(AU) Australia’s Worst Floods In Decades Quicken Concerns About Climate Change

New York Times - Damien Cave

In a country that suffered the harshest wildfires in its recorded history just a year ago, the deluge has become another awful milestone.

After days of unrelenting rain, major flooding in eastern Australia forced nearly 20,000 people to be evacuated and more than 150 schools to be closed. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

WINDSOR, Australia — Kelly Miller stood in her doorway on Monday, watching the water rise to within a few inches of the century-old home where she runs an alternative medicine business.

The bridge nearby had already gone under in some of Australia’s worst flooding in decades, along with an abandoned car in the parking lot.

“It’s coming up really quickly,” she said.

Two massive storms have converged over eastern Australia, dumping more than three feet of rain in just five days.

In a country that suffered the worst wildfires in its recorded history just a year ago, the deluge has become another record-breaker — a once-in-50-years event, or possibly 100, depending on the rain that’s expected to continue through Tuesday night.

Nearly 20,000 Australians have been forced to evacuate, and more than 150 schools have been closed. The storms have swept away the home of a couple on their wedding day, prompted at least 500 rescues and drowned roads from Sydney up into the state of Queensland 500 miles north.

Shane Fitzsimmons, the resilience commissioner for New South Wales — a new state position formed after last year’s fires — described the event as another compounding disaster.

Last year, huge fires combined into history-making infernos that scorched an area larger than many European countries. This year, thunderstorms have fused and hovered, delivering enough water to push rivers like the Hawkesbury to their highest levels since the 1960s.

Scientists note that both forms of catastrophe represent Australia’s new normal. The country is one of many seeing a pattern of intensification — more extreme hot days and heat waves, as well as more extreme rainfalls over short periods.

Watching the flooded Hawkesbury River in Windsor, on Monday. Over the weekend, the river rose rapidly by more than 30 feet. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

It’s all tied to a warming earth, caused by greenhouse gases.

Because global temperatures have risen 1.1 degrees Celsius, or about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, over preindustrial levels, landscapes dry out more quickly, producing severe droughts, even as more water vapor rises into the atmosphere, increasing the likelihood of extreme downpours.

“There is a very strong link between global warming and that intensification in rainfall,” said Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Center of Excellence for Climate Extremes at the University of New South Wales. “There’s good scientific evidence to say extreme rain is becoming more extreme due to global warming.”

Australia’s conservative government — heavily resistant to aggressive action on climate change that might threaten the country’s fossil fuel industry — has yet to make that link.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has offered funds for those forced to flee, and several dozen areas have already been declared disaster zones.

Sandbagging in Windsor, which may see some of the worst flooding as rains continue on Tuesday. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

“It’s another testing time for our country,” he told a Sydney radio station, 2GB, on Monday.

Windsor may become one of the places hardest hit. Over the weekend, the Hawkesbury rose rapidly by more than 30 feet, and it is expected to peak in the next day or so at 42 feet.

With rain continuing to fall, emergency workers wearing bright orange went door to door on side streets with waist-deep puddles where the road dipped.

In and around the historic downtown, many of the businesses close to the river stayed shut on Monday, with a few putting sandbags by their doors. The central meeting place seemed to be at the foot of the Windsor Bridge, where television crews and crowds in rubber boots marveled at the view.

The new Windsor Bridge, which opened just a few months ago as a “flood-proof” replacement for an older bridge, was completely underwater.

It was built 10 feet higher than the bridge it replaced, but the river flowed over it as if it did not exist. A red flashing light on the top of a buried yellow excavator offered the only hint of the old bridge, or what had once been solid ground.

Flooding in Windsor. Experts say the storm that produced the floods was a once-in-50-year event, or perhaps even 100. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

Cameron Gooch, 46, a diesel mechanic from a town nearby, said he saw huge trees speeding downriver toward the coast a day earlier. The water seemed to have slowed down, he said, becoming a giant bathtub with water held in place and rising slowly from tributaries.

“That’s the problem,” he said. “It’s just going to keep building up.”

A few feet away, Rebecca Turnbull, the curator of Howe House, a home and museum built in 1820, put handwritten notes on the furniture that would need to be removed if the water surged a few more feet.

