Lower House Inquiry To Set 'Responsible Road Map' Out Of Coal For NSW

Sydney Morning Herald - Peter Hannam

Plotting NSW's transition away from coal will be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, including how the state can make the most of renewable energy supplies.
Submissions for the lower house's committee of environment and planning inquiry are open from Wednesday until September 15, with an aim to sidestep the "ideological debate" over the fossil fuels and climate change, said Alex Greenwich, independent MP and committee chair.

A coal-processing plant in the Hunter Valley: NSW lower house inquiry will examine the changing energy market in NSW including the rise of renewable energy. Credit: Nine

The terms of reference of the inquiry into the sustainability and energy supply and resources in NSW, include the economic opportunities of renewables, emerging trends in supply and exports, and the role government policies can play to support communities affected by changing markets.
"It allows us to plot a responsible road map for renewables in NSW," Mr Greenwich told the Herald. The inquiry will seek to avoid "pitting coal communities against climate change activists".
The inquiry will also look into the impacts on regional communities from the current energy system. These will include the effects coal-fired power have on water supplies in a drought and the sector's wider impact on the environment and public health.
The government's latest budget forecasts are for little immediate change for coal. Mining royalties, 94 per cent supplied by coal, are predicted to total just over $2 billion this fiscal year and barely budge over the following three years.
Within the government, ministers are working to deal with the planned closure of AGL's 1680-megawatt Liddell coal-fired power plant, and the integration of a flood of large-scale solar and wind farms before the 2020 federal renewable energy target ends.
Danielle Coleman, coordinator for Hunter Renewal, said the inquiry was a chance for people in regional coal communities "to speak for ourselves about how we want to prepare for our future".
"We need a plan for a future that is less dependent on coal mining and that sets us up with new jobs and industries for the long-term," she said.
Sophie Nichols, a Singleton student, said there was "considerable worry" in her town aout the future of coal exports.
"It’s clear they cannot be relied on and we need to prepare for change, and this inquiry is a chance to put the Hunter region on the road to renewal," she said.

'Catastrophic' climate change
Prior to the March election, Mr Greenwich – along with fellow independent MPs Greg Piper and Joe McGirr – called on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to develop a 10-year plan for coal-mining communities if the government was "serious about saving the world from catastrophic climate change".
Mr Greenwich said post her election win, the premier "indicated she was open" to the inquiry after the three MPs offered to provide support for the government in Parliament if required.
He said he hopes the probe will draw submissions from all sectors of the communities, including "champions within the government" for taking action to prepare for a lower carbon-intensive economy.

Coal mines in the upper Hunter Valley near Bulga. The committee inquiry will also examine the effects on water security and public health from existing and future energy supplies.

The five-person committee counts three Liberal MPs, including Felicity Wilson, a supporter of climate action, and Nathaniel Smith, the member for Wollondilly, a coal-mining region. Backing for the inquiry was unanimous with Anoulack Chanthivong, a Labor MP, the fifth member, also voting in support.
Matt Kean, the Minister for Energy and Environment, said his government was "focused on the reliability, affordability and sustainability of energy for NSW customers".
Adam Searle, Labor's energy spokesman, questioned the need for another inquiry after an upper house probe last year "thoroughly" dealt with the key energy issues in the state.
"We all know renewable energy is the cheapest new-build supply," he said. "The time has passed for another inquiry - the time for action is now."
Upper house independent MP Justin Field had sought support for a joint select committee for the future diversity of the Hunter Valley economy with the aim of taking a wider approach than just energy supply and generation.
The Greenwich-led inquiry will aim to report its findings by next March or April.

