2 September 2022

CLIMATE POLITICS

Greens call for environment offsets probe as Tanya Plibersek dreams of Australia as ‘green Wall Street’ (The Guardian): The Greens have called for all environmental offsets schemes across the country to be suspended pending an independent review, after the New South Wales system was found to be riddled with integrity concerns and failing to protect endangered species. It puts the minor party at odds with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, who planned to use a speech on Thursday to argue that well-designed environmental markets, including those using offsets, could be a “powerful force for good”. She said she hoped Australia may one day be home to a “green Wall Street” that attracted conservation investment from around the world.

Key senator pushes climate bill changes (The West Australian): Further transparency measures and reporting mechanisms should be added to the government's climate change bill, an independent senator holding a key vote says. David Pocock has issued 11 proposed amendments to the bill as a government-chaired Senate committee recommends the legislation pass the upper house. The committee also recommends the government undertake further consultations on additional legislation or amendments, as well as future policy responses, following the bill passing. The government needs the vote of an independent crossbencher on top of the Greens to pass its legislation in the Senate.

Burning native forest wood waste for electricity shouldn’t be classed as renewable energy, Senate report suggests (The Guardian): A Labor-led committee has recommended the government consider changing a controversial law classifying electricity from burning native forest wood waste as renewable energy after the Senate votes for its climate change legislation. The Senate committee inquiry into Labor’s climate change bill also recommended the Albanese government consider how to help with “transition arrangements” for fossil fuel workers affected by the shift to a cleaner economy. The recommendations were backed by the Greens, which described them as “good steps forward”. The party’s leader, Adam Bandt, said the committee had supported the need for work on “stopping burning native forests for energy and establishing a transition authority for coal and gas workers”.

CARBON MARKETS

Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units: Call for submissions (Department of Industry, Science and Resources): An independent expert panel is reviewing the integrity of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) under the Emissions Reduction Fund. The Review Panel is seeking your views on the integrity of ACCUs, and the broader impacts of activities incentivised under the ACCU scheme framework.?The purpose of the Review is to ensure that ACCUs and Australia’s carbon crediting framework are strong and credible and will be supported by participants, purchasers and the broader community. The Review will help ensure the integrity of the system in contributing to Australia’s emissions reduction targets, strengthen the carbon market and support reforms to industrial facilities covered by the Safeguard Mechanism.

Google accused of airbrushing carbon emissions in flight search results (The Guardian): Google has been accused of airbrushing aviation emissions, after the company changed its flight search engine to halve the CO2 emissions attributed to any given trip. The change, first noted by the BBC, affects a feature on Google Flights that shows the estimated carbon emissions of each route. The company flags routes with higher or lower than typical emissions, and also reports the total CO2 emitted per passenger on any given journey. But in July this year, Google pushed through a change that halved the total emission figures it reported. The company had previously reported emissions in kilograms of “carbon dioxide equivalent” (CO2e), a measure that includes the damage to the climate from other aviation emissions, such as water vapour emitted at high altitudes as part of the plane’s contrails, which can have a significantly higher warming effect per tonne than pure CO2.

ANZ says blockchain can build a better carbon market (Australian Financial Review): ANZ chairman Paul O’Sullivan said non-fungible tokens (NFTs) should be used to create digital representations of carbon credits to build a better and more reliable Australian carbon market. Mr O’Sullivan said banks have a “frontier opportunity” to build new products using similar technology to that which powers cryptocurrencies, enabling more transparent and efficient markets including those that will trade credits relating to environmental emissions.

‘Green Wall Street’: Plibersek launches money-for-nature scheme (Sydney Morning Herald):?Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek wants to reverse Australia’s catastrophic loss of wildlife by putting a price on nature by creating credits for private landowners who restore and protect important habitat. Plibersek will tell a G20 summit in Bali on Thursday that the proposed scheme to issue biodiversity credits, which would be bought and sold by big business, could create a “green Wall Street... where the world comes to invest in environmental protection and restoration”.

