International: Australia
Aussie pumped hydro project over budget and behind schedule
9 Nov 2022
Snowy Hydro has finally confirmed that the budget for the massive pumped hydro Snowy 2.0 project has blown out to just under $6 billion and is running around 12 months behind schedule.
Australian solar nears 60% of grid generation for first time
8 Nov 2022
The combination of large scale and rooftop solar set new Australian generation records on a sunny and mild spring day on Sunday, at the same time as sending grid demand – and the demand for coal – down to new lows
Australia’s carbon report card smeared in red ink as climate action goes backwards
4 Nov 2022
A global report card has marked Australia’s climate action with swathes of red ink, saying the country has not only increased fossil fuel subsidies but gone backwards on climate-risk disclosure policies.
Torres Strait demands climate compensation but government wont commit ahead of COP27
3 Nov 2022
Australia will face an "inevitable" influx of climate change refugees, the United Nations' (UN) first special rapporteur for human rights and climate change says.
Aussie rooftop solar trumps all fossil fuels as renewables smash more records on main grid
1 Nov 2022
The share of renewable energy in Australia's main grid soared to a new record of 68.7% on Friday, easily beating the previous record of 64.1% set on September 18.
First Australia carbon budget balances climate risks
25 Oct 2022
For the first time, the Australian government must work within a financial budget and a carbon budget. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has confirmed his first budget, due out on Tuesday, will include a major analysis of the impact of climate on Australia's economy.
‘Shocked’: Victoria premier ‘brings back’ electricity commission in state-owned energy plan
21 Oct 2022
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has vowed to “bring back” the government-owned State Electricity Commission of Victoria in a move that will reverse decades-long privatisation of Australia’s energy market.
Carbon credits serve to greenwash business-as-usual and won’t cut emissions: Australia Institute
18 Oct 2022
A focus on carbon credits may serve to hamper Australia’s efforts to reduce its emissions, warn researchers from The Australia Institute.
CSIRO abruptly scraps globally recognised climate forecast programme
17 Oct 2022
Australia’s premier science organisation abruptly scrapped a fully-funded, globally recognised programme to predict the climate in coming years without consulting an advisory panel that had praised its “good progress” only weeks earlier.
Australian government to pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30%
14 Oct 2022
Australia is set to pledge its support to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Energy expert warns Australia against “drinking the Kool-Aid” on renewable hydrogen
13 Oct 2022
Engineer and “electrify everything” advocate Saul Griffith has warned against squandering precious time and money in the fight against climate change by chasing unrealistic goals for renewable hydrogen – including as fuel for heavy transport and in the production of green steel.
Carbon credits key to industrial emissions in Australia
11 Oct 2022
Proposed laws to reward Australia's biggest greenhouse gas emitters for reducing pollution will be introduced to parliament next month to support ambitious national targets.
How to ensure the world’s largest pumped-hydro project isn’t a disaster for the environment
6 Oct 2022
Queensland’s ambitious new plan involves shifting from a coal-dominated electricity grid to 80% renewables within 13 years, using 22 gigawatts of new wind and solar.
WA project looks to produce ‘carbon-neutral gold’ with 13 MW solar, wind, battery hybrid solution
5 Oct 2022
Australian gold miner Bellevue Gold has entered an agreement with distributed energy provider Energy Developments Pty Ltd (EDL) for an off-grid solar, wind and battery hybrid power station for the flagship project it is developing in central Western Australia.
Gas production costs in Queensland's Lake Eyre Basin will be 'staggering', report claims
4 Oct 2022
Gas exploration projects in Queensland's Channel Country will be expensive to produce, generate "significant" carbon emissions and are likely to be abandoned, a report has found.
Energy windfall tax offers much better economic relief than petrol excise, study finds
4 Oct 2022
As pressure mounts on the Albanese government to tax the super profits of oil and gas companies, a new Australian study says this kind of levy would be much more effective in delivering relief from high energy prices than a discount on petrol prices.
Melbourne considering zero-carbon building rules
3 Oct 2022
A recent proposal suggests around 77 of the Melbourne CBD’s buildings would need to be “retrofitted” each year if the city is to meet its net-zero carbon emissions goals for 2040. The paper is being considered by the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee this week.
Queensland plans “supergrid” and world’s biggest pumped hydro
29 Sep 2022
The Queensland government’s new 10-year energy and jobs plan includes plans for 22GW of new wind and solar, and 11.5GW of rooftop solar, and also includes a new “super grid” and what it says will be the biggest pumped hydro project in the world.
UN rights body rules Australia failed to protect from climate change
27 Sep 2022
The United Nations Human Rights Committee on September 23 found that the Australian government had violated the rights of Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders by failing to adequately protect them against the adverse impacts of climate change.
Victoria urged to shoot for net-zero by 2034, after 2020 emissions target “smashed”
21 Sep 2022
Victoria is being challenged to shoot for net-zero emissions more than 16 years ahead of schedule – an easy target according to modelling based on new data showing the government has beaten its 2020 target by nearly 10 per cent.