She pointed to a line drawn on the doorway of a room that smelled of damp old wood.

“This is where the water came up to in 1867,” she said.

Like many others in Windsor, she said she doubted the river would reach quite that high this time around. But that didn’t bring much solace to those closer to the rising brown sludge.

Windsor may become one of the places hardest hit by the Australian floods. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

Rachael Goldsworthy, who owns a home and real estate business just behind Ms. Miller’s naturopathic clinic — it’s a few feet higher on the hillside — said she saw a new Mercedes washed downstream the night before after a man had parked in a small puddle and then went into a grocery store to buy a roast chicken.

In just minutes, the rising water carried the car away. On Monday, she tried to help Ms. Miller find a few milk crates — the only defense for some of the heavy furniture that could not be moved out.

Inside, Ms. Miller and her son collected oils and other products that she would normally be selling, with plans to put them in a truck or a storage unit. The antique flowered carpet was still dry, and she’d taped up the toilets to keep the septic system from backing up into the house.

She said she didn’t have flood insurance because she couldn’t afford it. So all she could do was learn from YouTube videos about how to fight a flood.

“We’re trying to work out how to save what we can,” she said. “We don’t want to lose everything.”

Links

• (AU) Catastrophic Fires And Devastating Floods Are Part Of Australia's Harsh New Climate Reality
• (AU) ‘One-In-100 Year’ Rain Could Become Norm, Say Climate Watchers
• (AU) Is NSW Flooding A Year After Bushfires Yet More Evidence Of Climate Change?
• (AU) Former Emergency Chiefs: Climate Change Pushing Flood Events To Unprecedented Extremes
• (AU) El Nino Lulls Lead To Harsh Floods, Fires And Droughts: Study
• (AU) Fire Brigade Employees’ Union calling for greater resources in response to climate change related natural disasters
• (AU) NSW facing a 'dangerous situation' as around 18,000 people evacuated during flood disaster
• (AU) Australia floods: NSW inundated with torrential rain – in pictures 
• (AU) 'Never seen anything like it': locals watch helplessly as floodwaters rise across New South Wales

(AU) Biden Invites Morrison To Climate Summit, Urges Lift In Ambition

Sydney Morning Herald - Matthew Knott

Washington: Prime Minister Scott Morrison is among 40 leaders invited by the Biden administration to a high-powered climate change summit in April, a meeting designed to spur a raft of ambitious new carbon reduction pledges from global leaders.

The invite marks a welcome change for Morrison from the end of last year, when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pointedly declined to ask him to join a virtual “climate ambition summit”.

Johnson told Morrison in a letter that he had been snubbed because Australia had not announced ambitious enough goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

US President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a climate summit in April. Credit: Bloomberg

John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, recently said the US and Australia were not “on the same page” when it came to tackling climate change.

The Biden administration has not made participation in its summit, to be held virtually on April 22 and 23, contingent on any specific new carbon reduction commitments.

But the Morrison government will still face pressure to announce new steps to tackle to climate change.

Boris Johnson outlines why Scott Morrison was rejected to speak at climate summit

In his invite to the summit, Biden urged leaders to use the event to outline how their countries will contribute to stronger climate ambition.

The Biden administration will announce an “ambitious” 2030 emissions target in the lead-up to the summit, the White House said.

Environmental group are urging Biden to pledge a 50 per cent in US emissions below 2005 levels by 2030.

Biden is also expected to make investment in clean energy technologies a major plank of a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure plan he will unveil next week.

The other leaders invited to the summit include Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to work closely with the US President-Elect Joe Biden on key issues such as climate change.

Collectively, the nations represented at the summit account for around 80 per cent of global emissions and global GDP.

The fact Biden has invited China and Russia to the summit - two nations his administration has named as major threats to global stability - shows his determination to separate action on climate change from disagreements on issues such as trade and human rights.

“The Leaders Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action,” the White House said in a statement on Saturday (AEDT).

“It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.”

The White House said one of the key aims for the summit was to galvanise efforts by the world’s major economies to keep a limit to global warming of 1.5 degree Celsius within reach.

What's a 'just transition' and can you switch to green energy without sacking coal workers?

