Climate goal of 1.5C is ‘gasping for breath’, says UN head

The goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C is “gasping for breath”, the UN secretary-general has said as he announced a “climate ambition summit” for September. António Guterres said the summit would challenge leaders of governments and businesses to come up with “new, tangible and credible climate action to accelerate the pace of change” and confront the “existential threat” of the climate crisis. “We are still moving in the wrong direction,” he said on Monday. “The 1.5C goal is gasping for breath. National climate plans are falling woefully short. And yet we are not retreating, we are fighting back.”

Agreement on ’30 by 30’ target forced through by Chinese president, ignoring objections from African states Governments appear to have signed a once-in-a-decade deal to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, but the agreement seems to have been forced through by the Chinese president, ignoring the objections of some African states.

Australia’s first offshore windfarm zone has been labelled a game-changer by environmental advocates and is expected to drive further investment in the renewables industry. Gippsland’s coast in south Victoria will be home to the turbines, with the heavy winds of the Bass Strait offering plenty of wild weather to power Australian homes. The zoned area covers about 15,000 sq km running from Lakes Entrance in the east to south of Wilsons Promontory in the west.

Climate goal of 1.5C is ‘gasping for breath’, says UN head
The goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C is “gasping for breath”, the UN secretary-general has said as he announced a “climate ambition summit” for September. António Guterres said the summit would challenge leaders of governments and businesses to come up with “new, tangible and credible climate action to accelerate the pace of change” and confront the “existential threat” of the climate crisis. “We are still moving in the wrong direction,” he said on Monday. “The 1.5C goal is gasping for breath. National climate plans are falling woefully short. And yet we are not retreating, we are fighting back.”

Cop15: historic deal struck to halt biodiversity loss by 2030
Agreement on ’30 by 30’ target forced through by Chinese president, ignoring objections from African states Governments appear to have signed a once-in-a-decade deal to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, but the agreement seems to have been forced through by the Chinese president, ignoring the objections of some African states. After more than four years of negotiations, repeated delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic and talks into the night on Sunday in Montreal, nearly 200 countries – but not the US or the Vatican – signed an agreement at the biodiversity Cop15, which was co-hosted by Canada and China, to put humanity on a path to living in harmony with nature by the middle of the century. 

Victoria’s Gippsland coast to become Australia’s first offshore windfarm zone
Australia’s first offshore windfarm zone has been labelled a game-changer by environmental advocates and is expected to drive further investment in the renewables industry. Gippsland’s coast in south Victoria will be home to the turbines, with the heavy winds of the Bass Strait offering plenty of wild weather to power Australian homes. The zoned area covers about 15,000 sq km running from Lakes Entrance in the east to south of Wilsons Promontory in the west.

Big oil hit with new climate activist campaign
A prominent activist group has filed shareholder resolutions calling on four of the biggest Western energy companies to cut emissions more aggressively this decade in an effort to revive investor pressure on big oil over climate goals. In motions submitted to BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, Dutch shareholder activist Follow This called on the companies to set clear targets to reduce their scope 3 emissions by 2030, in order to be “consistent” with the goals of the Paris Climate Accords to limit global warming.

Clean Energy Finance Corporation investment tops $3b in renewables
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation chief executive Ian Learmonth said Australia needed to urgently roll out large-scale wind and solar projects to hit its target of 82 percent renewables by the end of the decade. As the CEFC announced it had committed $100 million to FRV Australia’s 300 megawatt Walla Walla solar farm near Albury in NSW, Mr Learmonth said more needed to be done to help Australia on its path to net zero by 2050.

Councils, residents to make changes as new postie bikes rolled out
Australia Post introduces its electric delivery vehicles, councils in some locations are taking steps to make sure there is clear footpath access — for some that includes chopping limbs off trees and pulling vegetation from nature strips. The electric fleet is critical to Australia Post’s goal of reducing emissions by 15 percent by 2025 and aims to improve postie safety with fewer motorcycle rounds.

Coal exports overtake iron ore as energy crisis ignites prices
Australia’s coal industry is primed to deliver a bigger-than-expected windfall this year, overtaking iron ore as the nation’s most valuable export, as bans on Russian energy fuels deepen a global supply crunch and customers scramble to build stockpiles ahead of the northern hemisphere winter. Federal trade data to be released on Monday reveals a sharp rise in earnings from the coal trade on the back of “historically high” prices, helping put the nation’s overall energy and resource commodity exports on track for a record-breaking $459 billion this financial year. Prices for cargoes of thermal coal at the Port of Newcastle have more than tripled in the past 12 months.

Green fuel hopes for $1.7bln boost with Bell Bay plant plan
Tasmania’s ambition to become an international renewable energy export powerhouse has been given a $1.7 billion boost with plans for a green fuel project in the state’s north.

NSW parliament recalled to implement price cap on coal
The NSW parliament will sit in the lead-up to Christmas to debate legislation related to the Commonwealth’s national plan to slow runaway energy bills. Premier Dominic Perrottet said MPs would be recalled on Wednesday to consider amending an existing bill, allowing the government to force coal and gas companies to cap prices.

Dolphins may suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, say researchers in Scotland
Three species of cetacean stranded off the coast of Scotland, including a bottlenose dolphin and a long-finned pilot whale, have been found to have the classic markers of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study.