‘Not winning friends': Australia cops blame as climate talks extended

Global climate talks have been extended into the weekend as nations wrangle over carbon accounting issues, including whether Australia should be able to slash its Paris emissions reduction goals using a surplus from an earlier era.

Still time for last-minutes snaps: Climate talks in
Madrid, Spain, have run over time as nations wrangle
over key definitions that could affect Australia.

As is typical with Conference of the Parties (COP) events, the gathering in the Spanish capital of Madrid blew past its Friday deadline. Observers expect negotiations on carbon trading rules and other issues to last until at least Sunday, Australian time.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “‘Not winning friends': Australia cops blame as climate talks extended.”

Supermarket giants step up war on plastic, waste

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are stepping up their war on plastic, introducing new targets to slash the amount of wrapping on fresh fruit and vegetables as well as tackling food waste.

Coles pledged to reduce plastic wrapping on fruit and vegies.

The retailers on Monday committed to going further than their previous announcements to ditch single-use plastic bags in response to demands from consumers.

Read the story by Belinda Tasker from The Age - “Supermarket giants step up war on plastic, waste.”

Recycling crisis is a chance to slash waste

China’s decision to slash imports of recyclable rubbish has roiled the global recycling market – causing short-term shocks including the near-collapse of the Australian industry, but creating a long-term opportunity here and elsewhere to improve environmental outcomes while generating revenue and employment.

Community confidence in the environmental value
of separating rubbish has been crushed.

It is also a chance to reduce the amount of waste by providing financial incentives to households and individuals. At this level, too, China, which is facing dreadful pollution problems, is taking a lead by banning all non-reusable containers. It is not far-fetched to imagine we could slash waste by giving paramount importance to reusing, rather than recycling. Further, innovations around the world include furnaces that generate electricity from waste. Many nations, including Australia, are banning plastic bags.

Read the Editorial in today’s Age - "Recycling crisis is a chance to slash waste.”

Severe dry to cut grain harvest in half

The severe dry that has smashed crops in NSW and southern Queensland is expected to slash total grain production this season and affect business conditions in farming communities where grain is a key industry, the nation's largest agribusiness has warned.

GrainCorp's underlying net profit surged in fiscal 2017 to $142 million.

Discussing GrainCorp's bumper full-year results for fiscal 2017, including an underlying net profit that nearly tripled to $142 million, managing director Mark Palmquist said this year's harvest would be "tremendously smaller", and in response the company would run a leaner harvest operation, with some sites to stay closed because of the lower volumes.

GrainCorp, an integrated grains handler, exporter and processor, said while the crop would be substantially smaller than last year, production would be skewed towards Victoria and southern NSW.

Rabobank senior grains and oilseeds analyst Cheryl Kalisch Gordon said Rabobank had forecast a "national drop of 41 percent from last year's record grain harvest. This is also down 19 percent on the five-year average prior to last year, which really puts the drop in context.

Read Darren Gray’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Severe dry to cut grain harvest in half.”

Canberrans embrace new cutting edge solar system in hopes of slashing energy bills

Retiree Eric Pulford is one of many Canberrans turning to a new home energy system that aims to slash about 60 per cent off annual energy bills.

Eric Pulford recently fitted out with solar panels
 and an accompanying battery that cost him no
more than $2 a day.

The best part? He says it will cost just a gold coin a day.

With soaring wholesale electricity prices and the prospect of a looming gas shortfall nationally next year, renewable energy proponents say individual consumers like Mr Pulford could play an increasingly important role as citizen investors.

"I say it is a little bit gold plated," Mr Pulford says of his $20,000 investment.

Read the ABC News story by Adrienne Francis - “Canberrans embrace new cutting edge solar system in hopes of slashing energy bills.”