In a discussion with former vice president Al Gore last month, Kerry said: “Australia has had some differences with us, we’ve not been able to get on the same page completely.

“That was one of the problems in Madrid as you recall, together with Brazil.”

At the Madrid climate summit in 2019, some countries accused Australia and Brazil of thwarting progress on climate action by refusing to drop a plan to use carry-over carbon credits from the Kyoto Protocol to meet their 2030 Paris Agreement targets.

In a speech earlier this month to the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, Kerry said the 2020s has to be the the “decade of ambition and the decade of decision and the decade of action” on climate change.

“So it’s a sprint,” he said. “And it’s a sprint towards substantial emission reductions by 2030.”

Links

• The White House: President Biden Invites 40 World Leaders to Leaders Summit on Climate
• Biden plans to fight climate change in a way no U.S. president has done before
• The Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice
• Boris Johnson outlines why Scott Morrison was rejected to speak at climate summit
• Biden ramps up climate diplomacy amid ‘differences’ with Canberra
• (USA) The Civilian Climate Corps Is A Big-Government Plan That All Americans Can Embrace
• (AU) Joe Biden's Climate Envoy Admits US And Australia Not On 'Same Page'
• (AU) Almost Alone: Australia Isolated On Climate Despite PM’s Ambitions
• (AU) Morrison Missing The Memo On Climate Change
• Surge In Global Action Highlights Australia’s Stance On Climate Change
• (AU) As Biden Hits The Accelerator On Climate Action, Australia Remains Stuck In Policy Paralysis
• (AU) ‘Breathtaking’: What Joe Biden’s Sweeping Climate Plan Means For Scott Morrison

(AU) 'We Want To Be Included': First Nations Demand A Say On Climate Change

The Guardian - Lorena Allam

Cairns event sees 120 traditional owners and scientists share insights on tackling heatwaves, rising seas and species deaths

Gudjugudju (Rainbow Serpent) Fourmile, led the Bana Ganyarra Wunyami tour of Admiralty Island and Green Island, where traditional owners and scientists shared data on climate change. Photograph: Brian Cassey/The Guardian

More than 100 traditional owners and leading scientists from across Australia met this week to build a national First Nations voice on climate change.

From marine heatwaves and rising seas to bushfires and mass species deaths, climate change is having a major impact on First Peoples, their country, health and culture.

Internationally, Indigenous people make up less than 5% of the world’s population, but they manage and protect 80% of global biodiversity.

The mangrove forests on Admiralty Island at Trinity Inlet in Queensland. Gudjugudju Fourmile estimates that the mangroves will be submerged by 2040. Photograph: Brian Cassey/The Guardian

This week in Cairns, the CSIRO convened the National First Peoples Gathering on Climate Change. One hundred and twenty traditional owners from more than 40 nations met with climate scientists and Bureau of Meteorology experts to share insights about where, why and how fast the climate in Australia is changing.

The gathering’s co-chair, Bianca McNeair, who is a Malgana woman from Gatharagudu (Shark Bay) in Western Australia, said: “We want to be included in the climate policy, not just like ticking the box for an environmental program.”

McNeair said Aboriginal people are on the frontline daily, coping with the impacts of a changing environment.“Changing climate affects our cultural practices, it’s changing our seasonal calendars,” she said. “All of those things are facing all our mob across Australia.“[People here] are talking about how the birds’ movements across country have changed, so that’s changing songlines that they’ve been singing for thousands and thousands of years, and how that’s impacting them as a community and culture.

“You know, we are very resilient people, so it’s a challenge we were ready to take on. But now we’re facing a situation that’s not predictable, it’s not part of our natural environmental pattern.”

McNeair said Aboriginal knowledge holders and the scientific community at the conference have agreed on guidelines for ethical and culturally appropriate partnerships, which are essential to mitigation and adaptation.

On her homelands at Gatharagudu at Shark Bay, working with scientists, they’ve begun planting sea grasses for carbon sequestration.

“We’re learning from the scientists how to plant the seagrass, which was not something that was part of our traditional culture because we never really had to do that – it was managed through other means. We didn’t have this whole global warming, which is raising the temperature of our water,” McNeair said.