Links

• How Germany closed its coal industry without sacking a single miner
• Premier taps into climate change fund to aid communities
• Charging electric cars in Queensland will be 'half the cost of petrol'
• Thredbo visitors need to think about climate change
• Pacific leadership on climate change is necessary and inevitable

Drought Now Officially Our Worst On Record

Farm Online - Gregor Heard


THE ongoing drought through the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is now the worst on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
Speaking during a BOM seminar on climate, BOM climatologist David Jones said the drought had now exceeded the Federation Drought, the WWII drought and the Millennium drought in terms of its severity through the MDB.
"Our records only go back 120 years but in terms of the rainfall records it is the most severe," Dr Jones said.
Hydrologist and water sector engagement lead with BOM Matthew Coulton said this had also translated into markedly lower run-off into the system.
Dr Jones added temperatures were as high as they have been during the human era, saying the nearest equivalent according to paleo-climatic data (analysing historical weather trends) was a hot period encountered 2-3 million years ago.
"We are still below that threshold of a couple of million years ago but we are starting to approach it," Dr Jones said.
And the BOM panel had tough news for those hoping for a swift resolution to the big dry.
"Our climate forecasts for the next three months show well below average chances of exceeding median rainfall through most of the MDB, especially in the north," Dr Jones said.
Data shown during the seminar also demonstrated there is good accuracy in the BOM's forecasting skills over the spring period in the northern MDB.
It is going to be a long and arduous road back, with BOM data showing most of the northern basin, centring on river valleys such as the Barwon, Gwydir and Namoi, would need the wettest three months on record to drag itself back out of official drought conditions.
Poor summer rain in particular has been the killer for northern areas of the MDB.
"There just hasn't been the summer rain to get recharge," Mr Coulton said.
And he said the problem was worse in the subsoil, with aquifers taking longer to recharge than above-ground reservoirs.

Farmers in the Murray Darling Basin are suffering through the worst drought on record with no immediate end to the big dry in sight.

"When you see heavy rain, such as we saw in 2016 in parts of Australia you can get a relatively quick rise in storage levels, but to get recharge in the aquifers it is a much slower process and relies on a long period of rain rather than a short, intense rain system."
While the focus has been on the high profile woes of the MDB, the BOM data showed much of Australia was in drought.
"There was the good rain over summer in western Queensland, but for many other parts of Australia since the start of 2017 it has been very dry over a run of seasons," Dr Jones said.
He said the farming sector was well attuned to managing climatic variability but that the sustained run of dry seasons was making it difficult.
Gippsland, often referred to as the forgotten drought region of Australia and south-west Western Australia were other areas the BOM data highlighted as experiencing well below average rain over the 30 month period since the start of 2017.
The WA case is slightly surprising as grain yields out of the west have been excellent, especially last year, with further good prospects this season.

Links

• Australian Federation Drought, Painting Grim Future For Australia’s Biodiversity Under Climate Change
• A New Team Is Working To Predict The Danger Zones Of Australia's Deadliest Heatwaves
• 'Drier Than Millennium Drought': Satellite Shows Toll Of Big Dry
• NSW Towns Including Dubbo And Tamworth Face Water Emergency Within Months
• 'Monster' El Nino A Chance Later This Year, Pointing To Extended Dry Times
• 'The Darling Will Die': Scientists Say Mass Fish Kill Due To Over-Extraction And Drought
• Floods, Fire And Drought: Australia, A Country In The Grip Of Extreme Weather Bingo
• Extreme Weather Events Are Fueling ‘Food Shocks’ And Jeopardizing Global Security

Australian Federation Drought, Painting Grim Future For Australia’s Biodiversity Under Climate Change

National Geographic

Scientists utilised Over 37,000 newspaper articles to reconstruct the impacts of the Australian Federation Drought.

Carcasses of cattle at a drying waterhole on Bowra Station, north of Cunnamulla, Queensland, ca. 1900-1902. IMAGE CREDIT: National Library of Australia

BY RECONSTRUCTING the events of the Australian Federation Drought Period (1891-1903), a new study by the CSIRO has revealed the impact the continent-wide ‘megadrought’ had on biodiversity.
This is the first time scientists have been able to comprehensively reconstruct the impacts of an historical drought on flora and fauna using newspaper articles.
The researchers warn that given increases in the frequency and severity of ‘megadroughts’, which are predicted for the future, Australia’s biodiversity is gravely under threat.
The paper, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used digitised newspaper articles sourced from Trove, an archival platform by the National Library of Australia, to reconstruct the ecological impacts of the Federation Drought across all states and territories.
More than 37,000 newspaper articles were read, of which 1500 referred to the drought and more than 400 provided information about local impacts on native animals or plants.

