(AU) Queensland Government Grants Approval For State's Third-Largest Coal Mine With 1,000 Jobs Promised

ABC News - Stephanie Zillman

Annastacia Palaszczuk says her government has approved $21 billion worth of resource projects. (ABC Far North: Marian Faa) 

Key points The mine is predicted to have an 80-year life It will produce 15 million tonnes of metallurgical coal a year Miner Pembroke says it has a land use agreement with traditional owners

Construction will soon get underway on what will become Queensland's third-largest coal mine, 40 kilometres south of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the State Government had signed off on a mining lease for the Olive Downs Coking Coal Project, run by Pembroke Resources.

The central Queensland mine will have a production life of 80 years and the Government says it will create 1,000 jobs.

The Government did not provide forecasts for how much it would collect in mining royalties, but the number is expected to be in the billions.

"Let me say very clearly that not only do I support the coal industry here, but I've also been over to the steel mill in Japan," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"Nearly every single household utilises steel in some form or another, and steel is going to be part of our lives for many years to come."

Pembroke said it would produce up to 15 million tonnes of metallurgical coal per year.

The Olive Downs coal project will be Queensland's third-largest coal mine. (Supplied: Pembroke Resources) LARGE IMAGE

It will be exported to international markets in Japan and China.

Pembroke CEO Barry Tudor said the mining lease approvals were the final hurdle to beginning stage one of the project.

"We are extremely pleased to have been granted the mining leases, having consulted extensively with the local community over the past four years," he said.

"In addition to our commitment to the environment, we have focused on creating local jobs and proactively engaged with all stakeholders."

Mr Tudor said the company had established a relationship with the traditional owners of the land, the Barada Barna.

"We have an Indigenous Land Use Agreement and Cultural Heritage Management Plan in place," Mr Tudor said.

The Queensland government has given final approvals for a new coal mine in central Queensland. Credit: Facebook/Robert Rough

Ms Palaszczuk said she expected construction would start within months.

"There's no legal action with Olive Downs — Olive Downs is good to go," she said.

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington criticised Ms Palaszczuk for her record on advancing resources projects, but said she supported the mining lease for Olive Downs.

Deb Frecklington says the Premier has "moved the goalposts" on mining projects. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)

"I will always support jobs in regional Queensland, and I'm a big, bold supporter of the resources industry," Ms Frecklington said.

"The Premier's not going to hoodwink Queenslanders with this fly-in, fly-out visit.

"This coming from a Premier who has moved the goalposts on projects like Adani and New Hope."

Once complete, Olive Downs will be around the same size as the proposed Adani project.

Ms Palaszczuk said her Government had approved $21 billion in resource projects in the current parliamentary term.

Links

• Qld approves mine that will create 1000 jobs but destroy koala habitat
• Queensland government approval of Olive Downs Coking Coal Project criticised by conservation groups
• Qld government finalises Adani royalties deal before state election
• Australia approves major new fossil fuel projects
• Queensland's Adani deal that ignited Labor 'civil war' drags on

Exit From Fossil Fuels Quickens After California, China Signal Shift

Sydney Morning Herald - Peter Hannam

California's plan to ban new sales of fossil-fuel cars and China's first target for net zero carbon emissions are the latest signs that global climate action is beginning to accelerate, analysts say.

California, which has the world's fifth-biggest economy, said it would ban sales of new petrol or diesel cars by 2035. The declaration came days after China's President Xi Jinping surprised many by telling the United Nations General Assembly his country would achieve net zero carbon emissions before 2060.

Traffic in Los Angeles: California will ban all petrol cars and light trucks by 2035, joining a growing list of markets to set a date for phasing out internal combustion engine passenger vehicles. Credit: AP

On the corporate front, General Electric, builder of the world's first coal-fired power station in 1881, earlier this week said it would cease making equipment for new coal plants. Also, IBM has earmarked five new technologies it will advance, including capturing carbon dioxide from the air to make new products.

The volley of announcements comes days after the Morrison government detailed its plans to promote low-carbon technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, but has continued to avoid setting a target date to reach net zero carbon emissions unlike many of its biggest trading partners.

California has long-set vehicle emissions standards that have shaped targets in the US and globally because of the buying power of the state's 40 million-odd residents.

On Wednesday, local time, the state's Governor Gavin Newsom said California would prohibit the sale of all new cars and light trucks powered by petrol from 2035.

"This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change," Governor Newsom said. "Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels, threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines."

The state is in the midst of its worst wildfire season on record and another big heatwave is due to arrive in days.

California’s wildfires sent San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge into daytime darkness on September 9. The state is in the midst of its worst wildfire season on record. Credit: AAP

Behyad Jafari, chief executive of Australia's Electric Vehicle Council, said California joins a list of other markets preparing to ban sales of new cars with internal combustion engines. Britain has set a 2030 goal, among others.

While the Australian government will spend $74.5 million to support electric vehicle charging sites, its support for the emerging industry is less than half of 1 per cent of the $1.9 billion it set aside for low-carbon technology.

"They are certainly failing to grasp the opportunity provided by the technology," Mr Jafari said, noting the Morrison government had gifted almost triple that sum to increase storage at oil refineries.

A spokesman for Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the government's goal was to cut the cost of new technologies, reducing emissions and creating jobs in the process.

