Category Archives: Climate crisis

Australia news live: fourth covid vaccine dose to be offered from 11 July; NSW rain and flood risk move north

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In his speech, Jason Clare also lamented the fact that although the target of 40% of people aged 25 to 34 having bachelor degrees had been achieved, a separate target for 20% of enrolments to be from people from low socioeconomic backgrounds had not.

Instead, it had “barely moved” from 15%, from when the target was set in 2008. Indigenous enrolment was less than 10%.

I don’t want us to be a country where your chances in life depend on your postcode, your parents, or the colour of your skin. None of us want that. But that’s where we are today. I am not naive, I know this is hard to shift.

And that, at its core, is what the Australian Universities accord will be about: a reset. And an opportunity to build a long-term plan for our universities, together. Drawing on the advice of the leadership in this room, your staff, unions, business, students, parents and all political parties.

Looking at everything from funding and access to affordability, transparency, regulation, employment conditions and also how universities and TAFEs and other higher education and vocational education providers and training institutions work together.

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Global dismay as supreme court ruling leaves Biden’s climate policy in tatters

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Biden’s election was billed as heralding a ‘climate presidency’ but congressional and judicial roadblocks mean he has little to show

Joe Biden’s election triggered a global surge in optimism that the climate crisis would, finally, be decisively confronted. But the US supreme court’s decision last week to curtail America’s ability to cut planet-heating emissions has proved the latest blow to a faltering effort by Biden on climate that is now in danger of becoming largely moribund.

The supreme court’s ruling that the US government could not use its existing powers to phase out coal-fired power generation without “clear congressional authorization” quickly ricocheted around the world among those now accustomed to looking on in dismay at America’s seemingly endless stumbles in addressing global heating.

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Snow at one of world’s highest observatories melting earlier than ever before

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Peak at Sonnblick in Austrian Alps has melted more than a month before previous record time

The snow at the highest observatory in the world to be operated all-year-round is expected to completely melt in the next few days, the earliest time on record.

Scientists at the Sonnblick observatory in the Austrian Central Alps, which is 3,106 metres (10,190ft) above sea level, have been shocked and dismayed to see the snow depleting so quickly.

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NSW floods: Sydney braces for two more days of flooding as state smashed by rain and wind

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SES perform 252 flood rescues overnight and thousands urged to evacuate as threat of inundation remains in Hawkesbury and Nepean

The New South Wales State Emergency Service reported more than 5,300 requests for assistance on Monday night, including 252 flood rescues, mainly of drivers stuck in cars and residents needing to be relocated.

The wild weather continued in NSW through the night, with heavy rain and strong winds lashing the state.

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‘Industrial revolution’: Australia’s decarbonisation needs rigorous management, thinktank warns

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Grattan Institute paper recommends allowing trading of carbon credits and a firm limit on emissions for country’s largest polluters

Australia’s biggest polluters need a rigorous emissions reduction regime that avoids exemptions for trade-exposed industries, according to the Grattan Institute, which says decarbonising Australian industry is an “Industrial Revolution against a deadline”.

In a new policy paper released on Monday, Tony Wood, the paper’s lead author, says that the “next Industrial Revolution” for the sector will require the government to implement a range of policies to work towards the net zero by 2050 target while avoiding political opposition and social friction.

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Environmentalists condemn Biden administration’s offshore drilling plan

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Policy would ban new ocean drilling but allow up to 11 lease sales in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast

Joe Biden’s administration on Friday unveiled a five-year offshore oil and gas drilling development plan that blocks all new drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans within US territorial waters while allowing some lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast.

The plan, which has not been finalized, could allow up to 11 lease sales but gives the interior department the right to make none. It comes two days after the US supreme court curbed the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to the climate crisis.

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Australian company secures $700,000 deal for carbon capture and storage machine

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AspiraDAC device can remove two tonnes of CO2 a year and store it underground using direct air capture technology

A solar-powered and tent-sized Australian prototype machine that can suck CO2 from the air has secured a $700,000 contract to capture and store carbon.

The deal, part of a project backed by corporates including the owners of Google and Facebook, is thought to be the first time an Australian company has secured a deal to remove CO2 using direct air capture (DAC) technology.

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Western Australia’s EPA urges 50-year extension of country’s most polluting gas project

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Woodside’s North West Shelf gas development would release more than eight times Australia’s annual emissions if it continues to operate until 2070

Western Australian authorities have recommended a 50-year extension of the country’s biggest polluting fossil fuel development, sparking condemnation from climate campaigners who warned it could add more than 4bn tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

The WA Environment Protection Authority (EPA) advised the state government it should give the greenlight to oil and gas giant Woodside Energy to run its North West Shelf gas development in the Pilbara until 2070.

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Brand new bang: Lake Tahoe resort scraps July 4 fireworks for drones

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Pyrotechnic displays pose a heightened fire risk in a time of intense drought and cause distress to wild animals

Lake Tahoe’s north shore is breaking with tradition and will replace its Fourth of July fireworks celebration with a colorful light display of an entirely different nature.

The tourist town on the Nevada side of the storied lake will offer a night-time drone light show, a display officials at the Incline Village Crystal Bay visitors bureau said carries less danger in a parched landscape primed to burn.

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US supreme court hobbles government power to limit harmful emissions

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Court sides with Republican states as ruling represents landmark moment in rightwing effort to dismantle ‘regulatory state’

The US supreme court has sided with Republican-led states to in effect hobble the federal government’s ability to tackle the climate crisis, in a ruling that will have profound implications for the government’s overall regulatory power.

In a 6-3 decision that will seriously hinder America’s ability to stave off disastrous global heating, the supreme court, which became dominated by rightwing justices under the Trump administration, has opted to support a case brought by West Virginia that demands the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be limited in how it regulates planet-heating gases from the energy sector.

