Angus Taylor rejects claims government is driven by toxic ideology on climate policy

Divisions over climate policy have deepened with the Liberal Government in New South Wales leading a state revolt over greenhouse gas emissions. 

Angus Taylor rejects claims of a toxic ideology.

State Energy Minister Don Harwin was left fuming after his federal counterpart Angus Taylor blocked his bid at yesterday's COAG meeting to discuss a national roadmap to reaching zero carbon output by 2050. 

Don Harwin says the Federal Government was on the right track when Malcolm Turnbull was still Prime Minister and energy policy included an obligation to reduce emissions.

Harwin accused the Morrison Government of being out of touch on climate policy and warned its refusal to adopt a zero-emissions reduction plan will keep power prices high. 

Listen to the interview on Radio National - “Angus Taylor rejects claims government is driven by toxic ideology on climate policy.”

AFP drops inquiry into Angus Taylor.

The Australian Federal Police has decided not to pursue it's investigation into energy minister Angus Taylor (pictured) over doctored documents that were used to attack Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore over her air travel. 

The AFP said in a statement it was their assessment that "there is no evidence to indicate the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction was involved in falsifying information."

The government says the Minister and his office are now exonerated, but it's unlikely to end the political rancour. 

Listen to the RN Breakfast interview by Hamish Macdonald - “AFP drops inquiry into Angus Taylor.”

Angus Taylor’s secret consultation on emissions cuts stacked towards big emitters

Federal energy minister Angus Taylor’s “expert panel” – tasked with identifying new opportunities to achieve emissions reduction – has undertaken consultation with a handpicked group of representatives heavily stacked towards the fossil fuel industry and Australia’s largest emitters.

Angus Taylor has "stacked" hand-picked panel with
 people from the fossil fuel industry and large emitters.

Taylor launched a closed consultation process last year to a select group of organisations that was not announced publicly and was made without an opportunity for the wider public to provide input.

Despite many media reports, there is little to no public information about the “Expert Panel Examining Opportunities for Further Abatement”, with no information appearing on the website of the Department of the Environment and Energy’s website, even though the department is involved in the review.

The ‘expert panel’ is led by former Origin Energy CEO and president of the Business Council of Australia, Grant King, along with Susie Smith, the CEO of the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, which represents many of Australia’s largest emitters. The chair of the Clean Energy Regulator, David Parker, and ANU Law School professor Andrew Macintosh are also on the panel.

Read the story from RenewEconomy by Michael Mazengarb -  “Angus Taylor’s secret consultation on emissions cuts stacked towards big emitters.”

Fact checking Angus Taylor: does Australia have a climate change record to be proud of?

Australians should be proud of the country’s achievements on climate change, energy minister Angus Taylor has argued in a newspaper column that claims “quiet Australians” don’t accept the “shrill cries” of the government’s climate critics.

Angus Taylor speaks at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid. The
 energy minister says Australia has an enviable record on climate
change – the Guardian fact checks his claims.

The column, published in The Australian, makes a series of claims about Australia’s emissions and how they compare to other countries, as well as highlighting exports such as LNG that are “dramatically reducing emissions” in other countries.

So is Australia really a paragon of climate virtue – cutting emissions at home while helping the world to cut emissions?

Read the story from The Guardian by Graham Readfearn - “Fact checking Angus Taylor: does Australia have a climate change record to be proud of?”

As the nation breaks new heat records, the Government is facing its own perfect storm

Some Liberal MPs are becoming frustrated with the Federal Government's inability to sell its climate change policies and believe the chief salesman, Angus Taylor, is part of the problem. 

Angus Taylor is facing Liberal backlash for
his approach to climate change policies.

In the midst of a seemingly relentless drought, record-breaking heatwave and bushfire crisis that's choking cities with smoke, debate about Australia's role in tackling the global challenge has become even more supercharged than usual.

People are getting anxious and "this is not normal" — the phrase employed by New South Wales Liberal Minister Matt Kean to describe the apocalyptic skies above Sydney — could well become the catch cry of this summer.

Liberal insiders know it is a hot issue and they know voters are increasingly looking to the Government to do something "more".

Read the ABC News story by Jane Norman - “As the nation breaks new heat records, the Government is facing its own perfect storm.”

‘Fiddling with accounting': how Australia meets its Paris targets

Australia's Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister, Angus Taylor, arrives in Madrid later today for the annual United Nations climate talks.

