Category Archives: Energy

Just 10% of fossil fuel subsidy cash ‘could pay for green transition’

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Redirecting small portion of subsidies would unleash clean energy revolution, says report

Switching just some of the huge subsidies supporting fossil fuels to renewables would unleash a runaway clean energy revolution, according to a new report, significantly cutting the carbon emissions that are driving the climate crisis.

Coal, oil and gas get more than $370bn (£305bn) a year in support, compared with $100bn for renewables, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) report found. Just 10-30% of the fossil fuel subsidies would pay for a global transition to clean energy, the IISD said.

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Government refers Crown allegations to integrity commission – politics live

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Attorney general responds to crossbench calls for inquiry. All the day’s events, live

Siri: what is the definition of “a punish”?

David Gillespie saddles the despatch box, and therefore us, with Michael McCormack, which gives me the permission I needed to go make a cup of tea.

“All politics is local, as it should be,” says Sliced White.

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Angus Taylor says unnamed Yass farmer, not his family, spurred grassland meetings

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Minister tells parliament he requested briefings because of constituents’ concerns, not family business interests

A conversation with an unnamed Yass farmer, not the interests of his farming family, had spurred the minister for energy, Angus Taylor, to seek briefings from the environment department about a listing to protect native grasslands, he told parliament on Monday.

In a personal explanation to the House of Representatives, Taylor sought to deflect further questions and a possible Senate inquiry into meetings he had with bureaucrats on the grasslands laws in 2017.

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Angus Taylor remains in Labor’s sights over grasslands and power prices

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Push to set up Senate inquiry takes a step forward, as Coalition faces questions on why energy prices keep rising

Labor will continue to target the energy minister, Angus Taylor, as the government’s weak link, citing power price rises since 2015 and renewing its push to set up a Senate inquiry into his meetings with the environment department over endangered grasslands.

On Sunday the mooted inquiry took a step forward with Rex Patrick reversing Centre Alliance’s position and pledging to support the move, although Labor and the Greens still need Cory Bernardi or One Nation’s votes to succeed.

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Repealing medevac would be ‘a wicked thing’, Centre Alliance says – politics live

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Rebekha Sharkie says if the government is successful in repealing the legislation it will cause ‘needless harm’

On the ensuring integrity bill, Rex Patrick says there are political elements to the bill it can’t support:

The aim was to deal with misconduct and there is no question that has been in the union movement.

I have seen the fairly significant sheet of judicial rulings against some of the unions and in some instances we have some very conservative, considered judicial officers stating things like this union is simply using the fines, treating the fines as the cost of business.

Rex Patrick is speaking to Patricia Karvelas on Afternoon Briefing and says while Centre Alliance supports the intent of the temporary exclusion order bill, it will abstain from voting for it, because it can’t support it in its current form.

Labor will be passing it, although it has raised its own concerns.

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Angus Taylor pursued by Labor over rising emissions and grassland meetings

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In a combative question time the energy minister suggests the Coalition has an ‘open mind’ on nuclear power

Angus Taylor has flagged the Morrison government has an “open mind” about pursuing nuclear power during a combative question time where the energy minister was pursued about rising emissions and his meetings with officials about the protection of grassland in the south-eastern highlands.

Taylor, who is the minister for energy and emissions reduction, was asked repeatedly by Labor on Tuesday whether emissions had risen in recent years, whether he supported calls by government backbenchers to establish a nuclear industry, and whether he had declared any relevant conflicts when meeting departmental officials.

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‘Just a matter of when’: the $20bn plan to power Singapore with Australian solar

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Ambitious export plan could generate billions and make Australia the centre of low-cost energy in a future zero-carbon world

The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep in the Northern Territory, is not the most obvious place to build and transmit Singapore’s future electricity supply. Though few in the southern states are yet to take notice, a group of Australian developers are betting that will change.

If they are right, it could have far-reaching consequences for Australia’s energy industry and what the country sells to the world.

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Kenya’s first coal plant construction paused in climate victory

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Owners failed to assess environmental and community concerns, court rules, while US ambassador wades into debate in support of coal power

Kenya has been urged to halt construction of the country’s first ever coal-powered plant near the coastal town of Lamu, until an assessment is made of its environmental and cultural impact, in the latest setback to the $2bn project (£1.6bn).

Plans for the 981MW station, backed by a Chinese-led consortium, are in limbo after Kenyan judges revoked the environmental licence at the end of June. They ruled the authorities had failed to carry out a rigorous environmental assessment and to inform local people of potential impacts.

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Ban government investment in fossil fuels, urges cross-party group of MPs

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UK aid projects ‘actively undermine’ efforts to tackle climate crisis, MPs and campaign groups warn

A cross-party group of MPs, backed by campaign groups, has called for an immediate ban on all investment in fossil fuels and for all UK aid to be “nature positive”.

The 28 MPs, led by Tory Zac Goldsmith and Labour’s Kerry McCarthy, with support from Amnesty International, WWF and other organisations, criticised the UK for “actively undermining” its own investment in tackling the climate emergency by continuing to fund fossil fuels through aid and export finance.

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‘Biggest compliment yet’: Greta Thunberg welcomes oil chief’s ‘greatest threat’ label

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Activists say comments by Opec head prove world opinion is turning against fossil fuels

Greta Thunberg and other climate activists have said it is a badge of honour that the head of the world’s most powerful oil cartel believes their campaign may be the “greatest threat” to the fossil fuel industry.

