Josh Frydenberg Set To Dump Clean Energy Target

The Australian - Rachel Baxendale

Josh Frydenberg has all but ruled out a clean energy target. Picture: AAP.

Bill Shorten has renewed Labor’s commitment to a 50 per cent renewable energy target after Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg all but ruled out proceeding with the clean energy target proposed by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel.
Speaking at the National Energy Summit in Sydney, the Opposition Leader said Labor had 69 votes in a House of Representatives where the government has a majority of one.
“We are ready to vote for a clean energy target,” he said.
Mr Shorten said he was troubled by reports of anonymous sources saying that because of opposition to renewable energy on the Coalition backbench, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was likely to give up on a clean energy target.
“Walking away is the worst possible option,” he said.
“It would leave investors in the lurch, sentence business to more uncertainty, more chopping and changing.
“It would make Australia’s job harder to reduce emissions. If Turnbull caves in to Tony Abbott and a handful, a rump of conservative backbenchers and walks away from a clean energy target, it will mean continued higher prices for Australian families and Australian industry.
“It is a simple choice that Mr Turnbull faces. Work with Labor to deliver a clean energy target that is meaningful, or lock in higher power bills for businesses and families.”
Mr Shorten also attacked Mr Turnbull over gas prices.
“Back in April, Mr Turnbull promised to halve wholesale gas prices from about $20 a gigajoule to under $10 a gigajoule. Australians will not forget that,” he said.
“Australians do not understand why it has been cheaper to purchase Australian gas in Japan than it has been here in Australia.
“As long as this absurd situation persists, jobs and prosperity are in jeopardy. We need more than a cosy gentlemen’s agreement with the gas exporters that everything will be fine.
“If Labor were in government, we would immediately pull the trigger, activating export controls, with the clear objective of lowering the price of gas.”
Mr Shorten said Mr Frydenberg was right that the price of renewable energy had come down.
“Renewable energy, if not the cheapest form of energy already, is among the cheapest and becoming cheaper every day, so Labor’s commitment to 50% renewables recognises that future, including outlined by the government,” he said.
“Embracing renewable energy is a race for the jobs of the future and Australia has been given a dream barrier draw.
“We are the sunniest continent on Earth, one of the windiest places in the world. We are home to universities and research centres that set global standards for efficiency in solar-cell technology, and we have massive potential to couple renewables with peaking gas, pumped hydro and battery storage.”