The Government confirmed over the weekend that it would meet its 2030 Paris climate targets – but only by using a controversial accounting loophole and carry-over credits from the old Kyoto Protocol, which expires next year.

Listen to the story from the ABC’s Radio National - “‘Fiddling with accounting': how Australia meets its Paris targets.”

Angus Taylor to seek states' support for emissions reduction fund overhaul

Angus Taylor has scheduled a discussion with state and territory energy ministers about the planned overhaul of the Morrison government’s emissions reduction fund, a move following the government’s decision to quietly appoint an expert panel to come up with new ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Angus Taylor plans to discuss the emissions reduction
 fund overhaul at Friday’s long-delayed meeting of
federal and state energy ministers.

According to the draft agenda for Friday’s Coag energy council meeting, obtained by Guardian Australia, the commonwealth has scheduled a discussion about the $2.55bn ERF, now rebadged the Climate Solutions Fund, at the long delayed meeting of federal and state energy ministers.

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, the first in nearly 12 months, Taylor has signalled he wants to pursue a series of deals with the states to roll out new generation and transmission – an approach that has followed the Morrison government’s decision to ditch the national energy guarantee (Neg). The Neg was a casualty of the federal Liberal party’s leadership eruption last August.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy and Adam Morton - “Angus Taylor to seek states' support for emissions reduction fund overhaul.” 

We're wasting too much energy on nuclear talk

Late last Friday - a timeslot where ministers are known to announce policies they are most proud of - the Minister for Energy, Angus Taylor, ordered a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Energy
 and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor. 

In a country currently engulfed in a gas price crisis, caused by the voracious appetite of the gas industry to export cheap gas and sell Australians expensive gas, are we really willing to believe that the solution to expensive gas is even more expensive energy from nuclear reactors? While renewables keep coming down in price, nuclear is only the energy source that keeps getting more, and more, expensive over time.

And if policymakers are trying to solve an energy crisis in 2019, why would they select a form of power generation that has a legacy of expensive delays and failures and, optimistically, takes a decade to build? It just doesn't add up. Globally, reactors have taken decades. Of all nuclear reactors currently under construction, two-thirds are behind schedule and nearly half of those were delayed again in the last year.

Read the story from The Canberra Times by Richie Merzian - “We're wasting too much energy on nuclear talk.”

Fuelling the climate crisis: why LNG is no miracle cure for Australia’s coal addiction

On Thursday, Australia’s emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, told parliament the country’s thriving liquified natural gas (LNG) trade – a fossil fuel industry – was cutting global greenhouse pollution by 150 million tonnes a year.

The idea the export gas industry is good for the planet –
and Australia deserves credit for it – appears set for a serious
 workout in this parliament.

It was no small claim: equivalent to more than a quarter of what Australia emits every year.

Two days earlier, an analysis by US-based researchers and anti-fossil fuel advocates the Global Energy Monitor found if all US$1.3tn worth of LNG developments planned across the globe went ahead they would do at least as much to drive the world into climate catastrophe as new coal investments, possibly more. Australia is a significant player in this drive, with $38bn in investments on the books – fourth behind only the US, Canada or Russia.

Read the story from The Guardian by Adam Morton - “Fuelling the climate crisis: why LNG is no miracle cure for Australia’s coal addiction.” 

Australia’s energy exports increase global greenhouse emissions, not decrease them

When unveiling government data revealing Australia’s rising greenhouse emissions, federal energy minister Angus Taylor sought to temper the news by pointing out that much of the increase is due to liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, and claiming that these exports help cut emissions elsewhere.

Australia’s LNG exports aren’t as good for the
planet as the government seems to think

LNG exports, Taylor argued, help to reduce global emissions by replacing the burning of coal overseas, which has a higher emissions factor than gas. In reality, Australian gas displaces a mix of energy sources, including gas from other exporters. Whether and to what extent Australian gas exports reduce emissions, therefore, remains unclear. Meanwhile, Australia’s coal exports clearly do increase global emissions.

The way Australia can help clean up world energy systems in the future is through large-scale production and export of renewable energy.

Read the story from The Conversation by Frank Jotzo and Salim Mazouz - “Australia’s energy exports increase global greenhouse emissions, not decrease them."

Liberal states in talks to revive Turnbull's dumped energy policy

Liberal states are caucusing in an attempt to revive Malcolm Turnbull’s ditched national energy guarantee (Neg), or an energy policy with similar characteristics, ahead of a meeting with the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, expected in late July.

