Australia’s Carryover Climate Credits Are Setting a Dangerous Precedent

What do Prime Minister Scott Morrison, US President Donald Trump and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro have in common?

Well, Trump’s taken to Twitter to spew the conspiracy that global warming was “created by and for the Chinese”, Morrison told Australians “don’t be scared” when he brought a lump of coal into parliament in 2017, and Bolsonaro claimed environmental issues only matter to “vegans who eat vegetables”.

Last year, all three countries were literally up in flames while their respective leaders stonewalled against acting on climate change.

But even so, Australia’s the only nation that’s attempting to cheat the Paris Agreement by using ‘carryover climate credits’ from a previous treaty.

Read the story from Rolling Stone Magazine by Eden Gillespie - “Australia’s Carryover Climate Credits Are Setting a Dangerous Precedent.”

Cambridge Climate Lecture Series 2020

Jeremy Leggett didn’t actually name Australia prime minister, Scott Morrison, but he may as well.

Scott Morrison brandishing a lump of coal in federal parliament.

The British social entrepreneur and writer, who founded and is a board director of Solarcentury, Jeremy Leggett, an international solar solutions company delivered a lecture during which he lambasted the politician who brandished a lump of coal in parliament.

The lecture was a part of the Cambridge Lecture Series 2020 delivered earlier this month.

Listen to Jeremy Leggett speak at the latest in the “Cambridge Climate Lecture Series 2020.”

Morrison a ‘predatory’ centrist on climate policy with no plans for meaningful emissions reduction, says Swan

Labor’s federal president Wayne Swan will accuse Scott Morrison of engaging in “predatory centrism” on climate policy by styling himself as the pragmatist between the extremes of climate emergencies and denialism, when the government has no intention of driving meaningful emissions reduction.

Wayne Swan.

In a speech to be delivered on Sunday, Swan will argue Labor will only win the decade-long climate wars if it approaches the challenge with “pragmatic policy and ruthless organisation”.

According to speech notes, Swan will say Labor needs to articulate a roadmap for the domestic coal powered industry “which manages its decline”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Morrison a ‘predatory’ centrist on climate policy with no plans for meaningful emissions reduction, says Swan.”

Global finance leaves Australia behind in the march to net-zero emissions

Scott Morrison dismissed Anthony Albanese’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 as "Bill Shorten 2.0". Surely better than the Prime Minister's effort – Tony Abbott 4.0. Then there's the equation proposed by the Nationals' senator Matt Canavan: net-zero emissions equals net-zero jobs. So, that would amount to no job losses, eh? Oh, the tyranny of all-too-simplistic slogans.

EnergyAustralia's Yallourn generator.

The world, meanwhile, is leaving Australia behind. While our politicians dither, a net-zero target is now embraced by almost half of the world’s gross domestic product – some 121 nations. It was just 16 per cent of GDP nine months ago, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit in Britain. Major global financial institutions, too, are declaring their exit from coal.

In Australia, where Labor has declared its commitment to net-zero by 2050, the party should be under scrutiny to provide its thinking on transition pathways and how they will be managed. But so should the Morrison government be pressured to substantiate its claim that Labor's path would cost jobs, raise electricity prices and hurt regional Australia. Both the Coalition and Labor should admit the tremendous opportunities for new industries and jobs from an effective energy transition.

Read the opinion piece from The Age by John Hewson - “Global finance leaves Australia behind in the march to net-zero emissions.”

Bushfire royal commission to look at mitigation but not climate change

Expanding federal government powers to call out the military, national standards for hazard reduction and the mitigation of natural disasters – but not climate change itself – will be the focus of the bushfire royal commission.

 Scott Morrison tours a bushfire damaged farm in January.On Thursday, Scott Morrison released the letters patent establishing the national inquiry, pushing ahead despite concerns over federal overreach into states’ emergency management powers and pressure from Labor jurisdictions to focus more explicitly on reducing emissions.

The royal commission will be led by the retired air chief marshal Mark Binskin, who is joined by the former federal court judge and Ruddock religious freedom review panel member, Annabelle Bennett, and professor Andrew Macintosh, a specialist in climate risk and impact management.

Read the story from The Guardian by Paul Karp - “Bushfire royal commission to look at mitigation but not climate change.”