Climate change threatens up to 100% of trees in Australian cities, and most urban species worldwide
21 Sep 2022
A study published today in Nature Climate Change found climate change will put 90-100% of the trees and shrubs planted in Australian capital cities at risk by 2050.
SUVs and utes are overpowering electric cars in Australia’s vehicle emissions results
20 Sep 2022
Australia's surging appetite for large SUVs and diesel utes is countering any improvement in emissions from the growing number of electric cars on roads.
Japanese, Australian firms collaborate on world's tallest timber tower
19 Sep 2022
Construction firms from Japan and Australia have started work on a 182-meter-high skyscraper in central Sydney in a collaboration to build what will be the world's tallest hybrid-timber building using an eco-friendly wood product.
Will the food and livestock industry follow fossil fuels over the market cliff?
19 Sep 2022
We are generally pretty relaxed about this. Anyone miss Nokia? Kodak? Blockbuster Video? But when the drivers for change become politicised, or worse – ideological – an intense process unfolds to resist the market process.
Climate action could cure Australia's cost of living crisis, starting with 100 pct renewables
14 Sep 2022
Investment in climate change initiatives could be a solution to Australia’s cost of living pressures, with a new report subverting a decade’s worth of arguments that action on emissions would hurt back pockets.
Australia finally has new climate laws. Now, let’s properly consider the astounding social cost of carbon
9 Sep 2022
The Conversation | The federal government’s climate change bill passed the Senateon Thursday. Among the mandates in the new Climate Change Act are assessments of the social, employment and economic benefits of climate change policies.
"Meaningless" Aussie carbon credits increasing emissions
7 Sep 2022
Some of the biggest players profiting from Australia's carbon market are backing expert analysis saying the system is generating meaningless credits that actually result in Australia's emissions going up.
Can carbon capture and storage help Australia achieve net zero by 2050?
5 Sep 2022
Across Australia, 10 new offshore areas were last week approved for oil and gas exploration, as were permits for two new offshore greenhouse gas storage facilities.
Australia must cut consumption for successful transition to renewables: expert
26 Aug 2022
Energy Consumption – whether its heating your home, driving, oil refining or liquefying natural gas – is responsible for around 82% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions
A near 100% renewables grid is well within reach for Australia
25 Aug 2022
There have been many simulations of a 100% renewable electricity grid for Australia, including some ground-breaking studies from Beyond Zero Emissions, The University of New South Wales and the ANU
Flooding wetlands could be the next big carbon capture hack
24 Aug 2022
Arriving at the tidal wetlands of Mungalla Station on the coastline of northern Queensland, ornithologist Simon Kennedy from the not-for-profit BirdLife Australia is greeted by a welcome cacophony. “You start hearing honks and quacks and twitters and noises coming from there,” he says of the area’s diverse and thriving bird populations, “whereas it’s very quiet elsewhere.”
Australia’s biggest listed solar company to be wound up after selling US portfolio
23 Aug 2022
New Energy Solar, the biggest listed solar investor in Australia, is to be wound up after agreeing to sell its remaining portfolio of 14 US solar farms to a company run by US investment bank giant Goldman Sachs.
How a humpback whale superhighway is offering warnings about climate change
22 Aug 2022
During winter Australia's east coast becomes a migratory superhighway for humpback whales, a so-called "blue corridor".
Australia may be heading for emissions trading between big polluters
19 Aug 2022
Could Australia soon have a form of emissions trading? Yes, if Labor's much-anticipated paper on fixing Australia's mediocre emissions-reduction framework, released yesterday, is any guide.
“More emissions than coal:” Pressure mounts on Australia to rule out forest biomass
18 Aug 2022
Pressure is mounting on the Australian government to rule out the use of native forest biomass for renewable energy generation – particularly as a replacement for coal in ageing coal generators – with one green group arguing that it “fails even the most basic common sense test.”
US investment giant BlackRock in $1 billion big battery play in Australia
17 Aug 2022
US investment giant BlackRock is planning to invest at least $1 billion in big battery projects in Australia after agreeing to buy out Melbourne-based Akaysha Energy and its portfolio of at least nine projects in the country’s main grid.
Carbon market could offset Australia’s huge fire recovery bill
16 Aug 2022
\Australian scientists have put a dollar figure on the cost of recovery and restoration of native flora and fauna after the 2019-2020 summer bushfires.
Australia calls for US-China to keep climate talks ‘ring-fenced’ from Taiwan tensions
15 Aug 2022
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has called for China and the United States to resume climate talks despite rising tensions between the countries over the status of Taiwan.
Bushmaster goes electric: Australia unveils silent, electrified personnel vehicle
12 Aug 2022
The Australian defence force is going green – and we’re not talking about a new shade of camouflage paint. We’re talking about the electrification of its famous Bushmaster protected military vehicle.
