Spain Agrees to Host Key Climate Talks After Chile Pulls Out

Madrid has offered to hold the next United Nations climate talks, the leaders of Spain and Chile announced on Thursday. 

A sign for the United Nations climate summit at a park in Santiago,
Chile, where the talks had been scheduled to take place in December.

The announcement came a day after Chile said it could not host the event because of intensifying protests in the country. 

President Sebastián Piñera of Chile said at a news conference in Santiago on Thursday that he had heard from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain and that Mr. Sánchez had agreed to host the summit, which is scheduled to open on Dec. 2 and run through Dec. 13. 

Mr. Sánchez’s office issued a statement saying the two countries would collaborate. Chile would continue to hold the rotating presidency of the climate talks. In a Twitter message, Mr. Sánchez said “multilateral climate action is a priority” for both the United Nations and the European Union.

Read the story from The New York Times by Somini Sengupta - “Spain Agrees to Host Key Climate Talks After Chile Pulls Out."

Farmers to be paid to keep trees on land in pilot scheme to cut carbon

Farmers will be offered a cash payment to prevent trees and shrubs being cleared from their land in a $30 million federal government scheme to show action is being taken on climate change.

Agriculture and Water Resources
Minister David Littleproud.

Food producers will also gain from a "biodiversity bonus" that will create a new seal of approval for supermarket produce that comes from farmers who support revegetation on their land.

The move comes as the Morrison government tries to assure voters it has policies to respond to climate change while at the same time appeasing Nationals MPs who want federal subsidies for coal-fired power stations.

Read the story from The Age by David Crowe -“Farmers to be paid to keep trees on land in pilot scheme to cut carbon.”

Frydenberg offers olive branch over controversial emissions target

Josh Frydenberg has offered an olive branch on the national energy guarantee, telling state energy ministers the emissions reduction target can be reviewed after five years – stepping back from an ambit claim that it be locked in for a decade.

Josh Frydenberg has offered to review the Coalition’s
 contentious 10-year emissions target after five years in
 a bid to get the states to sign the national energy guarantee.

The concession is flagged in a commonwealth paper circulated to the states late on Tuesday night. It sets out the Turnbull’s government’s position on how emissions reduction in the Neg will work.

The new paper, seen by Guardian Australia, says the target should apply for a decade, but it also flags a review in 2024.

This means the current target of reducing electricity emissions by 26% on 2005 levels by 2030 could be scaled up mid-way through the scheme after a review of the latest demand forecasts, and an analysis of the costs.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy  - “Frydenberg offers olive branch over controversial emissions target.”