The energy sector wants the
Morrison government to implement
a policy that integrates emissions
 reduction – as the Neg did.

Guardian Australia understands there have been discussions between New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania with a view to rebooting the policy Scott Morrison dumped after taking the leadership from Turnbull last August.

The states are under intense pressure from stakeholders to try to revive the Neg – which has widespread support in the energy sector and from energy users – to create a framework that will give investors certainty.

The energy sector, which has a fractious relationship with Taylor, has also ramped up public calls after the election for the Morrison government to implement an energy policy that integrates emissions reduction – as the Neg did.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Liberal states in talks to revive Turnbull's dumped energy policy.”

Angus Taylor's claim LNG exports reduce global emissions 'likely wrong' – climate expert

Claims by the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, that Australia’s liquefied natural gas exports are reducing global emissions are “grossly exaggerated”, one of Australia’s most renowned climate scientists has said.

Angus Taylor.

Bill Hare, who has worked in climate science for 30 years, including on UN negotiations, has questioned Taylor’s statement that Australia’s LNG exports cut global emissions by up to 148m tonnes because they replace higher-emission alternatives such as coal.

“Government claims that Australia’s LNG exports are reducing emissions globally are grossly exaggerated and, depending on the real level of methane leakages, reservoir CO2 venting and losses, and where the LNG is coming from in Australia, likely to be wrong,” Hare said.

Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “Angus Taylor's claim LNG exports reduce global emissions 'likely wrong' – climate expert.”

Angus Taylor calls for Labor to submit to Coalition on emissions target

Angus Taylor has reiterated his calls for Labor to back the government’s climate policies, saying the opposition had to “decide whether they want to join us”.

Federal energy minister Angus Taylor claims the
government has a mandate on its climate policies.

The energy and emissions reduction minister was referring to the Coalition’s 26%-28% emissions reduction target, a policy much less ambitious than the 45% target Labor took to the election and one that is not aligned with the ultimate aim of the Paris agreement, which is to limit global heating to no more than 2C.

“We’re not lacking ambition here,” Taylor told Sky on Tuesday. “Now the key is to deliver.

“[The] crucial issue here is will Labor join us so we’ve got bipartisanship on this? It will make a huge difference.”

Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “Angus Taylor calls for Labor to submit to Coalition on emissions target.”

Taylor has failed on energy prices, let’s hope he does better on emissions

When Angus Taylor was first appointed energy minister after the dethroning of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull last August, he really only had one policy remit – to cut prices.

Angus Taylor failed in his efforts to reduce energy prices and so
it is unlikely he'll do any better in trying to contain emissions.

So much so that the man who gave him the post, the newly appointed PM Scott Morrison, dubbed him the minister for lowering electricity prices. Despite Taylor declaring a few days later in his first ministerial speech that wholesale prices had turned the corner, it hasn’t worked out that way.

Taylor has now been granted a double-barrel portfolio of responsibilities, newly re-minted as the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, bringing together the combined tasks of a clean energy transition with emissions reductions that were separated after the removal of Turnbull. 

Let’s hope he has better luck with the new portfolio than he did with the first.

Read the story from RenewEconomy by Giles Parkinson - “Taylor has failed on energy prices, let’s hope he does better on emissions.”

Taylor gets energy and emissions portfolio, Price dumped from environment

Prime minister Scott Morrison has abandoned the Coalition’s short lived separation of energy and emissions reduction responsibilities, and handed Angus Taylor the job of combining energy policy and meeting the government’s modest emissions reduction targets.

Angus Taylor (left)
and Matt Canavan.

In unveiling his new ministry and cabinet after the Coalition’s surprise re-election on May 18, Morrison also punted the much criticised Melissa Price from the environment portfolio, naming instead Sussan Ley, a minister in both the Abbott and Tunbull government who had to resign from the front-bench following investigations into her travel expenses and entitlements.

Price has been handed a minor defence ministry portfolio – defence industry – following her poor performance as environment minister which was marked by her indifference to major international reports, including the UN warning on massive loss of species, and her controversial and last-minute approvals for the Adani coal mine and a W.A. uranium mine.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson - “Taylor gets energy and emissions portfolio, Price dumped from environment.”

Queensland Nationals demand action on energy before federal election

Six Queensland Nationals have demanded Michael McCormack and Angus Taylor take “immediate action” to underwrite new power station construction in regional Queensland, and pass the “big stick” package in the final sitting week of the 45th parliament.