Warning that labour shortages could harm Australia’s green energy transition
12 Aug 2022
Australia’s Clean Energy Council has warned that the country runs the risk of throttling the success of its clean energy transition unless the current and growing labour shortages and skills gaps across the clean energy industry are filled.
Gravity storage start-up says it has “multi gigawatt hour” plans for Australian zinc refiner
11 Aug 2022
Gravity storage start-up Energy Vault says it has begun site planning for what it now describes as a “multi-gigawatt hour” project for long and short term storage to support the green energy plans for Australian zinc refiner Sun Metals.
Experts say the net zero concept is often used to delay taking action against emissions
11 Aug 2022
As large parts of Europe and North America swelter and then ignite, a future of endless climate destruction seems inevitable.
Green hydrogen has a leakage problem that may cancel out some of its climate gains
9 Aug 2022
Hydrogen has emerged as the great white (or green) hope of the clean energy transition due to its potential use in decarbonising hard-to-abate industries like shipping, steel production, and even transport.
Good news on climate change? Australia's Great Barrier Reef has healthiest coral in 36 years
8 Aug 2022
Australian Institute of Marine Science says results in north and central regions are a sign the reef could still recover, but loss elsewhere highlights risks
New 2030 climate target has Australian scientists excited
27 Jul 2022
Australia’s Chief Scientist has challenged the science and business community to figure out how to reach Australia’s new climate target.
Australia’s three richest men are spending their billions on green energy transition
26 Jul 2022
The surprise bid for renewables and storage developer Genex Power announced on Monday morning by billionaire Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson tells two interesting stories about Australia’s green energy transition.
Australia leads world in green hydrogen hype and hope, but not in actual projects
22 Jul 2022
Australia, you will read almost anywhere, aims to be a global renewable energy superpower, even a renewable hydrogen superpower – in much the same way it does in fossil fuels, where it is one of the world’s three biggest exporters.
Octopus launches $10 billion renewables platform, buys Australia’s biggest solar farm
21 Jul 2022
Octopus Investment Australia has officially launched its new $10 billion renewables “platform”, that will seek to finance big solar, wind and battery storage projects and has already bought the biggest operating solar farm in Australia.
Australia's environment in 'shocking' decline, report finds
21 Jul 2022
Australia's environment is in a shocking state and faces further decline from amplifying threats, according to an anticipated report.
How Canberra avoided the global energy crisis
20 Jul 2022
The “Canberra bubble” is something of a derisive term in Australia, referring to the niche interests of politicians, lobbyists and media insiders in the country’s capital — the equivalent of being entrenched “inside the Beltway” of Washington D.C.
Why US oil production could even go into reverse
Thu 17 Apr 2025
The prospect of U.S. oil production growth not just stalling but going into reverse is edging into the picture.
China can greatly reduce its reliance on coal, but probably won’t
3 Apr 2025
Even though solar and wind power are growing at a blistering pace.
State aid set to energise France’s shift away from coal-fired power
Wed 16 Apr 2025
Coal-fired power plants converted to cleaner fuels to qualify for state assistance in meeting peak demand.
Wildfire warnings issued as UK temperatures set to reach 24C on Friday
11 Apr 2025
London fire brigade asks people to behave responsibly and Scottish fire and rescue service gives ‘extreme’ alert.
Canada fossil fuel subsidies hit $30 billion amid pipeline push, study reveals
11 Apr 2025
Experts note that government funding goes to Big Oil shareholders and executives while Canadian taxpayers bear the brunt of living with climate change.
Extended heatwave in India, Pakistan to test survivability limits, with temperatures reaching Death Valley levels
Thu 17 Apr 2025
For hundreds of millions of people living in India and Pakistan the early arrival of summer heatwaves has become a terrifying reality that’s testing survivability limits and putting enormous strain on energy supplies, vital crops and livelihoods.
Nauru sells citizenship to help fund relocations as sea levels rise
27 Feb 2025
A new 'golden passport' scheme aims to raise funds to relocate people inland as climate change raises sea levels.
Arctic ends winter with lowest sea ice cover on record – scientists
31 Mar 2025
The new record shows how Arctic sea ice has ‘fundamentally changed’ from earlier decades, scientists said.
Ethiopia’s bold EV ambitions hit bumps in rural areas
Thu 17 Apr 2025
After becoming the world’s first country to ban imports of fossil fuel vehicles last year, a patchy power grid and high EV purchase costs are slowing Ethiopia’s green transport revolution in the countryside
Honduras pays the climate cost as its forests disappear and storms rise
11 Apr 2025
Despite its high vulnerability to extreme weather events, Honduras continues to clear its forests, seen as one of its best protections against climate change and intensifying storms and hurricanes.
Nations agree on carbon-pricing system to steer shipping towards net-zero
14 Apr 2025
Nations have agreed to introduce a worldwide carbon-pricing system for international shipping to drive the sector towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