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Former Australian chief scientist to head review of carbon credit scheme after whistleblower revelations

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Climate change minister to announce Prof Ian Chubb will lead six-month probe of scheme labelled ‘largely a sham’ by one expert

The former Australian chief scientist and senior academic, Prof Ian Chubb, has been appointed to head a thorough review of Australia’s carbon credit scheme as experts escalate calls for a complete overhaul of the system.

Chris Bowen, the climate change minister, will announce on Friday that Chubb, a neuroscientist and former vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, will lead the six-month review of the scheme, after a respected whistleblower described it as a fraud and waste of taxpayer money.

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Nation records 60 Covid deaths as SA reports first monkeypox case – as it happened

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Nation records 60 Covid deaths; SA records first monkeypox case; Anthony Albanese meets Justin Trudeau at Nato summit. This blog is now closed

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has renewed his calls for China to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “has made a strategic mistake because what his actions have done is unite the democratic world”.

Albanese – who has been in Madrid for a Nato summit – spoke to reporters yesterday after having a meeting on the sidelines with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

There we discussed the important focus of this Nato’s summit on the Asia-Pacific region. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has solidified the support amongst democratic countries for the rules-based international order and a determination to continue to provide support to the government and the people of Ukraine who are suffering as a result of this breach of international law and this brutal invasion by Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Vladimir Putin has made a strategic mistake because what his actions have done is unite the democratic world and provide a real determination to make sure that the resilience being shown by the Ukrainian people is backed up by resilience and support from democratic countries, including Nato, but also countries throughout the world.

Well, what we saw is prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we saw a without-limits partnership between Russia and China. We’ve seen a failure of China to condemn any of the Russian aggression that has occurred against Ukraine. China must look at what is happening and look at the resolve that is there from throughout the world and should be condemning Russia’s actions.

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Government policy failures are obstacle to UK net zero target, advisers warn

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Progress report from the Climate Change Committee suggests ministers could renege on greenhouse gas emissions commitment

The government is failing to enact the policies needed to reach the UK’s net zero targets, its statutory advisers have said, in a damning progress report to parliament.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) voiced fears that ministers may renege on the legally binding commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, noting “major policy failures” and “scant evidence of delivery”.

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Olaf Scholz says world must ‘avoid Putin’s trap’ and claims of discord

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German chancellor argues there is more unity in the west and support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said the world is more unified in its support for Ukraine than Russia suggests, as the war dominated a G7 meeting also tasked with crises in food supply, the climate emergency and a breakdown in global order.

“We must not walk into the trap Putin sets of asserting that the world is divided into the global west – the G7 and its friends in the north – and all the rest. That’s not true,” Scholz told Germany’s ZDF television.

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‘Get a real job’: NSW deputy premier lashes out at Blockade Australia protesters

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Ten arrested as direct action group starts week of ‘disruption’ to ‘resist climate destruction’ as NSW police pledge crackdown

The New South Wales deputy premier has told climate change protesters to “go and get a real job” after police made 10 arrests across Sydney.

Blockade Australia protesters were among a group of 50 to 60 activists who converged on Hyde Park about 8am on Monday, before marching towards the harbour, chanting, playing drums, with some pulling down signs, dragging wheelie bins onto the road and blocking intersections.

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Japanese told to turn off lights to save energy amid Tokyo heatwave

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Extreme temperatures forecast for capital this week after premature end to rainy season

Japan’s government has warned tens of millions of people in the Tokyo region to save energy or face power cuts, as the capital battles record June temperatures after a premature end to the rainy season.

Temperatures of 35C (95 degrees Fahrenheit) were forecast in the city throughout the day, with similarly extreme weather expected for the rest of the week, according to the Japanese meteorological agency.

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Thousands protest against G7 in Munich as leaders gather for summit

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Demands include end to fossil fuels, preservation of biodiversity and greater social justice

About 3,500 protesters have gathered in Munich as the G7 group of leading economic powers prepare to hold their annual gathering in the Bavarian Alps in Germany, which holds the rotating presidency this year.

Police said earlier that they were expecting a crowd of about 20,000, but initially fewer people showed up for the main protest, which started at midday on Saturday, the German news agency dpa reported.

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Energy treaty update fails to address climate crisis, activists say

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1994 agreement allows investors to sue governments for changes in energy policy that harm their profits

Climate activists have said a deal to update a “dangerous” energy treaty has failed to make the agreement compatible with the urgency of the climate crisis.

After more than four years of talks, 52 countries and the EU on Friday struck a deal to “modernise” the energy charter treaty, a 1994 agreement that allows investors to sue governments for changes in energy policy that harm their profits.

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Foetus fronts legal challenge over emissions in South Korea

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Lawyers representing 20-week-old foetus allege state is breaching rights of future generations

A 20-week-old foetus is fronting a legal challenge in South Korea that argues the state is breaching the rights of future generations by not doing enough to cut national emissions.

Parents and lawyers representing the foetus, as well as 61 babies and children under 11, claim national carbon targets do not go far enough to stop runaway climate change and that this is unconstitutional.

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California’s largest reservoirs at critically low levels – signaling a dry summer ahead

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Images from Lake Oroville and Lake Shasta compiled by the state show ‘a shocking drop in water levels’ compared to years past

California’s two largest reservoirs are at critically low levels, signaling that the state, like much of the US west, can expect a searing, dry summer ahead.

This week, officials confirmed that Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir, was at just 55% of its total capacity when it reached its highest level for the year last month. Meanwhile, Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir, was at 40% capacity last month – after the state endured its driest start to a year since the late 19th century.

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