(AU New Daily) Road To Net Zero: What The Rest Of The World Thinks About Australia’s Climate Policy

New Daily -  Zac Crellin

Leaders around the world have slammed Australia's stance on climate change. Photo: TND

Australia is becoming a pariah on the world stage when it comes to climate policy.

From initially refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, to remaining dependent on coal, successive Australian governments have repeatedly  adopted policies that put them at odds with their foreign counterparts.

Ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, here’s what world leaders and environmentalists have said about Australia’s climate change track record.

Sir David Attenborough has blasted Australia over its continued use of fossil fuels. Photo: Getty

Sir David Attenborough

British environmentalist and documentary filmmaker Sir David Attenborough has repeatedly slammed Australia’s climate policy in recent years, including on Triple J Hack in 2019.

"You are the keepers of an extraordinary section of the surface of this planet, including the Barrier Reef, and what you say, what you do, really, really matters."
Sir David Attenborough

“And then you suddenly say, ‘No it doesn’t matter … it doesn’t matter how much coal we burn … we don’t give a damn what it does to the rest of the world’.”

During the January 2020 bushfires, Sir David told the BBC it was “palpable nonsense” for Australian politicians to deny the link between the fires and climate change.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has called on Australia to take more responsibility on climate change. Photo: Getty

Pacific leaders

The Pacific islands are already experiencing the effects of rising sea levels, extreme weather events and collapsing ecosystems due to climate change.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has often referred to the relationship between Australia and Pacific nations as like a family, with all countries needing to support one another.

In a 2020 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Mr Bainimarama singled out Australia alongside the US and China as “major players” who need to make stronger climate commitments.

"To anyone who may think that Australia is too small to make a real difference, there are a number of small island states in your backyard that beg to differ."
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama

Statesmen from some of the most-at risk countries in the region have also repeatedly called out Australia.

In 2019, former Tuvaluan prime minister Enele Sopoaga accused Scott Morrison of denying the effects of climate change in the Pacific.

“There is no point in making declarations after declarations every annual summit we meet and yet we are dragging our feet on that and I continue to call on my friend, Prime Minister Morrison of Australia, to do the right thing,” Mr Sopoaga later said at the Virtual Island Summit 2020.

In a 2018 opinion piece, former president of Kiribati Anote Tong accused Australia of “failing in its duty as a regional leader”.

Mr Tong has also referred to China as “the lesser of two evils” compared to Australia when it comes to providing assistance in the fight against climate change.

Greta Thunberg has slammed many countries – including Australia – for a lack of climate change urgency. Photo: Getty

Greta Thunberg

During the catastrophic bushfire season of 2019-2020, climate activists around the world sounded the alarm.

Among the most prominent voices was Swedish School Strike for Climate organiser Greta Thunberg, who was just 16 years old at the time.

"Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action. How is this possible?"
Greta Thunberg

“All of this still has not resulted in any political action. Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #AustraliaFires,” she wrote on Facebook in January 2020.

More recently, the student has taken aim at world leaders in general.

“Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah,” she said at the Youth4Climate summit in Milan last month.

“This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have not led to action.”

Selwin Hart is a United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action. Photo: Getty

The United Nations

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on rich countries to phase out coal by 2030.

Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action, went as far as to single out Australia during a speech at the Australian National University this year.

"If the world does not rapidly phase out coal, climate change will wreak havoc right across the Australian economy: From agriculture to tourism, and right across the services sector."
Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Climate Action

“Similarly, construction, housing and the property sector, in a country where the vast majority live on or near a coastline. It will be even more catastrophic in your neighbourhood,” Mr Hart added.

Meanwhile, a 2015 report from the Africa Progress Panel led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan slammed Australia’s lack of climate progress.

“With one of the world’s highest levels of per capita emissions, Australia has gone from leadership to free-rider status in climate diplomacy,” it said.

Former French environment minister Laurence Tubiana is one of the key architects of the Paris Agreement. Photo: Getty

The architect of the Paris Agreement

Laurence Tubiana is a former French environment minister and current head of the European Climate Foundation.

She was one of the main architects of the Paris Agreement, and singled out Australia in 2019 for wanting to carry over old credits from previous climate goals, some of which were acquired under more lax standards.

“If you want this carry over, it is just cheating,” Ms Tubiana told the Financial Times.

"Australia was willing in a way to destroy the whole system, because that is the way to destroy the whole Paris agreement."
Laurence Tubiana, key architect of the Paris Agreement

In an opinion piece from December, Ms Tubiana put Australia’s climate inaction in perspective.

“To the rest of the world, Australia’s national-level inaction, based largely on the claim that climate is a left-right political issue, is bizarre,” she wrote.

“The world needs Australia to re-engage on climate, and Australia is better placed than most to thrive as the fifth industrial revolution kicks in.

“Or as a famous 2006 Australian advertisement said, where the bloody hell are you?”

