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Safe Climate Newsletter 19: Mailed January 2014
Hello
Here’s the December / January safe climate newsletter.
Regards Andrew
www.feedbackreigns.net
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Contents
Safe Climate Newsletter 19: Mailed January 2014 ................................................ 1
Contents .................................................................................................................. 1
International ............................................................................................................ 2
3.1
US-China agreement on Emissions & Clean Energy ...................................... 2
3.2
Obama's potential successors & climate change ............................................. 3
3.3
Chinese coal demand fell in 2014 while economy grew ................................. 3
3.4
World Bank: Use oil crash to slash subsidies ................................................. 3
3.5
Major UK parties support low carbon economy ............................................. 3
Technical ................................................................................................................ 3
4.1
A saving in switching from gas to electric heating ......................................... 3
4.2
Pumped hydro: the forgotten storage solution ................................................ 4
4.3
Plane fuel from food waste.............................................................................. 4
4.4
Water self-sufficiency for a Sydney house ..................................................... 4
4.5
Europe set records for wind power ................................................................. 5
4.6
World’s largest solar plant: Scale on par with fossil fuel plants ..................... 5
4.7
Urban Farms Foods: Grown in doors .............................................................. 5
4.8
World first: Operational wave energy project ................................................. 5
Heat Records........................................................................................................... 5
5.1
Globally 2014 the hottest year on record by far .............................................. 5
5.2
Spring 2014 Australia’s hottest on record, beating 2013 ................................ 6
5.3
Australia sweats through hot spring ................................................................ 6
5.4
Tropics moving south to Sydney..................................................................... 6
Climate change ....................................................................................................... 6
6.1
A problem with reducing emissions ................................................................ 6
6.2
Oil price crash is good news for climate, and clean energy ............................ 7
6.3
Climate action is insurance against climate damage ....................................... 7
6.4
Lightening ....................................................................................................... 7
6.5
Most of fossil fuel needs to stay in the ground ............................................... 8
Australia.................................................................................................................. 8
7.1
Australia now has a carbon trading scheme? .................................................. 8
7.2
Federal Liberals avoid using term “climate change” ...................................... 8
7.3
Fines for dumping fracking water into Newcastle sewer ................................ 8
7.4
Export Victorian brown coal ........................................................................... 9
7.5
Queensland Subsidy for Adani coal railway ................................................... 9
7.6
Australian funding to UN Environment Program cut 80% ............................. 9
7.7
Mildura Solar Farm Suspended: RET Uncertainty ......................................... 9
7.8
ABC Cuts ...................................................................................................... 10
7.9
Great Barrier Reef at risk .............................................................................. 10
8
Victoria ................................................................................................................. 10
8.1
Sate government subsidising expansion of gas network ............................... 10
8.2
Victorian Government Brought Down by Population Growth ..................... 10
8.3
Victoria possibly a new era for renewable energy ........................................ 10
9 Lima ...................................................................................................................... 11
9.1
Lima Documents: Goal to end fossil fuels by 2050 ...................................... 11
9.2
Outcome of Lima: Phasing out fossil fuels ................................................... 11
9.3
Lima: what on earth is Australia doing here? ............................................... 11
9.4
Why is Bishop calling for legally binding targets ......................................... 12
10
Climate investment ........................................................................................... 12
10.1 NAB climate bond doubles in five hours ...................................................... 12
10.2 Glasgow University Divestment ................................................................... 12
10.3 Rockefellers to switch investments to clean energy...................................... 12
10.4 The strengthening economic case for fossil fuel divestment ........................ 13
10.5 World bank to focus future investment on clean energy ............................... 13
11
About this newsletter ........................................................................................ 13
11.1 How to get this monthly newsletter............................................................... 13
11.2 Unsubscribe from this newsletter .................................................................. 13
11.3 Privacy and Security...................................................................................... 13
11.4 Origin of the Newsletter ................................................................................ 13
11.5 Some of these newsletter are on the web ...................................................... 14
11.6 Compiler of the newsletter ............................................................................ 14
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3.1
International
US-China agreement on Emissions & Clean Energy
In the emissions agreement between the US and China:
 The US agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to26 – 28% below 2005 levels
by 2025, a doubling of its previous commitment.
 China agreed to cap its emissions by 2030 or earlier. China has never capped
its emissions before.
