Malcolm Turnbull's national energy guarantee plan masks a carbon price

The Turnbull government's new national energy guarantee could introduce a de facto carbon price, measuring the cost of emissions for the first time since the Abbott government scrapped the carbon tax in 2014.

Placing a price on carbon: One default outcome of a National Energy Guarantee.

The long-awaited energy plan, released by the government on Tuesday, requires electricity retailers to ensure improved reliability levels while also reducing carbon emissions in line with Australia's Paris Agreement commitments.

Buried in the detail of advice presented by the new Energy Security Board to state and federal governments is a mechanism to be added to the National Electricity Market in two stages in 2019 and 2020 that could produce a default carbon price.

"Some electricity retailers will not be able to meet the required emissions profile, while others will overachieve," it reads. "Therefore a secondary exchange will occur between retailers to balance their portfolios."

Read Peter Hannam’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull's national energy guarantee plan masks a carbon price.”

Abbott all over again? Coalition ramps up attack on renewables

The Coalition again has renewable
 energy in its sights.

The Coalition attacks against renewable energy in the last few weeks have reached their highest peak since the early days of the Abbott government, when the former prime minister hired a climate denying corporate leader to “review” the renewable energy target and try to have it scrapped.

It managed “only” to reduce the target by around a third, but the uncertainty it created still succeeded in bringing the industry to a halt: so much so that since Abbott’s election in September 2013, only one large-scale project has escaped the snare – the 175MW White Rock wind farm that is being built by the deep-pocketed Chinese turbine manufacturer Goldwind.

All other projects that have been, or are being built, with finance or grants from institutions that the Coalition has spent much of the past three years trying to dismantle, such as the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, or thanks to state-and territory-based targets (such as the ACT’s) that the federal government is now trying to destroy.

The new campaign against state-based renewable energy targets – and the deployment of its most potent weapon, policy uncertainty – has reached a new intensity since the blackout in South Australia and the release of an independent report into Queensland’s 50 per cent renewable energy target for 2030.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson - “Abbott all over again? Coalition ramps up attack on renewables.”

Australia's climate change timeline detailed

Annabelle Workman.

 

With the Australian federal election just over a week away, it’s a good time to review the key milestones in Australian climate policy since the last federal election in September 2013.

After winning office, the Abbott government successfully repealed the “carbon tax”. However, an eclectic group of senators banded together to thwart attempts to remove other elements of Julia Gillard’s carbon price package, including several influential climate change agencies.

Anita Talberg.

Heading into the July 2 election, both parties are clear on their climate policy platforms, committing to distinct approaches to meet international and domestic obligations.


Labor has pledged to establish two emissions trading schemes and achieve a goal of 50% renewables by 2030. While the Coalition, under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, is standing by its Direct Action plan and the pursuit of technological innovation

Read the piece on The Conversation by a PhD student from the Australian-German Climate and Energy College and EU Centre on Shared Complex Challenges at the University of Melbourne, Annabelle Workman, and another PhD student from the Australian-German Climate and Energy College, Anita Talberg - “Timeline: Australia’s climate policy.”

Australian government's disdain for renewable energy continues

Giles Parkinson.

Australia has chosen not to send any government representatives to the first major post Paris climate change conference, as new data confirms how the Coalition government has effectively killed the renewable energy target as an effective policy mechanism.

In 2015, the world invested a record $US329 billion in renewable energy. But in Australia, the RET – the country’s primary policy mechanism, has attracted just $15 million in investment in nearly two years.

The data, from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, confirms that since the Abbott government announced its review into the RET in early 2014, the scheme has been at a standstill.

Read Giles Parkinson’s story on RenewEconomy - “Australia snubs 1st major post-Paris summit after killing renewables target.”