Barack Obama mentioned Australia by name while talking about climate action. Photo: Getty

Barack Obama

During a 2014 speech at the University of Queensland, then-US President Barack Obama made the rare move of pointing out the real risks of climate change in Australia.

"Here in the Asia-Pacific nobody has more at stake when it comes to thinking about and then acting on climate change."
Barack Obama

“Here a climate that increases in temperature will mean more extreme and frequent storms, more flooding, rising seas that submerge Pacific islands.

“Here in Australia it means longer droughts, more wildfires. The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened.”

Mr Obama also urged countries like Australia to break free of the “false choice between development and pollution”.

The Sydney Morning Herald later reported that parts of this passage were ad-libbed out of frustration over then-prime minister Tony Abbott’s climate change denial.

Fast-forward to 2021 and the Biden administration has slammed Australia’s emissions trajectory as being “insufficient”.

The OECD

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an organisation comprising of 38 countries, including Australia.

It’s not known for diehard environmentalism, but it has nevertheless criticised Australia’s climate change policies over the years.

“The least-cost approach to meeting these emission targets would involve an economy-wide carbon price,” the organisation said in a report in September.

“However, if the political environment precludes such an approach, other existing instruments will need to be scaled up and new sector-based solutions considered.”

"Innovations are less likely to be environment-related in Australia than in other OECD countries."
The OECD

The OECD also called for the government to support the uptake of electric cars, and to ensure a just transition for Australia’s 40,000 coal industry workers.

Links

• UN’s top climate adviser says Australia must phase out coal
• Australia’s weak climate action to blame for PM’s snub at global summit
• ‘Insufficient’: Biden administration criticises Australia on climate
• Sir David Attenborough warns of climate 'crisis moment'
• OECD slams Australia for its net zero headway
• Strong climate targets make strong friendships, Fiji tells Australia
• Former Tuvalu PM hits out at US and Australian climate inaction
• While my island nation sinks, Australia is doing nothing to solve climate change - Anote Tong
• On This Day: Greta Thunberg leads 150 countries in global climate strikes
• ‘Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis
• Australia singled out as a climate change 'free-rider' by international panel
• An analysis of the political challenges facing Scott Morrison
• A breakdown of the financial costs of climate inaction

Adapt And Grow: Australia Should Grasp The Positives Of Climate Change

Crikey - Richard Holden

There are ways to take advantage of a warmer climate that can help defray the costs.

Image: Private Media

Author Richard Holden is a professor of economics at the University of New South Wales and president-elect of the Academy of the Social Science.

COP26 in Glasgow has four core areas of discussion:

1. securing net zero
2. adaptation
3. mobilising finance
4. “work together”

The second — adaptation –is perhaps the most concrete, but also the least discussed.

 According to the official program, discussions of adaptation will revolve around working together to enable and encourage countries affected by climate change to:

• protect and restore ecosystems
• build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives.

The first point to note about this is that adaptation is important even when we take aggressive action to reduce emissions.

In the language of economics, emissions reduction and adaptation are complements not substitutes — doing more of one makes it easier to do more of the other.

It’s going to be a lot easier to successfully build resilient infrastructure and agriculture if climate change is less bad than predicted.

And there will be more bang for the buck in working towards net zero if we can adapt more effectively to the effect of climate change from which we can’t escape.

The second point is that it’s useful to distinguish between “adaptation” and “mitigation”. No lesser a scientific authority than NASA observed that adaptation can best be described as:

Adapting to life in a changing climate. [This] involves adjusting to actual or expected future climate. The goal is to reduce our vulnerability to the harmful effects of climate change (like sea-level encroachment, more intense extreme weather events or food insecurity).

By contrast, mitigation is reducing climate change itself.

As NASA says, this “involves reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, either by reducing sources of these gases (for example, the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat or transport) or enhancing the “sinks” that accumulate and store these gases (such as the oceans, forests and soil)”.

Image: Private Media

If there’s a climate win to be had, let’s just take it — and worry less about the journey

Part of the goal of mitigation is to stabilise accumulated greenhouse-gas levels so that natural adaptation can take place — or at least be less severely impacted.

 Now these are conceptually different things. But distinguishing between them also points to things that countries like Australia should do differently. Parts of the country are clearly affected by changing weather patterns.

Bushfires wrought havoc just before COVID-19 hit. Droughts have been devastating — and increasingly so. The Great Barrier Reef is under grave threat. Whatever the cause, we can and must do more to reduce the effects of climate change.

When it comes to mitigation — stablising greenhouse-gas levels — Australia has a relatively little known but important scientific advantage.

The world’s oceans hold 25 times more carbon than the atmosphere, and all living plants and animals combined. Oceans used to hold even more carbon. This raises the intriguing possibility of using technology to boost oceans’ capacity to reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere.

If we want to get to net zero emissions then having significant negative emissions technologies (NETs) is crucial.

Here’s where Australia’s comparative advantage comes in. We are the main gateway to the Southern Ocean, which is the global marine environment with the greatest potential for carbon capture.

