Architects of energy policy tell states they can sign up even if they don't agree with emissions targets

The architects of the national energy guarantee have told state governments they can sign on to the policy mechanism without endorsing the Turnbull government’s low emissions reduction target. The Energy Security Board intervention in the fraught debate is an attempt to open the way for a compromise at a make-or-break meeting in August.

States and territories do not need to accept Malcolm Turnbull’s
emissions targets to agree on the national energy guarantee, the
board that designed it has said. 

A final policy paper circulated to the states and territories ahead of the looming meeting, seen by Guardian Australia, appeals to members of the Coag energy council to approve the Neg mechanism even if they oppose the Turnbull government’s emissions reduction target for electricity of 26% by 2030.

The Energy Security Board has told the states and territories: “Support by the energy council for the detailed design of the guarantee mechanism, as summarised in this paper, does not constitute approval, agreement or endorsement of the elements of the emissions reduction requirement that are the responsibility of the Australian government.”

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Architects of energy policy tell states they can sign up even if they don't agree with emissions targets.”

US and UK oil corporations start to flaunt the spoils of imperial conquest

After 15 years of repudiating claims that the invasion of Iraq was only initiated to seize Iraqi resources, large oil corporations fronted by former architects of the war who vacated to the private sector are flagrantly advertising their contracts for exploration and production of Iraqi oil fields to potential investors.

The British oil and gas company BP won the contract to operate the Rumaila Oil Field back in 2009, and now proudly boast of its new drilling capabilities on Twitter. Rumaila is simply huge; by some measures it is the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet, and is currently extracting 100 million dollars worth of oil every day – enough to cover the annual health budget of Iraq under the wartime rule of the US coalition every five days.

Read the Amity Underground story - “US and UK oil corporations start to flaunt the spoils of imperial conquest.”

NYC Creates Climate Change Roadmap for Builders: Plan for Rising Seas

The nation's largest city has a message for the architects and engineers planning the New York of tomorrow: Fortify new buildings against the ravages of climate change or risk rebuilding as global warming worsens.

To help plan future buildings and infrastructure that avoids the hazards
of sea level rise, the city designed an interactive flood risk map looking
ahead to the end of the century. This image shows how the flood plain
is expected to expand across more city blocks between 2020
 (light blue) and 2080 (white).

New guidelines issued last week by the office of New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio are some of the most comprehensive for how builders should protect infrastructure against rising seas, more powerful storms and climbing temperatures. They draw on science published in 2015 by a city panel of experts that estimates rainfall, sea level rise and other climatic shifts expected for the city in the decades ahead.

For now, developers are not required to follow the recommendations, but the plan is for all city agencies to be using the guidelines for new projects by the end of the year, according to Susanne DesRoches, deputy director of infrastructure policy for the mayor's Office of Recovery and Resiliency.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “NYC Creates Climate Change Roadmap for Builders: Plan for Rising Seas.”

What an extraordinary, gutless capitulation by Josh Frydenberg

Katharine Murphy - a 'gutless
capitulation' by Josh Frydenberg.

What an extraordinary capitulation.

Just 24 hours of controversy from entirely predictable quarters and a carefully calibrated process to try to engineer a truce in Australia’s utterly wretched climate politics has been all but abandoned by its architects.

Josh Frydenberg has gone in the space of 24 hours from saying quite clearly the government would consider an emissions intensity trading scheme for the electricity sector to trying to pretend he said no such thing.

The retreat is, frankly, unseemly.

Actually, the retreat is more than unseemly, it’s pathetic – and the consequences of it stretch far beyond yet another apparent failure to do what needs to be done to ensure our economy makes an orderly transition to the carbon-constrained world that the Turnbull government willingly accepted when it signed Australia up to the Paris international climate agreement this time 12 months ago.

Read the comment on The Guardian by political editor, Katharine Murphy - “What an extraordinary, gutless capitulation by Josh Frydenberg.”