4 November 2022

CLIMATE POLITICS

Labor set to join global 2030 deforestation ban in carbon credit boost (Australian Financial Review): The Albanese government is on the cusp of joining a global push to halt deforestation by 2030, driving the use of agriculture and forestry land as a source of carbon and biodiversity credits that could generate income for farmers from big business and offshore markets. In a move that would also potentially protect Australian beef farmers from tougher global market access rules, Labor is understood to be considering adding Australia’s name to a “high ambition” group of nations at the forefront of the changes at next week’s United Nations climate summit in Egypt.

Electric vehicle legislation stuck in the Senate as Greens and Labor debate what should be included (ABC News): The federal parliament is being urged to prioritise and pass the Albanese government's "electric car discount" in the final sitting weeks of this year, which would reduce the cost of some of the most popular zero and low-emissions vehicles by thousands of dollars. A Labor election promise, the legislation could make popular models, such as the Nissan Leaf, up to $2,000 cheaper for some individuals and $9,000 cheaper for employers who run fleets. However, the bill remains stuck in the Senate and some in the automotive sector warn further delays until next year would slow the take-up of low or zero-emissions cars.

David Pocock slams Albanese’s climate snub (WA Today): Anthony Albanese has been told to “lift his game” after his decision not to attend the next round of United Nations climate negotiations dismayed officials in host country Egypt, who’d been given the impression that Australia would be represented at the highest levels. Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will instead lead Australia’s delegation to COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, the prime minister saying he can’t be everywhere at once.

CARBON MARKETS

‘Fix the faults’: Coles criticised for using carbon credits from controversial project (The Guardian): A farmer who was assured by Coles that it would look for better carbon offsets for its “carbon-neutral” beef has described the supermarket’s continued use of credits from the Queensland Armoobilla regeneration project as “outrageous”, claiming the project is a “greenwash”. When carbon-neutral sheep and cattle farmer Mark Wootton called on companies to ensure the integrity of farm offsets used for carbon-neutral products back in April, Coles staff had assured him that the supermarket would “look for a better alternative” once their contract with Armoobilla finished in July.

Global pledges to remove greenhouse gas emissions to reach net zero unrealistic, report finds (ABC News): Many countries' pledges to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions rely partly on removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, using methods such as planting trees and restoring degraded ecosystems. But a report out today has revealed they are relying too heavily on these carbon drawdown schemes to fulfil these promises. The Land Gap Report, which was released today by the University of Melbourne and includes input from more than 20 international researchers, has calculated countries would collectively need 1.2 billion hectares of land to meet their Paris Agreement goals.

The 50 Emissions Reduction Fund projects that failed to deliver (Australian Financial Review): Almost 50 projects from the Coalition’s $2.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund have been terminated after they failed to deliver more than 21 million tonnes of carbon abatement. With the Albanese government renaming and expanding the ERF, despite vowing before the 2019 election it would scrap the centrepiece of the former Coalition government’s climate policy, the Clean Energy Regulator has confirmed a further 241 projects have been revoked and will not be able to bid in future auctions.

Australia’s carbon report card smeared in red ink as climate action goes backwards (Renew Economy): A global report card has marked Australia’s climate action with swathes of red ink, saying the country has not only increased fossil fuel subsidies but gone backwards on climate-risk disclosure policies. BloombergNEF’s Climate Policy Factbook paints a dire picture of where Australia sits as a climate actor ahead of COP27 in Egypt, and suggests a combination of a muscular new government and government bodies’ nervousness about climate risk will lead the way up.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

‘Lights would go out’ if AGL forced down 1.5 degree path: chairman (Australian Financial Review): AGL Energy chairman Patricia McKenzie said the faster closure of coal power plants as demanded by the company’s biggest shareholder Mike Cannon-Brookes is just not possible because replacement capacity cannot be built in time to keep the lights on and prevent prices shooting higher. Writing in The Australian Financial Review on Thursday, Ms McKenzie said that aligning AGL with a 1.5 degree warming pathway would require the closure of all the company’s coal power generations by at least mid-2029 and for all coal plants in the National Electricity Market to shut by two years later.

Mike Cannon-Brookes in scathing attack on AGL board over nominees (Sydney Morning Herald): Billionaire investor Mike Cannon-Brookes has launched a fresh attack on the board of AGL for questioning the independence of four director nominees he hand-picked to join the power and gas giant to help it seize potentially lucrative decarbonisation opportunities. Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of tech company Atlassian who earlier this year became AGL’s largest shareholder with an 11.3 per cent stake, described the board’s argument that supporting all of his nominees threatened to compromise its independence as “bullshit”.

Pressure mounting on $318b energy giant that says it cares about climate (WA Today): All around the world, the pressure on $318 billion oil and gas giant Shell is mounting. In the Netherlands, the company was forced to remove ads promoting “carbon-neutral” petrol after they were found to be misleading by the Netherlands’ Advertising Code Committee. In the US, a House of Representatives committee heard Shell had touted its climate goals and vision but internal emails painted a different picture. Now it’s Australia’s turn.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

Neoen to use wind and big battery in “first of its kind” baseload renewables contract with BHP (Renew Economy): French renewable energy developer Neoen says it has signed a first of its kind “baseload” contract with mining giant BHP to supply power to its huge Olympic Dam copper mine in South Australia with a combination of wind and battery storage. The contract is for 70MW and will deliver energy 24/7. The wind power will come from the first 412MW stage of the Goyder South wind farm, now under construction. It will be supported by a new 300MW big battery at Blyth, also in South Australia, that could have up to 800MWh of storage.