 China agreed to increase its renewable energy to 20% of the total. This will
require China to add 800-1,000 gigawatts of nuclear, wind, solar and other
zero-emission generation capacity by 2030. This is more than all the coalfired power plants that exist in China today. It is close to total current
electricity generation capacity in the United States. This enormous investment
in renewable capacity will drive further cost reductions in renewable energy.
The agreement could lead to A$ 4.5 trillion loss in revenue for oil and gas over the
next 15 years.
For Australia to match the US goals, Australia would have to set a 30% emissions
reduction by 2025 compared to the current 5% of 2000 levels as by 2020.
http://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/71f3f7b275c20f57fa2b193ec25c3242.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/12/china-and-us-make-carbonpledge
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/nov/18/turbulent-week-forglobal-climate-policy-leaves-many-questions
3.2
Obama's potential successors & climate change
The potential 2016 presidential candidates fall along a spectrum on the issue, from flat
denialism to a sense of urgency that rivals the current president’s. Here’s a roundup of
where they stand
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/12/where-obamas-potentialsuccessors-stand-on-climate-change
3.3
Chinese coal demand fell in 2014 while economy grew
Coal demand in China dropped by around 2.3% in the first eleven months of 2014
compared to the same period in 2013, government figures show. ... China’s economy
and production of electricity continued to grow.
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/01/07/chinese-coal-demand-fell-in-2014/
3.4
World Bank: Use oil crash to slash subsidies
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/01/07/world-bank-urges-leaders-to-use-oil-crash-to-slashsubsidies/
3.5
Major UK parties support low carbon economy
The British government is making big progress in the battle against global warming
and it argues that it's an issue that naturally belongs to the Right. The United
Kingdom led the world in 2008 by legislating for long-term, ambitious emissions
reductions of 80 per cent by 2050 – and has already achieved a 25 per cent drop on
1990 levels. In June, David Cameron opened the world's largest offshore wind farm
with 175 turbines in the Thames Estuary. Almost 20 per cent of Britain's electricity is
now produced by renewables, with eight per cent powered by wind – equivalent to
about 6.5 million homes. The UK's energy market reforms and the drive to transform
the economy to a low carbon model are supported by all the major political parties.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/why-britains-tories-areearths-best-friends-20141120-11qe3e.html
UK Tories slam Abbott on climate
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/uk-tories-slam-tony-abbotton-climate-policy-20141120-11qos6.html
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4.1
Technical
A saving in switching from gas to electric heating
“I’ve been assisting friends and family to disconnect the gas supply for several years
now ... but even I was surprised by what I discovered in helping my parents replace
their gas central heater with the most energy efficient reverse-cycle air conditioner on
the Australian market: Daikin’s Ururu Sarara. The sad news for the energy utilities is
that my parents will not only [eliminate] their gas bill ... but, in addition, their
[electricity] bill will probably go down. It was quite astounding and reflects the fact
that split-system reverse-cycle air conditioner energy efficiency has improved
considerably over the last few years ...while gas central heating is incredibly
inefficient.”
(Matthew Wright, 16 Dec 2104))
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/12/16/smart-energy/gas-deathspiral-will-not-help-power-utilities
4.2
Pumped hydro: the forgotten storage solution
The capital cost of storing energy by “pumped hydro” is as low as $100 to $200
capital per kWh of useable energy stored. Chemical battery makers are aiming for
costs in the range of $200 to $500 capital per kwh ... Australia already has three largescale pumped hydro facilities ... Pumped hydro differs from conventional
hydroelectricity in that it doesn’t need to store a lot of water. ... Useful pumped hydro
reservoirs might be only 50 hectares, or even as small as five. ... With pumped hydro,
water is recycled over and over again from the upper to the lower reservoir and back
again. ... Nearly the entire world’s pumped hydro facilities use freshwater, but if you
prefer to use saline or seawater, the coastal cliff-top seawater pumped hydro facility
on Okinawa has been helping to keep that Japanese island powered since 1999. In the
case of Okinawa, the lower reservoir is quite large, because it is the Pacific Ocean. ...