And a group of Australian and international researchers at the Centre of Innovation for Recovery of Climate Change, Australia (CIRCA) is leading a long-run initiative to develop and deploy these technologies. (Disclosure: I am a member of CIRCA.)

The idea behind ocean NETs is to manipulate algal production rates, use inorganic ocean chemistry, and develop “sea-water splitting” to release hydrogen as a fuel and capture carbon dioxide.

The basic science of this is well understood, but research on how to scale and deploy these technologies responsibly is crucial.

Australia is at the global frontier of this work.

Then there’s taking advantage of any potential upsides of a warmer climate, like longer growing seasons and increased crop yields.

That’s not to say (as certain conservative, climate denialist former prime ministers of Australia have) that these potential benefits outweigh the costs of climate change. Just that we should take what we can get from climate change — in part to help defray the cost of dealing with the downsides.

Australia has a lot of work to do — and, frankly, diplomatic ground to make up — when it comes to climate change.

But it’s worth remembering that although we might not be under the kind of threat that countries like Tuvalu or Bangladesh are from rising sea levels, we have already experienced the devastating effects of climate change.

We can and must adapt. And we are also well positioned — both geographically and scientifically — to lead efforts in mitigating these effects.

Links

• Responding to Climate Change
• If there’s a climate win to be had, let’s just take it — and worry less about the journey
• The emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to human activities is the leading cause of climate change.
• Good COP or bad COP? Why the Glasgow summit is a big deal for Australia
• How the environment could save the economy, post-pandemic
• (AU The Conversation) Climate Change Means Australia May Have To Abandon Much Of Its Farming
• (AU Crikey) Morrison Government Spends On Adapting To Climate Change Rather Than Taking Action To Fight It
• (AU) New Focus On Climate Change Adaptation But No Sign Of 2050 Emissions Commitment

(AU The Conversation) Better Building Standards Are Good For The Climate, Your Health, And Your Wallet. Here’s What The National Construction Code Could Do Better

The Conversation - Trivess Moore | Alan Pears | Erika Bartak | Nicola Willand

Shutterstock

Authors Trivess Moore is Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Alan Pears is Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University Erika Bartak is a PhD Candidate (& ESD Consultant), Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne Nicola Willand is Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University

The recent IPCC report highlighted we must urgently transition to a low carbon future.

One low hanging fruit is to improve the sustainability of new and existing housing.

Minimum performance and quality requirements for new housing in Australia are set via the National Construction Code.

The last significant change was in 2010 with the introduction of the six-star requirements. These requirements are at least 40% less stringent than international best practice.

A suite of proposed changes to energy efficiency section of the National Construction Code are a good step forward. However, a lot more can be done.

And improving building quality requirements isn’t just good for the climate — it also delivers enormous health benefits, slashes energy bills and makes our homes more comfortable.

Change is underway

Proposed energy efficiency changes for the National Construction Code 2022 include:

• an increase in the minimum thermal performance of homes from six stars to seven stars
• whole-of-home requirements for performance of heating, cooling, hot water, lighting and pool heating equipment
• new provisions designed to allow easy addition of on-site solar photovoltaic panels and electric vehicle charging equipment
• additional ventilation and wall vapour permeability requirements.

The Regulatory Impact Statement — a document aimed at helping government officials understand the cost-benefit impacts of a proposed regulatory change — has also been released.

Overall, it finds the costs for proposed more stringent requirements will outweigh the benefits for society.

In better news, it finds that for the majority of households, any increase in mortgage repayments from the additional costs of higher standards will be offset by a reduction in energy costs. In other words, you save so much on energy costs over time that it doesn’t matter you have to borrow more to pay for these building features.

There is critique of the Regulatory Impact Statement from stakeholders such as the Victorian government and the Green Building Council of Australia. Critics have pointed to the limited consideration of health and well-being, the impact to the energy network, and the climate emergency.

There are also issues with key economic assumptions which do not reflect environmental impacts of decisions and concerns delivery costs to households have been overestimated, potentially encouraging a “do nothing” policy position.

Public consultation is open until October 17.

Research shows homes can increase performance by one star simply changing from their worst to best orientation. Shutterstock

What do the changes mean?

The proposed changes are important steps towards reducing carbon emissions. Currently less than 5% of new housing in Australia is built to achieve seven or more stars. These changes will affect thousands of new dwellings every year.

The seven-star standard will reduce heating and cooling energy for new housing by about 24%, slashing energy bills. The changes future-proof housing by reducing costs to add renewables or electric car charging once the house is built.

And with issues of mould and condensation in Australian housing, changes will make our housing healthier.

Historically, higher standards have been met by boosting specifications like insulation and double glazing. These new standards will shift attention to cost-effective strategies like orientation and site-responsive design, as it becomes harder to achieve higher stars through specifications alone.

Research from Sustainability Victoria’s Zero Net Carbon Homes program show homes can increase performance by one star simply changing from their worst to best orientation.

