ASX Top 20 Companies For Climate Change Reporting In 2017

RenewEconomy - David Leitch

Climate change reporting requirements are increasing
In a note published  November 3 we looked at the Financial Stability Board’s recommendations on climate related financial disclosures.
We noted that the Financial Stability Board has many of the world’s Reserve Banks as members, as well as the IMF, and could be regarded as providing significant credibility to climate reporting by the corporate sector – and perhaps as providing momentum on the need for an Accounting Standard that would cover climate risk.

What companies actually disclosed this year
Is QBE the worst?
In this note we briefly looked at the top 20 companies by market capitalization listed on the ASX to see what they actually said in their latest annual report. Mostly this is 2017 but in some cases its still 2016.
We rated each company out of 5 on disclosure.  This was a qualitative score awarded by my co researcher on this program, Bella Leitch, a student at Macquarie University.
However, I reduced QBE’s score. For an insurance company that also does reinsurance not to mention climate change seems poor.
Your analyst works to the view that companies that do a thorough job on sustainability (which has many dimensions, not just climate change) will tend to be survive for longer. An unenlightened view will eventually lead to investors penalizing the rating.
At this stage we are just interested to monitor what companies are actually saying this year.

Research method
At each company’s website we  searched the following documents: annual review for 2016/17, sustainability reports (for the companies that had them) and also general announcements.
We then searched the documents for these following words: climate, carbon, warming, environment and sustainability. The text was then summarized.

S&P/ASX 20 Index (1 November 2017)
Company	Mkt  cap A$bn	ITK summary of company statements	What they actually say	Score (1-5)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia	136	Mention as a 2017 highlight the 2.8bn lent to renewable energy projects. Mention “environmental stewardship” – say they are in line with the Paris agreement as well as enacting additional sustainable and ethical investment options. They have a Sustainable Property Strategy to monitor their direct carbon emissions and energy use.	They understand that climate change is a large risk both financially and non-financially for the bank. By taking additional contribution above their core businesses they hope to have positive influences on their customer relationships  as their customers change their preferences and behaviours.	5
Westpac Banking Corporation	113	Limited discussion. Released refreshed climate change policy this year.  Mention climate change only within their sustainability leadership section. Issued a climate change position statement nd 2020 action plan.	Say they have competitive advantage in their sustainability culture. Within their strategic priorities for sustainability, environmental solutions are briefly discussed including a short statement of their committed exposure to environmental and clean tech industry and a revised climate change policy.	2
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited	88	One of their key highlights of 2017 is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% on premises from 2013. They mention $6.9bn funded and facilitated in low carbon and sustainable solutions since 2015. Mention how their stakeholders value responsible business loans in areas such as climate change and encouraging its limited impact. Discuss how the environment and climate change is a major trend that is shaping society. Their  reporting reflects the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, which is also discussed by the CEO.	They understand that climate change is a large risk both financially and non-financially for the bank. They have begun to take many steps to accommodate and finance the movement to a low carbon economy.	5
National Australia Bank Limited	88	Climate change is first mentioned in the environmental, social and government (ESG) risk management section. They have an environmental financing commitment of $55bn by 2025 in order to help address climate change and transition to a low carbon economy. They recognise that climate change is a significant risk.	They recognise the risk that is climate change and have implemented various strategies to address this issue. In order to understand the implications of the Paris agreement and refresh climate change policy,they have created a Climate Change Working Group .. However it is not mentioned as a key highlight for NAB	3
BHP Billiton Limited	87	Discuss climate change management as a key goal – it is treated as a board level governance issue. Their greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 21% from 2006. Climate change is core to their strategic decision making. Large discussion on the risks of climate change in their fossil fuel products and the growth of renewable energy. Also discuss the physical impacts of climate change e.g. such as changes in rainfall patterns on the collection of their products.  Include an entire section of the annual report on climate change and their response to it.	Climate change is going to have a major impact on their industry both physically and non-physically. As such they are trying to reduce their own carbon footprint and improve their image in order to compete with the rise in renewable energy and limit the impact of negative press on fossil fuels.	5
