Need for transparency as 'slush fund' allegations get bandied about | Lenore Taylor

We don’t yet know whether the $5bn Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) will be – as was alleged in parliament this week – a “slush fund” used to pursue the government’s “pro-coal agenda”. But we do know some government ministers are absolutely determined to promote coal mining and generation – in particular the Indian conglomerate Adani’s $21bn Carmichael coal mine in Queensland – without a thought for how it will contribute to the global warming that is bleaching the Great Barrier Reef up and down the Queensland coastline and increasing the intensity of cyclones. 

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It's Time for Asset Managers to Step Up on Climate Change | Morningstar

Asset managers have a huge role to play in making this happen (transitioning to a low-carbon economy). Not just as corporate citizens themselves but as long-term stewards of trillions of dollars of investor capital, they have a huge stake in maintaining long-term political and economic system stability, especially in a globalized economy in which large public companies do business all over the world while the reach of sovereign governments is limited. If the global financial system itself isn't sustainable over the long run, neither will be their investments.

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How AEMO’s new boss will reform Australia’s energy vision | Renew Economy

Audrey Zibelman, the new chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator, has been in the job for little over a week, but is already making her mark, signalling the biggest shift in energy management philosophy in a generation.

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Keeping lights on can't be guaranteed | AFR

There is no sense in spending billions of dollars trying to guarantee the impossible – that the lights will always stay on. But this has not stopped government ministers, corporate executives and numerous commentators from pretending a particular source of power will always keep the lights on. Nor has it stopped journalists from repeatedly asking ministers to guarantee "the lights will stay on" in future. It might be tempting to claim that everyone understands it is impossible to deliver these promises, but much of the current debate is conducted on the premise that they don't.
 

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The gas industry's power play | The Saturday Paper

Long-term mismanagement of Australia’s gas industry has seen price gouging by cartels and the possible need for imports. Even if the government can put things to right, natural gas will never again be a cheap alternative fossil fuel. By Mike Seccombe.

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Scientists made a detailed "roadmap" for meeting the Paris climate goals. | Vox

In a new paper for Science, a group of European researchers try to layout a roadmap, in vivid detail, what would have to happen in each of the next three decades if we want to stay well below 2°C and it’s unsettling.

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The Pears Report - Don't mention the war | Alan Pears, ReNew

TONY Abbott did his best to kill off renewable energy when he was PM—and he’s still trying it seems. But it is interesting to look back at the consequences of his efforts. The war on renewables was meant to reduce electricity prices. But it has done the opposite—and a lot more......

Gas crisis? Energy crisis? The real problem is lack of long-term planning | The Conversation, Alan Pears

If you’ve been watching the news in recent days, you’ll know we have an energy crisis, partly due to a gas crisis, which in turn has triggered a political crisis. 

That’s a lot of crises to handle at once, so lots of solutions are being put forward. But what do people and businesses actually need? Do they need more gas, or cheaper prices, or more investment certainty, or all or none of the above? How do we cut through to what is really important, rather than side details?

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Stop the Adani mega mine - Move Australia beyond coal | 350.org

The Age of Consequences | ABC Four Corners

"We are not your traditional environmentalists." Gen. Gordon Sullivan (Retd), Fmr. Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Four Corners brings you the views of distinguished former members of the US military and senior policy makers who warn that climate change is not only real, it's a threat to global security.

"I'm here today not only representing my views on security implications of climate change, but on the collective wisdom of 16 admirals and generals." Rear Admiral David Titley (Retd), U.S. Navy

They say climate change is impacting on vital resources, migration patterns and conflict zones.

"Climate change is one of the variables that must be considered when thinking about instability in the world." Gen. Gordon Sullivan (Retd), Fmr. Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Rear Admiral David Titley spent 32 years in the US military. He was the US Navy's chief oceanographer and led the Navy's Task Force on Climate Change. He argues climate change must be acknowledged.

"Our collective bottom line judgement is that climate change is an accelerating risk to our nation's future." Rear Admiral David Titley (Retd), U.S. Navy

The film analyses the conflict in Syria, the social unrest of the Arab Spring, and the rise of groups like ISIS and how these experts believe climate change is already acting as a catalyst for conflict.

"This is the heart of the problem in many ways. Climate change arrives in a world that has already been destabilised." Dr Christian Parenti

Director Jared P Scott explores how water and food shortages, drought, extreme weather and rising sea-levels can act as accelerants of instability.

"We realised that climate change would be a threat multiplier for instability as people become desperate, because they have extreme weather and the seas are rising, and there are floods in one area and droughts in another, fragile states become more unpredictable." Sherri Goodman, Fmr. Dept Undersecretary of Defense

These Pentagon insiders say a failure to tackle climate change, conducting 'business as usual', would lead to profound consequences.

"It's a very dangerous thing to decide that there is one and only one line of events heading into the future and one and only one best response for dealing with that." Leon Fuerth, Fmr. National Security Adviser, White House '93-'01

The Age of Consequences, from PBS International, directed by Jared P Scott and presented by Sarah Ferguson, went to air on Monday 20th March at 8.30pm EDT. It was replayed on Tuesday 21st March at 10.00am and Wednesday 22nd at 11pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm AEST, and at ABC iview.