PM Scott Morrison’s new plan to avoid a target for net zero emissions by 2050

An exclusive report in The Australian on Tuesday indicates Prime Minister Scott Morrison will avoid Australia signing up to an internationally imposed requirement for net-zero emissions by 2050, by setting a technology investment target instead.

Scott Morrison - he has a plan to avoid net-zero emissions target.

The idea of a technology target is to make an investment in energy generation economic which may lead to a reduction in emissions.

This development comes as the business community has escalated demand for reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, against a backdrop of tensions within and between the Liberal party and the Nationals.

The position of the peak body for big business, the Business Council of Australia, is that Australia needs to spend “at least” $22billion a year on new investment in technology to reach the target.

Read the story from Women’s Agenda by Georgie Dent - “PM Scott Morrison’s new plan to avoid a target for net-zero emissions by 2050.”

Scott Morrison is stuck in a time warp – more gas is not the answer.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, surrounded by advisers out of the fossil fuel industry, is stuck in a time warp.

‘Morrison claims we need a lot more gas to continue the
energy transition already in play. The experts disagree.’

His claim that “there is no credible energy transition plan, for an economy like Australia in particular, that does not involve the greater use of gas as an important transition fuel” is demonstrably wrong. There are many.

A decade ago solar and wind were expensive, gas was cheap, batteries had no conceivable role in a power grid and pumped hydro storage was a forgotten technology. Conventional wisdom held that gas was a “transition fuel” – that since gas generation has half the emissions of coal power (if we foolishly turn a blind eye to emissions caused when extracting gas), we could reduce emissions by switching out coal power stations for gas turbines.

Read the story from The Guardian by Simon Holmes à Court - “Scott Morrison is stuck in a time warp – more gas is not the answer.”

Morrison delivers big fossil fuel win for major donor Santos.

Scott Morrison’s energy deal with NSW, announced this morning, is a huge win for fossil fuel company Santos, a major political donor with extensive ties to the Coalition.

Scott Morrison hands a win to fossil fuel companies.

Morrison’s deal with Gladys Berejiklian’s Coalition government will provide $960 million in funding, mostly through loans, for renewable energy projects and grid infrastructure in exchange for “commitments from the NSW Government to facilitate investment opportunities to inject an additional 70 petajoules of gas per year into the east coast market” and “an undertaking from the NSW Government to remove barriers to coal supply to the Mount Piper Power Station”.

At the National Press Club on Wednesday, Morrison argued expanding natural gas supply for power generation represented “climate action now”, that “we need to get the gas from under our feet” and that “there is no credible energy transition plan for an economy like Australia in particular, that does not involve the greater use of gas as an important transition fuel”.

That statement is clearly, and easily shown to be, false. 

Read the story from Crikey by Bernard Keane - “Morrison delivers big fossil fuel win for major donor Santos.”

As Earth’s population heads to 10 billion, does anything Australians do on climate change matter?

As unprecedented bushfires continue to ravage the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government have been rightly criticised for their reluctance to talk about the underlying drivers of this crisis. Yet it’s not hard to see why they might be dumbstruck.

The United Nations predicts the world will be home to nearly 10 billion people
by 2050 – making global greenhouse emission cuts ever more urgent. 

The human race has never had to grapple with a problem as large, complex or urgent as climate change. It’s not that there aren’t solutions available. There are already some hopeful signs of an energy transition in Australia. As Professor Ross Garnaut has explained, it would be in Australia’s economic interests to become a low-carbon energy superpower.

To successfully tackle climate change will require some painful transitions domestically, and unprecedented levels of international coordination and cooperation. But that isn’t happening. Global action to cut emissions is falling far short of what’s needed – and meanwhile, though it’s controversial to mention, the world’s population quietly climbs ever higher.

Read the story from The Conversation by the Professor of International Politics from the University of Western Australia, Mark Beeson - “As Earth’s population heads to 10 billion, does anything Australians do on climate change matter?”

Seven ways Scott Morrison can evolve his climate policy without a political brawl

While Scott Morrison has acknowledged this record bushfire season was exacerbated by climate change, he is yet to introduce any new policies, insisting the government will meet emission reduction targets.

‘If Scott Morrison wants to “evolve” his government’s
climate policies in 2020 he has a number of options
 that don’t involve drastic changes.’

The Prime Minister has said the government could “evolve” its climate policies, including emission reduction targets that are pegged to 26-28% of 2005 levels by 2030.