Frydenberg set to drop clean energy target
Mr Frydenberg told the summit that emissions in the electricity sector had fallen over the last two quarters as a consequence of the closure of coal-fired power stations and flatlining demand, but said this could not continue if it made power less reliable or affordable.
“As Minister for both Energy and Environment, the first time these responsibilities have been brought together, I am acutely aware of this delicate balance,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“Should reliability and affordability be compromised, public support for tackling climate change will quickly diminish and previous gains will be lost. This is in nobody’s interest.”
Mr Frydenberg said the cost of wind-powered generation had more than halved in seven years, with similar reductions in solar PV technology.
“It is against this backdrop of a declining cost curve for renewables and storage, greater efficiencies that can be found in thermal generation and the need for sufficient dispatchable power in the system that we are considering the Finkel Review’s 50th recommendation to which we’ll respond before the end of the year,” he said, referencing the clean energy target.
“It is important to not lose sight of the fact that we accepted and are now implementing 49 out of the 50 Finkel recommendations through the COAG Energy Council.
“Many of the recommendations will have a profound impact, with new requirements around notice of closure, generator reliability and security being long overdue.”
But Mr Frydenberg said that a premature reliance on wind and solar was making supply and demand harder to predict and increasing prices.
“This is because in an energy only market, large amounts of wind and solar produce low
wholesale prices when they are running, but very high prices when they are not,” he said.
“This volatility creates an uncertain investment climate and makes it more difficult for synchronous generators to recover their fixed costs and remain commercially viable.
“As these generators are pushed out, liquidity in the contract market is reduced, not only because there are fewer participants who can provide firm hedging, but also because new entrants are deterred by the greater volatility risk.
“To take this point to the extreme, the Grattan Institute has pointed out that, for a system with 100 per cent renewables, the wholesale price cap would need to lift more than fivefold to between $60,000 and $80,000 to ensure a sufficient revenue stream.
“No jurisdiction could be expected to embrace such extremes and in many other countries they have not.”
Mr Frydenberg urged state and territory governments to support a national approach.
“It’s high time that the states and territories accepted that by going it alone and frustrating a truly national approach, they are driving prices higher, reliability lower and making the smooth transition to a lower emissions future that much more difficult,” he said.
“By sanctioning the uncompetitive bidding practices of government-owned generators or appeals under the Merits Review process for networks, state governments have prioritised profits over lower energy prices.
“Indeed in Queensland over the last few months, the wholesale electricity prices have gone down by 25 per cent, following a belated state ministerial direction.
“And in the ACT and New South Wales had the Limited Merits Review process been abolished sooner, citizens of those jurisdictions would have had power bill savings of more than $5 billion.”
Mr Frydenberg said states and territories had also increased gas prices through their refusal to lift moratoria on coal seam gas.
He also singled out the Renewable Energy Target as a policy which was “far from perfect”, despite attracting bipartisan support.
“This policy did not anticipate or adequately deal with the situation where there would be a particularly high penetration of renewable in a single region, namely South Australia, where storage and stability services would be at a premium,” he said.
“While renewable energy advocates quickly seek to justify their subsidies by pointing to emissions as a costly externality it is only fair to point out that renewables without storage are also a costly burden,” he said.
“The best illustration is the experience of South Australia, where the spot price increased by 84 per cent between 2015-16 and 2016-17, following the closure of the Northern coal-fired power station last May and the rising cost of gas-fired generation.
“With wind on any given day providing between zero and 100 per cent plus of the state’s needs and only limited and more expensive gas left to balance the variability, the markets quickly priced in this risk.”
Mr Frydenberg also indicated he was concerned about market concentration in the wholesale electricity market, as highlighted in a recent ACCC report.
“In each region of the National Energy Market, the two or three biggest generators between them control more than 70 per cent of capacity and dispatched energy,” he said.
“This has been increasing over time. As an illustration, the big three, AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin between them in 2009 had 15 per cent of generation capacity in the NEM. Today, it’s nearly 50 per cent.
“This concentration can affect bidding behaviour as the companies know that their market dominance guarantees dispatch regardless of price.
“This is why I have asked the Australian Energy Regulator to investigate bidding practices by generators with a particular focus on New South Wales. I look forward to receiving their initial findings in November.
“While this type of behaviour may technically be within the NEM rules, it is not in the long term interests of consumers. Governments will need to consider what rule changes may be required.”
Mr Frydenberg said the key to guaranteeing lower prices and better reliability was having an effective regulatory framework with a real emphasis on transparency and competition.
He said the declining cost of new technology would play an increasing role in the energy sector.
“Just as the mobile phone disrupted the landline and the digital camera superseded film, the energy market is being shaped by the so-called internet-of-things; behind-the-meter technology such as solar PV and storage; demand-side responses; and increasingly cost effective utility scale renewable generation,” he said.
Chief Scientist Alan Finkel said there was still a need for a long term target, and a mechanism to reach it.
“The focus should be on the end point of the atmospheric emissions,” Dr Finkel told the summit.
“We looked at the Emissions Intensity Scheme, Clean Energy Target, regulated closure.
“For a variety of reasons, we felt the Clean Energy Target was a little bit better than those others but the critical thing is not that it is a Clean Energy Target per se but that there is a mechanism that is a tool that enables the operators to ensure that the atmospheric emissions trajectory is delivered.”

Links

• Back to the future as old climate battlelines re-emerge
• Shorten pledges to overhaul energy market and renewable investment rules
• Climate crunch: Australia to fail on Paris commitments without massive renewable switch
• Tony Abbott says dumping clean energy target would help Coalition win election
• Alan Finkel urges Turnbull to adopt clean energy target before states act
• Turnbull rejects efforts to ‘dumb down’ energy debate into renewables v coal
• Greens warn Labor not to do clean energy deal that protects coal power
• Coalition's Finkel response won't rule out new coal power stations, PM says
• Barnaby Joyce: I'll support a clean energy target – if coal is included
• Malcolm Turnbull leaves open alternative to clean energy target after internal criticism
• 'Too early to say' if Coalition will back clean energy target, Frydenberg says
• BlueScope Steel backs low emissions target as way to achieve energy balance
• Power prices will soar if energy policy doesn't change, Frydenberg warns
• Berejiklian to extend coalmine
• Shorten’s green jobs vision
• No surprise over CET end