Climate change specialist and senior principal research scientist Dr Kathleen McInnes of CSIRO Melbourne prepares to view the coral at Green Island during the tour. Photograph: Brian Cassey/The Guardian

“We were saying to the scientists, ‘What’s wrong with our dugong and turtles?’ And they were explaining about the marine heatwave, and how that’s all changing.

“So one of the things that I’ve learned is what the [seagrass] seedlings look like, and how to plant them.

“For me, as a saltwater person, that means I’m planting a tree in the ocean, and I’m planting a tree that’s going to take in 10 times more carbon than a tree on land. That, to me, is really exciting and it’s keeping our spiritual connection to country that keeps giving us hope.”

The gathering is currently drafting a national statement on climate change, due to be released soon.

“Aboriginal people manage 80% of the world’s biodiversity,” McNeair says. “We’re in this position where we can make a big change, but we need to be listened to.

“What we really need is to be able to get to the top levels of government and be heard and be included in that discussion and developing those climate change policies.”

Links

• (AU) Indigenous Expertise Is Reducing Bushfires In Northern Australia. It’s Time To Consider Similar Approaches For Other Disasters
• Why Land Rights For Indigenous Peoples Could Be The Answer To Climate Change
• Fighting for Fraser Island: how tourism and climate change put an ancient environment at risk
• Australia asks UN to dismiss Torres Strait Islanders' claim climate change affects their human rights
• Too hot for humans? First Nations people fear becoming Australia's first climate refugees
• Stripped bare: Australia's hidden climate crisis
• Australians stand up for climate change action – in pictures
• Torres Strait Islanders take climate change complaint to the United Nations
• 'The island is being eaten': how climate change is threatening the Torres Strait
• Climate change: 90% of rural Australians say their lives are already affected
• Rio Tinto pledges to protect cultural heritage after Juukan Gorge disaster

(AU) Angus Taylor Has Never Asked Climate Change Authority To Model Zero Carbon Pathway

RenewEconomy - Michael Mazengarb

Federal Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor

A key government climate advisory body has revealed that it has not been asked to prepare a plan for Australia to reach zero net emissions, raising fresh questions over the sincerity of the Morrison government claims to be committed to a zero emissions target.

The Climate Change Authority revealed on Wednesday that it had not received a request to develop a zero emissions plan by federal energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor.

The admission came when it appeared before a committee inquiry examining a Climate Change Bill proposed by independent MP Zali Steggall. That legislation would set into law a zero net emissions target for 2050, and would establish an independent commission, much like the CCA itself, to provide advice to the federal government on how to achieve it.

The CCA was established by the Gillard government as a source of expert advice, but since the election of the Coalition government in 2013, it has been largely stripped of its resources and staffing, although it is still required to undertake periodic reviews into a range of government climate change initiatives, and can be tasked with investigating special topics as directed by the government.

When asked by Steggall whether Taylor had asked the CCA to develop a pathway for Australia to reach zero net emissions, the authority’s CEO Brad Archer said that it had not.

“So, the minister has not requested of the Climate Change Authority to review or plan a net zero pathway?” Steggall queried.

“That’s correct,” Archer responded.

The CCA has previously undertaken reviews of the Emissions Reduction Fund and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme and is currently undertaking a review into a trade and investment strategy in a low emissions economy.

Its new revelation follows a similar concession by officials from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources who also said the department had not modelled a pathway to zero net emissions.

While many of Australia’s major trading partners have set a 2050 deadline to hit a zero emissions target, prime minister Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor have merely said that they wish to see Australia reach the target “as soon as possible”.

But revelations that neither the federal energy department nor a key government climate change advisory body has modelled what a pathway to zero net emissions may look like raises questions about the Morrison government’s commitment to reaching zero emissions.

Steggall told RenewEconomy that it was clear that the Morrison government was continuing to ignore experts when it comes to climate change.

“On the one hand, the Prime Minister says he wants to get to net zero as soon as possible, but on the other hand, his departments and agencies aren’t providing any advice or modelling on it. If we are serious, we need to get planning now,” Steggall said.

“The Government tells us it’s listening to the experts, but time and again, it is ignoring experts like the Climate Change Authority as we heard today. That is why I have proposed an empowered climate change commission in the Climate Change Bills. The powerful new commission will require the government to engage and respond to advice.