“We are dealing with our climate policies in the same way as we took them to the election … we will meet and beat our emission reduction targets,” the prime minister said on Monday morning.

In 2020 the Government has a number of options to evolve climate policies that don’t involve drastic changes and could avoid potential brawls in the party room.

Read the story from The Guardian by John Connor - “Seven ways Scott Morrison can evolve his climate policy without a political brawl.”

Scott Morrison lashes NSW minister over climate remarks.

Scott Morrison claims nobody knows who NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean is. Well, they do now.

PM Scott Morrison.

The Prime Minister delivered a stunning rebuke to the NSW Liberal government minister over divisions in the party over climate action.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean has spoken out about tensions in the party over the issue, telling Sky News senior cabinet ministers want the Prime Minister to take strong action.

“Matt Kean doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t know what’s going on in the federal cabinet,” Mr Morrison told ABC radio on Monday.

The Prime Minister then followed up with a personal attack, calling the minister’s profile into question.

Read the story from The New Daily - “Scott Morrison lashes NSW minister over climate remarks.”

Thousands flock to second climate change rally in Melbourne

Thousands of protesters took to Melbourne’s streets for the second time in as many weeks demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and immediate action on climate change.

The protestors gathered at the State Library. 

As 15 bushfires continued to burn in Victoria, the crowd marched from the steps of the State Library, through the streets of the city, chanting "System change on climate change, shut the mines down" and "ScoMo ... we deserve a future too”.

Organisers estimated about 2000 people took to the streets.

Uni Students for Climate Justice co-convener Beth Jackson said their message was simple.

"We’re demanding that Scott Morrison be sacked, we’re demanding that the fossil fuel corporations that caused this pay a levy for what they’ve done, and we're demanding a complete transition to renewable energy," Ms Jackson said.

Read the story from The Age by Tate Papworth - “Thousands flock to second climate change rally in Melbourne.”

Nation wants answers on climate change action

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has given his strongest indication yet that he will initiate a royal commission on this season’s bushfires. It may well become one of the most important inquiries this nation has witnessed.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison tours a farm
in fire-ravaged Sarsfield, Victoria.

The scope Mr Morrison outlined very broadly yesterday includes practical matters, such as focusing on the operational preparedness of federal and state agencies before the summer fires and the agencies’ responsiveness in the aftermath. Those are necessary lines of inquiry, and they should run alongside what we believe are equally necessary state-based inquiries and reviews into operations, preparations, obstacles and failure, such as the one being considered by NSW, or the one Victoria held after Black Saturday.

The more profound areas of focus, though, for the Commonwealth royal commission are shaping up as climate change responses and federal-state relations. How these latter themes of inquiry are framed will be of utmost importance.

Read The Age Editorial - “Nation wants answers on climate change action.”

Reading the smoke signals from Morrison on climate change

Australians have heard so many messages about so many climate change policies over so many years that they may shrug off the latest talk from Scott Morrison about his solution to the problem.

Australian PM Scott Morrison with David Speers on ABC television.

The Prime Minister spoke on Sunday about doing "better and better and better" at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to "evolve our policy" over time, while also promising to adapt more to a changing climate.

Read the story from The Age by David Crowe - “Reading the smoke signals from Morrison on climate change.”

Scott Morrison calls for a royal commission into Australia's bushfire crisis after thousands of protesters rallied for action on climate change

Scott Morrison has called for a royal commission into the bushfire crisis following worldwide protests demanding government action on climate change. 

Three women hold placards demanding action in a rally in Sydney on Friday.

Details of the inquiry would be put to the premiers and federal cabinet in coming weeks, the prime minister said on Sunday. 

'I think Australians have a very reasonable expectation that any commission of inquiry, royal commission, would need to cover the full gamut of issues.’

Facing criticism that federal authorities sat on their hands earlier in the bushfire season, Mr Morrison said his government had acted on all recommendations put to it.

Read the story from the Daily Mail by Karen Ruiz - “Scott Morrison calls for a royal commission into Australia's bushfire crisis after thousands of protesters rallied for action on climate change.”

The path to a zero-carbon economy: Ross Garnaut

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the Government's climate policy will "continue to evolve" to "meet and beat" its global commitments. He has, however, stopped short of pledging new emissions reduction targets.

The bushfire crisis now unfolding was effectively predicted 12 years ago by the final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review for the then Rudd Labor government.