There’s room for improvement

These proposed changes are a good step forward. However, more can be done.

A decade ago research and case studies showed that seven star housing was achievable for little additional costs.

YourHome and developments like The Cape make seven or more star house designs freely available, showing we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

The recently announced Green Star Homes Standard will also help to drive innovation beyond minimum performance requirements.

Our energy regulations are still measured per square metre (rather than per dwelling/person) and are predominantly concerned with operational energy demand.

To further reduce carbon emissions, we need to acknowledge the influence of house size and materials usage on total energy consumption and factor in the carbon footprint of building materials.

Additionally, the code does not use future climate data when demonstrating compliance. This means that our housing may not be fit for purpose in our future climate.

We will need more focus on summer performance. This should include performance in late summer and autumn, when the sun is lower in the sky, but extreme heat will be more likely. This will require solutions like adjustable shading.

There is little accountability across the construction industry to ensure builders comply with the design. Shutterstock

As-built verification is a critical inclusion in new schemes such as Green Star Homes; we need similar mechanisms in our construction code to ensure as-built compliance. There is no point improving regulations on paper if we can’t deliver it in practice.

While the focus of these changes is on new housing, we must not forget the millions of existing homes which need to undergo deep retrofits to improve sustainability and performance. The new standards will need careful adaptation to suit alteration and addition projects.

Tools like the National Scorecard Initiative aim to help homeowners in existing dwellings improve performance but more could be done with regulations to ensure existing housing is part of the push towards a sustainable housing future.

Links

• Low-energy homes don't just save money, they improve lives
• Sustainable housing's expensive, right? Not when you look at the whole equation
• This is the most sobering report card yet on climate change and Earth’s future. Here’s what you need to know
• Aiming for mediocrity: The case of australian housing thermal performance
• Low-energy homes don’t just save money, they improve lives
• Mould and damp health costs are about 3 times those of sugary drinks. We need a healthy housing agenda
• National Construction Code 2022 (pdf)
• Australia’s still building 4 in every 5 new houses to no more than the minimum energy standard
• Free Home Designs
• Size does matter: Australia’s addiction to big houses is blowing the energy budget
• Home energy ratings for existing homes

(BBC) Climate Change: Stop Smoke And Mirrors, Rich Nations Told

BBC - Matt McGrath

Young protesters in Milan argue that ministers aren't doing enough. EPA

Rich countries' plans to curb carbon are "smoke and mirrors" and must be urgently improved, say poorer nations.

Ministers meeting here in Milan at the final UN session before the Glasgow COP26 climate conference heard that some progress was being made.

But officials from developing countries demanded tougher targets for cutting carbon emissions and more cash to combat climate change.

One minister condemned "selfishness or lack of good faith" in the rich world.

US special envoy John Kerry said all major economies "must stretch" to do the maximum they can.

Around 50 ministers from a range of countries met here to try to overcome some significant hurdles before world leaders gather in Glasgow in November.

But for extremely vulnerable countries to a changing climate the priority is more ambitious carbon reductions from the rich, to preserve the 1.5C temperature target set by the 2015 Paris agreement.

Scientists have warned that allowing the world temperatures to rise more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is highly dangerous.

An assessment of the promises made so far to cut carbon suggests that the world is on track for around 2.7C.

Ministers from developing countries say this is just not acceptable - they are already experiencing significant impacts on their economies with warming currently just over 1C.

US special envoy John Kerry called on all richer countries to step up. Reuters

"We're already on hellish ground at 1.1C," said Simon Steill, Grenada's environment minister who argues that the plans in place just weren't good enough to prevent disaster for his island state.

"We're talking about lives, we're talking about livelihoods, they cannot apply smoke and mirrors to that."

"Every action that is taken, every decision that is taken, has to be aligned with 1.5C, we have no choice."

Some delegates felt that richer countries aren't sufficiently engaged on the issue of 1.5C, because they are wealthy enough to adapt to the changes.

"They don't care about 1.5C because if there's sea level rise, they have the means to build sea walls, and they are just remaining there in their high walls of comfort," said Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Some countries are willing to do things but they don't have the means, some have the means but are not willing to do things. Now how do we find the right choreography?"

On this question of choreography, ministers were in agreement that the G20 group of countries should be leading the dance.

Alok Sharma is the UK minister in charge of COP26. Reuters

Mr Kerry called on India and China, who are part of the G20, to put new carbon plans on the table before leaders gather in Glasgow. "All G20 countries, all large economies, all need to try to stretch to do more," he told the gathering.

"I'm not singling out one nation over another. But I am encouraging all of us to try to do the maximum we can."