Frydenberg Signals Government Poised To Abandon Clean Energy Target

The Guardian - Katharine Murphy

Energy minister says electricity sector wants stability, ‘not necessarily handouts’ suggesting renewables won’t be subsidised b after 2020

Josh Frydenberg said industry is ‘looking for a settled bipartisan investment climate’ in a speech that hinted the clean energy target may be abandoned. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says Australia’s electricity sector is looking for stability, “not necessarily” for handouts, in a signal the Turnbull government is poised to abandon the clean energy target.
In comments to an energy summit on Monday, Frydenberg pointed to the falling costs of renewable energy as one of the calculations in the government’s consideration of the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel.
Asking whether the falling costs of renewables meant Australia no longer need a clean energy target, which subsidises renewables, Frydenberg said: “Industry is looking for stability, they’re not necessarily looking for a handout.
“What they’re looking for is a settled bipartisan investment climate whether there are subsidies or not.”
The Turnbull government is finalising its new investment framework for energy policy, which it wants to settle during the remaining parliamentary sitting weeks before the summer recess.

Given it faces considerable internal opposition, it has been clear for some time the government would not adopt the clean energy target modelled in the Finkel review, and would look to rule changes in the national electricity market as one of the foundations of the overhaul.
Frydenberg’s comments to the Australian Financial Review summit on Monday suggest the government is not convinced renewable energy requires ongoing subsidies once the current renewable energy target winds down after 2020.
But asked by reporters in Sydney whether the government had abandoned the Finkel recommendation, Malcolm Turnbull hedged.
“What we are determined to do is to ensure that energy is reliable, affordable and that we meet our emissions reduction commitments that we have made through the Paris agreement,” the prime minister said.
Speaking to the AFR summit, the chief scientist dismissed the point that the falling cost for renewables meant a clean energy target was no longer required.
Finkel told the gathering a clean energy target was a framework allowing an orderly transition away from carbon-intensive power sources to low-emissions power sources.
“It remains a useful tool even if there is an extreme rate of reduction in the price of the new technologies,” Finkel said. “You need a managed transition.”
Speaking immediately after Finkel, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, called for a truce in the decade-long climate wars, and urged Turnbull to hold the line.
Shorten said it was “troubling” to see signals from the government that they intended to dump the clean energy target. The Labor leader said Turnbull had previously argued the Finkel recommendation had a lot of merit.
“Walking away is the worst possible option. It would leave investors in the lurch, sentence business to more uncertainty, more chopping and changing,” Shorten told the summit.
“It would make Australia’s job harder to reduce emissions.
“If Turnbull caves in to Tony Abbott and a ... rump of conservative backbenchers and walks away from a clean energy target, it will mean continued higher prices for Australian families and Australian industry.
“It is a simple choice that Mr Turnbull faces – work with Labor to deliver a clean energy target that is meaningful, or lock in higher power bills for businesses and families.”

Links

• Back to the future as old climate battlelines re-emerge
• Shorten pledges to overhaul energy market and renewable investment rules
• Climate crunch: Australia to fail on Paris commitments without massive renewable switch
• Tony Abbott says dumping clean energy target would help Coalition win election
• Alan Finkel urges Turnbull to adopt clean energy target before states act
• Turnbull rejects efforts to ‘dumb down’ energy debate into renewables v coal
• Greens warn Labor not to do clean energy deal that protects coal power
• Coalition's Finkel response won't rule out new coal power stations, PM says
• Barnaby Joyce: I'll support a clean energy target – if coal is included
• Malcolm Turnbull leaves open alternative to clean energy target after internal criticism
• 'Too early to say' if Coalition will back clean energy target, Frydenberg says
• BlueScope Steel backs low emissions target as way to achieve energy balance
• Power prices will soar if energy policy doesn't change, Frydenberg warns
• Berejiklian to extend coalmine
• Shorten’s green jobs vision
• No surprise over CET end

Josh Frydenberg Hints The Government Could Back Away From Clean Energy Target

Fairfax - Adam Gartrell

The Turnbull government is hinting that the rapidly declining cost of renewable energy is undermining the case for further clean-energy subsidies, as it maintains it will make a decision on a clean energy target in coming months.
In a speech to the Australian Financial Review's National Energy Summit in Sydney on Monday, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has emphasised the "declining cost curve" for wind, solar and renewables storage.