“We also heard that the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment are not costing climate impacts. The government talks a lot about costs, but how can the government claim action is expensive if it isn’t costing impacts? The Australian people deserve to know the true scale and price of the challenge in front of us,” Steggall added.

Links

• Climate Change Authority
• Climate Change Authority releases it 2020 review of the Emissions Reduction Fund
• Coalition ministers at odds over emissions target after Labor commits to net zero by 2050
• Angus Taylor says it is not Australian government policy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050
• Big business receives a net-zero emissions rocket from Angus Taylor
• Morrison government hasn’t yet modelled zero emissions pathway
• Independent MP Zali Steggall to propose climate change bill to parliament
• Independent MP Zali Steggall welcomes positive response to Climate Change Bill
• Climate Change Authority releases new report - Prospering in a low-emissions world: An updated climate policy toolkit for Australia

Invest In Low-Carbon Cities To Protect Climate And Boost Jobs, Governments Urged

World Economic Forum - Reuters, Anastasia Moloney

Public transport buses running with a compressed natural gas (CNG) engine are seen at a bus stand in New Delhi, India, November 18, 2020. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Key Points Cutting carbon emissions from energy, transport and construction in cities would bring jobs and savings, and curb climate change, a new report says. The Coalition for Urban Transitions has outlined preventative measures against climate change that governments and city leaders should prioritise. China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are the six emerging economies which the report focuses on. Implementing such measures could bring $12 trillion in net benefits, based on cost savings alone, by 2050 and create millions of new jobs by 2030.

More COVID-19 recovery spending and public investment is needed for green transport and clean energy in cities, to create jobs, cut planet-heating emissions and limit the damage from climate change, U.N. officials and researchers said on Wednesday.

A report by the Coalition for Urban Transitions, a group of research organisations pushing for more sustainable cities, assessed climate-friendly measures governments and city leaders should prioritise in six emerging economies.

The report found that China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - which account for a third of global GDP and about 40% of the world's urban population - could cut annual emissions in key urban sectors by up to 96% more than current plans by 2050, by investing in low-carbon initiatives.

Those include retrofitting old buildings to save on energy use, building new energy-efficient homes with rooftop solar panels, and ensuring affordable housing for the poor is connected to public transport.

Mobility must be made cleaner by expanding fleets of electric buses and adding walking and biking lanes, while cities should recycle more materials and waste, the report said.

Governments also need to help cities protect and restore peatland and mangrove ecosystems in and around them, to curb the risk of flooding and coastal storm surges, it added.

What's the World Economic Forum doing about the future of cities?

Cities represent humanity's greatest achievements - and greatest challenges. From inequality to air pollution, poorly designed cities are feeling the strain as 68% of humanity is predicted to live in urban areas by 2050.

The World Economic Forum supports a number of projects designed to make cities cleaner, greener and more inclusive.

Governments need to unlock the 'enormous potential' of cities to reduce carbon emissions. Image: Unsplash/Hakan Nural

These include hosting the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization, which gathers bright ideas from around the world to inspire city leaders, and running the Future of Urban Development and Services initiative.

The latter focuses on how themes such as the circular economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution can be harnessed to create better cities.

To shed light on the housing crisis, the Forum has produced the report Making Affordable Housing a Reality in Cities.

Implementing such measures could bring $12 trillion in net benefits, based on cost savings alone, by 2050 and create millions of new jobs by 2030 - including 500,000 in Mexico, 8 million in India and 15 million in China, it said.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed told the online report launch that carbon-neutral, climate-resilient and inclusive cities are essential "to overcome the climate crisis".

Yet only 14% - $2 trillion - of total pandemic stimulus spent in the G20 and 10 other major economies has gone to the energy, transport and waste sectors where cities are best-positioned to implement low-carbon initiatives, the report said.

Less than a third, $544 billion, of that stimulus was green.

"It is time to do better," the report added.

U.N. scientists have said global emissions must fall by about 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels to give the world a good chance of limiting the rise in average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

"Unfortunately current commitments are nowhere near close to what is needed to achieve these targets," Mohammed said. "Carbon dioxide levels are at record highs and extreme wildfires, cyclones, floods and droughts are the new normal."