Analysis Victoria Gill, science correspondent The mood on the street in Milan could not have contrasted more sharply with the formal, political roundtable discussions inside the PreCOP26 conference. On Friday, students and activists marched to the doors of the conference venue - banners waving and arms linked in a human wall to protect Greta Thunberg, who led the procession. There were cheers of: "We are unstoppable, another world is possible". And just one day after sharing the stage with world leaders, and after meeting the Italian prime minister, 18-year-old Greta told a cheering crowd: "We are sick of their blah blah blah and sick of their lies." Meanwhile, behind the concrete walls of the conference hall on Saturday, ministers were cautiously optimistic that their discussions had laid crucial foundations for the UN climate meeting in November. As he brought the meeting to a close, Alok Sharma, president for the much-anticipated COP26 in Glasgow, assured me that there was now a tangible "sense of urgency". "It's this set of world leaders that are deciding the future," he said. "We're going to respond to what we've heard here from young people."

One of the biggest remaining hurdles to progress remains the question of finance. The richer world promised to pay developing nations $100bn a year from 2020.

That figure hasn't yet been met and while ministers here were confident it would be achieved in Glasgow, the failure to land the money is eroding trust.

"Everything we need to do, we know what that is, and now it's just a question of who's going to be paying for it, who is going to be willing to share their technology," said Tosi Mpanu Mpanu.

"And that's where the problem is. So there seems to be at times selfishness or lack of good faith."

Despite these reservations, the UK minister tasked with delivering success in Glasgow was in positive mood after the meeting in Milan. "I think we go forward to Glasgow with a spirit of co-operation," said Alok Sharma.

"I do not want to underestimate the amount of work that is required but I think there is a renewed urgency in our discussions."

However there are significant hurdles to clear before leaders arrive in Glasgow and technical questions about carbon markets and transparency are still unresolved.

"We need to change. And we need to change radically, we need to change fast," said EU vice-president Frans Timmermans. "And that's going to be bloody hard."

Links

• COP26
• Money on the agenda at Milan climate talks
• Youth have right to be angry on climate, UK PM says
• Australia PM may skip COP26 climate summit
• (CNN) Australia's Climate Policy Is Being Dictated By A Former Accountant In A Cowboy Hat
• (AU SMH) While The 2050 Battle Rages In Australia, The World Is Talking 2030
• (CNET) Climate Change: COP26 Is The Biggest Conference In The World. Here's Why It Matters
• (The Guardian) The Climate Crisis Has Sparked An Economic Arms Race – And Australia Cannot Afford To Stay Idle
• (ABC) Crowdfunded Billboards At World Climate Conference To Take Aim At The Australian Government
• (CNN) Australia's Scott Morrison Under Climate Pressure At Home As Biggest State Boosts Targets

(AU The Guardian) NSW Environment Minister Urges Moderate Liberals To Push The Party Harder On Net Zero

The Guardian - Katharine Murphy

Matt Kean says Matt Canavan and George Christensen ‘never worry about rocking the boat, so why should progressive, economically rational Liberals not do likewise?’

NSW minister for energy and the environment Matt Kean wants fellow moderate Liberals to pressure Scott Morrison to take action on climate. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

The New South Wales environment minister Matt Kean has called on fellow Liberal moderates in Canberra to replicate the forceful lobbying of National MPs, and insist that Scott Morrison takes a net zero target to the Cop26 in Glasgow.

Kean has warned in an interview with Guardian Australia’s politics podcast that traditional Liberal voters are prepared to rise up against Liberal governments failing to take ambitious action to reduce emissions and transition to a sustainable economy.

The interview follows NSW this week unveiling a new pledge to halve emissions in the state by 2030. The previous state target was a 35% cut compared with 2005 levels.

Emission pledges by states put extra pressure on Scott Morrison to lift national climate goals.  Read more

The new commitment spearheaded by Kean was backed by Liberals and Nationals in cabinet – while their federal counterparts remain publicly split on climate policy in the lead up to the Glasgow conference.

With the Cop26 bearing down, the NSW minister and prominent Liberal moderate says colleagues in Canberra need to find their voice, and quickly.

“I think sensible Liberals need to make their position very clear to the prime minister just as Matt Canavan, George Christensen and other characters make abundantly clear their views on these issues.”

“They never worry about rocking the boat, so why should progressive, economically rational Liberals not do likewise? We should be standing up for our constituencies, we should be standing up for our country and we should be making our voice known in the Liberal party and in the public domain.”

Kean believes Scott Morrison should adopt the mid-century net zero target, and also commit to a more ambitious medium-term emissions reduction target.

Courtesy of the NSW commitment, and with other states contributing to the heavy lifting on emissions reduction, Morrison would now be in a position to unveil a 34% cut in national greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 based on existing pledges, rather than sticking to the current national 2030 target of a 26 to 28% cut.

There has been sustained speculation that Morrison could update the 2030 pledge as well as committing to net zero, assuming the Nationals can be persuaded. But the scenario considered more likely is Australia will predict overachievement on the existing target rather than adjust the current pledge.

The NSW environment and energy minister said the coming transition should be viewed through the lens of economic opportunity rather than cost. In electoral terms, he says the threat in the Liberal party’s electoral heartland is real, with groups like Climate 200 promoting independent candidates.