“Failure by almost every measure:” Offsets under fire again after “damning” audit (Renew Economy): The New South Wales Biodiversity Offsets Scheme has been slammed as a “failure by almost every measure,” after an audit determined its effectiveness so far has been “limited,” with key concerns remaining around its integrity, transparency, and sustainability. The report from the Audit Office of New South Wales examines whether the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the Biodiversity Conservation Trust have effectively designed and implemented the offset scheme to compensate for the loss of biodiversity in the state due to development.

Investment firm launches Australian carbon offset fund (Carbon Pulse): A Perth based investment firm has set up a fund that will allow investors to tap into the growing market for Australian carbon credits.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

US fossil fuel firm sues insurer for refusing to cover climate lawsuit (The Guardian): A fossil fuel firm is suing its insurer for refusing to cover a climate lawsuit in a case that could affect the wider industry’s ability to defend itself from litigation. Aloha Petroleum, a subsidiary of the US-based Sunoco, filed a claim against AIG’s National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh earlier this month, arguing it had failed to protect Aloha from the mounting costs of defending climate-related claims by local governments in Hawaii. According to documents filed in the latest lawsuit, Aloha has already incurred more than $880,000 (￡750,000) in defence costs, and expects these to grow significantly as litigation progresses. Its insurance company will not pay out.

Activists broaden legal case against Santos for greenwashing (WA Today): Activists have sharpened their world-leading case against gas producer Santos for greenwashing using company documents, including one that describes its emissions reduction claims as “speculative”. The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility this week filed new allegations against Santos in the Federal Court case it started in August 2021 that claimed the gas producer had breached Australian consumer law by misleading investors about its climate credentials.

Origin looks to renewables and storage for climate plan, but greenwashes gas (Renew Economy): One of Australia’s biggest corporate emitters, Origin Energy, has unveiled a plan to reach net-zero by 2050, starting with a goal to cut its emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 by quitting coal and ramping up investments in wind, solar and storage. But the impressive looking Climate Action Transition Plan is already coming under fire for taking a leaf out of the Albanese government’s handbook and greenwashing gas out of its ambition to “lead the energy transition” – at least until 2030.

Coca-Cola steps closer to 100 pct renewables in deal with huge wind farm (Renew Economy): The Australian operations of global beverage giant Coca-Cola have moved another step closer to being powered by 100 per cent renewables, after signing an energy offtake deal with one of Western Australia’s biggest and best performing wind farms. Alinta Energy said on Tuesday that it has signed an eight-year power supply deal with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners – the entity formed last year by Coca-Cola European Partners’ acquisition of Australian bottling company Coca-Cola Amatil. The agreement, which kicks off in 2023, includes large-scale generation certificates and 13,000MWh a year of renewable electricity from Alinta’s 214MW Yandin Wind Farm, in the WA wheatbelt town of Dandaragan, 175km north of Perth.

Taxpayers on the hook for $500m to clean up Chevron oil field and that is just the start (Sydney Morning Herald): Australian taxpayers must chip in about $500 million towards cleaning up an ageing Chevron oilfield off the WA coast and the industry-wide bill in coming decades will be many billions of dollars. In 2025 Chevron will begin dismantling hundreds of wells and connecting pipelines that have spread over Barrow Island during almost 50 years of oil production on the offshore nature reserve.

Scientists raise the heat on Labor over climate impacts of coal and gas (Sydney Morning Herald): Australian scientists are increasing pressure on the federal government over climate change, with a letter signed by 100 scientists and academics calling on emissions from new coal and gas projects to be considered in the federal approvals process.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

Works begin on Darwin big battery, in first step to rid gas from NT grid (Renew Economy): Construction is underway on the Northern Territory’s first big battery, a 35MW energy storage system that will bolster the Darwin to Katherine Electricity grid as it slowly shifts away from costly and polluting gas and towards 50 per cent renewables by 2030. NT chief minister Natasha Fyfe said on Monday that the beginning of works on the Darwin big battery marked a “huge step forward” for the Territory’s energy transition, with earthworks complete, foundations laid and in-ground services and culverts well underway. Fyfe says the $45 million Darwin-Katherine Battery Energy Storage System (DK BESS) will – when completed, in 2023 – form “the backbone” of the Territory’s biggest electricity network, which provides energy to 150,000 customers. It will have one hour of storage, as most of its focus will be on grid stability.