Rebewable energy investment stagnant because of Abbott influence

Investment in large-scale renewable energy in Australia remains stagnant almost two years after the Abbott government began a review of the sector, according to an annual survey by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Investors spent just $15 million since February 2014 on big wind, solar or other clean energy projects that were not otherwise supported by government programs such as the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Confidence in renewable energy sector 'evaporated' after Abbott cut: Bloomberg.”

Bernie Fraser steps down as Climate Change Authority chair

T

he chair of the Abbott government's climate change advice agency, Bernie Fraser, has resigned without explanation.

Bernie  Fraser - a surprise
resignation from the
Climate Change Authority.

It comes less than a month after Mr Fraser issued a strong rebuke to the Abbott government over its justifications of its post-2020 greenhouse emissions targets.

A statement issued by the Climate Change Authority late on Tuesday said Mr Fraser, a respected former Reserve Bank governor and Treasury chief, had quit as chair. His term was not due to end until 2017.

Read The Sydney Morning Herald story - “Climate Change Authority chair Bernie Fraser resigns”.

Australia's climate goals behind that of other industrialised nations

A

ustralia is behind other industrialised nations in having policies in place that can meet its promised 2030 target to cut greenhouse gases, a new assessment of its international climate change pledge has found.

The analysis by the global project, Climate Action Tracker, says with only the Abbott government's direct action scheme and the renewable energy target installed at the national level, Australia is on track to fall short of its 2030 pledge and will in fact see emissions rise by the end of the next decade.

Earlier this month the government committed Australia to cutting emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 as part of its pledge ahead of a major United Nations climate conference in Paris later this year.

Read Tom Arup’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Australia does not have plans in place to meet 2030 climate goal, assessment finds”.

Farm groups caught up in change to federal environmental laws

A

Barnaby Joyce.

ngry farm organisations have learned they will be caught by changes to federal environmental laws aimed at stopping “environmental saboteurs” using the courts to delay big projects, but Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says some individual farmers may not.

After the surprise announcement of major changes to federal environmental law on Tuesday, the Abbott government spent much of Wednesday making conflicting statements about which part of the laws it intended to abolish.

Read the Guardian story - “Farm groups furious at Coalition move to restrict environmentalchallenges.”

Abbott Government aims for 'solid last' in climate action stakes

I

t is now official: the Abbott government is aiming for a solid last in global climate action stakes.

The Coalition government confirmed on Tuesday it will set a greenhouse emissions reduction target of a minimum 26 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, with the possibility of a 28 per cent target as the economic costs become clearer.

The target translates into a 19 per cent cut below 2000 levels by 2030. This is the target that the independent Climate Change Authority says Australia should be trying to achieve within 5 years, rather than 15, and it is less than half the 40-60 per cent reductions for 2030 recommended by the CCA.

Read the RenewEconomy story - “Bugger the science: Abbott aims for last place on emission cuts”.

No guarantee of bipartisan support for 2020 emissions target

B

ill Shorten has signalled Australia’s post-2020 emissions reduction target may not win bipartisan support if Tony Abbott forces Australia into “the path of lowest common denominator” in Paris later this year.

Labor leader, Bill Shorten.

The opposition leader told reporters on Tuesday bipartisanship was important on emissions reduction targets, but not at any cost.

The signal from Shorten comes as the Abbott government moves to formal consideration of the post-2020 emissions reduction target it will take to United Nations-led climate talks in Paris, which start on 30 November.

Read the Guardian story - “Post-2020 emissions target may not win bipartisan support, Bill Shorten says”.

Tony claims his government doesn't get climate credit, others are 'airy, fairy'

T

he Abbott government does not get enough credit for its emissions reduction policies, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said, as he revealed Australia will not announce post-2020 climate targets until August.

Tony Abbott - other countries
make 'airy fairy promises'.

Mr Abbott told a media conference on Monday that targets Australia will take to a global climate summit in Paris at the end of the year will not be made public until after a cabinet meeting at the beginning of August.

But he said the difference between Australia and the rest of the world was that "when we make commitments to reduce emissions we keep them."

