17 February 2023
Climate politics
‘Vacuous moral purity’: union boss slams Greens’ approach to gas (Australian Financial Review): The Greens are “pound for pound” Australia’s biggest climate wreckers, Australian Workers’ Union boss Dan Walton has said as he defended gas as the primary bridge to a renewables future and vital to keeping local manufacturing alive. A day after the Greens party room said it would not back Labor’s planned heavy emissions reduction policy – the so-called safeguard mechanism – unless it included an overt ban on new fossil fuel projects, Mr Walton said the scheme was vital to guiding the country to a sustainable pathway for net zero by 2050.
Greens’ hard line on Labor emissions plan triggers threat of ‘war’ (Australian Financial Review): The Greens party room has hardened its opposition to Labor’s signature heavy industrial and resources emissions reduction plan, for the first time overtly declaring it must include a specific ban on new fossil fuel projects. While the party says it still has concerns about other parts of the government’s so-called safeguard mechanism reforms including “rampant use of offsets”, the Greens said they were prepared to back the scheme if “Labor agrees to stop opening new coal and gas projects”.
Labor isn’t rising to the climate occasion – their own projections prove it (Renew Economy): In just a few months we’ll be one full year into the tenure of the new federal Labor government. The general feeling about Australia’s climate policies and philosophy from around the world is that the ‘adults are back in charge’ – the bumbling, delaying, denialist, coal-waving dinosaurs of the Coalition government are history. Due to the long lag in emissions data, it will still be quite some time until we get a good picture of how climate-causing pollution actually changes under eventually implemented policies of the government. Possibly not even until just before the next election. What we can do now is get: (a) a good, evidence-based feel for how big the task is, and (b) at least a vague idea of whether existing policy is up to that task.
‘Expensive interventions’ are distorting the EV market: (Australian Financial Review): Labor has been warned by the government’s independent economic think tank to temper its electric vehicle policy ambitions by avoiding “unnecessarily expensive” interventions and subsidies that seek to “force the transition”, as welfare groups said poorer households were at risk of being left behind. In a blunt submission released this week by the government without fanfare, the Productivity Commission argues that most of the world’s biggest carmakers will have “mainstreamed” EV production, potentially to 100 per cent, by 2035.
Carbon markets
Carbon-cutting start-up woos international partner (Australian Financial Review): Home-grown carbon reduction outfit MCi Carbon has signed up Austria’s RHI Magnesita as its first commercial customer in a move that further cements links between the two nations on technologies that will underpin the journey towards net zero emissions. London-listed RHI Magnesita, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of refractory materials used in high-temperature equipment such as furnaces and kilns, has also made a multimillion-dollar investment into the technology developed by Canberra-based MCi Carbon.
Carbon market confusion as offsets take another hit (Renew Economy): The Climate Council has called for the federal government to push to pause on new coal and gas projects as debate intensifies over Labor’s proposed safeguard mechanism reforms and as the credibility of carbon offset schemes is once again cast into doubt. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Climate Council proposes approvals for new fossil fuel projects be put on hold until a beefed up Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act can properly assess new polluting projects.
Green projects and initiatives
Neoen gets transmission go-ahead for first stage of country’s biggest renewable zone (Renew Economy): Neoen has won approval from South Australian energy bureaucrats for a 33km long transmission line it must build to get power from what will be the country’s biggest renewable energy zone. Months after signing a deal to initially connect 209 megawatt (MW) of the first 412 MW wind stage of the Goyder South project, the state’s Essential Services Commission exempted Neoen from holding a licence for the transmission line. Normally companies building transmission lines need to get a licence to operate, but the rule does not apply to Neoen because its 33km, 275kV transmission line will be used solely to connect the separate wind generation facilities to ElectraNet’s Robertstown substation and not send power to customers.
‘Overnight’ solar power project wins $65m funding (Australian Financial Review): Solar tech pioneer Vast Solar is targeting climate tech venture capital firms among potential investors in its proposed $203 million project in South Australia, after securing a $65 million government grant for a project that aims to provide solar power after dark. The funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, announced on Monday, will support the construction of a 30 megawatt concentrated solar plant with 12 hours of storage at full power in Port Augusta, which is set to be the first utility-scale plant using Vast Solar’s technology.
Solar thermal technology gets another chance at Port Augusta with big ARENA grant (Renew Economy): The solar thermal industry will get another crack at proving its technology at commercial scale in Australia after the Australian Renewable Energy Agency approved $65 million in funds to Vast Solar’s “first-of-its-kind” concentrated solar power project in Port Augusta. The 30MW/288MWh project is located on the same piece of land is the ill-fated Aurora project that collapsed several years ago, after US-based SolarReserve was unable to gain enough funds for its 150MW, eight hour project, despite a $100 million grant promised by the federal government.
