• Impact of climate change on Queensland economy laid bare in new reports
• India Coal Power Is About To Crash: 65% Of Existing Coal Costs More Than New Wind And Solar
• Explaining Adani: Why Would A Billionaire Persist With A Mine That Will Probably Lose Money?
• Australia Keeps Voting For Coal, But Investors Are Quietly Abandoning Plans For New Mines
• Australia Plans Coalfield The Size Of Britain In Climate Change U-Turn
• Morrison Sprints To Adani Approval
• Coal Catastrophe: Why Scott Morrison Can't Give In To Queensland Triumphalism
• Adani Water Plan Ticked Off Within Hours Despite Lack Of Detail, Internal CSIRO Emails Reveal
• I'm Willing To Go To Jail To Stop Adani And Save Our Beloved Country. Will You Stand With Me? 
• Minerals Council ‘nuts’ on solar, wind: Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes
• Time to flick climate emergency switch: a plea to our new Parliament

World’s Biggest Companies Report $US1 Trillion In Climate Change Risks

RenewEconomy - Joshua S Hill

CDP  (Carbon Disclosure Project) Key points: 215 biggest global companies report almost US$1 trillion at risk from climate impacts, with many likely to hit within the next 5 years Companies report potential US$250 billion in losses due to the write-offs of assets Climate business opportunities calculated at US$2.1 trillion, nearly all of which are highly likely or virtually certain Potential value of sustainable business opportunities almost 7x the cost of realizing them (US$311bn in costs, US$2.1 trillion in opportunities) Financial companies forecast US$1.2 trillion in potential revenue from low emissions products & services Financial services industry represents almost 80% of the total potential financial impacts in the sample set Fossil fuels companies report more opportunities than risks from the low-carbon transition, raising questions about what they are reporting

A group of 215 of the world’s biggest companies representing nearly US$17 trillion in market capitalisation have valued the climate risks to their businesses at almost US$1 trillion – with many of these risks expected to hit within the next five years.
CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project and the organisation which runs the global disclosure system for environmental information, published a ground-breaking new report on Tuesday which analysed responses to CDP’s questionnaire in 2018 from 6,937 companies.
The report also included a separate sample based on 500 of the world’s biggest global companies by market cap, 366 of which reported to CDP in 2018.
The report analysed the risks and opportunities related to climate change in 2018 in line with the recommendations from Mark Carney’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures – a group set up in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board “to develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks, and investors in providing information to stakeholders.”
The report outlined several key findings related to the way in which companies are reporting and analysing their climate-related risks, but the most important takeaway from the report was found in the analysis of 500 of the world’s biggest companies.
Specifically, 215 companies within this sub-sample – representing US$16.95 trillion in market cap – provided estimations of the potential financial implications for a proportion of their reported risks which, according to CDP, came to just under a trillion dollars (around US$970 billion).
Further, and most chilling, is that over half of these risks were reported by these companies as being “likely/very likely/virtually certain” and are expected to materialise in the short- to medium-term, which works out to be around five years, or earlier.
On top of that, approximately US$250 billion of this trillion-dollar figure is linked to asset impairments or write-offs – more commonly known as “stranded assets” – as a result of both transition and physical risks.
“The goalposts for climate action have never been clearer for companies,” explained Nicolette Bartlett, Director of Climate Change, CDP. “Our analysis shows that there are a multitude of risks posed by climate change, including impaired assets, market changes and physical damages from climate impact, as well as tangible impacts to business bottom lines.
“Following the recommendations of the UN’s IPCC report, our collective response to climate change is more urgent than ever, and it is clear that corporate action cannot be delayed. So it is hugely encouraging that companies are reporting that the potential value of climate opportunities far outweigh the costs of investing in the transition.
“However, while our research shows that financial organizations see the most opportunities and value at risk from climate change, a more concerning story may sit behind this statistic.
“It is likely that this growing awareness is partly caused by the increased scrutiny of regulators and stakeholders. And the potential gaps in awareness and disclosure elsewhere in the economy present real risks. Regulators and investors should take note, and
all companies from all industries need to step up.”
Put another way, CDP are concerned that the “increased scrutiny of regulators and stakeholders” is not being replicated in other sectors, and is limited to the finance sector partly due to its continued provision of capital to fossil fuel and power companies, which in and of itself is the cause for the aforementioned “increased scrutiny”.
The report also showed that over 80% of the world’s largest companies see major climate impacts – including extreme weather patterns, rising global temperatures, and increased pricing of greenhouse gas emissions – while 225 of the world’s 500 biggest companies reported climate-related opportunities which represent potential financial impacts totalling over US$2.1 trillion – the majority of which is driven by the potential increase in revenue due to demand for low emissions products and services.
Importantly, on average, the potential value of climate-related opportunities is almost 7-times the cost of achieving them – US$311 billion in costs compared to US$2.1 trillion in opportunities. It is companies in the financial sector, however, which see the most potential revenue (of around US$1.2 trillion) from potential new sustainable products and services.
The financial sector is then followed by the manufacturing sector (seeing $338 billion in potential revenue), services ($149 billion), fossil fuels ($141 billion), and the food, beverage and agriculture industries ($106 billion).

Links

• CDP: World’s biggest companies face $1 trillion in climate change risks
• CDP: Climate risks could cost corporates $1trn, with biggest losses before 2025
• A New Study of 6,937 Companies Says Climate Change Could Cost Businesses $970 Billion Within the Next 5 Years
• Companies Disclosing to CDP Reveal Risks, Opportunities and a Troubling Reality