Mining sector met NSW ministers almost every week over four years

Mining and resources companies were given an extraordinary level of access to the highest rungs of the New South Wales government in the past four years, securing roughly 188 meetings with ministers in 235 weeks.

 The NSW Minerals Council has obtained regular access
to resources, planning and finance ministers, and the
offices of premiers and deputy premiers.

An analysis of four and a half years of the state’s ministerial diaries shows the NSW Minerals Council has obtained regular access to resources, planning and finance ministers, and the offices of premiers and deputy premiers.

The council was given 61 meetings with NSW ministers, more than anyone except the NSW Farmers Association and Penrith city council.

Further meetings were granted to multinational resource and energy companies such as Shenhua, Whitehaven, Glencore, AGL, Rio Tinto, BHP, Origin Energy, Santos, Anglo American and Centennial Coal.

Read the story from The Guardian by Nick Evershed and Christopher Knaus - “Mining sector met NSW ministers almost every week over four years.”

Australian canola for European biodiesel emits half the greenhouse gas of fossil fuels

Australia has secured access to a billion-dollar European biodiesel market for canola, just two weeks away from a cut-off date.

Australian canola is highly competitive in the global market, a researcher says.

The CSIRO has found that using Australian canola in the biodiesel supply chain produced half the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel, at the point that it is pumped into the car.

Europe had tightened its Renewable Energy Greenhouse Gas Savings Target to be 50 per cent of the emissions from mineral diesel, a fossil fuel.

That is due to come into effect on January 1.

It had been set at 35 percent.

Read the ABC News story - “Australian canola for European biodiesel emits half the greenhouse gas of fossil fuels.”

Renewables will give more people access to electricity than coal, says IEA

Around the world, more than a billion people still lack access to electricity.

This number is shrinking, down by one third since 2000, despite rising population levels, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) special report on energy access, published today.

The report says that while coal has supplied nearly half of the progress from 2000 to date, its role is set to decline “dramatically”. This is because renewables are becoming cheaper and because the hardest-to-reach people are in remote, rural areas where off-grid solutions offer the lowest cost.

The report shows the number of people without access to electricity will shrink by another third by 2030, with 60% of these gains supplied by renewables. Furthermore, if the world commits to providing universal access by 2030, then renewables would bridge 90% of the remaining gap, the IEA says.

Read the CarbonBrief story - “Renewables will give more people access to electricity than coal, says IEA.”