Link to transcript and background information

How the free market failed Australia and priced us out of our own gas supply | ABC

Within the next four years, Australia will overtake Qatar as the world's biggest supplier of gas. We are sitting on vast gas reserves. In fact, we're swimming in the stuff.

And yet, we face critical shortages at home which could starve manufacturers of fuel, see power outages across the eastern states and force energy prices through the roof while any profits that are made will be shipped offshore.

This is a public policy fail of epic proportions.

And it's worth getting a handle on how it all came about and the shenanigans employed by the gas majors that have deliberately created this crisis and the supposed shortage which is a total con.

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Clarke and Dawe: The energy market explained

Are you also confused about the Australian energy market? This may help clear up a few things ....

The heat is now on Directors when it comes to climate change | Lexology

In a recent ASIC liaison meeting, a number of corporate governance items were flagged as being a current focus of ASIC. Of particular interest is the emerging focus on climate change risk management by directors and implications for directors’ duties.

The opinion ‘Climate change and directors’ duties’ published by the Centre for Policy Development in October 2016 (download here) promoted wide spread discussion about the implications of climate change risk for directors. It argues that Australian company directors who fail to consider such risks now could be found liable for breaching their duty of care and diligence under section 180 of the Corporations Act in the future.

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Climate Council: without action, rising seas will cost us billions | The Conversation

Rising sea levels pose huge financial, economic and humanitarian risks, as shown by the Climate Council’s latest report, Counting the Costs: Climate Change and Coastal Flooding. If the world ignores the problem, by mid-century rising seas could cost the world more than a trillion dollars a year as floods and storm surges hit.

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Hurt by sea: how storm surges and sea-level rise make coastal life risky | The Conversation

The journal Climatic Change has published a special edition of review papers discussing major natural hazards in Australia. This article by The Conversation, which was written in November 2016, is one of a series looking at those threats.

Australia is a huge continent, but a coastal nation. About 80% of Australians live within 50km of the coast, and a sea-level rise of 1.1 metres (a high-end scenario for 2100) would put about A$63 billion (in 2008 dollars) worth of residential buildings at risk.

Anyone who lives along Sydney’s northern beaches, especially in Collaroy, saw at first hand the damage the ocean can wreak on coastal properties when the coastline was hit by a severe east coast low during a king tide in June.

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Carbon Dioxide Is Rising at Record Rates | Carbon Central

For the second year in a row, carbon dioxide concentrations as measured at Mauna Loa Observatory rose at a record-fast clip, according to new data released by the Environmental System Research Laboratory (ESRL). The annual growth of 3 parts per million in 2016 is the slightest shade below the jump in 2015 of 3.03 ppm. Both years mark the first time carbon dioxide has risen more than 3 ppm in a single year in ESRL’s 59 years of monitoring.

An exceptionally strong El Niño helped kick the numbers up a bit, but ever-increasing carbon pollution is the main driver behind the uptick. The annual growth rate has increased since record keeping began in 1960 from just under 1 ppm in the 1960s to more than 2.4 ppm through the first half of the 2010s. The past two years have set a record for the fastest annual growth rate on record.

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Unsafe to ignore climate risks, says APRA | AFR

The prudential regulator says it is "unsafe" to ignore climate change risks just because the topic is controversial, as at least one of the major banks reviews the mortgage risk associated with rising sea levels.

Looming energy crisis cries out for bipartisanship | AFR

If ever there was a test for all our politicians - and whether they can, for once, concentrate on the problem at hand rather than simply blame each other - this is it.  Maybe this is something dangerous enough for all involved that they will realise they need each other to help solve the problem .

Earth's oceans are warming 13% faster than thought, and accelerating | The Guardian

New research has convincingly quantified how much the Earth has warmed over the past 56 years. Human activities utilize fossil fuels for many beneficial purposes but have an undesirable side effect of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at ever-increasing rates. That increase - of over 40%, with most since 1980 - traps heat in the Earth’s system, warming the entire planet. 

But how fast is the Earth warming and how much will it warm in the future? Those are the critical questions we need to answer if we are going to make smart decisions on how to handle this issue. 

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Thabametsi coal-fired power station in SA’s first climate change lawsuit | Mining Review

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Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), yesterday submitted comments on the draft climate change impact assessment for the Thabametsi power station, ahead of SA's first climate change lawsuit to start in the Pretoria High Court this week.

The impact assessment was made available for public comment in January 2017 following the Minister of Environmental Affairs’ decision to order Thabametsi coal-fired power station to conduct an assessment of the climate change impact of the proposed coal-fired power station in water-stressed Limpopo.

At the same time, the Minister decided to uphold the proposed power station’s environmental authorisation – a decision which ELA will be challenging in court from Thursday.

ELA’s case is based on the fact that climate change impact is a significant environmental impact, given the impact that climate change will have and is having on water availability and temperature increases, particularly in respect of a proposed coal-fired power station.

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