 Six Queensland Nationals have written to Angus Taylor
and Michael McCormack demanding ‘immediate action’
on new power station construction. 

George Christensen, Michelle Landry, Ken O’Dowd, Keith Pitt, Llew O’Brien and Barry O’Sullivan have fired an internal warning shot across the bow of the Nationals leader by demanding that McCormack insist the Liberals take concrete action on energy before the coming election.

Revealing the scope of internal frustration with McCormack and with the Liberals, including Taylor, the energy minister, the six Nationals have told their leader, in a letter seen by Guardian Australia, that they are under siege about high energy prices in their electorates.

They say “everyday consumers are at their wits’ end” because they cannot afford “such exorbitant energy costs” and the government needs to deliver both new supply and divestiture powers, because “without divestiture powers, in our view, no action can be taken which would cause Queensland Labor to reduce power prices”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Queensland Nationals demand action on energy before federal election.”

(Ignoring the facts about climate change and encouraging the construction of a new coal plant is simply wrong and so if Australia is to have any real chance of surviving the quickly unfolding dilemmas we need to devote all or time, effort and money to put Australia on a totally renewable energy journey - Robert McLean)

‘Taylor was sweating blood': States revolt at energy meeting

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor has faced a "full-on revolt" at a meeting of state energy ministers after he killed the NSW government's push for a new national energy and emissions policy.

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor sidestepped
questions over NSW's split with the government over
 energy and emissions policy.CREDIT:

The backlash then continued after Mr Taylor pushed for a national regulated standard electricity price despite advice from the energy market rule maker it could raise power bills.

"[Mr] Taylor was sweating blood," one insider at the meeting said.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Col Latimer - “‘Taylor was sweating blood': States revolt at energy meeting.”

Emissions targets could be a risk for agriculture

Energy Minister Angus Taylor wants Labor to think about the cattle.

Rising emissions could seriously impact on Australia's agricultural industry. 

As the opposition prepares to unveil its energy policy on Thursday, Mr Taylor says they must explain how their existing 45 per cent emissions reduction target and 50pc renewable energy target will affect manufacturing and agriculture.

"Which aluminium smelters and refineries are going to shut? Which cement factories are going to shut? How many head of cattle have got to go?" Mr Taylor told Sky News on Wednesday.

"It'll go into slashing sectors that are emissions intensive.

"Our biggest export sectors like agriculture, like resources, like our manufacturing sector, these are very, very serious issues for the Australian economy.”

Read the Farmonline story by Rebecca Gredley - “Emissions targets could be a risk for agriculture.”

Tony Abbott targets renewables subsidies in latest energy intervention

Tony Abbott has reignited his push to scrap subsidies for renewable energy, taking on the new energy minister, Angus Taylor, at his first meeting of the government’s backbench energy and environment committee on Tuesday.

Tony Abbott asked a number of questions about the
future of subsidies for renewable energy at a
backbench committee meeting.

Sources at Tuesday’s meeting have told Guardian Australia that the former prime minister, who joined the backbench committee as a voting member just before Malcolm Turnbull was deposed as part of efforts to sink the national energy guarantee, asked a number of questions about the future of subsidies for renewable energy, both for rooftop solar and the renewable energy target – but Taylor was not drawn.

During the discussion, the minister made the point that the schemes were in the process of winding down.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Tony Abbott targets renewables subsidies in latest energy intervention.”

(Maybe Mr Abbott could also push for the scrapping of government subsidies for fossil fuels - Robert McLean)

Angus Taylor signals further taxpayer investment in existing coal and gas

The new energy minister, Angus Taylor, says he’s not a sceptic about climate science, just the economics of green schemes, and he’s declared renewables are “in my blood” and have an important role in the energy system.

 'I am not sceptical about climate science': Angus Taylor.

But while overtly backing solar and hydro, but not wind – a technology he’s long opposed – Taylor has also signalled he wants to encourage new investment extending the life of existing coal and gas plants, and upgrading ageing facilities, with an objective of boosting supply.

In his first major speech in his new portfolio, Taylor has recommitted the government to pursuing heavy-handed interventions in the energy market cooked up in the last days of the Turnbull government, including “last resort” divestiture powers to break up power companies if they engage in price gouging.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Angus Taylor signals further taxpayer investment in existing coal and gas.”