Today the CSIRO will launch its new $90 million Towards Net Zero mission, which will aim to decarbonising some of Australia’s most heavily emitting industries: agriculture, aviation and steelmaking.
One of Australia's biggest energy companies has warned that retail electricity prices may increase by more than 35 per cent next year.
The Austrian government has filed a legal complaint with the European Union's top court over plans to label natural gas and nuclear power generation as sustainable energies. Austria's environment minister, Leonore Gewessler, warned that the measure could "greenwash" nuclear power and gas despite the environmental damage they cause.
Spring sun and solar panels push WA power system towards its limits
WA’s solar panels, coupled with recent mild spring weather and little demand for heating or cooling, have caused demand for the state’s major power grid to drop sharply, putting the system under stress.
At 12.30pm on Saturday power sold, or operational demand, on the South West grid fell to a record low of 707 megawatts as gas generation was curtailed to allow households to generate 71 per cent of the power needed.
CSIRO launches $90m research mission targeting agriculture, steel
The CSIRO has turned its attention to decarbonising Australia’s agriculture, steel production and other heavy industries, launching a $90 million research initiative alongside 30 companies to develop and commercialise new products.
The outer suburbs matter 10 times more in electric vehicle shift
A household in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s outer suburbs changing over to an electric vehicle from a Holden Commodore will deliver almost 10 times the savings in carbon emissions compared with a similar swap by an inner-city Melbourne owner, a KPMG report concludes.
KPMG has spent 10 months crunching the numbers on EV uptake and vehicle carbon emissions on a suburb-by-suburb basis in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and says policymakers should be concentrating on the outer suburbs of Australia’s largest cities.
CBA likely to vote down climate activist protests at AGM
A proposal to force Commonwealth Bank to stop lending to new or expansionary fossil fuel projects is set to be voted down at its annual meeting on Wednesday, as proxy advisers tell investors to reject Market Forces’ shareholder resolutions because they intrude on the management and fail to recognise improved disclosure on the energy transition.
Amazon to invest $972M for electric vans, trucks in Europe
Amazon said Monday it will invest 1 billion euros ($972.1 million) to add thousands of more electric vans, long-haul trucks and cargo bikes to its delivery network in Europe.
The investment would grow the number of electric delivery vans the company has in Europe from roughly 3,000 to 10,000 by 2025, the Seattle-based retail giant said in an announcement on its website.
With the investment, Amazon is also hoping to purchase more than 1,500 electric trucks, up from five in the United Kingdom. To accommodate those vehicles, the company said it will build hundreds of fast chargers across its European facilities that can charge the vehicles in roughly two hours.
New $90m plan to get Australia to net zero
Aussie scientists developed the cattle feed additive that could slash methane emissions worldwide. Now there is new hope to help us get to net zero.
The ‘miracle pill’ that stops cattle belching and farting methane has finally gone on sale – and now the organisation that developed it is looking for the next breakthrough technology that will help Australia slash its greenhouse gas emissions.
Today the CSIRO will launch its new $90 million Towards Net Zero mission, which will aim to develop greenhouse-gas-busting technologies in some of our most heavily emitting industries: agriculture, aviation and steelmaking.
Globally, those three sectors are greenhouse gas giants: agriculture is responsible for 18 per cent of all emissions, while steelmaking represents 7 per cent and aviation contributes another 2 per cent.
Austria sues EU executive over green label for gas, nuclear
The Austrian government said Monday it has filed a legal complaint with the European Union's top court over plans by the bloc's executive branch to label natural gas and nuclear power generation as sustainable energies.
Force coal and gas projects to cut emissions harder: Bandt
Coal and gas projects should be forced to cut emissions more deeply than other big industrial emitters under the federal government’s safeguard mechanism, according to Greens leader Adam Bandt.
In a speech on day two of The Australian Financial Review Energy & Climate Summit, Mr Bandt will renew calls for the Albanese government to fast-track plans to get out of coal and gas.
‘Team Australia or team greed?’ Husic tells gas companies to cut prices
Gas companies may be forced to cut prices for Australian manufacturers despite a recent deal with the government to ease costs, as Industry Minister Ed Husic puts gas bills back on the Albanese government’s agenda, warning powerful levers could pull producers into line.
Manufacturing companies and other big gas users are warning they cannot stay afloat under soaring energy costs. Husic accused gas companies, which supply both the local market and export LNG from Gladstone, of “milking gas prices” and demanded they offer Australian companies contracts at cut prices.
Greens look to revised emissions safeguard
Greens leader Adam Bandt says his party is open to supporting a revamped emissions safeguard mechanism if coal and gas are treated differently to “genuine” Australian industries.
Under the Greens’ plan, coal and gas companies would be carved out and required to make bigger emissions reductions than other industries, such as manufacturing. “Although the safeguard is far from our preferred way of cutting pollution, the Greens are open to supporting a safeguard mechanism that treats genuine Australian industry differently to coal and gas, because while the former can expand, the latter cannot,” Mr Bandt will tell the Financial Review’s energy and climate summit on Tuesday.
Power bills set to blow out by 35pc
Australia faces a new cost-of-living shock, with power prices forecast to soar by at least 35 per cent in 2023 as the early closure of coal-fired electricity generators creates a rocky energy transition.