She urged governments to work with city leaders "to unlock the enormous potential in cities" to cut carbon emissions from energy, transport and construction.

U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa noted that cities in the six countries examined in the report produce about 40% of global emissions, but finance was lacking in such nations for low-carbon projects and helping residents, especially the poor, cope better with more extreme weather and rising seas.

By 2030, nearly 1 billion more people will be living in cities, and trillions of dollars will be invested in urban infrastructure, said top climate economist Nicholas Stern.

"Focusing on compact, connected and clean cities ... will be at the heart of achieving climate ambitions," said Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.



Links

• Report: National governments can reap $12 trillion in returns, create millions of new jobs, reduce emissions through low-carbon investments in cities
• Global Future Council on Cities of Tomorrow
• The path to a greener future begins in our cities
• How cities can lead the green recovery
• What a mile-deep soil sample can teach us about climate change
• Invest in low-carbon cities to protect climate and boost jobs, governments urged
• Sea levels are rising fastest in big cities – here’s why
• We asked more than 110 investors how they plan for the unexpected. Here’s what we found out
• Sub-Saharan Africa needs fair access to global carbon budget
• Met Office: Atmospheric CO2 now hitting 50% higher than pre-industrial levels
• What a mile-deep soil sample can teach us about climate change

(AU) Climate Action 100+ Investor Group Calls On The World's Biggest Polluters To Lift Their Game

ABC News - Sue Lannin

Emma Herd from the Investor Group on Climate Change says the world's biggest polluters need to do more and spend more to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Key Points Climate Action 100+ represents the world's major investors No major corporation has put aside enough capital to meet UN climate goals Just 9 per cent of firms have targets to reduce supply chain emissions

The world's biggest investors have declared that the world's biggest polluters need to do more and, more particularly, spend more to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to live up to public commitments to cut their carbon footprints.

The report by investor coalition Climate Action 100+ is the group's first assessment of company performance on climate change.

Climate Action 100+ is made up of 575 investors who have $US54 trillion in assets under management, including some of the world's biggest investment houses like BlackRock and State Street.

A total of 159 companies were assessed on nine measures linked to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, including whether they were on track to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and whether they had allocated enough capital to achieve their goals.

It found that none of firms surveyed had committed enough investment to meet the goals of the United Nations climate change treaty to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

Only six companies partially met the capital allocation criteria, including oil giants BP and Total, and consumer goods multinational Unilever.

The report said the finding showed a "huge gap in corporate reporting on climate risk management."

Just over half of the companies surveyed (83) had publicly announced a net zero carbon emissions goal by 2050, but just 9 per cent had targets to reduce most emissions in their supply chain, known as Scope 3 emissions.

The report found that fewer than one-in-five firms had a clear strategy for decarbonisation.

European companies performed the best in terms of setting net zero targets by 2050, with Australian firms second.

Firms in emerging economies, where economic conditions are challenging, struggled to meet climate targets.

Only three Australian firms have 'clear' zero emissions plans

Twelve Australian companies were assessed, including BHP, Rio Tinto, AGL, Woolworths and Qantas.

The report found that, on average, Australian companies satisfied just over one-in-three indicators, although local firms had the best disclosure.

Ten years ago one man's plan blew apart Australia's two great parties irrevocably just as they teetered toward consensus on climate change, the most divisive issue of the Australian political century. Read more...

Only three out of the 12 Australian firms — BHP, Rio Tinto and Santos — had a clear strategy to meet their goals of net zero emissions by 2050.

Despite public commitments by firms, including the big miners, to reduce their pollution levels and help their customers cut their carbon emissions, no Australian companies were judged to be spending enough to meet their targets.

Emma Herd from the Investor Group on Climate Change, which co-ordinates Climate Action 100+ in Australia, said the results were a mixed bag, with not enough firms putting in place measures such as linking executive pay to climate goals.

"What we're not seeing enough of is the detailed plans and the capital allocation," Ms Herd told the ABC.

"The ambition is great but the detail to implementation would be better."

Ms Herd said investors would continue to pressure big polluters, including at annual general meetings, to force change.

"It's not that surprising that many of these companies, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters in the most hard-to-abate industry sectors are not satisfying all these areas of performance," she said.