CSL Limited	63	Very limited discussion. They say they meet Australian regulations in regard to the Government's greenhouse reporting act. Environmental and climate change risks are monitored to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. As environmental impact is of special importance to select investors so CSL commits to initiative such as CDP	CSL has met its reporting obligations under the Australian Government's National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (2007)	1
Wesfarmers Limited	48	Limited discussion. When discussing their sustainability operating, they briefly mention an aim to reduce their impact on climate change. It is noted as a risk for the future. They have a climate change resilience aim – which has enacted a climate change strategy including two degree scenario analysis and carbon shadow pricing.	There is an evaluation of the risk of climate change, however it is not one of their key goals. They aim to keep up with national standards and are planning accordingly for the changes predicted with climate change.	2.5
Telstra Corporation Limited	42	Mention it as a goal as apart of their sustainable future. 68% reduction greenhouse gases from baseline year. They recognise climate change as a global challenge and it is one of their goals to combat this. They will use technology to address their environmental challenges e.g. Telstra’s cloud calculator tool .	There is recognition of the impact climate change will have and a demonstrated aim to reduce their and their customers level of greenhouse gas emissions. However there are many other goals and aims that appear to take a more centre stage at the moment for Telstra.	2
Woolworths Limited	34	Very limited discussion. Mention an increase in use of solar energy. Climate change is mentioned as a part of a strategic risk and they discuss very briefly how they have CRS to improve sustainability.	They recognise climate change as a generic risk that could  adversely affect the group’s performance.	1
Macquarie Group Limited	33	There is limited discussion regarding climate change. They talk of continued  commitment to low-carbon growth sectors under the ESG highlights. They also include climate change in their risk analysis.	They continue to plan and strategise regarding the impacts of climate change however, there is very limited discussion and it is not one of their key priorities.	1.5
RIO Tinto Limited	30	*This comes from 2016 annual report – 2017 annual report not released yet. Published their first climate change report in 2016.  7% reduction in GHG from 2015 to 2016 – this is indicative of their ability to respond to future legislative costs and climate policies. Recognise both physical and non-physical risks of climate change.  Mention ability to respond to climate change as a goal of 2017. In 2016, Shareholders passed a resolution to report on climate change. Limited discussion.	They understand that climate change will be a risk to them in the future and are beginning to report and account for this risk, but as of the present there are larger issues for them.	1.5
Woodside Petroleum Limited	26	*This comes from 2016 annual report – 2017 annual report not released yet. Climate change was recognised at the top material rick to Woodside. Developed a climate change and carbon strategy in 2016.	Recognition of it as a risk and are developing strategies to deal with it in the future, however are only just beginning to deal with it.	1
Transurban Group Stapled	25	There is no mention of climate change. Closest mention is that one of the directors is also on the board of the climate change council and that they are trying to reduce environmental footprint with the develop of new roads/tunnels	N/A	0
Scentre Group Stapled	21	*This comes from 2016 annual report – 2017 annual report not released yet. No mention of climate change or global warming. Brief discussion of decrease in GHG in separate sustainability report	N/A	0.5
Suncorp Group Limited	18	11% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is discussed as a key external risk. Comply with the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007	Recognition of it as a risk and are developing strategies to deal with it in the future, however it is not a key focus area.	1.5
Westfield Corporation Stapled	16	Very brief mention of climate change as a potential risk. Further brief discussion in separate sustainability report	Recognise it as a future risk.	1
Insurance Australia Group Limited	16	The Group’s sustainability performance is managed within this framework and supported by a number of policies and position statements including IAG's Social & Environmental Policy and Public Policy Position on Climate Change. Establish the future risk of Climate change to property and its impact financially for insurance companies.	They have developed a climate change policy in order to deal with policies regarding the reporting and risks of climate change.	1
Brambles Limited	15	Very briefly discuss a reduction in carbon emissions through their production process. Further brief mentions in sustainability report.	They are trying to reduce carbon emissions through their production process	1
QBE Insurance Group Limited	15	Zero mention in the annual report. Brief mention of climate change awareness and risk assessment in sustainability report.	Acknowledge that climate change is real and a potential risk but not a major issue for them	0
AMP Limited	15	Very limited discussion. Only mention is of their aim to be environmentally conscious and that they have been carbon neutral since 2013.	Not a large issue for them, aside from the fact that they have been carbon neutral since 2013.	0.5

