Leaders of Drax, Siemens and others call for green growth to be a priority and ‘regional disparities’ to be closed
Business leaders in the north of England have written to the prime minister, chancellor and energy secretary asking for help to reach net zero.
Big names including Drax, Siemens, Peel, Manchester airport, the CBI and all 11 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) in the north signed a letter urging the government to prioritise green growth in the north.
Continue reading...UK’s 9.4m cattle produce 14% of human-related emissions, mostly from belching, but green groups remain sceptical
Cows in the UK could be given “methane blockers” to reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gas as part of plans to achieve the country’s climate goals.
Farmers welcomed the proposal, which follows a consultation that began in August on how new types of animal feed product can reduce digestive emissions from the animals.
Continue reading...UK’s 1,000-page plan criticised as doing ‘little to boost energy security, lower bills or meet climate goals’
The UK’s new energy plan unveiled on Thursday is a missed opportunity full of “half-baked, half-hearted” policies that do not go far enough to power Britain’s climate goals, according to green business groups and academics.
The 1,000-page strategy has been criticised by many within Britain’s green sectors who fear the country could surrender its leading role in climate action because of the government’s “business as usual” approach to delivering green investments.
Continue reading...Deal between Labor government and Greens requires total emissions from big industrial sites to come down, not just be offset
Australia’s parliament has passed the country’s most significant emissions reduction legislation in more than a decade after the government won backing from Greens and independent MPs for a plan to deal with pollution from major industrial sites.
After weeks of closed-door negotiation, a deal was brokered between the Labor government and Greens, a minor party with 15 parliamentarians, that included legislating an explicit requirement that total emissions from major industrial facilities must come down, not just be offset.
Continue reading...Commission appointments must be signed off by the governor general. Follow live
Sorry – I am told by a couple of senators that it was “technically” 4.13am.
So expect to see a few bleary-eyed senators in the coffee lines this morning.
Continue reading...Berlin secures concessions over future use of e-fuels after going back on agreement struck last year
EU ministers are expected to approve a draft law on emissions standards for cars on Tuesday, after reaching a deal with Germany over the weekend that ended a damaging row over a key part of Europe’s green deal.
Pascal Canfin, a French centrist MEP who chairs the European parliament’s environment committee, said an EU law that all cars sold from 2035 must produce zero emissions “will be voted unchanged, including by Germany” on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The government is yet to strike a deal that will get its safeguard mechanism bill through the upper house. Follow the day’s politics live
Paul Fletcher won’t answer the question of whether or not he will run again in Bradfield.
He is dancing around this question like he is auditioning for the new Fred Astaire biopic. (Tom Holland has the role, and anyone who has seen his Umbrella dance will know why.)
I continue to consider serving the people of Bradfield to be an enormous privilege and … any rational politician always considers what they’re going to do as you come to the end of each term.
I’ve done that before the end of each past term, but what I can tell you is it’s an honour to serve the people of Bradfield. I continue to be committed to it, energetic in doing, so I spent most of Saturday across a whole range of polling booths engaging with my constituents. I enjoyed it. I found it energising, and I believe that the Liberal party has a very important role in serving the people of Australia and certainly in serving the people of Bradfield and that’s something I’m committed to.
I think the first point is that after three terms and 12 years, inevitably, it becomes harder to win a fourth term.
It’s the nature of our democracy of Australian democracy that the electorate starts to look for alternatives.
Continue reading...Complaint made to ACCC says airline’s claims of net zero by 2050 are not feasible and company intends to increase absolute CO2 emissions
Etihad has been accused of misleading customers through advertising that spruiked its emissions reductions plans, with Australia’s consumer watchdog now considering action against the airline amid its crackdown on greenwashing.
Aviation emissions advocacy group Flight Free Australia alleged in the complaint that two Etihad advertisements that appeared on digital advertising banners during an A-League football match between Melbourne City and Adelaide United at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on 15 February last year were false or misleading.
Continue reading...Calls to tackle rise in SUVs, utes and 4WDs by reducing tax incentives and building narrow lanes and parking spots exclusively for small cars
The surge in popularity of larger vehicles in Australia has been driven by tax perks that incentivise buying SUVs, utes and other 4WDs instead of less-polluting smaller sized cars and sedans, transport experts argue.
SUVs accounted for more than 50% of new vehicles sold in Australia last year, a share which has almost doubled over the past decade. The uptick has prompted calls to tackle the trend by limiting tax incentives, building bus lane-style narrow lanes and more parking spots exclusively for small cars.
Continue reading...Bipartisan approach likely as Senate addresses changes to the rules governing referendums. Follow the day’s news live
Voice negotiations
The referendum machinery legislation will set up how the voice referendum will run – the machinery surruounding the vote, if you will.
We’re negotiating in good faith in the Senate that’s being led by Jane Hume who is doing an outstanding job. What we said to the government in the beginning is what we’re saying to them now and that is that we are not prepared to trash decades of referendum precedent, and not do this in a way that Australians expect us to, in their interests, for their information.
We’re asking for a pamphlet to outline the yes and no case, and we’ve talked about that. We’re asking for equal funding of the yes or no case, not the millions of dollars that may go into a public campaign on either side of this debate, but just the administration funding.