for low-cost large-scale pumped hydro you need two ponds separated by an elevation
of at least 100 meters in a near-the-grid location where the two ponds are not more
than three kilometres apart. ... there are thousands of such sites in Australia. ... it could
play a role in balancing electricity supply/demand and in moderating wholesale
prices, for example, during summer heat waves when electricity prices spike to over
$10,000 / MWh.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/pumped-hydro-the-forgotten-storage-solution47248
4.3
Plane fuel from food waste
Boeing’s historic green diesel flight in its ecoDemonstrator 787 this week used a fuel
that could have been refined completely from waste animal fats. As well as vegetable
oils and waste cooking oils. But what Boeing has done is make a valuable
contribution to the pursuit of a new green fuel economic cycle in which aircraft, and
presumably sea and land transport, could ultimately be fully fuelled on recycled but
potentially energy rich wastes that fast food outlets, various manufacturing processes,
and even abattoirs pay to dump.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2014/12/05/boeings-green-diesel-dreamlinercould-even-burn-road-kill/
4.4
Water self-sufficiency for a Sydney house
The brief asked for an existing house to be redesigned and made more appropriate for
their life. It needed to be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, with the
clients seeking to include as many environmental initiatives as possible within their
budget.
http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/water-self-sufficiency-for-an-urbanhome-gladesvil
4.5
Europe set records for wind power
Denmark ... has set a new world record for wind production by getting 39.1 percent of
its overall electricity from wind in 2014. This puts the Northern European nation well
on track to meet its 2020 goal of getting 50 percent of its power from renewables.
The news of Denmark’s feat adds to the national records the U.K. and Germany set
for 2014 and further establishes Europe as a leader in the wind power industry.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/07/3608898/denmark-sets-world-record-forwind-power/
4.6
World’s largest solar plant: Scale on par with fossil fuel plants
The world's largest solar power plant has opened in California. The Topaz solar farm
can produce enough energy to take the place of almost 400,000 tonnes of CO2
emissions or the equivalent of taking 73,000 cars off the road. From a scale and
power perspective, it's on par with a major fossil fuel generator like a coal or a gas
plant
While Australia is squabbling about whether we might get more than 20 per cent of
our electricity from renewables in 2020, California is powering ahead with their goal
of getting 30 per cent by 2020,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-03/australian-solar-industry-frustrated-ascalifornia-powers-ahead/5938552
4.7
Urban Farms Foods: Grown in doors
What they claim: Fresh food grown year round indoors, efficient water usage, no
insects no insecticides, no genetic mods. Small transportation costs. Local foods.
Food grown in doors offered
http://www.urbanbarns.com/
http://www.urbanbarns.com/what-is-cubic-farming
4.8 World first: Operational wave energy project
Carnegie Wave Energy has successfully installed its electricity-generating underwater
buoy technology off the coast of Perth, creating the first operational wave energy
project in the world. The so-called CETO technology - that converts ocean swell into
renewable power and freshwater - has been operating successfully for the past week,
according to the company.
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/hello-buoys-wave-power-weeks-away-fromperth-grid-20141125-11tczi.html#ixzz3K2pawREo
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5.1
Heat Records
Globally 2014 the hottest year on record by far
The Japan Meteorological Agency has announced that 2014 was the hottest year in
more than 120 years of record-keeping by far ... there has been no “pause” in
warming. In fact, there has not even been a slowdown. ... Yes, 1998 is the second
hottest years ... but 1998 was boosted above the trend-line by an unusual super-El
Niño. .... What makes setting the record for hottest year in 2014 doubly [concerning]
is that it occurred without an El Nino. We are still waiting for the start of El Niño.
http://www.climatecodered.org/2015/01/2014-was-hottest-year-on-record.html
5.2
Spring 2014 Australia’s hottest on record, beating 2013
Spring 2013 was the hottest on record, but now 2014 has gone higher again.
http://theconversation.com/sound-familiar-spring-2014-was-australias-hottest-onrecord-again-34973
5.3
Australia sweats through hot spring
Australia's incredible run of heat over the past two years continued through spring
with unseasonably warm weather right across the country from the eastern seaboard
through the interior to the west coast. Sydney and Melbourne both recorded their
second warmest spring on record, a significant achievement considering the cities
have now notched up over 150 years of data. Hobart went one better recording its
warmest spring on record while Adelaide sweated through its warmest spring
maximums in 100 years.