Its lead author, economist Ross Garnaut, says Kyoto carry-over credits "do us no good at all" and warns that the less Australia does now, the more it will have to do mid-century.

Listen to a discussion between Ross Garnaut and Tom Tilley on Radio National’s Breakfast show - “The path to a zero-carbon economy: Ross Garnaut.”

These Climate Science Deniers are Spreading Misinformation about the Australian Bushfires

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has doubled down on his refusal to strengthen his administration’s approach to climate policy as his country burns. While Morrison acknowledges that climate change is one factor driving the fires, he is unwilling to consider reversing his government’s poor record on climate action to help prevent similar disasters happening again.

Spreading misinformation about Australia's bushfires.

In recent days, Morrison’s position has been bolstered by a group of fringe climate science deniers pushing conspiracy theories and misinformation about the relationship between the fires and climate change.

An article on the alt-right website NewsWars makes the false claim that “authorities in Australia are working on the premise that arsonists and lightning strikes are to blame for bushfires that have devastated numerous areas of the country, not ‘climate change’ as many global warming alarmists have claimed.” Independent factcheckers from Climate Feedback judged the article to be “misleading”, saying the claim's “flawed reasoning misunderstands that fires are exacerbated by hot and dry conditions and Australia is currently facing a severe drought amidst increasing temperatures.” 

Read the Desmog story by Mat Hope - “These Climate Science Deniers are Spreading Misinformation about the Australian Bushfires.”

Scott Morrison to take proposal for bushfire royal commission to Cabinet

Scott Morrison.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he will take a proposal to establish a royal commission into the bushfire disaster to Cabinet, while foreshadowing for the first time a potential change to the Coalition's climate policy.

More than 20 people have died and more than 2,000 homes have been destroyed by fires across much of the country.

Concerns have been raised about the preparedness of states and territories to deal with the threat of bushfires, and whether the Commonwealth was too slow to act in ways such as offering the support of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

"I think that is what would be necessary, and I will be taking a proposal through Cabinet to that end," the Prime Minister told Insiders host David Speers.

Read the ABC News story by Matthew Doran - “Scott Morrison to take proposal for bushfire royal commission to Cabinet.”

Why was Australia’s government so ill-prepared for the bushfires?

A few bags and the cats” were all Brett Viewey could take when he fled his house in Kangaroo Valley, a small town in New South Wales. On January 4th he retreated to a bowling club in Nowra, a few hours south of Sydney, as a fire coursed towards his home. He is among tens of thousands of people who have moved out of the way of bushfires that are raging all across Australia, and especially in Victoria and New South Wales. So far the flames have burned across 11m hectares, larger than the area destroyed by recent fires in the Amazon and California combined. At least 26 people are dead and around 2,300 homes have been destroyed. And there are still several weeks of summer to go.

Fire-damaged towns have received Scott Morrison, the prime minister (pictured), with hostility. During a recent walk around Cobargo in New South Wales, angry locals called him an “idiot”. When two people refused to shake his hand, he forcibly took theirs. At a press conference on January 5th Mr Morrison said that “blame doesn’t help anybody” and that “over-analysis” is “not a productive exercise”. But Australians want to know how this extraordinary fire season could have been better handled. The rest of the world dares to wonder if it will prompt any acceleration of the country’s laggardly climate policies.

Read the story from The Economist - “Why was Australia’s government so ill-prepared for the bushfires?”

Listen to your people Scott Morrison: the bushfires demand a climate policy reboot

Frank Jotzo, the director of the Centre for Climate and Energy Policy at Australian National University, has some constructive advice for Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a column today for the ABC: do not waste an opportunity to recalibrate his government’s approach on climate change.

Scott Morrison’s response to the bushfires has been roundly
criticised as being too slow and out of touch.

Morrison should heed Jotzo’s suggestion that he and his cabinet need to “drop the old anti-climate change stance”. As Jotzo writes,

You’ve been politically locked into a no-action position, but the bushfires give you the reason to change […] You can make it your mission to protect the country from harm, an essential conservative cause.

Jotzo speaks with authority as one of the country’s foremost experts on climate reduction policies. He has a global reputation.

Read the story from The Conversation by an Adjunct Professor from the School of Communications at La Trobe University, Tony Walker -  “Listen to your people Scott Morrison: the bushfires demand a climate policy reboot."