Links

• Is your company disclosing its climate risk?
• Developing nations are driving record growth in solar power
• Why coal and gas plants should pay solar and storage for back-up
• Nationals push for new coal generator in NSW is a preposterous idea
• Little left in RET kitty, but rooftop solar set for record year
• Busting more myths about South Australia’s wind and solar
• NT backs 50% renewables plan, to boost home solar and batteries
• Know your NEM: Why AEMC needs a fresh view of policy mess
• Climate and energy – appeasement does not work
• Forget COAG – how durable is Coalition support for the NEG?
• NEG is supposed to be better than nothing. But is it?
• Here are 4 essential fixes for the National Energy Guarantee

El Niño Might Speed Up Climate Change

Scientific American - Tim Vernimmen

Scientists have evidence that El Niño boosts CO2 levels, and they are pinning down how

This picture taken on July 26, 2017 shows an Indonesian ranger inspecting the peat forest fire at Meulaboh, Aceh province. Credit: Chandeer Mayhuddin Getty Images

Every two to seven years, abnormally warm water in the Pacific Ocean causes an atmospheric disturbance called El Niño. It often makes extreme weather worse in various places around the world: greater floods, tougher droughts, more wildfires. Now scientists have new evidence indicating El Niño conditions might also add extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as well as lessen the ability of trees to absorb the greenhouse gas.
By certain measures, the most recent El Niño, which held sway in 2015 and 2016, was one of the three strongest on record, along with episodes in 1982–1983 and 1997–1998. Although its impacts on land were not clearly stronger than those of the other events, it appears it was the major culprit for a record increase in CO₂ during its reign. “CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and industry did not really change from 2014 to 2016,” says climate scientist Pierre Friedlingstein at the University of Exeter in England, and an author of the 2017 carbon budget report released by the Global Carbon Project in November. So the dramatic increase, he says, must be due to how land and sea responded to El Niño.
A recent article in Science about satellite measurements made during El Niño by NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 showed most of the extra CO₂ originated in the tropics. It also suggested each tropical region contributed a similar amount of CO₂ as in other strong El Niño years, each in its own way. In South America's Amazon, for example, slower-growing plants absorbed less CO₂, whereas in Africa, plants and soils released more of the gas.
The observations are based on satellite readings of CO₂, carbon monoxide (which is released by wildfires) and other factors like the fluorescence of the chlorophyll in plant tissues (which reflects growth). But scientists would want some ground-truthing to prove El Niño conditions in the tropics boosted atmospheric CO₂ levels. In the past, field data from plants and soils during an El Niño has been thin, but in 2015 researchers were better prepared.
Ecosystem scientist Yadvinder Malhi, at the University of Oxford, and colleagues analyzed data from 54 tropical forest plots in Ghana, Gabon, Malaysia, Brazil and Peru, which they presented at a recent meeting Mahli organized in London. The ground data confirmed what the satellite data had suggested: the tropics are key. The amount of CO₂ released from the sites predicted the atmospheric levels “surprisingly well,” according to Malhi. “In contrast to long-term climate change,” he said at the meeting, “everybody agrees that El Niño makes the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere go up faster than usual.”
The next question was how much each continent contributed. Malhi says the Amazon appears to be the biggest player. “Africa always emits a lot of CO₂, since it has a lot of wildfires, especially in the savannas. But its tropical forests and savannas didn’t behave very differently from other years,” he says. In the Amazon, however, “the emissions seemed largely due to respiration: CO₂ released from plants, decaying logs and the soil.”
Further analysis will allow Malhi’s team to distinguish between those different sources, which is important for predicting longer-term impacts. If, for example, it turns out the extra CO₂ released during El Niño is largely due to microbial activity in soils and decomposing plant material, Malhi says, “I wouldn’t expect it to last” as the world warms further. If the increase is coming from the plants because they are respiring more, that might be a signal of long-term stress that may continue to raise CO₂ levels.
As a carbon booster, El Niño could hasten rising temperatures, bringing the world to dangerous thresholds sooner than thought. It could also enhance feedbacks between climate and vegetation that could reduce plants’ ability to absorb CO₂ in non-Niño years as well. If bad droughts or wildfires kill many trees, for example, forests and their carbon sequestering potential may take centuries to recover, if ever.
Wildfires are a big concern. They were not quite as pervasive in 2015–2016 as they were in 1997–1998, when they were the most important global source of extra CO₂. In 2015–2016, “a bit of rain at just the right moment prevented the Southeast Asian peat forest fires from spreading as widely as they did two decades ago,” says climate scientist Guido van der Werf at Vrije University Amsterdam. “Nevertheless, fire is a growing problem in the region.” Drought and heat make the forests more vulnerable. Wildfires release a lot of CO₂, and they also eliminate the trees that might store more CO₂ in the future.
Even in the absence of fire, El Niño might be killing trees. In northern Australia's remote Gulf of Carpentaria, more than 18,200 acres of mangrove vegetation died during the last El Niño due to a convergence of severe drought and unprecedented high temperatures. Death by drought may threaten trees in the Amazon as well.
To transport water from roots up to leaves, trees depend on tension created by the difference in water availability in the soil and the atmosphere, says plant physiologist Lucy Rowland at Exeter. “If it is very dry, however, that tension can get too high,” she says. “If that happens, the column of water in the trees’ transport vessels breaks. Then air gets in, blocking water flow like a bubble in your central heating system does.”
The only way trees can fix this problem is by growing new vessels—if the lack of water does not kill them first. Rowland is also investigating whether severe drought hampers the ability of tropical vegetation to absorb more CO₂ as the atmospheric concentration rises. Right now, she says, the way climate models incorporate vegetation’s response to drought is too simplistic.
For now tropical trees appear to have returned to normal, their ecosystems absorbing more CO₂ than they emit, Friedlingstein concludes. Unfortunately, man-made emissions have returned to their old status as well. “After two years of stability,” he adds, “they are going up again.”

Links

• A role for tropical forests in stabilizing atmospheric CO2 (pdf)
• El Niño Ups Flood Risk
• Study Strengthens Link between El Niño and Climate Change
• Current El Niño Could Be Strongest on Record
• El Niño Forecast Brings California Hope for Drought Relief
• El Niño Could Ignite Amazon, Drench California
• El Niño and Global Warming Blamed for Zika Spread
• Many Flavors of El Niño Make Prediction Difficult
• How This Year's El Niño Compares with the Past

Scientists Look To Bali Volcano For Clues To Curb Climate Change

Reuters - Alister Doyle

Volcanoes are emerging as natural laboratories to mimic "geo-engineering" - a possible short-cut to curb global warming by injecting sun-dimming chemicals high above the Earth

Lava inside the crater of Mount Agung volcano reflects off ash and clouds, while it erupts, as seen from Amed, Karangasem Regency, Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 30, 2017. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

Summary Volcanoes become geo-engineering laboratories Repeat of 1963 Bali eruption could cool planet