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2014/12/01/australia-sweats-through-hotspring.html
5.4
Tropics moving south to Sydney
Like many southerners, I've entertained thoughts of moving north to sultry
Queensland but now realise I don't have to bother since the tropics have relocated to
Sydney. Hot days with humidity approaching 60 per cent, sprawling low pressure
systems generating roiling cloud cover, violent afternoon electrical storms and
torrential downpours? No it's not Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Darwin or Weipa, it's
our very own Emerald City. We've been breaking all sorts of climate records, both in
this country and globally, but those of you who've wondered if the run of
tropicalesque storms we've been experiencing was also something out of the ordinary
were not mistaken. Monday was the first time in (recorded) history that Sydney
Airport had experienced seven consecutive days of storms, beating the record of five
consecutive days set in 2007, 1992 and 1955. ... While it's "too early to say" if this
sort of weather pattern was caused by global warming, it was "consistent with what
the science is telling us" about man-made climate change.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/welcome-to-queensland-sydney-2014120912385d.html
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6.1
Climate change
A problem with reducing emissions
New climate policy is no longer about carbon dioxide emissions reductions alone; it is
about negative emissions, [the drawdown of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere] and
about emission reduction timing as ... global cooling pollutants from burning coal are
responsible for holding down the current warming by up to 57 percent. If we stop
burning coal, up to half of the warming, that should have occurred to date, would
occur because of the reduction in global cooling sulphate pollutants which stay in the
atmosphere for only a short time ... We have no choice. We must begin to remove
some of the vast long-lived load of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere that we have
already emitted.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28212-climate-change-2014-what-do-we-do-now
6.2
Oil price crash is good news for climate, and clean energy
The collapse in global oil prices to 5 year lows is causing a lot of speculation about
what this means for climate change, and clean energy. To some extent, high fuel costs
encourage the use of alternative fuels while low fuel costs encourage more
consumption of conventional fuels. True, but only up to a point. The price of the fuel
will also influence how much money is invested in oil projects ... oil extraction is
getting more expensive and the oil majors have struggled to find new oil reserves that
make economic sense. The fall in the oil price makes that even more difficult. So,
from the point of view of the climate, that is a good thing, because that capital will
likely flow to alternatives such as solar and wind.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/why-oil-price-crash-is-good-news-for-climateand-clean-energy-46863
6.3
Climate action is insurance against climate damage
Look at a world population distribution map, there is a very strong correlation
between rainfall and where people live [and where they grow food] ... if the
temperature changes, the location and degree of rainfall will change ... We live in a
hungry world already. If yields drop too far, literally billions of people will face
chronic food shortages. ... So, who cares if the globe warms up? Well, all those
hungry people will. Drought, storms and changing rainfall patterns will combine to
drastically reduce crop yields. Massive storms will destroy homes and infrastructure.
What will hundreds of millions of hungry, homeless people do? What would you do,
if your home was repeatedly blown away, and you couldn’t feed your family? You’d
find somewhere else to go, as will they. ... it probably won’t happen. But the cost of
mitigating against it is far lower than the cost of having to deal with it. Battling global
warming is exactly the same as taking out insurance on your car – it shouldn’t be
controversial.
https://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/12/5/science-environment/whocares-if-earth-warms
6.4
Lightening
Scientists have looked at the impacts of climate change in the years ahead, and one of
the more threatening aspects is lightning. By 2100, researchers believe the rate of
lightning will be up 50%. … Why would lightning be more prevalent with the rise of
global warming? Water vapor. Warmer climates produce more water vapor, which is
the source of lightning. David Romps, one of the scientists at UC Berkeley, compares
water vapor to the explosive fuel. “If you have more fuel lying around, when you get
ignition, it can go big time,” said Romps. The big concern associated with lightning
is forest fires. Lightning is responsible for 50% of wildfires. Moreover, fires caused
by lightning are generally harder to extinguish. With more lightning crashing, expect
to see more wild habitats destroyed with flames. Currently, lightning injures
hundreds of people annually, killing about 50. Inevitably, the increase in lightning
bolts will result in more human fatalities. Maybe hearing that lightning will be
striking at a much greater rate will be the kind of news that convinces people to take
climate change more seriously.
http://www.care2.com/causes/why-youll-be-seeing-a-lot-more-lightningsoon.html#ixzz3JerfYwFa
6.5
Most of fossil fuel needs to stay in the ground
Most of the world's fossil fuel reserves will need to stay in the ground if dangerous
global warming is to be avoided ... Over 80% of coal, 50% of gas and 30% of oil
reserves are "unburnable" under the goal to limit global warming to no more than 2C,
say scientists. ... Policy makers must realise that their instincts to completely use the
fossil fuels within their countries are wholly incompatible with their commitments to
the 2C goal.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30709211
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7.1
Australia
Australia now has a carbon trading scheme?
