30 August 2024 – Friday afternoon Department of Climate Change releases the latest data: March 2024 quarter greenhouse gas emissions. A 0.6% increase in emissions, seasonally adjuasted, for the quarter with emissions reduction flatlining for the last 3 years. (Climate Action Merribek) See also Adam Moreton raising  the same issues relating to emissions reduction on 4 Sep: Let’s be honest: Australia’s claim to have cut climate pollution isn’t as good as it seems (Guardian)

30 August 2024 – Australia experiences record breaking winter heatwave; Rapid snow season decline; Global Snapshot of news reveals climate crisis extent (Climate Citizen)

30 August 2024 – Territory Labor MPs accused of breaking promises as Tamboran starts work on new fracking project in Beetaloo Basin (Lock the Gate) Environment Minster Tanya Plibersek has so far failed to call in Tamboran fracking project for assessment under the Water Trigger which became Federal Law in late 2023. See also Greens Media release 3 Sep: Plibersek Fails To Use Water Trigger As NT Fracking Starts (Mirage News)

30 August 2024 – The Tipping Points of Climate Change and Where We Stand in 2024 | Johan Rockström – August TED talk (Climate Citizen) Also Climate tipping points implications for Australia. Australian scientists assessed the regional  impact of tipping points in November 2023 and released a new report in February 2024.

29 August 2024 – ‘Immoral and unacceptable’: Tuvalu calls on Australia to set urgent deadline to end fossil fuels (Guardian) Maina Talia, Climate Minister from Tuvalu, said: “Opening, subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and unacceptable. If this [Pif leaders’ meeting] aims for regional prosperity, we must address climate justice, sea level rise and the root cause of climate change which is the burning of Fossil fuels.”

28 August 2024 – Report on Government finance for energy, the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP)  established in Glasgow at COP26. Australia signed on in 2023 at COP28, and has a year to implement its commitment. CETP pledges cover Development Finance institutions and export credit agencies. IISD has done an analysis in the report: Out With the Old, Slow With the New, and while fossil fuel financing by signatories has decreased, this has not translated all into clean energy finance. (IISD)

28 August 2024 – Woolworths announces decision to source deforestation-free beef from 2025. This follows Aldi commitment. Coles has still to step up of the major Australian supermarkets. Land clearing for beef grazing is a major driver of Australian deforestation (Greenpeace | ACF | ABC News)

28 August 2024 – Victorian Legislative Council establishes Inquiry into decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure in Bass Straight (Hansard | Wilderness Society)

27 August 2024 – New climate finance policy document launched in conjunction with Pacific Islands Forum.Seizing the Moment: A new Climate Finance Goal that delivers for the Pacific communicates civil society’s expectations of the Australian and New Zealand Governments when negotiating the new global climate finance goal at the UN Climate Conference in November 2024. (Action Aid) “Australia and New Zealand’s climate finance contributions are falling short of need. Australia’s commitment to provide AUD 3 billion over 2020-2025 is well short of its estimated fair share of the USD 100 billion goal, which is AUD 4 billion per year. Both countries have redirected substantial portions of their climate finance from existing aid budgets, undermining climate and development action across the region.” 

Report recommends for Australia:
“1. Take immediate steps to achieve its fair share of the USD 100 billion climate finance goal, estimated at AUD 4 billion annually, and commit an initial AUD 100 million in new and additional finance to the the global Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.
2. Ensure that all climate funding is delivered in the form of grants not loans and is additional to Australia’s aid obligations.”

27 August 2024 – surging sea level rise. Two reports launched by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Tonga, associated with attending Pacific Islands Forum (UN News). The first report is a Technical Briefing by the UN Climate Action Team on Surging seas in a warming world, which summarises the latest science on accelerating sea level rise since the last IPCC 6th assessment report. The other report is by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023. Key messages from the WMO report include: Climate change threatens the future of Pacific islands; Sea level rise accelerates and is above global average; Ocean heating and acidification harm ecosystems and livelihoods; Early warnings are integral part of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. (See Climate Citizen: Surging seas driven by the climate crisis already impacting Island nations says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres)

26 August 2024 – 40°C in August? A climate expert explains why Australia is ridiculously hot right now (The Conversation) A number of winter heat records have been broken for Australia. 

26 August 2024 – Aviation White Paper released. “The government is committed to growing General Aviation into the future” is inconsistent with decarbonisation of the sector by 2050.  The Government puts forward the development of a domestic SAF industry and technological advancements in electric and hydrogen-powered flight to meet the target, ignoring any demand management options. This is magical thinking. (see Aviation White Paper—Towards 2050 – Dep of Infrastructure and Transport) Flight Free has a briefing note dispelling some of the hype that low carbon liquid fuels or ‘Sustainable Aviations Fuels’, will achieve the emissions reduction needed. Also read the FlightFree analysis on Are “sustainable” fuels emissions free?, especially the correspondence with CSIRO in the left column on the Joint CSIRO and Boeing “Sustainable Aviation Fuel Roadmap”.

