Clean Futures

State and federal energy ministers were in a celebratory mood [last] Friday, hailing the most productive and consequential meeting that any of them can remember. And the relief felt throughout the industry was immense too. “It’s a complete reset,” said one industry leader. “It’s transformational,” said another.

The three big decisions taken at Friday’s lengthy meeting in Canberra reflect both the urgency to act and the frustration of a “lost decade” under the Coalition government, and they provide renewed hope that Australia’s green energy transition can, in fact, match the science rather than incumbent business plans.

Key among them […] is the decision to put environment and emissions reduction into the National Electricity Objective, more than two decades after it was dropped by the Howard government under pressure from the fossil fuel lobby.

This is a critically important move because it sweeps away the sham of the Coalition’s “technology neutral” approach – a complete nonsense if the goal is to cut emissions – and it will avoid a repeat of some of the frankly crazy decisions made by regulators and rule makers when the environment is ignored.

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen pointed to one of them on Sunday, the proposed replacement of two ageing diesel generators in Broken Hill with more diesel generators rather than storage, which he described as “bizarre, ridiculous …. silly and perverse.”

But the impacts went far beyond that and the lack on an environmental objective in key regulatory decisions hamstrung billion-dollar investments in transmission lines and other infrastructure.

“Finally they (the regulators and the rule makers) will accept the reality of climate …. so it is a big difference,” Bowen told the ABC Insiders program. “We’re sending a message to the world that we are open for investment, in renewables, in transmissions and storage.”

Joshua S Hill, reports on the NZ climate plan:

New Zealand’s Labour government announced on Monday [may 16th] its “landmark” Emissions Reduction Plan which is designed to set the country on a pathway to meet its 2050 net-zero targets.

The Emissions Reduction Plan targets climate strategies across a range of sectors including transport, energy, waste, building and construction, and agriculture and forestry.

The multi-sector strategy is designed to meet emissions budgets while improving the ability of those relevant sectors to adapt to the effects of climate change.

[…] the Emissions Reduction Plan includes the launch of the Clean Car Upgrade program, which provides targeted assistance to lower- and middle-income households for the uptake of low-emission vehicles.

The EV subsidies are part of $NZ1.2 billion worth of transport sector-specific investments, which also include $NZ350 million for public transport, cycling, and pedestrian access, and an EV leasing scheme trial for low-income families.

The larger Emissions Reduction Plan also includes just over $NZ650 million to decarbonise industry over the next four years.

There is also a further $NZ18 million to fund the development of an energy strategy, a regulatory framework for offshore renewable energy, and a roadmap for the development and use of hydrogen.

On a larger scale, approximately $NZ1 billion will be spent over seven years to decarbonise industry
— more details at “We must wean ourselves off fossil fuels:” New Zealand launches “landmark” climate plan, reneweconomy.com.au

Australia is not on track to meet its weak Paris Agreement commitments, with a lack of meaningful national climate policies resulting in emissions cuts that are too slow to achieve the Morrison government’s 2030 target, new analysis shows.

New analysis from consultancy Ndevr Environmental says that if Australia’s emissions trajectory remains on current trends, Australia will fall short of achieving the already meagre emissions reduction target set by the Morrison government.

“If Australia continues its current emissions trajectory, then by 2030, Australia would have cumulatively emitted over 125.4 MT CO2-e more than the Paris [Emissions Reduction Target] trajectory,” the Ndevr analysis says.

“This is equal to 25 per cent of Australia’s annual entire national emissions.”

[…]

While the period was impacted by some Covid-19 lockdowns, the temporary relaxation of some restrictions in the last three months of 2021 contributed to a jump in transport emissions, with a resurgence in the number of Australians taking more trips leading to a 12 per cent increase, compared to the previous quarter.

Emissions from stationary use were also higher – representing emissions produced in the consumption of coal and gas in industrial operations like steelmaking – as activity returned to normal pre-Covid patterns, growing 2 per cent on the same quarter a year prior.

Emissions in the agricultural sector are also on the rise as drought conditions across Australia ease and farmers are able to grow herd numbers. Nvedr estimates that agricultural emissions were 5.2 per cent higher in the last three months of 2021 compared to a year prior.

Agricultural emissions in the 2021 year were a massive 15 per cent higher than in 2019 when drought devastated cattle numbers across large parts of Australia.
Australia has no economy-wide emissions reduction policy that would help drive cuts in sectors beyond the electricity sector.

Australia will miss its weak 2030 emissions reduction targets, new data shows, Michael Mazengarb, RenewEconomy