OSLO - Climate scientists are tracking an erupting volcano on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for clues about a possible short-cut to curb global warming by injecting sun-dimming chemicals high above the Earth.
Volcanoes are emerging as natural laboratories to mimic "geo-engineering", the idea that governments could deliberately add a veil of sulphur dioxide high above the planet as an artificial sunshade to curb man-made global warming.
Ash and smoke ejected so far by the Agung volcano, which has been erupting in recent days, has not been big enough or high enough in the atmosphere to cool world temperatures. But scientists say they are studying what would happen if the volcano has a repeat of a far bigger eruption in 1963.
"I've been doing some Bali simulations with the U.K. Met office climate model as 'what ifs', and also some geo-engineering simulations," said Jim Haywood, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Exeter.
He estimated that Agung spewed eight million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere in 1963, about 10-15 kms above the Earth's surface, enough to trim world temperatures for months. That eruption killed more than 1,000 people in Bali.
"Many scientists are keeping an eye on the Agung eruption in Bali," said Alan Robock, a professor of climate science at Rutgers University. "Volcanic eruptions serve as an analogue for the idea of humans creating such a cloud."
Satellite measurements of eruptions have only recently become precise enough to exploit volcanoes as models for geo-engineering.
That was impossible, for instance, when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in 1991 and blew about 20 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, the second biggest eruption of the 20th century after one in Alaska in 1912.
Mount Pinatubo had a cooling effect on the Earth because the sun-dimming sulphur spread worldwide.
"Since Pinatubo we've got a lot better" at measuring the effects of big eruptions, said Matthew Watson of the University of Bristol. "We're waiting for something to happen on a scale where we can start thinking about what it means for geo-engineering."
He estimated that the Agung volcano has probably ejected only about 10,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide in the latest eruption, and not as high as the stratosphere.
Governments agree they should focus most on cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the 2015 Paris agreement rather than on science-fiction-like short-cuts to limit temperatures blamed for causing more heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels.
But current policies put the world on track to overshoot the Paris goal of limiting rising temperatures to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who doubts man-made emissions are the prime cause of warming, also plans to pull out of the Paris deal and promote the U.S. fossil fuel industry. That risks further weakening the Paris plan.

Links

• Climate Change Is Here. It's Time to Talk About Geoengineering
• Why you need to get involved in the geoengineering debate – now
• US scientists launch world's biggest solar geoengineering study
• Geoengineering: Scientists in Berlin debate radical ways to reverse global warming
• Could Geoengineering Save the Planet from Global Warming?
• Artificially cooling planet “risky strategy”, new research shows
• Large Volcanic Eruptions in Tropics Can Trigger El Niño Events

German Court To Hear Peruvian Farmer's Climate Case Against RWE

The Guardian - Agence France-Presse

Decision to hear Saul Luciano Lliuya’s case against the energy giant is a ‘historic breakthrough with global relevance’, campaigners say

Saul Luciano Lliuya, a farmer from Peru, at the UN climate talks in Bonn earlier this month. Photograph: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

A German court has ruled that it will hear a Peruvian farmer’s case against energy giant RWE over climate change damage in the Andes, a decision labelled by campaigners as a “historic breakthrough”.
Farmer Saul Luciano Lliuya’s case against RWE was “well-founded,” the court in the north-western city of Hamm said on Thursday.
Lliuya argues that RWE, as one of the world’s top emitters of climate-altering carbon dioxide, must share in the cost of protecting his hometown Huaraz from a swollen glacier lake at risk of overflowing from melting snow and ice.
RWE’s power plants emitted carbon dioxide that contributed to global warming, increasing local temperatures in the Andes and putting property at risk from flooding or landslides, Lliuya argues.
“Even people who act according to the law must be held responsible for damage they cause to property,” the judges said.
Now the court must decide whether “the accused’s contribution to the chain of events depicted here is measurable and calculable,” they added.
“This is a major success not just for me, but for the people of Huaraz and everywhere in the world threatened by climate risks,” Lliuya said in a statement circulated by NGO Germanwatch.
He wants RWE to pay €17,000 ($20,000) towards flood defences for his community in Peru’s northern Ancash region.
The 37-year-old also wants the German company to reimburse him for the €6,384 he himself has spent on protective measures.
Lliuya bases his claims on a 2013 climate study which found that RWE was responsible for around 0.5% of global emissions “since the beginning of industrialisation”.
The court said in a statement that it will choose experts to evaluate the claim in cooperation with both plaintiff and defendant, with Lliuya paying about €20,000 in fees up front.
“It will be up to the experts to quantify [RWE’s] role, which could be different” from the amount he claims, the judges said.
After an initial hearing in mid-November, the court in the north-western city of Hamm gave both sides until Thursday to provide further arguments to help them decide whether the case should go ahead.
The decision to hear the case is a “historic breakthrough with global relevance,” Germanwatch, which has backed Lliuya’s claim, said in a statement.
“Major emitters of greenhouse gases can be held responsible for protective measures against climate damage.”
RWE could not immediately be reached for comment.
But the firm has insisted that the complaint was “not admissible” and was even “unjustified”, arguing that a single company cannot be held liable for specific consequences of climate change.
A lower court in the German city of Essen, where RWE is based, initially found that the lawsuit against the energy giant was unfounded.
The company has in the past said it did not understand why it has been singled out for legal action, stressing the efforts it had made to become more environmentally friendly.