Much of the media has focussed on (the much needed) new initiatives for Aviation Customer Rights Charter and aviation-specific disability standards, ignoring the huge holes in the aviation decarbonisation plan. Development of SAF will not replace current fuels but will be blended. It will also be 2 to 4 times as expensive, with no plan in place for how aviation will meet these costs other than a proposed by industry voluntary flyer opt-in payment.

26 August 2024 – Methane reporting. The Federal Government has agreed in full or agreed in principle to 24 of the Climate Change Authority’s NGER Scheme recommendations and noted 1 recommendation. This includes appointing Chief Scientist Cathy Foley AO PSM to lead an expert panel  as part of  broader efforts to ensure the ongoing reporting for methane and other greenhouse gases is accurate and transparent. (Climate Minister Statement | Australia Government response to the 2023 CCA review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Legislation | Climate Council media statement)

22 August 2024 – Mandatory Climate-related Financial Disclosure for large companies passes in the Senate. The largest companies and financial institutions must provide greater detail on how climate change is affecting strategy and key business decision under amendments to the Corporations Act. This is a major revamp of corporate climate reporting. (Read detail at APH | Media release by Treasurer Jim Chalmers | Renew Economy)

21 August 2024 – Victorian Climate and Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio launches plan for 95% renewables by 2035, net zero by 2045. (Media Release | Summary plan PDF, Vic Dept of Energy)(RenewEconomy)

21 August 2024 – Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek gives approval for Sun Cable Renewables Project to proceed (Media Release – Tanya Plibersek). The approval includes the 800 kms transmission link to Darwin from the pastoral property near Elliott in the Northern Territory, and will allow for up to 10 gigawatts of solar and battery storage to be built, providing up to 4 GW of 24/7 green power. Approval also includes sub sea cable to the limit of Australian waters, in anticipation of second stage to export low cost wind and solar to Singapore and other nations, of up to 6 GW of green power (RenewEconomy)

21 August 2024 – ANZ, NAB and Westpac banks ponder approving $750 million in finance to Santos for new Fossil Gas projects, while CommBank formally walks away from climate wrecking clients (Market Forces) Take action: email the banks via Market Forces App, ACF Email App this week.

See also video from Protest outside NAB Bank Melbourne headquarters

20 August – New report: Koalas or coal mines, how the federal government can save Australia’s most iconic species’ – national report launched by alliance of climate and nature conservation groups focussed on mining threat to endangered Koala habitat (Mackay Conservation Group PDF)

19 August 2024 – BNEF Australia report: “Australia’s window to stay on a well-below-2C pathway is closing, fast,” Leonard Quong, head of BNEF Australia said on a new BNEF report. “Rapidly moving to a clean power system based on wind, solar and storage will be essential to cost-effectively reduce carbon emissions in line with our existing decarbonization targets.”  Report says Australia needs to scale up its emission reductions targets from 43% by 2030 suggesting 71% reduction from 2005 levels by 2035, and it makes clear that the investment and spending also needs to treble, from a record $18 billion in 2023 to around $55 billion a year now and to $83 billion in the 2030s. (RenewEconomy)

18 August 2024 – Feature article on the win-win of grazing sheep with solar farms in Australia. Agrivoltaics. (The Age)

17 August 2024 – Background article on why and how the petrostate of Azerbaijan came to host COP29. Australia is seeking to host COP31 in 2026. (The Age)

14 August –  New Australian Medical report: Fossil Fuels are a Health Hazard. Sign the petition  (Doctors for the Environment: Report | Press Release)

12 August 2024 – Australian fossil fuel exports ranked second only to Russia for climate damage with ‘no plan’ for reduction. Coal and gas exports expected to remain roughly at current level until at least 2035 with 4.5% of emissions linked to Australia, report finds (Guardian)

7 August 2024 – More species added to Australia’s endangered list. Australia’s government now recognises 2,224 species as being under threat of extinction.  (Australian Conservation Foundaton)

6 August 2024. An overwhelming proportion of Australia’s gas is literally given away for companies profit. New Australia Institute report highlights:

“Australia has ten facilities that export gas as liquified natural gas (LNG). Six of these projects—both of the Northern Territory’s facilities and four of the five operating in Western Australia—pay no royalties, either state or federal. These facilities represent 56% of Australia’s gas export capacity. This means that all the gas exported from the NT, and more than half the gas exported from Australia, is given for free to the companies exporting it.”

“The monetary value of this gas is enormous. The total value of LNG exports over the last four years is estimated at $265 billion Australia-wide, $37 billion of which was exported from the NT. All of the NT’s LNG exports were royalty-free and Australia’s royalty-free exports totalled $149 billion. To put this another way: in the last four years alone, Australians have given away the gas that made $149 billion worth of LNG, for free.”

References

These news entries were drawn from the Australia at COP29 Climate Diary by John Englart, https://takvera.blogspot.com/2024/08/australia-at-cop29-climate-diary.html