CET decision by year's end: Frydenberg
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has signaled the government is backing away from a clean energy target, a suggestion which has divided the Coalition. Vision: ABC News. 

"Globally in the past seven years, the cost of wind-powered generation has more than halved. Domestically, solar PV costs have dropped more than 50 per cent," he said.
"By 2020, costs of battery technologies are expected to fall 40 to 60 per cent and over 70 per cent to 2030.
"It is against this backdrop of a declining cost curve for renewables and storage, greater efficiencies that can be found in thermal generation, and the need for sufficient dispatchable power in the system, that we are considering the Finkel Review's 50th recommendation – to which we'll respond before the end of the year."
The government has accepted 49 of the 50 recommendations of Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's review of the National Electricity Market. However the recommendation for a clean energy target – which would drive investment in renewables and bring down emissions, and which the government did not accept – has divided the Coalition, preventing a decision on its future for four months.
Many of the other Finkel recommendations will have a "profound impact" on the electricity market, Mr Frydenberg said.
The minister's speech – which appears to signal that he is backing away from a clean energy target – is likely to please conservative Coalition MPs, who have argued hard against the measure.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Minister Josh Frydenberg at Parliament House in Canberra. Photo: Andrew Meares

In his speech at the same event, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will reiterate Labor's willingness to negotiate with the government on a "fair dinkum" clean energy target.
"This does not mean compromise at any cost. A framework that isn't fair dinkum will not receive our support," Mr Shorten will tell the conference.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is offering the Turnbull government bipartisanship on a clean energy target. Photo: Andrew Meares

"But there must be a way through. I don't imagine we will get everything we want, and the LNP may not get everything they want. But that cannot mean we throw up our hands, return to our trenches and resume hostilities. It cannot mean choosing insults over ideas or bringing props into the Parliament instead of policy."
Mr Shorten believes there are some conservatives within the Coalition who will never vote for a clean energy target in any form.
"But Labor has 69 votes in the House of Representatives – and we are ready to vote for a clean energy target," he will say.
But Mr Frydenberg says that the transition to lower emissions cannot come at the expense of the reliability and affordability of the electricity system.
"Should reliability and affordability be compromised, public support for tackling climate change will quickly diminish and previous gains lost. This is in nobody's interest," he said.
"It is challenging but possible to simultaneously put downward pressure on prices and enhance the reliability of the system, while meeting our international emissions reduction targets."

Links

• Back to the future as old climate battlelines re-emerge
• Shorten pledges to overhaul energy market and renewable investment rules
• Climate crunch: Australia to fail on Paris commitments without massive renewable switch
• Tony Abbott says dumping clean energy target would help Coalition win election
• Alan Finkel urges Turnbull to adopt clean energy target before states act
• Turnbull rejects efforts to ‘dumb down’ energy debate into renewables v coal
• Greens warn Labor not to do clean energy deal that protects coal power
• Coalition's Finkel response won't rule out new coal power stations, PM says
• Barnaby Joyce: I'll support a clean energy target – if coal is included
• Malcolm Turnbull leaves open alternative to clean energy target after internal criticism
• 'Too early to say' if Coalition will back clean energy target, Frydenberg says
• BlueScope Steel backs low emissions target as way to achieve energy balance
• Power prices will soar if energy policy doesn't change, Frydenberg warns
• Berejiklian to extend coalmine
• Shorten’s green jobs vision
• No surprise over CET end

Government Unveils 36,000 New Solar Panels At Williamsdale

Fairfax - Steven Trask

The ACT government put the finishing touches on its mammoth "solar highway" project on Thursday afternoon with the unveiling of 36,000 solar panels at Williamsdale.
Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury said the long-awaited Williamsdale Solar Farm, about 20 kilometres south of Canberra's city centre, could on its own generate enough electricity to power 3,000 homes.

