---
title: How backroom deals with Japan locked Australia in for decades of gas
description: Independent senator David Pocock says the Australian government is failing to listen to its “Pacific family” and must stop approving new fossil fuel projects.
---
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The Canopy is a weekday morning email newsletter provided by the team at Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
# How backroom deals with Japan locked Australia in for decades of gas
Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Top stories
[Climate Betrayal: how backroom deals with Japan locked Australia in for decades of gas](https://michaelwest.com.au/labor-government-ramps-up-gas-exports-japan/)
Despite the Australian public voting for the need to address climate change, the Labor government has backed in decades of future gas exports. Recent Freedom of Information (FOI) releases, and close examination of a mosaic of evidence, have shed new light on who’s been convincing the Government to back away from turning off the gas tap. 222
[Fears back-to-back cyclones may have damaged Great Barrier Reef](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/30/great-barrier-reef-cyclone-damage-health-marine-life)
Back-to-back cyclones crossing the Great Barrier Reef have experts concerned vast flood plumes and heavy waves may have damaged parts of the world’s biggest coral reef system. Reef scientists and conservationists went into the summer worried that an El Niño weather pattern would elevate the risk of mass coral bleaching.
[Move to sustainable food systems could bring $10tn benefits a year, study finds](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/29/sustainable-food-production-economic-benefits-study)
A shift towards a more sustainable global food system could create up to $10tn (£7.9tn) of benefits a year, improve human health and ease the climate crisis, according to the most comprehensive economic study of its type.
[Tuvalu’s Sinking Reality: How Climate Change Is Threatening the Small Island Nation](https://earth.org/tuvalus-sinking-reality-how-climate-change-is-threatening-a-small-island-nation/)
In the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Tuvalu’s sinking shores stand as a haunting testament to the immediate and irreversible impacts of climate change. As this tiny island nation grapples with the encroaching sea, its plight becomes a symbol of the urgent global crisis that demands our attention.
[Australia has no national plan for climate change adaptation](https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/01/29/climate-change-adaptation-australia-emissions/). Climate adaptation, which is about keeping our most vulnerable communities safe, is not a diversion from reducing emissions. We need to do both. The floods that devastated north Queensland in December 2023, northern NSW in 2022, and 2020’s Black Summer bushfires show that Australia needs to step up its conversation about how it plans to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
[Think last year had weird weather? La Nina may already be on the way back](https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/think-last-year-had-weird-weather-la-nina-may-already-be-on-the-way-back-20240129-p5f0rs.html).
The La Nina weather event that brought widespread flooding to Australia’s east coast is set for a potential shock return later this year, international weather models show. While much of the country sweated through an El Nino event last year, it has already begun to weaken.
[Do we want a wind farm outside our window? What Australians think about the net zero transition?](https://reneweconomy.com.au/do-we-want-a-wind-farm-outside-our-window-what-australians-think-about-the-net-zero-transition/)
A paradox lies at the heart of Australian public opinion about climate change. While there is clear general support for substantial government action to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, there is also strong concern about the local impacts of new renewable energy infrastructure.
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