Senator Nick Xenophon has brought back a carbon trading scheme to Australia and
nobody seems to have noticed. ... a ‘Safeguard Mechanism’ in the Direct Action
legislation. The mechanism creates the framework for a baseline and credit system
which is similar to a cap-and-trade system in that both are market based methods to
arrive at a price for carbon. While the specific details of the Safeguard Mechanism
have yet to be determined, conceptually any company who currently emits more than
100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually will be required from 1 July 2016 to keep their
emissions below a predetermined baseline level or face penalties.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/anyone-notice-australia-now-carbon-tradingscheme-87832
7.2
Federal Liberals avoid using term “climate change”
Minister Barnaby Joyce in October outlined his department's paper on
competitiveness in the agriculture without a single reference to climate change in its
111-page report. "Australian farmers, even more so than their global competitors,
must adapt to climate variability," was about the closest it got.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/heat-is-on-abbott-governmentover-climate-change-as-world-turns-20150102-12ghrj.html
7.3
Fines for dumping fracking water into Newcastle sewer
There are renewed concerns over a coal seam gas fracking operation in the Hunter
Valley, after a contractor was fined for dumping wastewater into Newcastle's sewer
system.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-19/company-fined-for-dumping-csg-frackingwater-from-agl-site-in-n/5978776
7.4
Export Victorian brown coal
In May and June, three companies were given $20-30 million each in taxpayer’s
money for proposed new coal projects in the Latrobe Valley. One of these companies
has just announced they intend to export their processed coal from Corner Inlet, a
precious wetland right next to Wilson’s Promontory.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-12/work-expected-to-start-on-new-yallourncoal/5962454
7.5
Queensland Subsidy for Adani coal railway
The Queensland Government announced it is prepared to invest taxpayer money to
help India-based coal miner Adani build a 190-kilometre railway line to move about
60 million tonnes of coal a year to the coast for export. ... the dollar amounts will be
in the “hundreds of millions. ... [In Nov 2014 Queensland] signed the first of these
agreements with Adani.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/nov/18/turbulent-week-forglobal-climate-policy-leaves-many-questions
7.6
Australian funding to UN Environment Program cut 80%
The ABC reports Australian funding has been cut by over 80 per cent to the UN
Environment Program, which provides advice on environmental policies and climate
change negotiations. It says Australia was due to contribute around $1.2 million this
year, but has only offered $200,000.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/12/03/reports-government-cut-funding-unenvironment-agency
7.7
Mildura Solar Farm Suspended: RET Uncertainty
The company planning to build one of the country’s largest solar farms has walked
away from the project amid uncertainty over federal government support for a longterm renewable energy target. Silex Systems announced on Monday that it would
suspend its proposed 2000-dish solar farm near Mildura, which had been billed as
being capable of producing enough electricity to run 30,000 homes. Chief executive
Michael Goldsworthy said the combination of uncertainty about the target, which
requires 41,000 gigawatt hours of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and
low wholesale power prices, meant the $420 million project would not go ahead. ...
''There’s not as much pressure on the market to have renewable energy in their
portfolio now simply because the [target] is at least going to be wound back and
possibly abolished,'' he told the ABC. In a statement to the stock exchange on
Monday, the company said it would consider a smaller project at the Mildura site.
Stage one of the solar farm was completed in July 2013, when 40 dishes on a Carwarp
sheep farm 30 minutes outside Mildura began feeding 1.5 megawatts of electricity
into the grid - enough power for 500 homes.