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk past a photo featuring an image of the Pastoruri glacier before its retreat, during a tour called “The Route of Climate Change” in Huaraz, Peru. Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Peru’s National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the country’s glaciers “are a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity ... these glaciers are also a source of glacier glacial catastrophes.” (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Photograph: Martin Mejia/AP

As well as modernising its coal-fired power plants to reduce CO2 emissions, RWE has invested billions in renewable energy as part of Germany’s move away from fossil fuels, it says.
Shares in RWE fell on the news, losing 0.31% in Frankfurt against a DAX index of blue-chip German shares up 0.52%.
The Peruvian’s case comes at a time when German politics is sharply divided over how to balance climate action against economic growth.
A government-directed “energy transition” to renewables, rather than nuclear power and fossil fuels, is making only halting progress, while environmentalists are pushing the country’s powerful auto industry to produce less polluting vehicles after a series of scandals.
Climate and energy policy was among the most bitterly disputed issues in three-way coalition talks between chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the ecologist Greens before they broke down this month.

Links

• Peruvian farmer sues German energy giant for contributing to climate change
• Politicians and activists gather for COP23 Bonn climate talks - in pictures
• World's largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case
• Goldman prize winner: 'I will never be defeated by the mining companies'
• Peruvian farmer demands climate compensation from German company
• Lima climate conference week two – in pictures
• Spotlight on murders of activists as Peru prepares for Lima climate talks
• Grassroots summit calls for international climate court

We Are Facing A Climate Emergency: The Time Has Come For Civil Resistance

ABC Religion and Ethics - Thea Ormerod*

The world is now in the grip of a climate emergency, and this requires a response which is ethically informed and courageous, rather than cautious and self-protective. Credit: STILLFX / getty images

Every week, it seems, new and dirtier secrets are unearthed about the unethical nature of Adani's operations and its close ties to Australian governments. For the most part, the Australian public looks on with a sense of powerlessness.
However, there are sections of civil society, including the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), which are moving from helplessness to collective, creative, peaceful action aimed at disrupting the ailing status quo.
Conventional approaches to social change have proven ineffective against an entrenched malignancy that is poisoning our nation's proper response to the current climate emergency. Therefore, the Board of ARRCC is embracing civil resistance as one of its approaches to change.
I want here to explain why peaceful civil resistance could be a healing and transformative moral response at this pivotal moment.

This fight is a moral one
Quietly, most Australians have had a gutful of the incestuous connections between the big end of town and our elected representatives. In their book Game of Mates, Cameron Murray and Paul Frijters expose how well-connected business interests have perverted decision-making in this country in order to line their own pockets. Coal, oil and gas corporations are exerting undue influence over governments at every level.
Adani's new coal project is but another example of this - except, this time, the implications are truly global.
For the world to have any chance of avoiding an escalation of dangerous damage to the climate, experts tell us that much, if not all, of the world's oil reserves should remain in the ground. If Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine is established, it will be a mega-mine. The result of its annual output would be greenhouse gas pollution greater than the annual emissions of whole countries like Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, and equivalent to that of Malaysia.
Furthermore, if Adani's planned rail link and port expansion go ahead, several other coal mining companies are waiting to dig for coal in the Galilee Basin. More cheap coal will flood the world's markets, undermining the competitiveness of renewables. This would indeed be one of the "carbon bombs" that Bill McKibben talks about.
The lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people are already being affected and currently low-lying habitable parts of the world will almost certainly disappear from rising sea levels. Extreme weather-related disasters are increasing in frequency and severity. The Great Barrier Reef will be gone forever, as will other ecosystems and their diverse species. The resulting depths of suffering are unimaginable.
This is indeed a climate emergency, yet Australian governments - state and federal - remain in denial.
Instead, at ARRCC, we hold up a vision of renewable energy, the protection of ecosystems and sustainable lifestyles enabling a safe climate and fairness for all. Grounded in our various religious traditions, we envisage economies geared for human need rather than human greed, and respectful of planetary limits. This would mean more constrained lifestyles for the wealthy, including more use of public transport and reduced meat consumption; and it would mean decentralised, non-polluting, relatively inexpensive electricity for those currently facing energy poverty. It would also mean just, orderly transitions for communities affected by the shift away from coal mining.
As a nation, we have the resources to support regional communities who are being affected by our necessary transition away from mining. Already various towns such as the Hunter Valley have been through boom and bust. Instead of allowing such communities to be left flailing, there could be an orderly, planned transition so that these communities can be productive and flourishing into the future. In our vision for the future, just a fraction of the $1bn loan sought by Adani from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility could produce more and more sustainable employment opportunities.

