Japan’s clean energy quest could fuel Australia's hydrogen export industry

The world energy authority says Australian hydrogen imports into Japan could be cheaper than domestic production by 2030, in a positive signal of the lucrative export potential offered by the clean fuel source.

A hydrogen station for fuel-cell vehicles in Japan. The country
is prioritising the development of a hydrogen-based economy.

The Council of Australian Governments this week released a consultation paper on the national hydrogen strategy being developed by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, in another step towards developing a long-mooted multi-billion dollar hydrogen export industry.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Japan’s clean energy quest could fuel Australia's hydrogen export industry.”

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg pledges $715 million to close US coal power plants.

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he will contribute $US500 million ($715 million) toward closing coal-fired power plants across the United States, in a clash with White House efforts to revive a fossil fuel blamed for climate change.

The billionaire's foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, said its Beyond Carbon initiative would lobby to close about 250 coal-fired power plants by 2030 and make the country fully reliant on clean energy.

Bloomberg aims to close all of America's remaining coal plants by 2030.

"We're in a race against time with climate change, and yet there is virtually no hope of bold federal action on this issue for at least another two years," he said, referring to when US President Donald Trump's term in office ends.

The UN World Meteorological Organisation said in November global temperatures were on course for an increase of 3–5 degrees Celsius this century, far overshooting a global target of limiting the increase to 2C or less.

Read the ABC News story - “Billionaire Michael Bloomberg pledges $715 million to close US coal power plants.”

Australia has enough solar, wind storage in pipeline to go 100% renewables

Last Friday, tens of thousands of school students went on “strike”, imploring politicians to finally Get Serious about climate change policies, and urging a switch to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Australia's almost ready to switch to renewables.

Can’t be done, they were told.

Readers may remember, however, that ANU researchers Andrew Blakers and Matt Stocks in February said that if Australia continued at its current rate of wind and solar deployment, then enough to meet the equivalent of 100 per cent of the country’s electricity needs could be delivered by 2030.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson - “Australia has enough solar, wind storage in pipeline to go 100% renewables.”

The government’s $2bn climate fund: a rebadged rehash of old mistakes

Australia’s new flagship Climate Solutions Fund, announced this week by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, will spend more than A$2 billion on cutting greenhouse emissions by 2030.

Scott Morrison has given a new name to an old policy.

While action on climate change is welcomed, this announcement seems to be a faithful reprise of the previous Emissions Reduction Fund, which was beset with problems.

The government has put a new name on an existing scheme, while steadfastly refusing to learn from mistakes made along the way. In cruder terms, it’s slapped a gleaming coat of lipstick onto a pig of a policy.

Add to that the A$1.38 billion pledged today for building the Snowy 2.0 scheme – another plan hatched by one of the government’s former incarnations – and there’s not a lot of imagination on display as Morrison’s government scrambles for some much-needed climate credibility ahead of this year’s election.

Read the piece from The Conversation by a Senior Lecturer in Economics from the The University of Queensland, Ian A. MacKenzie - “The government’s $2bn climate fund: a rebadged rehash of old mistakes.”

Australia to set national targets to reduce waste

Australia would divert 80 per cent of its waste from landfill by 2030 under an ambitious national target to be announced in the wake of the China crackdown on recycled waste imports.

China's ban on the importation of lower-grade waste has hit Australia hard.

A "working draft" of the 2018 National Waste Policy, obtained by Fairfax Media, also sets out a target to reduce the total waste generated by every Australian by 10 per cent by 2030.

Read the story by Jewell Topsfield from The Age - “Australia to set national targets to reduce waste.”

‘We'll be left behind': Greens want 2030 ban on fossil-fuel car sales

All sales of new petrol and diesel-powered cars would be banned by 2030 to spur the take-up of electric vehicles, according to a Greens policy aimed at winning over voters in this weekend's byelection in the Melbourne electorate of Batman.

The road ahead will be one for electric vehicles if the Greens policy gains traction.

Such a goal would bring Australia into line with nations such as India and the Netherlands - which have targets of phasing out sales of new cars powered by combustion engines by 2030 - and slice deeply into a net import fuel bill now running at about $16 billion a year, the Electric Vehicle Council said.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from The Age - “‘We'll be left behind': Greens want 2030 ban on fossil-fuel car sales.”

Australian red meat sector sets 2030 carbon neutral target at Alice Springs producer forum

Research and marketing group Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) says the country's red meat industry could be carbon neutral by 2030.

Richard Norton says the target will prove farming
 red meat is environmentally sustainable.

The challenge was set for the cattle and sheep sectors by managing director Richard Norton during his address at the MLA annual general meeting in Alice Springs on Wednesday.

It follows the start of a CSIRO research project in the past 12 months, funded by MLA, to identify ways the industry could become carbon neutral.

In 2015, a separate study by CSIRO found cattle and sheep produced almost 70 per cent of Australian agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions.

Read the ABC News story - “Australian red meat sector sets 2030 carbon neutral target at Alice Springs producer forum.”

(The idea that Australia’s red meat industry - particularly red meat from sheep and cattle - will ever be carbon neutral is fanciful as all the evidence points precisely in the wrong direction - Robert McLean)