Carbon pricing vital for financial stability: Westpac

Banking giant Westpac says the federal government must play a role in developing a price on carbon if the financial risks of climate change are to be understood and mitigated.

Michael Chen, the bank's head of sustainability and prominent player in the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASFI), said without mitigation the effects of climate change would threaten the financial system's stability.

"Central banks and regulators around the world are saying climate risk is financial risk, but the financial system hasn’t adequately priced in environmental and social risk, and this is a risk for the financial system’s stability," Mr Chen told The Australian Financial Review.

Read the story from the Financial Review by James Fernyhough - “Carbon pricing vital for financial stability: Westpac.”

A natural solution to the climate disaster

Trees have been planted on upland moor to improve wildlife habitat in Cumbria, UK.

The world faces two existential crises, developing with terrifying speed: climate breakdown and ecological breakdown. Neither is being addressed with the urgency needed to prevent our life-support systems from spiralling into collapse. We are writing to champion a thrilling but neglected approach to averting climate chaos while defending the living world: natural climate solutions. This means drawing carbon dioxide out of the air by protecting and restoring ecosystems.

Read the letter to The Guardian - “A natural solution to the climate disaster.”

Developing new Galilee Basin coalmines will cost 12,500 jobs, analysis shows

Developing new coalmines in the Galilee Basin would cost 12,500 jobs in existing coalmining regions and replace only two in three workers, modelling by the Australia Institute shows.

An open-cut mine in the Hunter Valley. If the Galilee Basin produces
150m tonnes of coal a year, then existing coal regions will likely
 curtail production by 115m tonnes a year, analysis shows.

Job creation has long been an aggressive rallying call for supporters of Adani’s Carmichael megamine and other proposals in the untapped Galilee Basin, which combined would produce 150m tonnes of thermal coal each year.

But the Australia Institute report concludes that even if Australia’s thermal coal exports increase, and the world does not act on climate change, highly automated new mines in the Galilee would on balance cost the industry jobs.

The modelling is based on 2017 analysis by consultants Wood Mackenzie, who work closely with the mining industry. Wood Mackenzie said huge volumes of coal mined in the Galilee would curtail established operations in the Hunter Valley, Bowen Basin and Surat Basin regions.

Read the story by Ben Smee from The Guardian - “Developing new Galilee Basin coalmines will cost 12,500 jobs, analysis shows.”

Ford partners with India’s Mahindra Group to build new electric vehicle

The latest step towards the large-scale transition to electric vehicles was signalled this week.

Will we ever see and elecrric-powered Mustang?

Car giants Ford and the Mahindra Group have agreed to work together on developing a new EV for the huge Indian market, but potentially for sale elsewhere.

The two companies signed five separate, non-binding memoranda of understanding (MoU) which will develop their strategic alliance and the co-development of new products, including a small electric vehicle.

Read the ClimateAction story - “Ford partners with India’s Mahindra Group to build new electric vehicle.”

(Reiterating earlier observations, we don’t need privately owned and operated electric cars, rather we need a sophisticated electric public transport infrastructure, but the world’s present economic structure prohibits this ever happening, However, needs impressed upon us by changes wrought by a changing climate system many force our hand - Robert McLean)

Sustainable agriculture provides a lifeline to Mali’s women

Agriculture is often a key route out of poverty for many in developing countries, especially among women.

Sustainable agriculture a bonus for
women in developing countries. 

And in the West African country of Mali, it is estimated that women make up half of all those involved in agriculture. However, UN Women reports that climate change is threatening to undo the progress made in building stronger rural communities and ending hunger in the country.

The UN entity, formed seven years ago, has been implementing a new programme called AgriFed, designed to combat the negative impacts of climate change on women.

Read the ClimateAction story - “Sustainable agriculture provides a lifeline to Mali’s women.”

Great Barrier Reef to get $60m rescue package from government

Malcolm Turnbull has announced a $60m rescue package for the Great Barrier Reef which includes research on developing “resilient” coral, and paying farmers to pollute less.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef - one of the world's wonders.

The package, to be spent over 18 months, will also include an increased number of reef officers and vessels targeting crown of thorns starfish outbreaks.

More than half the package, $36.6m, will be spent on “supporting farmers stopping runoff off their properties” in order to improve water quality, the prime minister said.

Turnbull said there was a “very strong link” between water pollution and crown of thorns starfish outbreaks.

Read Helen Davison’s story from The Guardian - “Great Barrier Reef to get $60m rescue package from government.”

(The rhetoric and money will convince many that the Turnbull Government is serious about saving/protecting the Great Barrier Reef, but it is simply more smoke and mirrors - warming oceans brought on by climate change is the root problem and despite Mr Turnbull’s declarations, today’s announcement does nought to save the reef, one of the world’s wonders, from the ravages of a disturbed climate system - Robert McLean)

Australian shareholders should be told of climate risk to profits, says thinktank

Australian companies need to start developing sophisticated scenario-based analyses of climate risks, and incorporating them into their business outlooks so shareholders know how climate change will affect profitability, a thinktank has said.

Businesses in Australia have been urged to incorporate climate
 risks into their outlooks so shareholders can see the potential impacts.

However, the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) said companies needed to do so in a standardised way, so investors and regulators were able to easily understand economy-wide risks to whole industries.

The progressive thinktank urged Australia’s biggest businesses to use the Paris climate agreement as the centrepiece for their scenario planning, saying it provided a credible, long-term anchor for policies that limit global warming to well below 2C.

Read the story on The Guardian by Gareth Hutchens - “Australian shareholders should be told of climate risk to profits, says thinktank."

Australia’s Karenni refugees cultivate community through Wollongong farming initiative

Developing small farms on unused land in urban areas could help alleviate chronic unemployment for refugees resettled in Australia.

The Karenni farmers grow traditional foods
such as taplaelay, a leafy green vegetable.

Only 31 per cent of humanitarian visa recipients have jobs after five years, but many have skills as subsistence farmers, which could turn unproductive land into market gardens.

At Mangerton in Wollongong, Karenni refugees are transforming a steep hillside next to the Saint Therese Primary School, into a traditional terraced garden.

Read the ABC News story by Sean Murphy - “Australia’s Karenni refugees cultivate community through Wollongong farming initiative."