The Week That Was - April 25 2013

This week the power companies tell the Opposition to rethink direct action, we are told renewable investment can triple, it has been the hottest century since, forever, but US emissions are down...

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“Let me begin with three simple statements. We agree on the science of climate change, we agree on the targets to reduce emissions and we agree on using markets as the best mechanism.”
- Greg Hunt, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage

Power companies have asked the federal opposition to rethink its direct action plan for reducing carbon emissions, warning its company baseline approach could be more difficult to operate than Labor's Emissions Trading Scheme.

Which is interesting, because Greg Hunt says Australia will “easily meet” the 2020 target (of reducing emissions by 5 per cent on 2000 levels) and a Coalition government may strengthen that target in 2015. 

Meantime, the Climate Change authority will be the second major review of the Renewable Energy Target and caps, as of now. The current three-year fixed-price phase of the carbon pricing mechanism is scheduled to end in July 2015.

While we are still the MP land – this piece on The Conversation is interesting reading - encouraging you to ask your MP the tough questions, it is just the right time to do it. Maybe start with some clarification on Mr Abbott’s pledge to win global commitment to climate action at the G4 meeting. Nice one.

Which would be just in time, according to the President of the Pacific nation of Kiribati who says his country has to plan for the eventuality that rising sea levels may render it uninhabitable. The good news is that according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), emissions from the United States of America are down. 

Still in the US, top industry groups and a dozen states have asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision upholding the Obama administration's plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions generated by power plants and vehicles. At the same time, new test results are providing further evidence that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and Earth's surface temperature are inextricably linked.

In the meantime a Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a report estimated in November 2011 and means renewables would account for half of all generation capacity by 2030.  A co-operative formed in 2009 called the Earthworker is talking to the state and federal governments for funding to get a project to build a solar hot water system factory in the Latrobe Valley - up and running.

Which is good news to offset the startling news that warming over the 20th century produced the hottest global average temperatures in 1400 years, a major scientific research project has found.

And allow me to go into science land, just for a second … there is news on the hockey stick, dare I mention it and here is a link to a very long talk by Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, a good update on the latest in climate science. It’s long, and starts at 25.20 mins but it’s for those who are keen.

Here, Australia’s National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) provides yet more information on how climate change will constrict agriculture, well growing food really. And back on The Conversation - a sobering message on the consequences of human activities on our environment.

Google Director of Global Infrastructure Gary Demasi has just put forth a plan that could really blow up the domestic renewable energy market. The idea is to establish a special renewable energy tariff for customers that request it. And most of you will have heard – but here is Fran Kelly talking to the author of a review of the literature about the health impacts caused by air pollution due to burning coal for electricity production. The message is pretty clear.

See you next week!