“The number one issue in my community is taking action on the environment that also helps our economy, and that should be completely in line with what conservatives, who are meant to be conserving things, should be about: conserving our planet, handing it to the next generation better than we found it, but also seizing the biggest economic opportunity that we will ever see,” Kean said.

“I don’t want to see strong, good Liberal moderates thrown out and replaced with independents.”

“Strong economically rational and socially progressive voices in the Liberal party can bring about change for the better and that’s what we are doing here in New South Wales”.

“I want those people to stand up in the Liberal party and be counted and then they won’t have an issue from independent voices looking to knock them off in a general election”.

Climate pressure on Scott Morrison grows as NSW promises to cut emissions in half by 2030.  Read more

The Morrison government is expected to unveil its commitments for Glasgow by mid-October. Some Queensland Nationals have signalled they are implacably opposed to net zero.

Federal Liberals in metropolitan seats have called publicly for Morrison to adopt the net zero commitment. A number of these MPs would also support a higher medium term emissions reduction target.

Given the opposition from some Nationals, government MPs say the federal minister for energy and emissions reduction Angus Taylor has privately floated the idea that the Coalition could adopt a plan to get to net zero without signing up to the target. But many Liberals regard this idea as completely suboptimal in a policy sense, and politically untenable.

Guardian Australia revealed earlier this week Morrison met on Tuesday with a deputation of Liberals in a teleconference – including Dave Sharma, Fiona Martin, Trent Zimmerman, Julian Leeser, John Alexander, Julian Simmons, Angie Bell, Paul Scarr, Andrew Bragg, Tim Wilson, Katie Allen, Dean Smith, Jason Falinski, Celia Hammond and Bridget Archer.

The prime minister is understood to have told the group it remained his preference to land a roadmap laying out the required technology, actions to get to net zero emissions by mid-century and the 2050 target.

Morrison also acknowledged that climate change was now a vote-changing issue in the Liberal party heartland.

Links

• (AU) The Liberal Minister Forcing Action On Climate Change
• Australians have spoken on climate, so there's no excuse to look backwards
• Matt Kean's journey from PwC accountant to electrifying Liberal
• 'Doing nothing is not a solution': Matt Kean blames climate crisis for bushfires
• NSW environment minister urges end to 'pointless, backward-looking arguments' about climate action\
• Kean's 'radical' thinking is good for climate climate and politics
• Matt Kean: Conservatives should embrace wind and solar, not fight it 
• Launch of the ‘Climate of the Nation’ Report
• It's time to win climate wars, NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean says
• Does Scott Morrison’s climate spin match his government’s record on emissions?
• Australian politics: Matt Kean on climate change, the Coalition and the economic case for net zero

(The Independent, UK) Australian Government ‘Wilfully Negligent’ On Climate Crisis, Says Scientist Studying Impact On Bees

The Independent - Harry Cockburn

Scott Morrison’s administration ‘not taking the environment seriously’, says Dr James Dorey

Fire burns within sight of the suburban fringe of the city of Canberra on January 31, 2020. (Getty)

A scientist studying the impact of worsening wildfires in Australia on the country’s native bees has accused the government of acting in a “wilfully negligent way when it comes to climate”, failing to protect biodiversity, and not caring about the future.

Dr James Dorey, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, and the lead author of new research led by Flinders University, made the remarks following the publication of research revealing the number of threatened Australian native bee species is on course to increase by almost five times after the devastating “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019-2020.

The extensive fires burnt through 24 million hectares, destroying around 3,000 homes, and killed or displaced an estimated 3 billion animals.

The research team assessed 553 bee species – around one-third of Australia’s known bee species – and found marked population reductions among many.

Nine species were assessed as “vulnerable” and two more “endangered” as a direct result of the multiple fire fronts in the 2019-20 bushfires.

Describing the research as a “call to action”, Dr Dorey told The Independent that it was “no surprise”, the species were suffering due to the lack of ambition to tackle the climate crisis in Australia.

“The Australian government is acting in a wilfully negligent way when it comes to climate and I honestly think that we could be punching above our weight when it comes to climate action. Instead, Australia continues to invest public money into climate-wrecking fossil fuel industries,” he said.

“Of course, climate change is a global challenge and Australia is not alone in failing to act, but truly it feels like our federal and many state governments care not a smidge for the natural world of which we should be active and positive custodians.”

He added: “It is no surprise at all that there are species getting pushed towards extinction by climate change and massive disturbance events, like the Black Summer bushfires.”

The study also warned widespread wildfire and forest fire damage is being repeated all around the world, from North America and Europe to the Congo and Asia, causing catastrophic impacts on biodiversity and sudden and marked reduction in population sizes of many species.

Dr Dorey said it was “incredibly frustrating” that Australian prime minister Scott Morrison had suggested he may not attend the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in the UK – a meeting widely regarded as the last chance for governments to act on the runaway climate emergency.

He said: “It feels like an explicit admission that Scott Morrison, and the federal government, doesn’t care at all about our climate or our future.