"Other countries make all these airy-fairy promises that never come to anything," Mr Abbott said.

The government has previously said it would reveal Australia's targets in July and an announcement was widely expected this week to coincide with the major economies forum in the United States.

Read the Sydney Morning Herald story - “Other countries 'airy-fairy' on climate change, says Tony Abbott, as Australia delays new climate targets announcement”.

Australia's financial system ill-prepared for climate change

E

xtreme weather events, underinsurance and banks invested in a nation of coastal properties mean the economy is vulnerable, Climate Institute says.

The Guardian quotes the Climate Institute saying that Australia’s financial system is ill-prepared for the impacts of climate change.

It reports that, “A new discussion paper warns of threats to Australia’s banking, insurance and superannuation sectors not mentioned in the Abbott government’s inquiry led by David Murray.

“It says although several submissions made to the financial system inquiry in 2014 referred to climate risk, its final report made no mention of the issue.”

Read the Guardian story - “Australia's finance sector heavily exposed to climate risk, report says”.

A year on from the abolition of carbon price and emissions have rebounded

A

 year on from the abolition of the carbon price, greenhouse pollution from electricity generation has rebounded as Australia burns more brown coal to meet its power needs.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the national electricity grid jumped by 6.4 million tonnes in the financial year after the Abbott government repealed the scheme that required big industry to buy pollution permits, according to analysis by consultants Pitt & Sherry.

The 4.3 per cent increase unwound part of an 11 per cent fall in emissions across the grid in the two years the carbon price was in place.

Read Adam Morton’s story in The Age - “The climate one year on: exit carbon tax, enter brown coal”.

Australia needs to cut carbon emissions - Climate Change Authority

 

T

he Climate Change Authority says Australia needs to cut carbon emissions by 30% by 2025 and sign up to further cuts of 40-60% by 2030 to catch up to other countries in the international effort to mitigate the risks of global warming.

The authority’s call for Australia to show increased ambition and global leadership comes ahead of the Abbott government announcing its final decision on the post-2020 targets Australia will take to United Nations climate talks in Paris later this year.

“The authority believes its recommendations constitute a credible package for the Australian government to take to the Paris conference,” the Climate Change Authority (CCA) said in its final report on emissions reduction targets, released on Thursday.

“It is credible in terms of what the science requires – and what many comparable countries are doing – to move the world back towards a global emissions reduction path consistent with a reasonable chance of limiting the increase in global warming to 2C.

Read The Guardian story - “Australia must cut carbon emissions by 30% by 2025, says Climate Change Authority”.

Australia under the climate spotlight

T

he Chinese bureaucrat pushed the point.

Was, he wondered, Australia expecting the world to do more to address climate change than it was prepared to do itself?

Back home, the Abbott government was furiously arguing that there was nothing unusual about this – that the probe was a standard part of the laborious theatre of international climate negotiations.

But the Chinese representative pointed out Australia was on the end of more questions than any other country. They came not just from China, but also the US, Brazil and South Africa.

"I think he's right. We got some 36 questions on notice, so there is substantial interest in Australia's climate change policies," Peter Woolcott, Australia's environment ambassador, later told the meeting.

Read The Age story - “Watching brief: Australia in the climate change spotlight ahead of Parissummit”.

Government warming to tougher greenhouse gas emissions targets

M

urmurings by the Abbott Government of tougher greenhouse gas emissions targets is encouraging, but still fall short of what is needed.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that “The Abbott government is weighing tougher emissions reduction targets for the post-2020 period than conservatives in cabinet had wanted in a move that would restore Australia to the international mainstream on climate change policy and challenge the Prime Minister's reputation as a global warming denier.”

“Fairfax Media understands the push for a more urgent approach, which could see Australia running with Canada and the US who have both announced stronger targets than expected, is coming from within the government and is aimed at cutting Australia's greenhouse emissions more rapidly, perhaps by as much as 24 to 28 per cent by 2030,” the newspaper reports.