Impact investment Group's Lane Crockett at the opening of the new Williamsdale Solar Farm. Photo: Rohan Thomson

Solar farms in Mount Majura, Mugga Lane and Royalla complete the "solar highway", which now totals a combined 177,000 panels along a 50 kilometre stretch.
"The future is here and it is clean, green and renewable," Mr Rattenbury said as the Williamsdale Solar Farm was officially opened.
"The clean power generated by the Williamsdale Solar Farm takes us another significant step towards achieving our target of 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2020 in the ACT."

The four solar farms were capable of generating 85,500 megawatt hours of electricity every year, enough to power more than 11,000 homes.
According to ACT government estimates, the solar farms could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4 million tonnes over the next 20 years.
"The ACT is establishing itself as a world leader when it comes to investment in renewable energy and action on climate change," Mr Rattenbury said.
"Already, renewable energy has driven around $500 million of investment into the local economy."
The ACT government has faced its share of challenges to get the solar highway project over the line.
Elementus Energy began the project in 2013 on the back of a 20-year government commitment to provide tariff support payments worth a maximum of $2.3 million every year.
But Elementus encountered fierce resistance to its planned site near Uriarra Village, eventually leading to the announcement in 2015 that it would move to blocks at Williamsdale.
The Impact Investment Group then took over the project in 2016, agreeing to acquire and develop it for "up to $35 million".
Lane Crockett, the fund manager's head of renewable energy, said on Thursday that the Williamsdale project would deliver environmental and economic benefits.
"The smartest investors and developers in the country aren't trying to eke another few years out of old unreliable, polluting coal-fired infrastructre," he said.
"They are building the clean generators that will deliver reliable electricity, crucial environmental benefits, health benefits and attractive financial returns.
"Meanwhile, our investors have confidence knowing that the ACT government has committed to buying the farm's electricity for 20 years."
The opening of the Williamsdale Solar Farm was announced on the same day the Climate Council think tank released a report on Australia's renewable energy sector.
The report found that political inertia was the only barrier preventing Australia from revamping its ageing power grid with renewable energy.
"The nation's leading energy experts, scientists and major authorities are all in agreement - Australia is ready to switch to a modern grid, powered by renewables and storage," Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said.
In another report released on Thursday, the International Energy Agency found that the uptake of solar power had grown faster than any other source of fuel for the first time ever.
The ACT government has legislated a target of generating 100 per cent of the territory's electricity through renewable sources by 2020.
"By 2020 that ACT will produce 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar and, by 2050 at the latest, our city will produce zero net greenhouse gas emissions," Mr Rattenbury said.

Links

• Solar grows faster now than all other forms of power
• Clean energy target: how the states might make it work
• Most Australians want renewables to be primary energy source, survey finds
• Turnbull says own rooftop solar not inconsistent with 'clean-coal' message
• This summer was greenest ever for energy, says National Grid
• Wind power is now cheaper than nuclear – the energy revolution is happening
• Greens propose new energy storage target to drive switch to renewables 
• 'A no-brainer': small businesses can be part of a renewables revolution too 
• World's first solar panel road opens in Normandy village

Carbon Emissions From Warming Soils Could Trigger Disastrous Feedback Loop

The Guardian - Fiona Harvey

26-year study reveals natural biological factors kick in once warming reaches certain point, leading to potentially unstoppable increase in temperatures

Researchers examined plots of soil in the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts. They heated some of the plots with underground cables to 5C above normal levels, leaving others as a control. Photograph: Audrey Barker Plotkin/Science

Warming soils are releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than previously thought, suggesting a potentially disastrous feedback mechanism whereby increases in global temperatures will trigger massive new carbon releases in a cycle that may be impossible to break.
The increased production of carbon comes from the microbes within soils, according to a report in the peer-review journal Science, published on Friday.
The 26-year study is one of the biggest of its kind, and is a groundbreaking addition to our scant knowledge of exactly how warming will affect natural systems.
Potential feedback loops, or tipping points, have long been suspected to exist by scientists, and there is some evidence for them in the geological record. What appears to happen is that once warming reaches a certain point, these natural biological factors kick in and can lead to a runaway, and potentially unstoppable, increase in warming.
Other tipping points posited by scientists include the disappearance of ice in the Arctic, which creates areas of dark water that absorb more heat, and the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from thawing permafrost.