“The government is not taking the environment seriously, which is terrible because the Australian environment is incredible and worth saving. As are the ecosystems found around the world. I think that our governments should be thinking ahead and for future generations. Not just their next election.”

Fellow author Dr Stefan Caddy-Retalic, from the University of Adelaide and University of Sydney said the research underlines the importance of studying impacts on less visible species.

“Climate change is increasing the frequency of natural disasters like wildfire, which impacts our wildlife.

“Listing severely-impacted species on the IUCN red list and under Australian law represents our best approach to lobby governments to act,” he said, adding that native bees are very important providers of ecosystem services including pollination, but most are poorly known.

Olivia Davies, a Flinders University researcher and also an author on the paper, said: “Most people aren’t aware of just how vulnerable our native bees are because they are not widely studied.

“The fact that no Australian bees are listed by the IUCN shows just how neglected these important species are.”

The research is published in the journal Global Change Biology.

Links

• Could Climate Change Lead To The Extinction Of Bees?
• Continental risk assessment for understudied taxa post‐catastrophic wildfire indicates severe impacts on the Australian bee fauna
• World’s largest carbon-sucking factory starts operation in Iceland
• ‘The climate crisis is a reality’: Africa’s summer of extremes
• Against the odds: The fight to save sea turtles in Ras Baridi
• UK renewables growth falls to lowest rate in a decade
• Extinction Rebellion protesters blockade Farnborough airport
• ‘We’re disappointed’: Young climate activists call for meeting with PM ahead of Cop26

(CNN) Australia's Climate Policy Is Being Dictated By A Former Accountant In A Cowboy Hat

CNN - Ben Westcott

Barnaby Joyce leads Australia's National Party, which traditionally represents rural voters.

Australia's Prime Minister has all but confirmed he won't join global leaders at crucial climate talks in Glasgow.

Two more weeks of Covid-19 quarantine would be too much, Scott Morrison said on Friday, claiming that while there are "a lot of international interests," the most important audience for his yet-to-be-unveiled climate plan remains at home.

"My first and most important group that I need to talk to about our plan is not overseas. It's right here in Australia," he said. "It's talking to people in regional Australia, how the deputy prime minister and I believe our plan will help them in their communities, how our plan will help them realize their future."

With that remark, Morrison made it clear his loyalty lies with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, a cowboy hat-wearing, former accountant who leads the National Party, the Liberal government's coalition partner -- and not with international allies who are urging Australia to take greater action to cut emissions.

Australian Prime Minister says Australia will reach net zero "as soon as possible".

Joyce says he wants to see the numbers before he agrees to any new climate targets, as he struggles to unite a party riven with differences over Australia's future relationship with coal.

Morrison's refusal to commit to a target of net zero emissions by 2050 hasn't just isolated him on the international stage. Even within Australia's own borders -- aside from staunch pro-coal Nationals -- Morrison is looking more and more like he's being left behind.

On Friday, even the Minerals Council of Australia, the country's mining advocacy group, announced it supported net zero emissions by 2050. The country's largest states have already announced large emission reduction targets, and surveys also show most Australian people support tougher climate action.

Will Stefan, emeritus professor at the Australian National University's Fenner School of Environment and Society, said public opinion appeared to contradict the interests of Morrison's political allies and big business, who invest heavily in fossil fuels.

"I think there's a growing gulf between what the Australian public wants and how our Prime Minister is behaving," he said.

And that's a dangerous position for a Prime Minister to be in just months before a federal election.

Photovoltaic modules at a solar farm on the outskirts of Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia.

Selling Kodak cameras

Part of the reason for Morrison's reluctance to take actions lies in the fact that he leads a coalition made up of the center-right, pro-business Liberal Party and the National Party, who traditionally advocate for regional workers and agricultural communities.

The National Party has long opposed any action on climate change, claiming it will hurt rural communities. Joyce wants assurances the party's traditional supporters won't lose out in any broader transition to renewable energy.

"It's the little old bush accountant saying that lots of clients have ideas, but (you need) to sit down with them and say, 'Okay, that's your idea, let's prudently go about this,'" Joyce told told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He said whole towns rely on Australia's coal industry, and they shouldn't be forgotten.

"It's not just those farms, not just the mines, it is the towns that are attached to the commerce of those industries," he said. "It is the hairdressers, the tire business. These people also rely on the Nationals to make sure that we don't pull the economic rug out from underneath them."

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House on June 23 in Canberra, Australia.

While some Nationals support a move to net zero, others seem unlikely to budge, much to the frustration of some of Morrison's Liberal Party colleagues who want greater climate action.

On Sunday, a coal-loving Nationals senator took to Twitter to say he was "deadset against net zero." A Liberal minister hit back, accusing him of "selling Kodak cameras ... when the iPhone is coming."

The divisions are making life difficult for Morrison, who said he's working on a plan to bring his government "together on this issue."