Fifty-seven per cent of the population does not want to open new coal and gas mines and I think there’s a very clear message coming through there. Secondly, no, I have got a lot of time for Jacqui Lambie, but we had an emissions trading scheme in this country and she was part of a party that voted to repeal it so let’s let’s not get too carried away with the spin here.
We’re in a climate crisis, as the UN secretary general has made clear. The decisions that we make now will reverberate for generations to come and the big decisions that we’ve got to make, do we open new coal and gas mines or not?
Continue reading...Majority in teal seats of Mackellar and Goldstein – and Labor’s Moreton and Bennelong – also say industry should not use offsets for emissions
The majority of voters in several metropolitan areas support stopping new coal and gas projects and believe industrial polluters should not be able to use carbon offsets for all their greenhouse gas emissions, according to new polling.
The progressive thinktank the Australia Institute commissioned uComms to poll more than 800 residents in each of two “teal” electorates – Mackellar and Goldstein – and the Labor-held seats of Moreton Bennelong and Sydney.
Continue reading...Heritage and property groups outline plan to boost energy efficiency at historical sites to create jobs, cut emissions and meet net-zero targets
Retrofitting the UK’s historicsl buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create jobs and play a crucial role in achieving climate targets, research has found.
Improving the energy efficiency of historical properties – those built before 1919 – could reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by 5% each year and make older homes warmer and cheaper to run, according to a report commissioned by the National Trust, Historic England and leading property organisations.
Continue reading...Senior civil servants have issued the warning as government is way behind on net zero pledges, according to leaked documents
Cabinet ministers have been warned by senior civil servants that they face court action because of their catastrophic failure to develop policies for tackling climate change, according to secret documents obtained by the Observer.
The leaked briefings from senior mandarins – marked “official sensitive” and dated 20 February this year – make clear the government as a whole is way behind in spelling out how it will reach its net zero targets and comply with legal duties to save the planet.
Continue reading...Data also shows land sector will absorb more carbon than it emits from 2015 despite passage of laws that make land clearing easier
Labor, the Greens and independent politicians have called on the New South Wales government to explain how emissions projections square with its 2050 net zero goal, after its own data showed pollution from coal and gas extending out to mid-century.
The figures, which are contained within the government’s emissions dashboard, also show the land sector growing as a sink for carbon emissions even after the government loosened land clearing laws allowing farmers to remove more vegetation.
Continue reading...Crossbench senator’s support is crucial if government is to introduce planned revamp of safeguard mechanism
Independent senator David Pocock has urged the Albanese government to quickly implement all recommendations from a review of Australia’s carbon credit system, given it wants to introduce a climate policy that relies heavily on offsets.
Pocock’s is a key vote if the government is to introduce a planned revamp of the safeguard mechanism, a scheme that is meant to reduce carbon pollution from 215 big polluting industrial and resources sites.
Continue reading...Popularity of sport utility vehicles driving higher oil demand and climate crisis, say experts
The continued global rise in the sale of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
The 330m sport utility vehicles on the roads produced emissions equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany last year. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world.
Continue reading...Wave of permits for coal-fired power plants sparks concern as ambitions for GDP growth and lowering emissions come into conflict
China’s energy policies are fast creating a type of “emissions ambiguity”, as the twin goals of boosting GDP growth and reducing carbon emissions come into conflict.
The uncertainty is whether and when the world’s biggest carbon emitter will start to curb greenhouse gas pollution. The release of the country’s annual statistics communique on Tuesday did not clear things up.
Continue reading...Hearing into Labor’s changes to the scheme told a 75% reduction in methane was possible using commercially competitive existing technology
Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are “incredibly cheap” to cut and companies could improve their financial position by embracing existing technology to stop carbon leaks, an inquiry into the Albanese government’s climate policy has heard.
A hearing into proposed changes to the safeguard mechanism – a Coalition policy applied to industrial emissions that Labor plans to revamp – was told the International Energy Agency (IEA) had estimated a 75% reduction in methane was possible using commercially competitive existing technology, such as capturing the methane and using it to generate electricity.
Continue reading...Concerns about energy shortages drive increase as projects progress at ‘extraordinary’ speed
China approved the construction of another 106 gigawatts of coal-fired power capacity last year, four times higher than a year earlier and the highest since 2015, research shows.
Over the year, 50GW of coal power capacity went into construction across the country – up by more than half compared with the previous year – driven by energy security considerations, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) said on Monday.
Continue reading...Greens leader says party has already made significant compromises on the safeguard mechanism
Australia’s climate minister, Chris Bowen, has again challenged the Greens to support the government’s reforms to the safeguard mechanism, but flat-out rejected the party’s calls to ban new coal and gas, saying fossil fuels would continue providing one-fifth of Australia’s energy beyond 2030.
However, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, claims the party has already made major compromises by offering to pass Labor’s plan through the Senate, saying the party’s request for no new coal and gas was reasonable if the government wanted to address climate change concerns. It potentially sets up more protracted negotiations or Senate gridlock when parliament returns in March.
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