Although this appears a marked change of heart for the Abbott Government, it is still an inadequate target in the view of those conscious of what is really needed if the world’s climate is to be stabilized.

Read the Sydney Morning Herald story - “Climate change: Prime Minister Tony Abbott warming to bigger greenhouse cuts”.

'Climate babble' seems never-ending

A

ustralians are subjected to never-ending “climate babble”.

Treasurer, Joe Hockey, -
stealing his term
- Australia has become a
 nation of
global warming "leaners".

Listen to the government and Australia, and Australians, are climate mitigation champions – Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, confidently delivered that message just today.

Listen to climate change credentialed people from other parts of the world and Australia is a “free-rider”, contradicting Minister Hunt’s message.

To plagiarize Treasurer Joe Hockey’s phrase, when it comes to dealing with the dilemma of global warming, Australia is a “leaner” and we are leaving the “lifting” up to other countries.

Australians are among the world’s worst per-capita emitters of carbon dioxide and the situation has only worsened since the Abbott Government removed what it wrongly described as the “carbon tax”.

The judgement of Australians being “free-riders” is not parochial political view, rather a consideration of an international panel.

Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hannam, has written about that in today Age in a story headed: “Australia singled out as a climate change 'free-rider' by international panel”.

Combet called back to shape emissions trading scheme

L

Greg Combet - penning
emissions trading scheme.

abor has enlisted the former climate change minister Greg Combet to help develop policies for the next election – including a new climate change stance – as the party debates how to make good its promise to reintroduce an emissions trading scheme.

Combet has been employed part time by Labor’s national secretariat to help the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, as the party debates policy ahead of its July national conference and the next election, due in 2016.

Labor has yet to make basic decisions about how to implement Shorten’s pledge that it will continue to advocate an emissions trading scheme.

Most are envisaging a new cap-and-trade scheme broadly similar to the one introduced during the last parliament, and repealed by the Abbott government.

Read the Guardian story - “Labor calls Greg Combet back to help develop emissions trading scheme”.

Ideologically stripped and now tainted with illegal beahaviour

A

ustralia has been ideologically stripped of its climate change protections and now further moves, painted as illegal behaviour, are directed at the country’s environmental groups.

Mark Dreyfus -
"ideological attack".

Today’s Melbourne Age says, “The Abbott government recently launched a parliamentary committee inquiry into a registry of green groups that allows donors to groups like the Wilderness Society and Greenpeace, along with smaller organisations, to deduct contributions from their tax.

“The government says the review is necessary to ensure tax concessions do not support illegal activity and will ensure environment groups face high standards of transparency. Some Coalition MPs have also sought to draw a distinction between groups that carry out on-the-ground environment restoration works and those engaged in political campaigns.”

According to The Age, the shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus - Labor's frontbench representative on a parliamentary committee inquiry now looking at the charitable status of almost 600 environment groups - has declared the review an ideological attack by the government on political advocacy.

Read The Age story - “Big green donors warn funds could dry up if Abbott government changes tax rules”.

Considering Abbott's contempt for climate - Parkinson and Vorrath

G

iles Parkinson and Sophie Vorrath have written on RenewEconomy about the “10 things we learned …about Abbott’s contempt for climate”.

“April has been an extraordinary month for climate and clean energy policy in Australia. Even more extraordinary than the previous months. As the rest of the world accelerates their individual and collective push towards globally agreed climate targets, Australia is stubbornly refusing to budge, or even to acknowledge that there is an issue at all.

“In the Orwellian world of the Abbott government, coal is good and has a great future, even when analysts call for nearly all reserves to be left in the ground; a cut in the renewable energy target is not a cut at all, it is actually an increase; and spending one-quarter of its carbon budget on just 15 per cent of its target is not so much a failure as a resounding success and a blueprint for the world to follow,” they write.