When what is legal is not what is moral
This struggle is beyond the political. It is a deeply moral one. Along with others working to address global warming, those of us who are inspired by our spiritual traditions see our elected decision-makers marching in lockstep with coal and other mining lobbies, and regard it as immoral.
Their obsession with coal and gas has set the nation travelling in entirely the wrong direction. Our emissions are rising. Our governments pronounce they are controlling our emissions, while at the same time doing all they can to facilitate fossil fuel extraction and frustrate the take-up of renewables. In every other sphere, leaders are issuing calls to move away from the mining, export and burning of fossil fuels. They are not only climate scientists, public health experts, religious leaders, farmers and many business leaders.
The distortion of the political moral compass has meant that police powers are being actively and increasingly used to prevent civil society from challenging extractive industries. State and federal governments are actively seeking ways to silence organisations who speak out for climate action, threatening their tax deductibility or charity status. Environmentalists are publicly belittled.
The law supports continued, unfettered fossil fuel exploration and extraction. It allows huge tax breaks and other forms of subsidy to flow to fossil fuel companies. It protects mining companies, sanctioning poor practices by under-regulation. Climate injustice is legitimised by spurious economic mantras.
Penalties for protesting in a number of states have been increased dramatically. Large scale police intervention was used near Bentley in the northern rivers district of NSW to protect the interests of coal seam gas mining company, Metgasco. Over the course of three years, several hundred people were arrested at Maules Creek by NSW police to protect Whitehaven Coal, which has incidentally been issued paltry fines for numerous breaches of the conditions of their mining license.
Across Australia, ordinary citizens who non-violently protest threats to farmlands, groundwater, old-growth forests and water catchments must face potential arrest by police who are being directed to protect profit-seeking companies.
Australia's legal and regulatory systems have become divorced from ethical value systems.

Elected leaders' alignment with Adani
The obsession with coal of our ruling elites has already led to the cynical alignment of both federal Labor and the Coalition with Adani, against the Wangan and Jagalingou people who are courageously defending their ancestral lands in central Queensland through the Courts. It has had the Queensland Palaszczuk government granting Adani relatively unlimited, long-term access to the state's precious artesian waters for a negligible cost. It now has the Townsville local council expecting taxpayers to foot the bill for an airstrip to be used by Adani, at a time when 140 of the council's own employees are being laid off.
It has both Queensland Labor and the federal Coalition in full support of Adani despite the exposure of Adani's corrupt practises, numerous well-researched submissions, visits from constituents, letter-writing campaigns, petitions and public polling results. Nothing appears to shake their commitment to Adani and the company's disingenuous promises of employment.
For the citizen who is morally opposed to the mine and desires to avoid all complicity with its establishment, civil resistance has become the only option left. As Quaker and civil resistance advocate, Jason MacLeod, has written:

"Asking whether individual and collective action is legal or illegal is, in my opinion the wrong question. Cooking the climate, trashing Traditional Owner rights, destroying the living wonder of the Great Barrier Reef, and poisoning our water are all legal. There is no intrinsic value in legality, especially when laws are divorced from ethical value systems. A better question, is what action will lead us into right relationship with one another and God's creation? What will take us closer to a just and sustainable peace? What individual and collective action clearly communicates 'no' to injustice while simultaneously saying 'yes' to dignity?"

The power of civil resistance
Civil resistance is clearly not the ethical person's first choice of strategy, given that laws are generally important for the protection of life and property. However, it has historically played a positive role in transforming societies where injustice appears to be irredeemably entrenched. Many successful social change movements have included civil resistance - the overthrow of communism in Poland, Ceausescu in Romania, apartheid in South Africa, British rule in India, to name a few.
Civil resistance is not the same as individual acts of civil disobedience. It works by mobilising large numbers of people who maintain nonviolent discipline, and act in strategic concert over time to withdraw their consent and cooperation from unjust rulers or systems. It is also known as people power, nonviolence, nonviolent action, and nonviolent resistance.
Nonviolent resistance serves to draw public attention to a form of violence or injustice, and to delegitimise it by juxtaposing it with nonviolence. The belief of those who practice nonviolence is that voluntary suffering can educate and transform the public's helpless acquiescence to an ongoing injustice.
The Board of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change believes that, in our own society today, people of goodwill are facing various injustices which have become entrenched. One of these is the close connection our elected representatives have with fossil fuel industries, especially coal. As a faith-based organisation, we should do what is morally needed in the situation. While adhering to principles of nonviolence, including the love of our enemies, we believe it is ethical to organise civil resistance actions against those forces which threaten all that we love.
The world is now in a climate emergency, and this requires a response which is purely ethically informed and courageous, rather than cautious and self-protective. To refrain from doing all we can to oppose Adani and other fossil fuel extraction companies is to hold back from full solidarity with the Wangan and Jagalingou, with coming generations and with all those currently suffering because of climate disruption.
Some believe this to be extreme. In our view, it is being truly conservative to act according to our traditional values with the goal of conserving this sacred earth. We believe that in our context today, it is part of our mission as people of faith to include civil resistance in the suite of options we offer faith communities as they respond to the climate challenge.
Some other parts of the environment movement are also moving in this direction. What ARRCC hopes to add is the legitimation which comes from our historical connections with long religious traditions, our beliefs and values which are grounded in scriptures and spiritual practices.
Nonviolence is at the heart of all the major faiths. For example, the Israelite prophets warned the people and their rulers, at the risk of losing liberty or life. The Christian tradition has a well-grounded theology around the power of redemptive suffering and self-sacrifice for the good of others. The Buddhist tradition has for thousands of years aspired to loving-kindness towards all beings. This includes people with whom we disagree, people who are doing wrong and other sentient beings which also deserve our respect.
From the Hindu tradition, Mohandas Gandhi taught his followers in the Indian Independence movement Satyagraha, which informed other liberation movements such as the U.S. Civil Rights movement. In Gandhi's own words, it means "the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence." It aims not to coerce an opponent, but to convert the wrongdoer in order to achieve true cooperation.
ARRCC will continue to take all legal options open to us to convince our leaders to act for climate justice. However, henceforward if and where necessary, ARRCC will not stand back from civil resistance in the spirit of Satyagraha.
Always with compassion. Always peaceful. Always respectful. We will stand up for climate justice if and when necessary. We will seek to win open dialogue. We will seek consensus. Always in love.