It's not clear when that plan will be released, but he has said it'll be ready before other leaders descend on Glasgow for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26 as it is the 26th UN conference on climate change.

Despite being one of the largest per capita emitters of carbon in the world, according to the World Bank, the Australian government has dragged its feet on climate change action for decades.

The steelworks and coal loading facility in Port Kembla in Wollongong, Australia.

Australia's pledge to reduce its carbon emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030 is far below commitments from similar developed nations, including the United States. And Morrison has steadfastly refused to commit to net zero by 2050, saying only the country will reach the goal "as soon as possible."

Morrison's government has insisted that Australia is meeting its climate targets -- and even beating them -- but Stefan said the emission reduction target was "very weak."

Experts have previously said Australia would need to cut its emissions by twice the current commitment, up to 50% by 2050, to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius worldwide. And even greater cuts are needed to keep warming below the international target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"They're talking about new technologies and so on, but they're avoiding, completely avoiding the way we can get our emissions down, rapidly at cost and with side benefits. And that's to go renewable," said Stefan.

Part of the trouble is Australia is heavily reliant on mining for its economic prosperity. The country is one of the world's biggest coal exporters, bringing in around 50 billion Australian dollars ($36 billion) and employing more than 50,000 people, according to the government.

Australia is one of the world's biggest coal exporters.

With coal prices surging, some Nationals see no reason to cut off a lucrative source of revenue.

But the rival argument is that Australia has an opportunity to generate masses of renewable energy and industries to replace jobs lost in fossil fuels.

On Wednesday, as he announced plans to halve the state's emissions by 2030, New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean said Australia should "lead the world" on climate change, describing it as the "biggest economic opportunity of our lifetime."

"The reality is that the world is changing rapidly ... We would be absolutely mad to miss it," he said.

What the Australian people want

Some politicians have pitched Australia's climate divide as a city versus country debate that will see the latter lose out.

In an opinion piece published Monday, Nationals Sen. Bridget McKenzie accused her Liberal Party colleagues of forgetting about rural Australians and miners whose jobs would be lost by tough action on climate change.

At a press conference with the Liberal Party's deputy leader, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, on a separate issue Wednesday, the two traded jabs over the government's climate policies.

When Frydenberg said "climate change has no postcode," McKenzie responded by saying some Liberal Party politicians were trying to be "cool" by pushing for climate action. "Josh isn't one of them," she added.

While politicians argue over the best way forward, rural Australians are getting on with it. They say they have no choice.

Ellen Litchfield, a third-generation farmer, said rural and urban communities have more in common than some politicians seem to think.

With her family, third-generation farmer Ellen Litchfield operates Wilpoorinna, a sheep and cattle station 650 kilometers (400 miles) north of Adelaide in the Australian Outback, making her acutely aware of the threat of droughts to her and farmers like her.

She said the idea that there was a divide between rural and urban voters was mostly cooked up by politicians, capitalizing on a nostalgia for rural Australia, to argue for the status quo.

"I think that there's a lot more in common with the regional voter and the urban voter than they want us to believe," she said.

Litchfield, who advocates for Farmers for Climate Action, said many regional workers see "the benefits of changing."

"Mind the pun, but we're at the coalface of climate change every day. We're working out in the environment, we're seeing how things change," she said.

"And feeling supported and like we are all working together, all the industries are working together to secure the future, would be a huge benefit for us."

It isn't just Litchfield who supports climate change action in Australia.

Protesters take part in the School Strike 4 Climate rally on May 21 in Melbourne, Australia.

A poll by Essential Polling released on August 17 found more than 60% of respondents supported providing greater funding for solar power, introducing a carbon levy on polluters and putting in place a net zero carbon emissions target by 2030.

ANU professor Stefan said government efforts to reduce emissions in some jurisdictions, such as his home in the nation's capital, Canberra, had been popular with the electorate.

"This is a global problem, and we're all expected to do our fair share," he said. Whether Morrison can come up with a plan to balance the competing forces in his coalition remains to be seen.

But whatever compromise he can offer will be pored over at length by the international community -- and by all Australians with votes to cast the next election. 

Links

• (Independent Australia) Government's Climate Change Web Of Lies
• (AU The Conversation) Grattan On Friday: Morrison Is Wedged Between Biden And Barnaby In Forging Climate Policy For Glasgow
• (AU) The Climate Emergency – A Need For Radical Honesty – Laced With Courage And Compassion: Part 1
• (AU) The Climate Emergency – A Need For Radical Honesty – Laced With Courage And Compassion: Part 2
• (AU The Guardian) Having Spent A Decade Framing Emissions Reduction In Apocalyptic Terms, The Coalition Now Has To Present Different Facts
• (AU ABC) These Electorates Have The Highest Climate Risk. So Why Are They Less Likely To Demand More Action?
• (AU BBC) Climate Change: Why Action Still Ignites Debate In Australia
• (AU The Guardian) From Barnaby Joyce To The Great Barrier Reef, Coalition Climate Inadequacy Is On Parade