Mortality of rabbits due to lack of water and feed at Cockburn Railway, SA, 1892. (Image credit: National Library of Australia)

“The Federation Drought had the biggest documented impact on plants and animals across a continent yet studied,” says lead author of the paper Robert Godfree.
“In Australia, more than 60 bird, fish, mammal, reptile and plant genera were severely affected across 2.8 million square kilometres, or more than a third of Australia.
“Herbivores, grain-eating birds, fish and plants were most vulnerable, while predators that could feed on dead animals, and other groups like waterbirds who could travel long distances, were less impacted.”
According to the paper, the presence of agriculture in the country exacerbated the impacts of the drought, noting it increased the potential for “overgrazing-induced meltdown and permanent ecosystem change.”
Through understanding the potential pattern and magnitude of ecological change brought about by megadroughts, the scientists hope they can predict locations at immediate risk of biodiversity loss under climate change.

Links

• A New Team Is Working To Predict The Danger Zones Of Australia's Deadliest Heatwaves
• 'Drier Than Millennium Drought': Satellite Shows Toll Of Big Dry
• NSW Towns Including Dubbo And Tamworth Face Water Emergency Within Months
• 'Monster' El Nino A Chance Later This Year, Pointing To Extended Dry Times
• 'The Darling Will Die': Scientists Say Mass Fish Kill Due To Over-Extraction And Drought
• Floods, Fire And Drought: Australia, A Country In The Grip Of Extreme Weather Bingo
• As Extinctions Loom, Biodiversity Warnings Fail To Resonate With Governments, Media
• Climate Change Threatens 26 Native Species In Great Dividing Range, Study Finds
• Fixing Australia’s Extinction Crisis Means Thinking Bigger Than Individual Species
• To Solve Climate Change And Biodiversity Loss, We Need A Global Deal For Nature
• United Nations Report: One Million Species At Risk Of Extinction
• Climate Change To Overtake Land Use As Major Threat To Global Biodiversity
• Australia’s Biodiversity And Climate Change

Climate Change Threatens Human Rights And Democracy, UN Official Warns

Canberra Times - Sherryn Groch

International law scholar and UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human right Philip Alston.

Philip Alston Philip Alston is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University. He is currently UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. In 2014 he was a member of the Security Council-established commission of inquiry on the Central African Republic. He previously served as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions (2004–10), as well as Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1991–98). During the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he was UNICEF’s Legal Adviser.

It reads like the pages of a dystopian novel - a world stuck in a "climate apartheid" where only the rich can escape the worst of global warming while hundreds of millions battle disease, food insecurity, forced migration and monster storms.
And, on our current course, scientific modelling says even that number is a best-case scenario.
Speaking at the Australian National University on Thursday, the UN's special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston will deliver a sharp warning to Australia on global warming.
In a world already one degree warmer than it was before the industrial revolution, the effects of climate change are starting to bite but nations remain unprepared for their full force, Profesor Alston said ahead of his lecture.
That puts human rights and even democracy at greater risk, as civil unrest, migration and soaring health care costs threaten to tank economies - and governments - in the years ahead.
"If you do nothing and it gets to the point it is, of emergency, it's like any emergency it becomes very hard to act logically," he said.
"Syria and other places are going to look fairly small-scale in comparison with what climate change is going to do over next 30 years or so.
"And it's the middle classes as well as those who are very poor who will feel it."
While Australia so far did not appear to have the same appetite for populism he saw on display in his native US, Professor Alston said it was just as opposed to the economic reform needed to avert disaster.
"Australia is a lesson to the broader community," he said.
"What we are seeing is an extremely short-sighted preoccupation with neo-liberal economic policies that oppose any kind of intervention or regulation [of industry]."
Australia was a major player in global climate action as a rich nation, he said, but appeared to be falling into step with the anti-climate science agenda of US president Donald Trump.
"Trump uses political rhetoric as only he can do, but the [Australian] government is doing pretty much the same thing without using the offensive words," Professor Alston said.