*Thea Ormerod is the President of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.

Links

• Support for the Adani Coal Mine is Scientifically and Morally Unjustifiable
• Climate Change and Reparative Justice: Interrogating the Polluter Pays Principle
• Destroying Our Future: Why Only a Moral Revolution Can Save the Earth Now
• There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster Anymore: Why Wilful Ignorance is Not Innocence

A Fresh Start For Climate Change Mitigation In New Zealand

The Conversation - Robert McLachlan

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, seen here with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during this month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, has moved climate change onto the new government’s priority list. Mick Tsikas/AAP

The election of the sixth Labour-led government heralds a new direction for climate change policy in New Zealand.
As part of the new government’s 100-day priority plan, it pledged to set a target of carbon neutrality by 2050 and to establish the mechanisms to phase out fossil fuels. In doing so, New Zealand will join a small group of countries that have established this goal since last year: France, Germany, Sweden (by 2045) and Norway (by 2030).

From commitment to action
The government plans to set up an independent climate commission, likely based on the one established in the UK with nearly unanimous parliamentary support in 2008. UK emissions are down not just to 1990 levels, but to 1900 levels.
The climate commission’s tasks will include providing advice on effective pricing mechanisms for climate pollution, on the transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2035, and on bringing agriculture into the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme.
All parties to the Paris Agreement have already agreed to become carbon-neutral in the second half of this century. The snag is turning that commitment into action.

A story of good intentions
It is now 20 years since New Zealand first signed the Kyoto Protocol – two decades of fine words and twists and turns in policy while emissions continued to rise. Surprisingly, while Australia has followed a twisty path of its own, perhaps with not so many fine words, the effect has been the same: gross greenhouse gas emissions have risen 24% in New Zealand since 1990, compared to a rise of 27% in Australia.
New Zealanders built a lot of gas-fuelled power stations in the 1990s and bought a lot of cars in the 2000s. Astoundingly, we now have more cars per capita than Australia.

The frustrating story is told in the documentary Hot Air. New Zealand spent ten years getting a strategy in place, ending up with an emissions trading scheme (ETS). Another decade of tinkering later, the scheme involves a complex system of discounts, free allocations, exemptions and, crucially, unlimited access to international emissions units.
After 2012, New Zealand companies used this access to buy large numbers of low-integrity units from the Ukraine, enough to officially cover a quarter of all our emissions. The price of carbon, currently NZ$19, adds about 4c per litre to the price of petrol, and about 1c per kilowatt-hour to gas-powered electricity. So far, New Zealand’s ETS – like others worldwide – has not delivered.
New Zealand’s state-owned mining company, Solid Energy, was pushed into some risky deals and ultimately into managed bankruptcy. The remaining assets have been sold to Bathurst Resources. Chief executive Richard Tacon said recently:

… there is no viable alternative to coal. I mean we realise it’s a transition fuel, but there’s a lot of business, dairy … that rely on coal to be a reliable, storable source of energy.

Has even an Australian coal baron ever called coal a “transition fuel”? But then again perhaps Tacon has a point: the dairy company Fonterra burns more than half of all New Zealand’s coal, and the dairy industry as a whole emits 2.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year burning coal to dry milk.

Civil society perseveres
Against this background, climate activists have had a hard row to hoe. Law student Sarah Thomson took the government to court in July 2017 over its inaction on climate change. In a victory for both sides, the judge ruled that the government should have reviewed its 2050 target, but declined to order a judicial review because the government had since changed.
The youth climate group Generation Zero campaigned for a Zero Carbon Act. The former parliamentary commissioner for the environment, Jan Wright, called for a UK-style Climate Change Act. Thirty-nine mayors pressed the government to take stronger action.
Data from a 20-year longitudinal study of social attitudes in New Zealand show increasing agreement with climate change.
A third review of the ETS removed a 50% discount, with further strengthening scheduled. The Environment Ministry was asked to advise specifically on domestic emissions reductions. The Productivity Commission, a government think tank, was asked to report on a low-emission economy.
However, during the election campaign, climate change was not a major issue, and official projections showed a continued rise in emissions. Under current policy settings, net emissions will rise a further 58% by 2030.

