Fourth national climate assessment for the U.S.

The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years that “1) integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program…; 2) analyzes the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and 3) analyzes current trends in global change, both human-induced and natural, and projects major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years.”

Read the National Climate Assessment report for 2018.

Federal budget: Half-a-billion dollars for the Great Barrier Reef

The Turnbull government will deliver the largest single environmental protection package in Australian history by committing half a billion dollars to protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change and pollution.

The Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure on the planet.

The investment, to be detailed in the May budget, will aim to shore up support in key Queensland seats ahead of an election in the next year, as the Coalition tries to balance environmental concerns with its pro-mining jobs focus through the Adani coal mine.

Read the story by Eryk Bagshaw from The Age - “Federal budget: Half-a-billion dollars for the Great Barrier Reef.”

(Don’t fall for this, it is political and rhetorical trickery. If the Federal Government was serious about saving the Great Barrier Reef it would tell Mr Adani to take his money, return to India and leave the coal he was so anxious to exploit in the ground. Climate change is the main player in the destruction of the reef and if Mr Frydenberg and his coalition counterparts were serious in their intentions to save the reef they would make climate change mitigation its first priority and that means an immediate shift from the use of any fossil fuels - Robert McLean)

Energy companies will pay more under budget changes that could also secure company tax win

Oil and gas giants will be forced to pay billions more in tax under changes to the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax that could also deliver the Turnbull government a shock victory on its stalled company tax cuts.

Treasurer Scott Morrison ordered a review into the system in 2016.

It is understood next month's budget will tackle longstanding concerns about the way energy companies are taxed by curbing "uplift concessions", which determine tax deductions associated with exploration and construction. But in a concession expected to win industry support, the changes will exempt existing projects.

Read Eryk Bagshaw’s story from The Age - “Energy companies will pay more under budget changes that could also secure company tax win.”

Biofuel targets could add $1 billion, thousands of jobs for regions if national mandate introduced

Biofuels could deliver more than 8,000 direct and indirect jobs and generate $1 billion a year in revenue if a national mandate was implemented, a new report has claimed.

Ethanol-blended E10 fuel will have to make up at least
30 per cent of petrol available for sale in Qld from 2017.

Research by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has outlined how Australia's energy security could be increased using locally produced biofuels.

The Biofuels to Bioproducts: A Growth Industry for Australia report profiles opportunities and looks at how the industry can move on from biofuels to create a broader bioproducts industry.

Biofuels are fuels that replace petrol and diesel that come from renewable or sustainable sources such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Read the story by Cassandra Hough from ABC News - “Biofuel targets could add $1 billion, thousands of jobs for regions if national mandate introduced.”

Renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia's next export boom after CSIRO breakthrough

Australia's next big export industry could be its sunlight and wind, as game-changing technology makes it easier to transport and deliver their energy as hydrogen.

Industry players are even talking up renewable hydrogen as the next liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, which could supply hydrogen to power cars, buses, trucks and trains in Japan, South Korea and even Europe.

Their plans have been given a boost by a CSIRO-developed metal membrane, which allows the high-purity hydrogen, needed for hydrogen-powered cars, to be separated from ammonia.

CSIRO principal research scientist Michael Dolan said the technology, now being trialled on an industrial scale in Australia, was "the missing link" that allowed hydrogen to be transported and used as an energy source.

Read the ABC News story - “Renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia's next export boom after CSIRO breakthrough.”