The criticism of striking students by the trillion-dollar Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) highlights the growing reputational concerns of oil companies as public protests intensify along with extreme weather.

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Lord of the Rain: one man’s fight against climate catastrophe – video

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Doyte lives in South Omo, Ethiopia, one of the most remote areas in the world and hard hit by the climate crisis. As Lord of the Rain, it’s Doyte’s job to summon the rains, but for five years they haven’t come. Ethiopia’s economy is booming, fuelled by green power and climate-resilient policies. But neither the government, nor Doyte, can reverse the catastrophic change that’s devastating their environment

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Iran says progress made in nuclear talks is still not enough

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Expectations are not being met in discussions with world powers, claims Iranian envoy

Iran said some progress had been made at a meeting with world powers on its nuclear accord – but probably “still not enough” to keep the landmark 2015 deal alive.

“It was a step forward, but it is still not enough and not meeting Iran’s expectations,” said Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, after the talks on Friday. “I don’t think the progress made today will be enough to stop our process – but the decision will be made in Tehran.”

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Iran to break uranium stockpile limit set by nuclear deal

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Atomic agency chief says limit will be breached in 10 days and enrichment could be up to 20%

Tehran has sped up the countdown to its breaching the nuclear deal, announcing it will break the uranium stockpile limit set in the deal in the next 10 days.

The country’s atomic agency also said Tehran could from 7 July start the process of enriching uranium up to 20%, closer to weapons-grade levels.

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Nothing new in Coalition’s nuclear awakening. No wait, perhaps there is

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Could this be the catalyst for the Coalition of 2019 to reconnect itself with the position it adopted in 2007 for sound reasons?

Fair warning before we kick off this weekend. Increasingly, I’m reaching that stage of my professional life where I can be heard muttering, and sometimes shouting, I’m too bloody old for this.

My long-suffering colleagues in the Canberra bureau of Guardian Australia have absorbed bouts of muttering and shouting over the past few weeks as various Nationals and some Liberals have lined up post-election to support a new inquiry into nuclear energy, as if this might be a light bulb moment.

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Energy industry’s carbon emissions rise at fastest rate in nearly a decade

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BP report reveals that swings in global temperatures are increasing the use of fossil fuels

Carbon emissions from the global energy industry rose by the fastest rate in almost a decade in 2018 after surprise swings in global temperatures stoked extra demand for fossil fuels.

BP’s annual global energy report revealed for the first time that fluctuating temperatures are increasing the world’s use of fossil fuels in spite of efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

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Coalition unlikely to get full tax cut package passed, key crossbencher says

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Centre Alliance demands gas export controls, fearing any tax cut will go into the ‘pockets of overseas energy companies’

The Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff says it is “most unlikely” the Coalition will be able to pass its full income tax cut package in the first week of July when parliament returns, and has joined Labor’s call for the government to split the legislation.

Griff, who is one of two key crossbench senators in negotiations with the government over the $158bn tax cut package, said he was waiting for a response from Treasury and the Coalition after the party outlined its demands on energy policy.

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Queensland Coalition MPs push for inquiry to lift Australia’s nuclear power ban

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Keith Pitt and James McGrath behind move, saying ‘we have to be able to investigate all options’

A group of Queensland Liberal National party MPs reportedly want parliament to consider the feasibility of nuclear power in Australia.

The energy source is banned as a source of power but several Coalition MPs will put forward a motion in the Senate to create a committee to investigate using nuclear power in the energy mix.

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Australia to achieve 50% renewables by 2030 without government intervention, analysis finds

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RepuTex modelling suggests surge in state schemes and rooftop solar will reduce wholesale prices, making gas- and coal-fired power less competitive

Australia is on track to achieve 50% renewable electricity by 2030 even without new federal energy policies, according to modelling by the energy analysts RepuTex.

The analysis, to be released on Wednesday, suggests that a surge in renewable energy driven by state schemes and rooftop solar installations will reduce wholesale prices from $85 per MWh to $70 over the next three years.

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Josh Frydenberg: low-emissions future is inevitable and a huge opportunity

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Treasurer signals new infrastructure for renewable zones, and says Coalition will pursue climate policy it took to the election

Josh Frydenberg says Australia needs to roll out new infrastructure in the coming term of government to support renewable energy zones, and has declared that the “inevitable” transition to low-emissions sources creates an opportunity for the country.

In his first wide-ranging interview since holding his Victorian seat last weekend, where he was subjected to a concerted campaign from the Greens and the climate-focused independent Oliver Yates, Frydenberg told Guardian Australia the Coalition would implement the $3.5bn climate policy it took to the election rather than pursue a reboot.

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Empty North Sea gas fields to be used to bury 10m tonnes of C02

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Ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Ghent to pipe greenhouse gas into vast under-sea cavities

Three of the largest ports in Europe – Rotterdam, Antwerp and Ghent – are to be used to capture and bury 10m tonnes of CO2 emissions under the North Sea in what will be the biggest project of its kind in the world.

The ports, which account for one-third of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg region, would be used to pipe the gas into a porous reservoir of sandstone about two miles (3km) below the seabed.

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