"But definitely what investors are saying is we expect you to be able to meet these parameters of performance and we will be engaging with you to look at how you are improving your performance."

BHP outranked Rio Tinto in terms of climate change performance, but both firms were assessed as not allocating enough money to deliver on their promises.

Many in the Hunter Valley realise coal's days as the region's major export are numbered, and they're already working on what comes next. Read more...

Last week Rio agreed to endorse shareholder resolutions to set targets for cutting carbon emissions.

Australian Super manages $200 billion in pension funds and is a member of Climate Action.

Australian Super's environmental, social and governance director Andrew Gray said that Rio Tinto was assessed strongly because of an improvement in its approach to climate change, but he warned that "diversified mining companies will need to continue to develop and refine their approach on a number of key issues."

Qantas did not meet five of the assessed criteria, including an inadequate decarbonisation strategy and climate policy engagement.

The airline joined the Climate Action coalition in December last year and said it fully recognised the importance of lowering emissions.

"We were one of the first airlines to commit to being carbon neutral by 2050," Qantas said in a statement.

"We also have one of the largest carbon offsetting programs of any airline."

Mr Gray said the progress of Qantas on climate change was hampered by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global aviation.

Woodside Petroleum was judged not to meet the criteria on its decarbonisation strategy and capital allocation alignment.

The oil and gas producer said it would continue to engage directly with shareholders on its climate-related strategy and disclosures, and with Climate Action.

"LNG suppliers will have to earn their place by being increasingly low carbon and cost competitive," a Woodside spokesperson said.

"That's why our aspiration is to be net zero from operations by 2050 or sooner."

Links

• Climate Action 100+
• Climate Action 100+ issues its first-ever net zero company benchmark of the world’s largest corporate emitters
• Climate Action 100+ Investors to Raise Corporate Climate Ambition for 2021 Proxy Season
• Paris Agreement 5 Years On: Reasons for Optimism
• Climate Action 100+ progress report records accelerated company commitments to net-zero emissions but gaps remain
• Major US investors call on largest corporate emitters to disclose how their climate lobbying aligns with climate science
• Climate Action 100+ calls for net-zero business strategies & sets out benchmark of largest corporate emitters
• Investors welcome new BHP industry association and climate policy standards

(AU) ANZ Labelled ‘Worst In Australia’ On Climate Over Fossil Fuel Loans

Sydney Morning Herald - Charlotte Grieve

Environmental activists have attacked ANZ for financing fossil fuels despite recently launching an ambitious climate policy that prevents it from writing loans to new thermal coal plants.

A group of six green activist organisations including Rainforest Action Network (RAN), BankTrack and Reclaim Finance has trawled through Bloomberg terminals and open source data to determine which global banks are financing fossil fuels around the world.

The report found ANZ has written $15.2 billion in loans to 57 high-emitting companies over the past five years, including $2.9 billion last year alone to oil and gas producers such as Santos, Vitol, Thai Oil, United Petroleum and mining giants such as Glencore.

That compares to $6.5 billion worth of exposure to fossil fuels at Westpac, $6.2 billion at the Commonwealth Bank and $3.6 billion at the National Australia Bank over a five-year period, the report said.

Big banks are still funding billions of dollars in fossil fuel projects despite announcing net zero emissions targets. Credit: Rob Homer

The activists’ findings on the banks’ fossil fuel backing come as analysis by Climate Action 100+, a group of 545 investors managing a combined $70 trillion of assets, found Australian companies were not spending the money required to achieve net zero emissions targets.

ANZ pledged to stop funding new coal mines and power stations from last October, with plans to fully exit thermal coal by 2030. The policy was criticised at the time by senior Nationals politicians who said the bank was giving in to activist pressure, but chief executive Shayne Elliott has maintained the move was driven by financial risk.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

However, the activists’ research revealed ANZ’s climate policy did not prevent it from providing loans to CLP Group last year, a Hong-Kong-based electricity company that makes 23 per cent of its revenue from coal and has stakes in coal mines in China, Taiwan and India.

