‘The markets have moved on renewables, policy makers must keep up’, A Sting Exclusive by Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment. The opinions expressed in this article belong to the distinguished writer.

Mr Erik Solheim is the Executive Director of UN Environment
 and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Just in case there was ever any doubt, it’s now crystal clear that clean, renewable energy is the future. The latest data shows a record quantity of new capacity added to the global grid last year, outstripping new fossil fuel plants and bringing the overall investment envelope to a whopping $2.9 trillion since 2004.

For eight consecutive years, global investment in renewables have exceeded $200 billion, with a massive fall in renewables costs — particularly the tumbling price of solar panels – bringing increased bang for the buck. It’s share of the grid has doubled in a decade.

There were plenty of stand-out stories too, all showing that the last-ditch defence of coal in the United States is not the new agenda. South Australia’s energy woes, consisting of black- and brown-outs and high electricity bills, spurred a proof-of-concept from Tesla who installed, in record time, the world’s biggest lithium battery. That has helped put to bed questions on whether solar was ready for the surge demands of a major grid.

Read the article from The European Sting -  “‘The markets have moved on renewables, policy makers must keep up’, A Sting Exclusive by Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment.”

Clean & Reliable Power: Roadmap to a Renewable Future

The Climate Council has released a roadmap outlining how Australia can cut its rising greenhouse gas pollution levels, while continuing the transition to clean, affordable and reliable renewable energy and storage technology.

The ‘Clean & Reliable Power: Roadmap To A Renewable Future’ report features 12 key policy principles for any national energy and climate policy framework, including calls for the rollout of a minimum 50-70% renewable energy target across Australia by 2030.

The ‘Roadmap To A Renewable Future’ framework recommends Australia continues to transition away from its ageing, polluting and inefficient coal and gas fleet and encourage investment in a new clean power supply. The report calls for pollution targets which can be ratcheted up along with transparent tracking and reporting of carbon pollution levels.

Read the Climate Council story by Andrew Stock - “Clean & Reliable Power: Roadmap to a Renewable Future.”

BP claims an oil spill off Australia's coast would be a 'welcome boost' to local economies

Coastal towns would benefit from an oil spill in the pristine Great Australian Bight because the clean up would boost their economies, energy giant BP has claimed as part of its controversial bid to drill in the sensitive marine zone.

Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. BP said local economies
would be boosted by clean up activities if its plan to drill
for oil caused a spill.

BP, which has since withdrawn the drilling plan, also told a federal government agency that a diesel spill would be considered “socially acceptable”.

BP made the statements in an environment plan submitted to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority in March 2016.

The company had been seeking to drill two wells off the South Australian coast, raising fears of an environmental disaster akin to BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story from The Sydney Morning Herald - “BP claims an oil spill off Australia's coast would be a 'welcome boost' to local economies.”

(Only the brutal madness of a neo-liberal economist devoid of an sense of feeling for our environment could see the sense of such an argument - Robert McLean)

Veemo Veleomobile: the innovative electric vehicle by Velometro

Moving around busy cities is always a challenge. Doing so in a clean and environmentally friendly manner is even more challenging. Yet, this is what VeloMetro, an innovative company from Vancouver, British Columbia, is trying to do with its unique vehicle: the Veemo.

The Veemo Velomobile.

VeloMetro was founded by Kody Baker, John Stonier, Jonathan Faille, and Sean Boyd. The four met at an electric vehicle (EV) company back in 2010 and later created an EV engineering consultancy called Perkuna. Perkuna worked both to convert regular vehicles into electric vehicles and to develop innovative EV charging stations.

Deciding to focus fully on VeloMetro forced the founders to temporarily hibernate Perkuna, although many of the concepts they worked on there have found their way into the Veemo vehicle itself, including an innovative battery swapping technology. Today we speak with CEO and founder Kody Baker.

Read the Impackter story by Alessandro Du Besse - “Veemo Veleomobile: the innovative electric vehicle by Velometro.”

Trees plan for the future

What’s the value of having a strong network of trees across a region?

Boasting more attractive tree-lined streets, a consistent canopy across the city and pushing Greater Shepparton as a clean, green place seem to be clear benefits of the city’s urban forest strategy.

The document will tonight be considered by councillors, signalling a strategic framework to manage and plan the city’s tree population.

In drafting the strategy, the council embarked on an exhaustive tree audit, counting and assessing the city’s trees — all 28000 across Shepparton, Mooroopna and Tatura — measuring their age and condition.

Read the Shepparton News story - “Trees plan for the future.”

The City of Greater Shepparton’s Urban Forest Strategy can be viewed here.

Australia’s move to clean energy requires carbon price

The economically and environmentally compelled transition from fossil-fuel generation of electricity to low-carbon sources of power might well have reached a historic turning point in recent days, as Australian policymakers belatedly confront the need to ensure reliable, clean and affordable energy for households and businesses.

It is clear the future of power generation involves the decline and eventual end of coal. Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison's recent unparliamentary stunt of brandishing in the lower house a lump of coal and extolling the alleged virtues and indispensability of fossil fuels is looking even more silly in light of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's intervention in what is being widely described as an energy crisis.

Mr Turnbull's announcement of a multibillion-dollar, 50 per cent expansion of the Snowy Hydro scheme's capacity comes amid energy security concerns fuelled by South Australia's recent blackouts, the imminent closure of Victoria's Hazelwood coal-fired power station – the 10th such closure in Australia in less than a decade – and a gas price leap primarily associated with Australia's long-standing policy of not restricting gas exports and of having the price set by international markets.

Read the Editorial in today’s Melbourne Age - “Australia’s move to clean energy requires carbon price.”

John's agonizing and painfull climate change-induced decision

(Bunbartha’s John Pettigrew was among the first group to be trained by former U.S. vice-president, Al Gore, the man who truly brought climate change to the forefront of peoples’ minds. John has since pretty much dedicated his life to helping people throughout Australia, particularly in the Goulburn Valley, understand the implications and complications of this human-induced change to the global climate system and in 2014 he wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald about how he agonized over the bulldozing of his farm’s fruit trees.

John’s work as a climate change activist has taken him to many parts of Australia, including Canberra on a number of occasions, along with countless discussions with service clubs, industry groups, and schools. He is presently president of Slap tomorrow, a Shepparton-based group that aims to inform people about climate change, and help them understand mitigation  and adaptation: this what he said in 2014 – Robert McLean.)

 

John Pettigrew.

For 50 years I have grown fruit at Bunbartha, north of Shepparton. A couple of years ago, though, after years of drought, and after spending the better part of my life farming, I had to bulldoze my 10,000 peach trees.

As painful as that decision was for me and the family, it's not an uncommon story as global warming has hit plenty more growers like me. But because of the farm, I was on the board of SPC and a handful of others. As such, I'm all too aware of the brand damage Australia's doing to its signal "clean, green" reputation by winding back action on climate change. I'm deeply concerned about the financial impacts that's having in some of our key markets.

Read John Pettigrew’s 2014 story in The Sydney Morning Herald - “Climate change: Why I had to bulldoze 10,000 peach trees."