AUDIO:'The globe's at risk of climate apartheid', UN rapporteur warns. ABC

While the Morrison government has moved to downplay Australia's rising emissions, advice from its own advisory Climate Change Authority released earlier this month urged Australia to adopt more ambitious policies to put the nation "firmly" on the path to a zero-carbon economy.
Professor Alston said the authority appeared to be "weak as water" compared to the model in the UK, where a special committee on climate change produced recommendations that had to be considered by parliament.

Ticking boxes will not save humanity.
Professor Philip Alston

He noted jobs had to be considered carefully in the switch over to renewable energy from fossil fuels, which produce the emissions behind rising temperatures.
But he stressed governments could not keep pouring trillions of dollars into subsidies for the same companies polluting the planet.
"No one wants to inflict pain on a particular industry, [but] the fiddling around, the 'let's set another target'...incremental change has been a proven disaster," he said.
More damage has been done in the three decades since the UN established its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) in 1988 than in the whole of human history before it.
Professor Alston said the only hope of containing runaway climate change to 1.5 degrees of warming - and so averting more than 190 million deaths - now lay in a radical overhaul of the system.
"In some ways democracy has failed on climate change," he said. "You get politicians only thinking about the next election year.
"If you watch Fox News or read The Australian you will see that the push-back is this idea that it's all a Trojan horse for socialist upheaval [from] people pretending to be concerned about climate change."
The science - and increasingly the economics - told the real story, he said.
The World Bank now predicts climate change could push 120 million more people into poverty by 2030.
While the poorest half of the world's population - 3.5 billion people - is responsible for just 10 per cent of carbon emissions, they are also the most at risk.
Professor Alston said pursuing ambitious reform now offered an unprecedented opportunity to make systems inherently fairer.
"Economic prosperity, decent work, and environmental sustainability are fully compatible," Professor Alston said.
More than 20 countries had already uncoupled their economies from fossil fuels without slowing them down, he found in a recent report. Not only did they create new green jobs, they reduced poverty at a faster rate than elsewhere.
Professor Alston's criticism is not just reserved for governments.
Human rights organisations across the globe - including his own UN - have barely begun to grapple with climate change, he said, and remained too wedded to traditional means of litigation or advocacy.
"They've long resisted prioritising one issue over others....or more radical methods," he said.
"Voluntary emissions reduction commitments will only go so far."
Fortunately, he said, the movement was gaining momentum in another place it was desperately needed - on the ground.
From millions of students striking for climate action to environmentalists and farmers winning court actions against fossil fuel companies, people were beginning to recognise that saving the planet was really about their rights.
Earlier this month, celebrated broadcaster Sir David Attenborough also lashed Australia for its climate inaction, noting the country was especially at risk from the adverse effects of global warming such as increased heatwaves and bushfires.

Links

• UN expert condemns failure to address impact of climate change on poverty
• In "climate apartheid", rich will save themselves while poor suffer - UN report
• ‘Climate apartheid’: UN expert says human rights may not survive
• UN expert Philip Alston: “climate change is too expensive for us not to take action”
• Morrison government experts say Australia must 'do more' on climate
• ‘We need everyone’: Greta Thunberg calls on adults to join climate strikes
• 'Outrage is justified': David Attenborough backs school climate strikers
• Climate change denial is evil, says Mary Robinson
• Climate-warming El Niño very likely in 2019, says UN agency
• 'Tipping points' could exacerbate climate crisis, scientists fear