(Sydney Morning Herald, 18 Aug 2014)
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/solar-farm-abandoned-amiduncertainty-over-renewable-energy-target-20140818-105en6.html
7.8
ABC Cuts
This Abbott Government's axe has fallen upon the ABC and SBS - and the impact
upon programming is just being realised. The ABC has been forced to close five
regional radio outposts, cancel the state-based editions of TV's 7.30 program and end
Radio National's Bush Telegraph. Lateline and Australian Story will be gutted, and
five Radio National shows will go - as well as 100 jobs from the ABC News division.
https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/media/abbotts-broken-promises/abc-cuts-makeabbott-pay-the-price-for-his-broken-promise?t=X5obgsqVz
7.9
Great Barrier Reef at risk
World-leading scientists say the Great Barrier Reef will be "slaughtered" this century
as seas warm and become more acidic, dismissing comments by Foreign Affairs
Minister Julie Bishop that Australia's natural icon was not at risk.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/great-barrier-reef-will-beslaughtered-scientists-dismiss-julie-bishops-claim-reef-not-at-risk-2014112111r4a6.html
8
8.1
Victoria
Sate government subsidising expansion of gas network
The new Victorian Labor government should be urged to reverse state government
subsidies to fossil fuel. Many Australians have used cheap gas for a long time, and
have come to the conclusion that gas is cheap and good. Individuals are still buying
gas heaters. And governments are still expanding gas infrastructure and so subsidising
the use of gas. For example, the Coalition Victorian Government “Energy for the
Regions Program” planned to spend $100 million to supply reticulated natural gas to
communities over regional and rural Victoria”
http://www.rdv.vic.gov.au/infrastructure-programs/energy-for-the-regions
http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/714881/bendigo-regions-gas-pipe-closer/
8.2
Victorian Government Brought Down by Population Growth
Rapid population growth is political poison, and has brought down a second Victorian
Government in four years. In the past decade Australia's migration rate more than
doubled. The greatest consequences of this dramatic increase have been in
Melbourne, which started growing by more than 200 people a day, 1500 each week,
75,000 each year.
http://kelvinthomson.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/second-victorian-governmentbrought.html
8.3
Victoria possibly a new era for renewable energy
The sun was setting on Victoria's renewable energy sector under the Coalition. With
the election of the Daniel Andrews Labor government, and possibly Ellen Sandell of
the Greens in Melbourne, Victoria can enter a new era for renewable energy. Three
years ago, then Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu introduced the world's toughest
restrictions on wind farms. The restrictions included blanket bans on wind farms in
the windiest parts of the state, and a right of veto allowing householders living 2km
from proposed turbines to block projects. The Coalition's laws established an
indefensible double standard on energy sources. Wind energy was more regulated
than brown coal and unconventional gas
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/12/2/policy-politics/how-cleanenergy-played-out-victorian-election
9
9.1
Lima
Lima Documents: Goal to end fossil fuels by 2050
Campaigners in Lima are eyeing an ‘inevitable’ end to the fossil fuel industry by midcentury. It’s a rare thing when you can point to paragraphs in a United Nations
climate negotiating text and feel they more or less match what most of the science
says should become a reality. Yet in Lima on Monday, it happened. ... “Consistent
with carbon neutrality / net zero emissions by 2050, or full decarbonization by 2050
and/or negative emissions by 2100” ... Either the goal survives or the world moves to
a riskier and more dangerous future.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/dec/08/goal-to-end-fossilfuels-by-2050-surfaces-in-lima-un-climate-documents
9.2
Outcome of Lima: Phasing out fossil fuels
The Australian government and big oil companies like ExxonMobil found they had a
lot in common this past week. Both went to the Lima climate talks convinced that the
demand for their fossil fuels will never waiver. Both will leave with their confidence
challenged. ... Phasing out fossil fuels will be the global conversation in 2015 whether
Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop like it or not. ... Less than 2 degrees’ is not one of
Prime Minister Abbott’s slogans. Nor is a commitment to a long term goal of
decarbonising the planet by 2050. But that is what the world will be negotiating in
2015. ... Julie Bishop let the cat out of the bag when she said, “How could one
possibly commit to having fossil fuel free world by 2050?” Australia needs to phase
out fossil fuels and move to 100% renewable energy for the climate and for our
economy. The writing is on the wall for big coal, for the Galilee and Bowen basins
and coal ports and railways. They will be stranded assets. The difference now is that
this cannot be readily dismissed as a left-wing, enviro-fantasy. It is now part of not
just mainstream political thinking (beyond the shores of Australia), but also
mainstream financial analysis. And that’s what will count in the end.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/lima-leaves-australia-big-oil-with-giant-fossilfuel-headache-59828
9.3
Lima: what on earth is Australia doing here?