ANZ’s policy also dictates it will only provide finance to “low carbon gas” and renewable energy projects by 2030. However, the bank loaned more than $1 billion last year to Inpex’s Western Australian Ichthys project, referred to as one of the world’s most significant oil and gas projects, the report says.

RAN member Alison Kirsch said ANZ was “ahead by a bullet when it comes to funding climate chaos”, compared to the other big banks. “When the policies are not replicated on the oil and gas side, this is what you see.”

An ANZ spokesman said the bank’s exposure to thermal coal had fallen significantly and would continue to “significantly reduce over time”.

“Since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015, our exposure to thermal coal mining has reduced by about 70 per cent. Simultaneously, we have committed $50 billion to support companies in their transition to a low-carbon economy,” the spokesman said. “Our exposure to oil and gas businesses has remained relatively flat over the past five years.”

Dan Gocher, climate director at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, said ANZ had told investors it was not “shopping around” for new fossil fuel clients, “but they’re not turning down the deals when they come either”.

The federal government has launched a review into corporate policies that exclude investments in fossil fuels, with submissions open to industry and the public closing next month. Mr Gocher said action on climate at ANZ and other banks would “absolutely” be slowed down by the government’s push-back against these exclusions.

“There are companies that won’t speak out on climate just because they’re concerned about the government attacking them in the press,” Mr Gocher said. “This is supposed to be a free market.”

'Sheer virtue signalling': ANZ carbon policy riles Nationals

Looking at fossil fuel loans provided by the other big banks, the climate activists found that last year CBA provided finance to Glencore and Ichthys, NAB financed Whitehaven Coal and Glencore, and Westpac also financed Whitehaven Coal and Indian oil and gas giant ONGC Videsh.

CBA said the bank’s progress on its climate commitments had been outlined in its annual report, showing loans to gas and thermal coal producers had both decreased by 6 per cent over the year while its financing of oil companies had increased by 7 per cent. “We are committed to playing our part in limiting climate change in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement and supporting the responsible global transition to net zero emissions.”

NAB said it was unable to discuss individual customers, but pointed to plans to achieve “effectively zero” thermal coal exposure by 2035 and said it would review oil and gas financing by September. “Our customers are also working towards lower emissions and we are supporting them in developing or improving their low carbon transition plans,” the spokeswoman said.

Westpac also said it could not discuss individual clients, but added the report included diversified entities with limited fossil fuel exposure and multiple countings due to the inclusion of refinancing and underwriting contracts. A spokesman pointed to Westpac’s recent sustainability report, where it reported a $3.3 billion exposure to coal, oil and gas mining.

Mr Gocher said the bank’s climate policies were often vague, and provided the example of NAB banning finance to companies involved in arctic drilling and tar sands mining – operations that don’t exist in Australia. “They’re signalling a bit, but not really delivering on cutting back lending to oil and gas,” he said.

Investors to turn up heat on Australia’s biggest emitters

Climate Action 100 global steering committee member Emma Herd said Australian banks had done “a lot of work” to examine the credit risks in the thermal coal sector, and now this would be extended to other fossil fuel industries following net zero emissions targets announced last year by major trading partners such as China, Korea and Japan.

“Australia’s banks are in between a rock and a hard place at the moment,” Ms Herd said. “Climate change is a very problematic debate in Australia and they face a lot of pressure to do what everybody else wants them to do as well.

“It’s a work in progress and while it’s not as fast as some would like, and not as fast as we need it to be, it’s definitely shifting quickly.”

Links

• 60 Largest Banks In The World Have Invested $3.8 Trillion In Fossil Fuels Since The Paris Agreement
• Banking On Climate Chaos 2021
• Banking on Climate Chaos 2021: Fossil Fuel Finance Report
• JPMorgan Chase Expands Commitment to Low-Carbon Economy and Clean Energy Transition to Advance Sustainable Development Goals
• Citigroup: First Steps Towards Net Zero
• “Climate Commitments Not On Track to Meet Paris Agreement Goals” as NDC Synthesis Report is Published
• Global Coal Exit List 2020
• Here’s what you need to know about ‘the social cost of greenhouse gases’—a key climate metric
• This Google X spin-off is offering a pathway to heat and cool your home with clean energy
• Bill Gates: Nuclear power will ‘absolutely’ be politically acceptable again