"Our approach respects consumer choice and enables them to adopt new technologies, including [electric vehicles], where it makes sense for them to do so," the spokesman said.

China's move also offered a contrast, with Mr Xi offering the first indication of when the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases would reach net zero emissions.

"China will scale up its [national emissions goal] by adopting more vigorous policies and measures," Mr Xi said. "We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060."

Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst with the Centre for Research on Energy an Clean Air, said it remains to be seen how Xi's surprise comments would square with China's recent accelerated approval of new coal-fired power stations.

"A broad announcement by [Xi Jinping], and one made in front of the world’s assembled heads of state, has the potential to mobilise the resources of the society and re-align the five-year plan targets," CREA said in a report.

While a big producer of coal-fired power plants, China is also the world's largest producer of renewable energy plants, including solar farms. Credit: AP

"If the signal goes out to the bureaucracy that this vision is something to be implemented from now on, it can kick China’s energy transition into high gear."

Emma Herd, chief executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change, said more than 40 per cent of Australia's trade was now with countries setting a net zero goal, a share that would climb above half should Democrat Joe Biden win the US presidential race in November.

Net-zero emissions ambition among Australia's main trading partners

* Total rises to 50.4% if Joe Biden becomes US President and acts on his climate pledge.
Source: Erwin Jackson/IGCC

Without a net zero goal of its own, the Morrison government was sending mixed signals to investors, Ms Herd said: "The private sector is trying to work out where the market is going."

Links

• An emissions target without a deadline isn't much of a target
• Carbon price needed to make energy roadmap believable
• Statement by H.E. Xi Jinping President of the People's Republic of China At the General Debate of the 75th Session of The United Nations General Assembly
• GE to pursue exit from new build coal power market
• China’s 2060 climate pledge: long-awaited breakthrough or sugar-coating another decade of rising emissions?
• (AU) By 2020 Standards, Angus Taylor's Low-Emissions Technology Statement Is Not Really A Climate Policy
• (AU) There Are More Horses In The Energy Race, But Are They Fast Enough?
• (AU) A Policy Of The Fossil Fuel Companies, By The Fossil Fuel Companies, For The Fossil Fuel Companies
• (AU) Taylor Favours Fossil Fuels And Farmers As Roadmap Picks Five Technology Winners
• (AU) Australia’s New National Preventive Health Strategy Must Include Climate Change, 30 Health Groups Say
• (AU) Scott Morrison Refuses To Commit To Net Zero Carbon Emissions By 2050

David Attenborough Leads Call For World To Invest $500 Billion A Year To Protect Nature

Reuters - Matthew Green

LONDON - British broadcaster David Attenborough on Wednesday led a campaign by conservation groups for the world to invest $500 billion a year to halt the destruction of nature, saying the future of the planet was in “grave jeopardy”.



Attenborough, whose new film “A Life on Our Planet” documents the dangers posed by climate change and the extinction of species, made his statement as the United Nations convened a one-day summit aimed at galvanising action to protect wildlife.

“Our natural world is under greater pressure now than at any time in human history, and the future of the entire planet – on which every single one of us depends – is in grave jeopardy,” Attenborough, 94, said in a news release.

“We still have an opportunity to reverse catastrophic biodiversity loss, but time is running out.”

Opening the summit in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a million species were at risk of extinction and that climate change and the loss of biodiversity were “destroying Earth’s web of life”.

“Humanity is waging war on nature, we need to change our relationship with it,” Guterres said.

The push to redirect financing away from fossil fuels and other polluting industries and into locally led conservation was launched by environmental group Fauna & Flora International and backed by more than 130 organisations.

"U.N. member states must take the lead in getting ahead of this crisis and putting funding into the hands of those who are best placed to use it – local conservation organisations,” Mark Rose, chief executive of Fauna & Flora International, said.

The world spends an estimated $80-$90 billion on conservation each year, but studies show that hundreds of billions of dollars may be needed to save ecosystems from collapse.

Britain, Canada and others joined the European Union on Monday in pledging to protect 30% of their land and seas by 2030. U.N. officials hope to secure broad agreement on that target at talks to forge a new global biodiversity pact due to take place in China in 2021.

Addressing the summit in a video message, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged global cooperation on the environment, saying countries were “passengers in the same boat”.

“The loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems pose a major risk to human survival and development,” he said. “It falls to all of us to act together, and urgently turn the Earth into a beautiful homeland for all creatures to live in harmony.”

Links

• (AU) David Attenborough Urges The World To Act On Climate Change
• David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet Review – Stark Climate Emergency Warning
• David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet Trailer
• WWF - Attenborough: A life on our planet
• Netflix - David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
• David Attenborough to publish 'witness statement' on climate crisis
• The real David Attenborough
• The Guardian view on Planet Earth: its life in our hands
• David Attenborough Instagram
• Lethal Heating: David Attenborough Posts
• Sir David Attenborough warns of climate 'crisis moment'
• David Attenborough Says Australia's Bushfires A 'Major International Catastrophe' And Calls For Climate Action
• David Attenborough Slams Australian PM On Climate Record
• David Attenborough Takes Aim At Australia For Lack Of Climate Action
• VIDEO: David Attenborough Climate Change TV Show A 'Call To Arms'