23/02/2022

(AU ROAR) Footy In The Time Of Climate Change And The Players Who Are Making A Stand

ROAR - Brendan Hitchens
 
As football fans we can look back and laugh at the absurdity of the 2015 grand final played in 31-degree conditions in spring, the 2019 game at Canberra’s Manuka Oval played in snowy two-degree conditions or 2021’s West Coast vs Melbourne game delayed for 29 minutes due to lightning strikes.

But what if extreme weather conditions start to become a trend and continue to have an effect on the game we love?

The AFLW is a prime example of the need to have courageous conversations around weather and welfare. Scheduled in the middle of summer, players are expected to play in extreme heat week after week.

Across the February Round 6 fixture St Kilda and Brisbane played in 34-degree conditions in Melbourne and the Adelaide Crows and Western Bulldogs match reached a temperature of 33 degrees in Adelaide.

The recent Round 7 match between West Coast and Richmond was played in mid-afternoon 37-degree conditions in Perth.

Contentiously the league has decided against changing the starting time of the games to offer players respite from the heat and has instead used their heat policy to encourage teams to employ extra water carriers and have water mist fans on the sidelines. The halftime break was extended for the Round 7 match by just four minutes.

For a league that prides itself on sports science and the health and wellbeing of its players, this stands in stark contrast.

Many may argue these conditions are simply the by-product of playing in the middle of the day in summer, but alarming statistics suggest the hot and dry conditions are here to stay.

Released in 2020 by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, the State of the Climate report found key trends of “continued warming of Australia’s climate.”

A Climate Council report ascertained that nine out of ten of the hottest years in Australia have occurred since 2005, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) research found that “Australia is one of the most vulnerable developed countries to the impacts of climate change”.

While the AFL and AFLW may be a victim of the consequences of climate change, it can’t neglect the fact that it is also a contributor.

The league’s corporate partners include mining magnates BHP, historically one of Australia’s largest emitting companies;

Toyota, whose parent company, Toyota Motor Corporation, was earlier this year fined US$180 million (A$250 million) for breaching emissions-reporting requirements; and Virgin Australia, whose jet fuel usage has a significant environmental impact.

Next season the AFLW will expand, with Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, and the Sydney Swans all adding teams to the league.

With five states represented as well as the Kangaroos playing games in Tasmania, travel is an imperative part of the national competition but also leaves the largest carbon footprint.

AFL To their credit, a group of players are taking action.

Last year a union of players formed the AFL Players for Climate Action (AFLP4CA) movement. Co-founded by North Melbourne’s Tom Campbell and former teammate Jasper Pittard, more than 260 past and present AFL and AFLW footballers have already signed up.

“We’ve heard so many stories from around the country. Training relocated due to bushfire smoke. Regional clubs facing closure due to rising insurance premiums in flood and fire-prone areas. Grounds so hard during prolonged droughts they’re leading to increased injury,” the group tweeted.

“As footballers, we want to play our part in tackling climate change. We know Australia stands to benefit from strong climate action. We want to be part of building that future.”

If football is a game of one-percenters, then taking proactive environmental steps is the bare minimum the AFL Commission can do not just for the welfare of the players but for the planet and future generations.

With the highest spectator attendance and television audience of all sports in the country, it has a responsibility to lead by example before it’s too late.

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(UK Euronews) Hadrian's Wall Under Threat From Climate Change On 1900th Birthday

Euronews - Cameron Hill | AP

Dr. Andrew Birley inspects a well near Hadrian's Wall, UK - Copyright AP Photo
For almost two millennia, it has withstood man and beast.

But, as it celebrates its 1,900th anniversary this year, archaeologists fear it may be facing its most dangerous foe: climate change.

Hadrian’s Wall, located in northern England, is a Roman fortification stretching from coast to coast. It served as a marker of the north-westerly frontier of the Roman Empire.

Archaeologist Bill Griffiths says it is a striking example of the longevity of structures built by the Romans.

"So Hadrian's Wall is an incredible monument, it runs right across England coast-to-coast 73 modern miles, 80 Roman miles long and you set that in context against other Roman marvels like the Colosseum, the Pantheon and things like that," he notes.

"Everyone knows it, everyone has heard of Hadrian's Wall - it is a real landmark."

Hadrian's Wall

 Hadrian’s Wall and its surroundings have long been a rich area of discovery for archaeologists. Many artefacts and treasures have been pristinely preserved in the peat bogs that dominate the landscape.

But climate change has caused these peat bogs to shrink back and dry up.

A well, for example, was hidden underground 30 years ago, but the shrinking bog has left the well exposed in the open air, and vulnerable to complete destruction.

Archaeologists are all too aware that uncovering valuable Roman treasures from this site has become a race against time.

"So 1,900 years ago Hadrian's Wall was built to separate the country and to protect the Roman province of Britain, well quite frankly it's never been under as great a threat as it was then as it is now today through climate change," says Dr Andrew Birley.

"We've got these sensitive areas of archaeology which are under extreme threat from climate change, those small temperature changes which are now increasing to big temperature changes really have the power to damage the preservation of what's going on here."

So, while the world considers how climate change will affect our future, Hadrian's Wall shows the impact it is already having on our past.

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(AU The Guardian) Why Is A Tech Billionaire Trying To Buy Australia’s Dirtiest Energy Company AGL?

The Guardian -  |

Mike Cannon-Brookes believes backing renewable energy over old coal power plants will keep electricity prices down, create jobs and slash emissions – is he right?