Japanese giant to buy Flotation Energy in offshore wind move (Australian Financial Review): Japanese giant Tokyo Electric Power Company is moving into Australia’s offshore wind industry after it agreed to acquire Flotation Energy. The deal, which marks the Japanese utility’s first foray into overseas offshore wind power, will increase the prospects of Flotation Energy’s 1.5GW offshore wind project in Gippsland materialising.

Flinders Uni to get virtual power plant based around EV fleet and V2G technology (Renew Economy): Flinders University in South Australia is soon to boast a new virtual power plant based around vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology from its growing fleet of electric vehicles. Virtual power plants are networks of medium-sized renewable energy generators, often solar panels on private homes, which act as a kind of energy network – electricity can be harnessed intelligently across the system and fed back into the grid if needed, lowering costs.

The Aussie tech leading the world on electric planes (Australian Financial Review): When the largest all-electric plane to fly took off in the US last month, a guy who grew up next to Toowoomba City Aerodrome in Queensland was among the lucky few cheering on from the tarmac. “I had the privilege of witnessing it in person and just the atmosphere on the ground was, for want of a better term, electric,” said David Sercombe in an interview with the Tech Zero podcast.

BHP wants Australia to ban new petrol cars by 2035 (Australian Financial Review): BHP wants a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel powered cars in Australia by 2035 and says governments should ensure the nation has the necessary infrastructure to support an increasingly electric car fleet. BHP’s nickel asset president Jess Farrell will use the IMARC conference on Thursday morning to urge Australian states to adopt the electric vehicle policy announced by the Australian Capital Territory in July.

BP forges ahead with WA green hydrogen despite ‘high complexity’ (WA Today): BP will aggressively chase Pilbara miners to buy its green hydrogen ahead of exporting it, as the UK oil and gas major gets the ball rolling on the $US36 billion ($56 billion) green hydrogen project in Western Australia. BP bought a 40.5 per cent share of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub in June. If fully developed, the hub would cover 6500 square kilometres of northwest WA with more than 1700 wind turbines - up to 290 metres high - and 18 large-scale solar farms.

‘Renewable energy baseload’ to power BHP’s Olympic dam (Australian Financial Review): Electricity from a wind farm backed up by battery storage will power BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia from mid-2025 under a deal announced by French renewables player Neoen. The 70-megawatt “renewable energy baseload” contract, awarded after a competitive tender process kicked off by the mining giant in 2019, will provide electricity round-the-clock for the huge mining operation, meeting half of the site’s expected power needs.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

Renewable energy contributes record 68.7% of power to Australia’s main grid for brief period (The Guardian): Renewable energy generation hit a new record on Friday, briefly contributing more than two-thirds of the power in Australia’s main grid. According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo), the milestone was set at 12.30pm, with a contribution of 68.7%, or 18,882MW, from renewable sources. The figure is 4.6 percentage points higher than the previous record, which was set on 18 September.

Keep digging, but no drilling: Australia called to net-zero arms race (Sydney Morning Herald): Australia needs to quickly ramp up the production of critical minerals for the world to avoid the worst outcomes of global heating but the door has shut on new gas projects or coal mines, according to the International Energy Agency. Divergent paths for Australia’s resource sector are the inevitable result of a “narrow but still achievable” path to net-zero emissions in the IEA’s World Energy Outlook released on Thursday.

Former NZ prime minister Clark sounds alarm on green metals rush (Australian Financial Review): Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said the mining sector must move to strengthen corporate governance as the scramble for battery metals to secure clean energy resources spills over into mineral rich emerging markets across Africa and Asia. Ms Clark said historic mining booms pose a cautionary tale as governance failures meant developing countries failed to share in the windfalls, speaking at the International Mining and Resources Conference, or IMARC, on Wednesday.

Green future in focus at International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney (ABC News): In a room full of companies and investors dependent on one of the world's most polluting industries, the topic of a greener future in mining underpinned the chatter. The International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) is hosting speakers from prominent mining companies, international firms and small innovators. Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, now chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, said in her keynote address that "the time is now" for miners to commit to a carbon-neutral future.

How you and your EV could overpower state grid planning (Australian Financial Review): Within a matter of a few weeks a suite of announcements from the Queensland, Victorian, federal and Tasmanian governments has now sealed the deal on how Australia’s east coast grid will go almost completely green. In many respects these plans involve a revival of state-owned enterprises and central planning of the electricity system with a major focus on expanding energy storage via pumped hydro. The Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro expansion will cost at least $5.1 billion plus several billion dollars in new transmission. The Queensland government is planning 6000MW of new pumped hydro energy storage power plants that will have a cost in the realm of $15 billion.