In the Science study, researchers examined plots of soil in the Harvard Forest in Massachusetts, a mixed hardwood forest in the US. They experimented by heating some of the plots with underground cables to 5C above normal levels, leaving others as a control.
The long-term study revealed that in the first 10 years there was a strong increase in the carbon released from the heated plots, then a period of about seven years when the carbon release abated. But after this second calmer period, which the scientists attribute to the adjustment of the soil microbes to the warmer conditions, the release of carbon resumed its upward path.
In the last three years, the release of carbon has once again dropped back, which scientists attribute to another reorganisation of the microbes present. They suggest an increase in the number of microbes that can feast on the hard-to-digest organic matter, such as plant-based lignin, which gives clues to the possible cyclical nature of the process.
From 1991, when the experiment began, the plots subjected to 5C warming lost about 17% of the carbon that had been stored in the top 60cm of the soil, where the greatest concentration of organic matter is to be found.
Scientific understanding of the complexities of soil microbial activity is still limited, but the long-term nature of the study provides valuable insights into what might be happening, and is likely to happen in future, to vast swaths of forest soils across the world.
While deforestation has been the focus of most research into forests’ effects on climate change, with a recent study suggesting tropical forests are turning into carbon sources rather than carbon stores as a result, the impact of warming soils has remained much of a mystery. Soils are one of the world’s biggest natural carbon sinks, along with trees and the oceans.
Daniel Metcalfe, of Sweden’s Lund University, said: “If these findings hold more widely across major terrestrial ecosystems, then a much greater portion of the global soil carbon store could be vulnerable to decomposition and release of carbon dioxide under global warming than previously thought.”
The study was carried out by scientists at the US Marine Biological Laboratory, led by Jerry Melillo, with contributions from the universities of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Melillo, who holds the position of distinguished scientist at the MBL, said: “Each year, mostly from fossil fuel burning, we are releasing about 10bn metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The world’s soils contain about 3,500bn tons of carbon. If a significant amount of that is added to the atmosphere, due to microbial activity, that will accelerate the global warming process. Once this self-reinforcing feedback begins, there is no easy way to turn it off. There is no switch to flip.”
He added: “The future is warmer. How much warmer is the issue.” While emissions from fossil fuels can be cut back, the reactions of the natural world to a warming climate may be impossible to control.
Some recent work has suggested that the warming of the globe may be progressing at a slightly slower rate than the upper range of previous studies estimated. However, feedback loops and tipping points have the potential to create sudden disruptions that are hard to take account of in standard climate modelling, and these could mean much greater changes and far higher rates of warming in the future.
Separately, research from Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and other institutions, published in the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, and Global Change Biology, called for more work on how soil could be used as a carbon store. When agricultural soils are well-managed, they can store more carbon than they emit, which would allow them to be used as potential carbon sinks.
But the scientists warn that “we still don’t have a strong understanding of the interactions among biological, chemical and physical processes regulating carbon in soils”. They say much more research is needed, particularly as there are dangers in soils in Siberia that are rapidly warning, and could release vast quantities of carbon. They also warn that there may be 25-30% less organic matter in some soils than previously estimated.
“Soil has changed under our feet,” said Jennifer Harden, a visiting scholar at Stanford. “We can’t use the soil maps made 80 years ago and expect to find the same answers.”

Links

• Slow-freezing Alaska soil driving surge in carbon dioxide emissions
• Ultimate bogs: how saving peatlands could help save the planet
• Third of Earth's soil is acutely degraded due to agriculture
• Who is wilt-free? Farmers with organic-rich, water-holding soils, that's who
• Why meat eaters should think much more about soil
• Loss of soil carbon 'will speed global warming'
• Soil carbon storage not the climate change fix it was thought, research finds
• Our best shot at cooling the planet might be right under our feet

Queensland Tree Clearing Wipes Out Federal Emissions Gains

The Guardian - Michael Slezak

Accelerating rates of land clearing in Queensland are undermining Australia’s Direct Action greenhouse gas cuts

Almost half of recent Queensland land clearing is in the Great Barrier Reef’s catchment, and causing coral stress. Photograph: Bette Willis/Arc Centre Coral Reef Studies/EPA

