September 2021 Newsletter

Some good things have happened: Shell to pay $111m in compensation for oil spills in Nigeria; Swedish company Hybrit delivered first green steel made without coal to Volvo; Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action have won a landmark court case against the NSW Environmental Protection Authority; The Environmental Defenders Office filed a Federal Court case arguing Santos engaged in misleading conduct in claiming natural gas is clean; IPC has rejected POSCO/Hume Coal’s new mine project

WHAT’S ON

#StopAdani Stop the Money  Webinar to be held on September 8  6:30pm – 7:30pm. For info and to book https://www.stopadani.com/actions_debrief

Understanding the IPCC report 350.org is organising a webinar on 11 September 1-2.30pm. For info and to book go to https://actionnetwork.org/events/anger-hope-action-what-does-the-ipcc-report-mean-for-you-webinar-2/

#StopAdani Campaign Welcome Call is the new part of their campaign. Next Zoom meeting is on Wednesday 15 September at 5.30-6.30pm. To learn what you can do, go to https://www.stopadani.com/welcome

One hundred days of action  Citizens Climate Lobby is rolling out a range of actions you can take until GOP26 in November starting with this petition. https://100daysofaction.good.do/ccl/

Photographic exhibition “Beyond the Burn”  photos of solar farms on farms. https://www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/energy/article/beyond-the-burn-a-photographic-expedition-of-australian-solar-farms-1210067610

National Parks Association is running a series of webinars called Connecting with Nature. To register for new webinars and view previous ones go to
https://npansw.org.au/npa/npa-webinars-connecting-with-nature/

WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING 

Emailed Queensland government about recent breaches of environmental rules by Adani

Emailed Keith Pitt and Madeleine King asking them to not support release of offshore acreage that leads to oil exploration

Signed petition asking WA government not to allow fracking in Kimberley

Signed petition asking BHP to walk away from gas project in Scarborough, WA

Wrote a sumbission raising concerns about Macquarie Park Plan Strategy

Signed letter raising concerns about government’s plan to hamper work of charities

Signed letter asking goverment to create Christmas and Cocos Islands Marine Park

Wrote to Queensland Minister for the Environment asking she meet with Traditional Owners about Doongmabulla Springs (Adani’s Carmichael Mine area)

Made a submission objecting to the Plan of Management for the Kosciuszko National Park

Made a submission to NSW inquiry on Biodiversity Offset Scheme

NEWS AND EVENTS

Bad decisions by Australian state and federal governments
Victoria
consents to gas production at 12 Apostles https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/16/victoria-consents-to-gas-production-from-well-near-twelve-apostles
WA approves gas pipeline in Pilbara https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/12/wa-government-draws-ire-of-green-groups-for-approving-woodside-gas-pipeline-in-pilbara
Federal government sees strong future for coal https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/australia-sees-strong-future-coal-beyond-2030-despite-un-call-2021-09-06/

Climate change progress since 2019 not good https://theconversation.com/more-livestock-more-carbon-dioxide-less-ice-the-worlds-climate-change-progress-since-2019-is-mostly-bad-news-165168 Using machine learning to fine-tune climate models https://theconversation.com/how-machine-learning-is-helping-us-fine-tune-climate-models-to-reach-unprecedented-detail-165818

Farmers and climate change  Farmers are adapting but more needs to be done
https://theconversation.com/australian-farmers-are-adapting-well-to-climate-change-but-theres-work-ahead-164860  sustainable farming https://theconversation.com/land-of-opportunity-more-sustainable-australian-farming-would-protect-our-lucrative-exports-and-the-planet-16617 climate change may reduce our ability to grow food https://theconversation.com/climate-change-means-australia-may-have-to-abandon-much-of-its-farming-166098

IPC  has “completely failed to require mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions”. The fossil fuel industry creates 12% of NSW’s carbon emissions.
https://www.lockthegate.org.au/expert_analysis_mining_greenhouse_emissions

Regional Renewable Energy Industrial Precincts  BZE’s latest report shows how Hunter and Gladstone areas could benefit https://bze.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/EconomicAnaysisSummaryReport.pdf

NSW exceeds water allocation in Barwon-Darling catchment, a major cotton growing area https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/03/nsw-exceeds-barwon-darling-water-allocations-in-first-year-of-compliance-after-regime-overhaul

Origin wants to frack in NT. Sign the letter to Origin’s CEO asking it doesn’t.
https://www.seedmob.org.au/origin_frack_off

Adani breaching erosion and sediment control rules on its rail line https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-05/claim-further-pollution-breach-at-bravus-adani-rail-project/100348322
Sign the petition asking the Qld government  to stop work on Adani’s rail line to investigate breaches of environmental rules https://www.stopadani.com/stopwork
There are calls in India to investigate Adani’s offshore investors
https://www.adaniwatch.org/the_adani_group_s_shadowy_offshore_investors_calls_grow_for_a_full_investigation
Carbon Tracker analysis shows 86% of new coal power projects in India will generate a negative value of almost $40 billion https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/renewables/view-india-could-save-billions-by-cancelling-new-coal-projects/articleshow/85448534.cms
Adani’s thirst for coal continues with more coal mines and plants planned
https://www.adaniwatch.org/four_new_coal_blocks_feed_adani_s_deadly_addiction_to_coal

Offshore oil drillilng  Sign the petition asking Keith Pitt (Resources Minister) and Madeleine King (Shadow resources spokesperson) to stop supporting release of offshore acreage which leads to oil exploration
https://wilderness.good.do/mindlessrelease/pittandking/

Banks still behaving badly Commonwealth Bank will fund fossil fuels for another 4 years. Sign the letter asking it doesn’t water down its climate policy
https://www.marketforces.org.au/commbank-waters-down-funding-hurdle-for-fossil-fuel-expansion-gives-climate-wrecking-companies-another-4-years/
NAB contemplating gas. Use this form letter to the CEO encouraging the bank not to https://act.350.org/signup/write-letter-nab-ceo-ross-mcewan/

Increasing number of legal challenges to fossil fuel projects are supported by stronger climate science https://theconversation.com/climate-science-is-now-more-certain-than-ever-heres-how-it-can-make-a-difference-in-australian-court-cases-165874

Fact checking Angus Taylor’s response to the IPCC report. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/10/fact-check-angus-taylors-response-to-the-landmark-ipcc-report

Beetaloo and Empire Energy’s connection to the Liberal Party  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/20/energy-company-that-won-21m-in-grants-paid-for-liberal-party-fundraisers-trip-to-beetaloo-fracking-site

IPCC Lesley Hughes from the Climate Council and a lead author on the IPCC’s fourth and fifth assessments tells us what can be done to turn the climate crisis around. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/19/the-climate-crisis-is-an-accelerating-calamity-of-our-own-making-so-what-would-it-take-to-turn-things-around

RECYCLING AND SUSTAINABILITY

Recycling e-waste and solar panels and its challenges. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/22/going-to-e-waste-australias-recycling-failures-and-the-challenge-of-solar

Recycling carbon dioxide into everyday objects. https://theconversation.com/from-jet-fuel-to-clothes-microbes-can-help-us-recycle-carbon-dioxide-into-everyday-products-165242

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Expanding EV network ARENA has funded five companies to install 400 charging stations around Australia https://arena.gov.au/blog/24-million-boost-to-expand-ev-charging-network/

Solid batteries for EV’s A consortium in UK leading the work on this. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/19/uk-consortium-solid-state-batteries-electric-cars-prototype

Improving Lithium ion batteries Researchers in Korea are working to reduce loss of energy in these batteries https://www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/energy/news/minimising-energy-loss-in-li-ion-batteries-1381417618