Even as the World Bank called for a phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, the Abbott
Government introduced a new tax break for resource exploration last week. The
rationale? Investment in minerals exploration is in decline, plunging to its lowest level
in a decade. Yet, Australia ploughs on. The Queensland state government, according
to The Australia Institute, has spent $8 billion subsidizing coal exploration over the
last six years. And if coal mining goes ahead in the Galilee Basin it will become the
single largest source of thermal coal anywhere on the planet. As the Guardian ...
revealed earlier in the year, emissions from this complex of mines would dwarf
Australia’s national emissions. Galilee coal represents 7 per cent of the global carbon
budget and, were it to be released into the atmosphere, would negate much of what is
trying be achieved here in Lima and in the lead-up to Paris next year.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/lima-what-on-earth-is-australia-doing-here-33589
9.4
Why is Bishop calling for legally binding targets
The Greens are accusing the Federal Government of trying to ensure there is not an
outcome at next year's climate change talks in Paris. The Foreign Minister, Julie
Bishop, has reportedly said carbon emission targets beyond 2020 should be legally
enforceable otherwise they would be merely aspirational. ... Greens leader Christine
Milne, who is also in Peru, said the Republican-dominated US Congress would not
pass legally binding carbon targets and this would ensure the US government would
not be able to agree to the targets when the climate conference convened in Paris in a
year.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-09/greens-question-bishops-call-for-legallybinding-carbon-targets/5955194
10 Climate investment
10.1 NAB climate bond doubles in five hours
NAB’s first climate bond issued in Australian dollars for the Australian market last
week closed oversubscribed and at $300 million, double the size initially flagged.
According to a delighted Sean Kidney in his Climate Bond Initiative blog, it took just
five hours to reach this amount.
http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/business/investment-deals/nab-climate-bonddoubles-in-five-hours/70428
10.2 Glasgow University Divestment
Glasgow University has become the first in the UK to announce that it will sell off the
shares it holds in companies that produce fossil fuels. ... Glasgow joins 13 American
universities and many other institutions who together have pledged to withdraw more
than $50bn in assets from the fossil fuel industry. Just before the recent New York
climate summit, the heirs to the Rockefeller fortune announced they planned to pull
their funds from fossil fuels. Campaigners say that, so far, 181 institutions and 656
individuals have agreed to withdraw their money from fossil fuels.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29547137
10.3 Rockefellers to switch investments to clean energy
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29310475
10.4 The strengthening economic case for fossil fuel divestment
Extracting and burning the currently known reserves of coal, oil and gas using current
technologies would result in catastrophic climate change, probably in excess of 4C of
warming. This change would see massive species extinction and the destruction or
radical transformation of all natural ecosystems and many vulnerable societies. Coral
reefs, island and coastal communities, and localised ways of life would all disappear.
Yet investors might still be willing to bet on such an outcome in the hope either that it
would be delayed beyond their lifetime. ... Leaving aside the ethics of divestment and
pursuing a purely rational economic analysis, the cold hard numbers of putting money
into fossil fuels don’t look good. Unless universities are willing to bet on the
destruction of the planet they have committed themselves to understanding and
preserving, divestment from fossil fuels is the only choice they can make. Forwardthinking investors of all kinds would be wise to follow suit.
https://theconversation.com/the-strengthening-economic-case-for-fossil-fueldivestment-34806
10.5 World bank to focus future investment on clean energy
The World Bank will invest heavily in clean energy and only fund coal projects in
“circumstances of extreme need” because climate change will undermine efforts to
eliminate extreme poverty
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/23/world-bank-to-focus-futureinvestment-on-clean-energy
11 About this newsletter
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If you have questions about this, do contact me.
11.4 Origin of the Newsletter
This newsletter was produced by Peter Gardner until he began campaigning, during
the 2013 Federal election, as a “Climate Emergency Independent” for the seat of
Gippsland in Victoria. He has just stood in the 2014 Victorian Elections for the seat
of East Gippsland.
www.petergardner.info
11.5 Some of these newsletter are on the web
Some of these newsletters are on the web as doc files:
www.feedbackreigns.net About Section > Newsletter
11.6 Compiler of the newsletter
Andrew Gunner compiled this newsletter
Contact via: www.feedbackreigns.net