Accelerating rates of tree clearing in Queensland are wiping out any cuts to greenhouse gas emissions the federal government has made through its $2.55bn Direct Action fund, according to the latest data released by the Queensland government.
The results also point again to apparent holes in the federal government’s greenhouse gas accounting, as its official figures maintain that land clearing in Queensland is reducing, and that changes in land use across the whole country are cutting emissions rather than adding to them.
About 40% of the clearing in the state identified in the latest figures occurred in catchments that drain water into the Great Barrier Reef, which will increase pollution affecting the struggling coral, sparking further calls for the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, to use his powers under federal law to stop some of the clearing.
On Thursday the Queensland government released figures showing 395,000 hectares of bush had been cleared in 2015-16, according to its statewide landcover and tree study (Slats). That was up a third compared with the previous year and almost 50% compared with two years earlier.
The state environment minister, Steven Miles, said the clearing in one year in Queensland alone caused 45m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

The centrepiece of the federal government’s Direct Action policy on climate change is its $2.55bn Emissions Reduction Fund, under which it pays companies to pollute less.
In the last auction of the ERF, the government paid an average of $11.82 for each tonne of carbon abated, meaning the emissions from Queensland’s land clearing cancelled out more than half a billion dollars of abatement paid for by the taxpayer – a fifth of the total fund in one year.
“Deforestation has a major impact on climate change,” said Lyndon Schneiders, national director of the Wilderness Society. “Ending deforestation would be a fast, cheap and effective way to cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.”
Meanwhile, the federal government’s national greenhouse gas inventory, which is the country’s official source of climate change accounting, continues to find that across the whole country, changes in land use – which includes land clearing – amount to a carbon sink rather than a source.
In the latest federal government figures, for the year to March 2017, changes in land use are counted as an abatement of 0.1% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. The report on the figures says Queensland’s land sector emissions have been “reducing over time”.
Changes in the way the federal government measures greenhouse gas emissions have led to revisions of historical reports, with significant amounts of emissions disappearing. Explanations given for the revisions do not fully explain the reduced emissions.
The environment department said in a statement Queensland data was used to prepare the national figures and informed the national inventories.
“Each year, we update land clearing estimates based on latest satellite data. Where applicable, we also revise estimates to reflect improvements in remote sensing and estimation methods,” a spokesperson said.
The large amount of clearing occurring in the Great Barrier Reef catchments has led to renewed calls for Frydenberg to use his powers under the federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to stop some of the clearing.
Frydenberg has previously stated that clearing activities require approval under the act if they “have, will have or are likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance under federal environment law”.
He told the ABC in July the government had powers to enforce those laws and would continue to do so.
But a WWF report from July found 99.2% of properties where land had been cleared that appeared to need approval under the act, had failed to gain it. The only time the federal government forced a property owner to gain approval, it led to fighting within the federal Coalition.
“The amount of clearing in reef catchments should be ringing alarm bells with minister Frydenberg,” said Martin Taylor, a conservation scientist at WWF-Australia.
“When the Queensland parliament rejected tougher laws the commonwealth was the last line of defence. Minister Frydenberg’s department has the power under the EPBC Act to rein this in. But the EPBC protections only work if they’re used and that’s not happening,” Taylor said.
Frydenberg’s office did not respond to questions about the matter.

Links

• For the love of Queensland, this land clearing has got to stop
• Ending land clearing would compete with renewables for carbon abatement, analysis finds
• 'Alarming' rise in Queensland tree clearing as 400,000 hectares stripped
• Unapproved land clearing an unfolding environmental crisis, green groups say
• Conservationists crowdfund drones to capture land clearing
• Lack of tree clearing reforms a roadblock to saving Great Barrier Reef
• Great Barrier Reef: Unesco pushes for tree-clearing controls
• Greg Hunt's approval of Adani's Queensland mine upheld by federal court
• 'Alarming' trend in Queensland tree clearing figures spurs call for tighter laws

Australia's Politics Only Barrier To Clean Energy System, Report Finds

The Guardian - Michael Slezak

Climate Council finds agreement among experts and authorities that there are no technological or economic obstacles to a grid powered by renewables

