Hydrogen: renewable power to gas facility

The Australian Government is supporting an Australian-first trial of a renewable hydrogen-powered electricity generation facility in Western Sydney.

The innovative project will use surplus solar and wind energy to power a 500kW electrolyser, splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen molecules.

Through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the Government is providing $7.5 million in funding to Jemena for the trial.

The hydrogen will be injected into Jemena’s existing gas network in small amounts, demonstrating the potential of existing gas networks as a form of carbon-free energy storage.

As the proportion of intermittent generation increases, energy storage is becoming increasingly important to ensure the stability of the electricity grid.

The development of renewable hydrogen production, storage and export facilities at scale would also deliver economic benefits to Australian businesses and communities and provide reliable, affordable and low emissions energy to overseas trading partners.

This technology has been successfully trialled in the United Kingdom and Germany.

This project is an example of how the Government is supporting Australian innovation and opening new markets for businesses.

(This is a press release from the Federal Energy Minister, Angus Taylor)

Building a post-carbon future: California tries to lead — will the world follow?

Last July, California Gov. Jerry Brown announced a “Climate Action Summit” meeting in San Francisco in September 2018, with the direct goal of supporting the Paris climate agreement recently abandoned by President Trump. “No nation or state is doing what they should be doing,” Brown said at the time. “You can’t do too much to sound the alarm because so far the response is not adequate to the challenge.”

California aims for a post-carbon future - will the world follow?

California’s own record  during Brown's tenure is muddled, as I’ve previously noted, but the state could start to change that, according to a new report called “The Sky’s Limit California,” from Oil Change International in collaboration with a broad coalition of environmental justice and consumer groups. California can do this by matching its existing policies to reduce fossil fuel consumption with new policies for “a managed decline of oil extraction” — an approach described in a recent paper as “cutting with both arms of the scissors” — and by providing for a "just transition" for workers and communities who would otherwise suffer, a major moral and political challenge that’s been neglected far too long. 

Read the Saloon story by Paul Rosenberg - “Building a post-carbon future: California tries to lead — will the world follow?”

Super funds shy on backing climate change votes

Super funds remain reluctant to back shareholder motions calling for more transparency from Australian companies on climate change risks, despite supporting similar proposals targeting companies in the US, research suggests.

Australian funds backed a motion targeting Occidental
Petroleum, but many declined to support votes against local companies.

And the research, produced by NGO Market Forces, argues that super funds are also lagging on their own standards of transparency, with many making only limited disclosures about how they voted at company meetings - and some not revealing this information at all.

Market Forces examined the proxy voting records of Australia's 50 biggest super funds to track how they voted on 53 climate change-related shareholder resolutions at company AGMs in Australia and the US.

Such resolutions, which are common in the US and have become more frequently used in Australia, often call on companies to disclose more information about how climate change may impact their operations, and the steps they are taking to respond to its risks. Company boards usually recommend shareholders vote against the resolutions.

Read the story by Ruth Williams from The Age - “Super funds shy on backing climate change votes.”