Aiming for carbon neutrality
That brings the story to New Zealand First’s decision to choose a Labour-led government, with the Green Party in a confidence and supply arrangement. The Greens now have five ministers, including co-leader James Shaw as minister for climate change. Labour, having first introduced the ETS in 2008, will now amend it to try to make it work.
Already, since the election, Fonterra has announced a commitment to cut processing emissions (mostly due to coal, but also natural gas and transport) by 30% by 2030, matching the national target, and 100% by 2050.
Carbon neutrality calls for, among other things, a complete stop to burning fossil fuels and to buying products that burn them, such as petrol cars. The year 2050 is not that far away.
In truth, by 2050 anything might happen: organic solar cells might become as cheap as newsprint, unleashing economic growth and making “sunlight-to-liquid fuels” economic – or not. Positive carbon feedbacks from the oceans, forests and Arctic methane might overwhelm our mitigation efforts. Climate sensitivity might surprise us on the high or low side.
We can’t say what parts of the natural world will survive climate change and the attempted sustainability transition. But New Zealand is taking a step in the right direction.

Links

• A new approach to emissions trading in a post-Paris climate
• Many small island nations can adapt to climate change with global support
• How telling the right stories can make people act on climate change
• How trade policies can support global efforts to curb climate change

'History In The Making': Tesla Switches On World's Largest Battery In SA

Fairfax - Cole Latimer

The world's largest lithium-ion battery has officially launched on Friday in South Australia.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill  and Neoen deputy chief executive Romain Desrousseaux flipped the switch on the Tesla-made battery storage installation, stating that "this is history in the making".

Tesla's mega battery turned on
The world's largest lithium-ion battery launches in South Australia on Friday, December 1.

"South Australia is now leading the world in dispatchable renewable energy, delivered to homes and businesses 24/7," Mr Weatherill said.
The 100-megawatt battery system provides 129-megawatt hours of energy, reduces intermittency issues, and manages increased demand during summer peak loading periods, potentially providing enough energy to power 30,000 homes for eight hours, or 60,000 homes for four hours.
It is paired with French energy firm Neoen's Hornsdale wind farm, located near Jamestown, about 200 kilometres north of Adelaide.
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk was not in attendance at the switch-on.
Mr Desrousseaux said the launch is a major achievement in Australia's energy landscape.
"Neoen is pleased to be able to reinforce its Australian footprint through the achievement of the Hornsdale Wind Farm & Battery and is extremely proud to contribute further to the development of renewable energy in Australia," Mr Desrousseaux said.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill during the launch of Tesla's 100 megawatt lithium-ion battery at Jamestown. Photo: AAP

Tesla said this battery will support the state and provide increased security for summer, helping South Australia meet heavy demand.
"The South Australian government should be congratulated for ensuring their energy supply is not only sustainable, but will help solve power shortages, reduce variability, and manage summertime peak load," a Tesla spokesman said.

Tesla Powerpacks used to form the mega battery.. Photo: Carla Gottgens

Praveen Kathpal, vice president of rival battery technology firm AES Energy and chairman of the Energy Storage Association in the US, said the state should be celebrated for its actions.
"We commend the state government for not just being forward thinking, but forward acting," Mr Kathpal told Fairfax Media.
He said the technology is moving to the stage where it is becoming a more mainstream tool for the energy sector.
"Battery storage creates a much more resilient system as you can respond to a crisis in a much quicker way," he said.
The battery had its first real test a day earlier, providing 59 megawatts of power into South Australia's grid in order to meet Thursday's peak demand period.

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While the future baseload contract prices are significantly higher for South Australia, reaching nearly $173.25 per megawatt hour in the March 2018 despite the battery's installation, AEMO stated this is due to upcoming heatwaves set to hit the region, driving up prices for the quarter.

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The new battery comes as the Australian Energy Market Operator forecasts a Lack Of Reserve 1 for South Australia due to the hotter than expected November.
This means AEMO has indicated power generators in South Australia's market should generate more to provide a buffer for increased energy demand ahead.
"This scenario is exactly what AEMO has planned for in our summer readiness plan," AEMO Chief Executive Officer Audrey Zibelman said.
"As widely reported over the last two days, AEMO has procured generation and demand response reserves that can be activated if the need arises," Ms Zibelman said.
As part of its wider energy storage push, South Australia has also green lit more than $8 million in support of four new projects through the Renewable Technology Fund.
These include two major solar and battery storage projects, a thermal storage that holds heat generated from waste water, and a hydrogen production project.
"We are seeing major international businesses like Tesla and SolarReserve investing in South Australia because we have world-class renewable energy resources," South Australian Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said.
"The Renewable Technology Fund is harnesses this momentum so we can drive new projects and establish South Australia as a global hub for the storage of renewable energy."

Links

• Elon Musk's SA battery world record will soon be broken
• 'Never been more happy to lose a bet': Cannon-Brookes concedes battery bet
• Musk's Tesla to switch on mega battery in SA on Friday
• Power boost: How Australia will avoid summer blackouts
• Renewable energy to reach cost parity with coal by 2020