Only ‘political will’ is stopping Australia’s switch to a grid powered by renewable energy. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Politics is the only barrier to modernising Australia’s ageing electricity system, according to a synthesis report by the Climate Council.
The council found there was agreement among a series of major independent reports that there were no technological or economic barriers to a clean, secure, affordable and reliable grid.
The Climate Council report coincides with international law firm Pinsent Masons’ release of research findings that 90% of energy utility companies around the world are actively seeking acquisitions or joint ventures with companies that implement smart energy technologies like batteries, vehicle-to-grid technology and smart meters, but policy uncertainty is limiting investment in Australia.
Within a decade, more than one-third of Australia’s coal plants in the national electricity market will be more than 50 years old – after which the vast majority of coal plants fail to operate.
Reports by the independent operator of the grid, Aemo, CSIRO and the chief scientist, Alan Finkel, found there were no technical barriers to modernising the grid, the Climate Council report found.
“Combining low-cost wind and solar PV [photovoltaic] with other renewable energy technologies, such as solar thermal, hydro and biomass plants, can provide round-the-clock or on-demand power, as well as meeting technical requirements for grid stability,” said the report, authored by Andrew Stock, a Climate Council councillor who previously spent four decades in the energy industry.
The report said combining those technologies with grid-scale batteries, pumped hydro and heat storage would would increase the reliability of the system, as well as add competition to the market.
There was also a large degree of consensus among the surveyed reports that modernising the system in that way would increase reliability in the face of climate change and increased extreme weather.
Relying on a large number of smaller distributed renewable generators, rather than a small number of massive fossil-fuel generators, meant single outages in the system caused by wild weather would be less disruptive.
“Generating and storing power closer to where it is needed – for example, using solar and storage technologies – can reduce risks of grid failure for critical infrastructure,” the Climate Council report said.
The surveyed reports also found renewable energy would push down energy prices for consumers. One CSIRO report this year concluded a zero-emissions grid by 2050 would save the average household $414 a year compared with a business-as-usual approach.
“There’s no disputing it – fossil-fuel technology is obsolete, expensive and unreliable,” Stock said. “It’s time to look to the future with an energy system fit for the 21st century.”
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the minister for the environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, have been unable to get a climate and energy policy through the party room, leaving the industry in limbo.
This means businesses have been discouraged from investing in new electricity generation because the federal government can give them no confidence about future policy that would affect their investments.
The Climate Council chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said the lack of a bipartisan policy was the only barrier remaining.
“The nation’s leading energy experts, scientists and major authorities are all in agreement – Australia is ready to switch to a modern grid, powered by renewables and storage,” she said. “However, the only thing stopping this is political will.”
The vast majority of large energy companies globally also appear keen to invest millions in smart-grid technologies that would enable the transition. Pinsent Masons surveyed 250 senior-level executives from 200 energy generation and distribution companies (and investors in those markets) with revenues over US$1bn across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific.
The firm found 90% of the utility companies in the survey were planning a joint venture with, or an acquisition of, a smart-grid technology company.
Australia was among the top five countries that the surveyed businesses were targeting for investment, but was being limited by lack of policy clarity.
Uncertainty and lack of legislation were highlighted as the biggest investment blockers for 13% of utilities in the survey.
Nordic countries took the top place for attractiveness for investment, partly because energy policies there were clear.
“The Nordics are not only ahead in the technology bit, but their policies are also the best,” said one investor quoted in the report. “They have gradually changed their energy consumption and have successfully achieved their transformation targets, which are just increasing year-on-year as their policies are in favour of consumers. Businesses are benefiting either way with growth and rising interests of new consumers.”
A chief financial officer of an Australian utility was quoted as saying: “Countries without a cohesive energy policy are usually in turmoil when it comes to issues around energy distribution and management. For an investor looking to enter that market with smart energy solutions, it means a lot of uncertainty.”

Links

• How Australia's climate policies came to be poisoned by pragmatism
• Analysis 13 ways Frydenberg sold 'climate policy' to coal-loving MPs
• China’s emissions trading scheme puts Australian companies on notice
• Clean energy target: how the states might make it work
• Most Australians want renewables to be primary energy source, survey finds
• Windfarm settings triggered South Australian blackout, final energy report finds
• Energy executives say gas market – not windfarms – to blame for South Australia's woes
• Government 'clean coal' push would be likely to make Australia's emissions worse
• Turnbull says own rooftop solar not inconsistent with 'clean-coal' message
• Chief scientist to lead review into Australia's energy security
• Renewable energy: get your story straight, ACT tells Coalition