Steam billows from the cooling towers at AGL’s Loy Yang A coal-fired power station and Loy Yang B. Photograph: John W Banagan/Getty Images

What exactly is being proposed?

It is, by any measure, an extraordinary intervention in Australia’s rapidly evolving electricity market. A consortium worth hundreds of billions of dollars on Saturday lodged a formal offer to buy AGL Energy – the country’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter – for just short of 5% above the closing share price on Friday.

The headline name behind the bid is Mike Cannon-Brookes, the 42-year-old co-founder of software company Atlassian, green solutions investor, climate action advocate and one of Australia’s richest people.

But in reality, Cannon-Brookes’ company Grok Ventures is the smaller player in the consortium, which is led by Brookfield, a Canadian investment giant with $688bn worth of assets under management last year. Including AGL’s debt, the bid was just short of A$8bn.

Why are they doing it?

According to the main players, a significant part of the motivation is to close and replace the company’s coal-fired power plants and prevent a controversial demerger that would hive off those coal plants from AGL into a new entity called Accel Energy.

The consortium says it has up to $20bn to spend on building and contracting at least 8 gigawatts of renewable energy and energy storage to replace about 7GW of existing power plants. AGL’s Bayswater and Loy Yang A coal plants, currently scheduled to shut by 2033 and 2045, would be gone by 2030.

The company would reach net zero emissions by 2035 and suddenly be playing its part in limiting global heating to 1.5C, in line with scientific advice.

The proposal is much bigger than just the coal power plants. It would involve Brookfield and Grok Ventures acquiring all of AGL’s generation assets and its retail business.

Cannon-Brookes stresses it isn’t a philanthropic investment.

He says he is confident backing renewable energy over ailing old coal power plants can keep electricity prices down, create 10,000 construction and 600 ongoing jobs and wipe out about 40m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – more than 8% of Australia’s annual emissions footprint – while turning a profit.

Analysts and some within AGL see access to the company’s 4.5 million customers across the country as a key motivation for any would-be suitor.

Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes speaks during the 2019 National Smart Energy Summit in Sydney. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
For Brookfield’s part, it is a shareholder in significant fossil fuel assets, but it is noteworthy that the bid includes the name of Mark Carney, the company’s head of transition investing since 2020.

He made his name as first the governor of the Bank of Canada, then the Bank of England, and then the United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance in the lead-up to last year’s Cop26 summit in Glasgow. A Brookfield renewable energy arm has about US$65bn assets under management.

The bid is timed with at least one eye on the upcoming demerger, which AGL declared on Monday was on track to happen by 30 June. The consortium says the split risked leading to the separated entities trading at a lower share price, reducing value for shareholders.

How did the company respond?

There was a swift rejection after the board met on Sunday afternoon. It claimed the offer “materially undervalues the company”, as it offered only a 4.7% premium on Friday’s share price.

The consortium rejected this rebuttal just as quickly. It says the offer represented about a 20% premium on the company’s three-month volume-weighted average share price of $6.28 and pointed to its expectation the value would fall after the split.

Cannon-Brookes told Guardian Australia on Monday the consortium would continue to engage with AGL and he would focus on “trying to explain to shareholders why we believe this is the best option”.

Within AGL, there was some excitement at the prospect that a billionaire entrepreneur with Cannon-Brookes’ success at creating a software firm was making a play for the company.

It had lost up to 80% of its share value over the five years prior to the takeover offer although its stock had started to bounce back in the past 12 months. AGL shares gained more than 10% during Monday’s trade.

Putting aside the business machinations, is this even doable?

According to the experts, yes, though it would be challenging. Cannon-Brookes was quick to point to a draft blueprint for the future grid published by the Australian Energy Market Operator in December, known as the integrated system plan.

That document suggested under a step-change scenario – now considered the most probable path – coal would exit the system at roughly three times the pace than proposed and there could be a ninefold increase in large-scale renewable energy such as wind and solar farms. It is not a report the Morrison government tends to emphasise.

No one disputes that the rise of renewable energy is making coal plants unviable as the around-the-clock generators they were meant to be. They can’t compete with an influx of cheap solar energy in the middle of the day and were mostly not built to ramp down and then back up when needed.

Department officials project renewable energy will increase from about 30% now to 69% by 2030. Labor says under its policies it would reach 82%.

It is not only AGL that is under pressure. In the most recent announcement,

Origin Energy gave notice that the country’s biggest coal-fired power plant, Eraring, could shut seven years earlier than scheduled – in 2025 rather than 2032.

The consortium says they can drive a rapid change at AGL in a way the current public ownership can’t because raising the vast amount of capital needed is difficult, but they already have it.

Are there unanswered questions?

Plenty, including whether the consortium would be open to paying more and the timing and specifics of the investment plan. The bid would have to be cleared by the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission – and possibly the Morrison government, should it choose to intervene.

Buying AGL would involve taking on 3.2 million gas customers. Cannon-Brookes indicated the consortium would want to move them to renewable electricity, a significant undertaking in its own right.

Cannon-Brookes acknowledges it is “on a global scale a massive decarbonisation effort” but says the plan makes sense. The consortium’s offer letter says it conducted detailed market modelling with consultants Marsden Jacob Associates and was confident its plan was achievable.

“The economics stacks up, the science stacks up, what we require is just the gumption to go for it and actually make it happen, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Cannon-Brookes says.

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