Amazon inks multi-billion green hydrogen supply deal with Forrest’s electrolyser partner (Renew Economy): Plug Power, the Nasdaq-listed hydrogen tech outfit linked to Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s plans to build an electrolyser “gigafactory” facility in Queensland, has inked a supply deal with online retail giant Amazon. Plug Power says the new deal will see it provide liquid green hydrogen starting in 2025, to help Amazon decarbonise its operations in line with its commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040. The US based company says the potentially multi-billion dollar deal is part of its strategy to build an end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystem and provide integrated hydrogen solutions for its global customers.

How seaweed forests could boost NSW ‘blue carbon’ plan (Australian Financial Review): Seaweed forests, salt marshes, wetlands and other coastal areas could be tapped for carbon credits under a NSW Government strategy aimed at capitalising on marine habitats to store emissions.The NSW government has unveiled a “blue carbon” strategy which encourages private landowners and entrepreneurs to invest in protecting or rehabilitating coastal areas, which act as carbon sinks.

NSW swamped by offshore wind proposals in new Illawarra renewable zone (Renew Economy): The New South Wales government has been swamped by mostly offshore wind proposals in the latest test of interest for one of the renewable energy zones to be built to smooth the transition from coal to renewables. Treasurer and state energy minister Matt Kean says the Illawarra Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) has attracted $43 billion worth of potential investments in response to the call for expressions of interest issued in early July. This includes 44 different projects, 17GW of generation and storage capacity, and a mix of offshore and onshore wind, solar, energy storage, pumped hydro, green hydrogen and green steel.

Major works start on giant project that will propel South Australia to more than 80 pct wind and solar (Renew Economy): Construction on the first stage of a giant wind project that will propel South Australia to more than 80 per cent wind and solar has officially begun, and been formally celebrated by the new state Labor government. The 412MW Goyder South wind farm – the first stage of what could be the country’s biggest wind, solar and battery hybrid project – is considered one of the best assets in the country, with excellent wind speeds and with what will be, at least for a while, the biggest capacity turbines in the country.Construction was formally announced late last week at a ceremony at the site in Burra attended by state premier Peter Malinauskus and energy minister Tom Koutsantonis.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

Renewables and solar as a source of reliable power increases on Australian farms, as farmers share the load (ABC News): Dairy farmer Michael Cains remembers clearly the wet and stormy night that he decided to install renewable energy to improve his power reliability. "I headed down the hill to grab the 20-kilovolt generator, revved the crap out of my ute getting up the hill. I'm drenched. I stick the generator into the system just as the power comes back on," he said. He bought solar panels and a battery using a government grant and a loan from the Rural Assistance Authority. He now trades that power with neighbouring businesses using a 'peer-to-peer' system.

7-star housing is a step towards zero carbon – but there’s much more to do, starting with existing homes (The Conversation): Energy-efficiency standards for new homes in Australia are being upgraded for the first time in a decade. New homes will be required to improve minimum performance from 6 stars to 7 stars under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS). Federal, state and territory building ministers agreed on the change last Friday. The rating will also use a whole-of-home energy “budget”. This will allow homes to meet the new standard in different ways. The standard will come into force in May 2023, and all new homes will have to comply by October 2023.

Carbon capture is not a solution to net zero emissions plans, report says (The Guardian): Carbon capture and storage schemes, a key plank of many governments’ net zero plans, “is not a climate solution”, the author of a major new report on the technology has said. Researchers for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found underperforming carbon capture projects considerably outnumbered successful ones by large margins. Of the 13 projects examined for the study – accounting for about 55% of the world’s current operational capacity – seven underperformed, two failed and one was mothballed, the report found.

Electric car-ready homes will help firm up the power grid, Ed Husic says (The Guardian): Australia’s first mandate to make new apartment buildings “electric vehicle-ready” should be extended to all new housing, potentially turning entire suburbs into virtual batteries supporting the power grid, the federal science minister said. Ed Husic helped helm Friday’s gathering of federal, state and territory building ministers in Sydney, where it was agreed to amend the national construction code to require new apartment blocks to be capable of charging cars in all their parking spots.