Heavy-duty electric trucks take to the road for Queensland trial (WA Today): Two heavy-duty electric trucks will roll out on Queensland roads in the latest test of zero-emission transport in Australia. Volvo will deploy two of its biggest battery-powered vehicles in the trial, including a prime mover semitrailer and a mid-body truck designed to collect rubbish.
Fortescue reveals “major” green metals breakthrough in Western Australia (Renew Economy): Fortescue Future Industries has claimed a “major breakthrough” in green iron production, after reporting that “sizable volumes” of zero-carbon metallics were produced by the company in Western Australia this week. FFI CEO Mark Hutchinson announced the breakthrough at the half-year results call for Fortsecue Metals Group on Wednesday, saying it had been achieved just this week.
Australian researchers develop low cost method to produce hydrogen from seawater (Renew Economy): Researchers from RMIT University say they have developed a cheaper method of making hydrogen directly from seawater that erases the need for costly and energy intensive desalination and avoids draining precious freshwater reserves. “We know hydrogen has immense potential as a clean energy source, particularly for the many industries that can’t easily switch over to be powered by renewables,” said Dr Nasir Mahmood, a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow at RMIT and lead researcher.
Corporate social responsibility
Not-Zero: Report finds rampant greenwashing among richest global corporations (Renew Economy): A new report has concluded that 24 of the world’s richest companies are hiding climate inaction behind a veil of greenwashing, while they rake in a combined revenue of over $4.5 trillion and contribute 4% of global emissions. The 2023 edition of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor – a joint initiative from the NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch (CMW) – alleges that the 24 major companies it assessed in the report have failed to act to achieve significant emissions reductions.
Groundwater concerns grow as Glencore pushes ahead with plan to store waste CO2 in Great Artesian Basin (ABC News): Coal giant Glencore's carbon capture and storage project was once enthusiastically supported by the previous Morrison Liberal government, and has received millions of dollars in public funding. But now serious questions are being asked about where this waste carbon dioxide is to be permanently held. Glencore has long claimed an aquifer in the Great Artesian Basin where it plans to store the captured CO2 is "saline" and "unsuitable" for agriculture but now an alliance of major agriculture producers claim Glencore's own water samples show this is misleading, and valuable groundwater is at risk.
CSIRO under fire over 'nonsense' report on fracking offsets for Beetaloo Basin greenhouse gas emissions (ABC News): The CSIRO is defending a report on the prospect of offsetting massive new greenhouse gas emissions from developing the Beetaloo Basin, in the face of calls for the findings to be reviewed or thrown out. The report, which was published on Friday, found it would be technically possible to offset emissions from developing the basin south-east of Darwin, but only if a number of challenges were overcome. In the meantime, the Northern Territory government is preparing to announce whether it will allow full-scale fracking to go ahead and has promised all domestic emissions from the basin will be offset if it does.
Woodside HQ graffitied over Burrup Hub plans (WA Today): WA Police have converged on Woodside’s headquarters after a lone protester branded the entire base of the building with graffiti in opposition to its $50 billion mega-project on the Burrup Peninsula. At about 9.30am on Monday Perth musician and Disrupt Burrup Hub protester Trent Rojahn used a fire extinguisher to spray messages in yellow paint across the glass base of the 32-storey building on Mount Street. He sprayed “Disrupt Burrup Hub”, “f--k Woodside” and “Six billion tonnes [of CO2]“, references to Woodside’s plans to expand its LNG operations in the Pilbara.
Other matters of interest
Australia’s hopes of becoming clean energy superpower threatened by Biden’s IRA (Renew Economy): The Clean Energy Council has warned that US President Joe Biden’s massive renewables spend is diverting investment away from Australia, and damaging its prospects of becoming a renewable superpower. The US recently introduced the Inflation Reduction Act, a package of policies and incentives targeting US$369 billion (AUD $520 billion) of clean energy and climate change initiatives. That might seem a positive step – and it certainly is for the global climate crisis – but Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton says Australia faces losing thousands of jobs and international investment to the US.
High court charged with deciding if Victoria has the power to tax electric vehicles (Guardian): Victorians will find out whether they must continue paying tax on electric vehicles under a case that could change how states raise revenue. Kath Davies and Chris Vanderstock have taken the tax all the way to the high court, arguing it’s unconstitutional. The pair say a tax on electric vehicles is not only counterintuitive for their take-up, but an overreach in an area where only the commonwealth can impose an excise.
“No time to waste:” Networks warn of delays for EVs, rooftop solar and batteries (Renew Economy): Network operators have warned that the proposed introduction of emissions reductions into the National Electricity Objective of Australia’s main grid may be useless for up to a decade unless regulators also act immediately to change the market rules. “There is no time to waste,” says Renate Vogt, the head of regulation for CitiPower and Powercor, which operate networks in and around Melbourne and in regional Victoria.