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UN COP25 climate summit in Madrid finally ends in compromise deal
Greta Thunberg in first-class Twitter spat with German rail firm
Deutsche Bahn says activist’s tweet implied she had not been offered a seat on journey home
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been criticised by a German rail firm for what it said was her implication that she had spent a journey without a seat on an overcrowded train.
The teenager tweeted a photograph of herself looking pensively out of the window of her German train on Saturday, writing: “Traveling (sic) on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home.”
Continue reading...Governments must act on public health emergency from bushfire smoke, medical groups say
The 22 groups link the bushfire smoke to climate change, saying lives are being put at risk
Some 22 groups representing health and medical professionals in Australia have issued a joint call to act on a “public health emergency” caused by smoke from the catastrophic bushfire season in New South Wales.
In Sydney and others areas of NSW communities have been exposed to air pollution up to 11 times worse than “hazardous” levels.
Continue reading...The UN climate talks are over for another year – was anything achieved?
A conference marked by squabbling and deferral yielded little progress despite protests
Governments at the UN climate talks in Madrid responded to the growing urgency of the crisis with a partial admission that carbon-cutting targets are too weak, but few concrete plans to strengthen them in line with the Paris agreement.
Two weeks of talks ended on Sunday afternoon with a formal recognition of the need to bridge the gap between greenhouse gas targets set in 2015 in Paris and scientific advice that says much deeper cuts are needed. Current targets would put the world on track for 3C of warming, which scientists say would ravage coastal cities and destroy agriculture over swathes of the globe.
Continue reading...Climate change: Longest talks end with compromise deal
COP25: Testing Article 6 talks delayed for second year after record length meeting
RACV makes push into rooftop PV with Gippsland Solar purchase
One of Victoria’s biggest PV retailers, Gippsland Solar, acquired by major Australian insurer RACV, in deal that speaks volumes about Australia’s booming rooftop PV market.
The post RACV makes push into rooftop PV with Gippsland Solar purchase appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Lion Breweries commits to 100% renewables by 2025
XXXX and Little Creatures brewer Lion follows up carbon neutral 2020 target with commitment to use renewable electricity only to power its operations by 2025.
The post Lion Breweries commits to 100% renewables by 2025 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Solar garden bears fruit for NSW community housing tenants
First "solar garden" in Lismore hailed as breakthrough for community solar projects in Australia and for those "locked out" of solar.
The post Solar garden bears fruit for NSW community housing tenants appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Greta Thunberg apologises for 'put leaders against the wall' comment
Science Friction's End of the Year quiz show!
How Africa will be affected by climate change
UN climate talks drag on as rifts scupper hopes of breakthrough
Governments including the US, Brazil, Australia and China accused of frustrating negotiations
Global climate talks look set to continue past midnight on Saturday, after a marathon final negotiating session that has been ongoing since Friday without clear resolutions on how to implement the Paris agreement, to the frustration of many countries and the dismay of campaigners.
Some bodies attending the summit – notably the EU – came forward with new long-term goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but most were content to spend the two weeks of UN talks in Madrid arguing over narrow technical issues, including the details of carbon trading.
Continue reading...Rupert Murdoch says 'no climate change deniers around' – but his writers prove him wrong
Some columnists in News Corp’s papers didn’t get their boss’s message
“There are no climate change deniers around I can assure you,” Rupert Murdoch said last month at News Corp’s annual general meeting.
His declaration that the publisher of the Daily Telegraph, the Australian and owner of Sky News was free of climate deniers was widely greeted with mirth.
Continue reading...'How do you transform an entire economy?' The firm taking on the climate funding problem
Martijn Wilder says more companies are talking about the climate crisis but not moving quickly enough – and his new firm Pollination aims to improve that
A growing number of governments, including of every Australian state, Britain and the European Union, have set targets of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Few have mapped how to get there.
It is a similar story in the corporate sector. Businesses are under increasing pressure from investors and shareholders to back up claims they are committed to the goals of the Paris agreement. Take BHP, one of the world’s 20 big emitters: it has set a mid-century net-zero emissions target but is yet explain how it will reach it, and plans to invest more in oil and gas than climate solutions.
Continue reading...Summer loving: Paul Blackmore captures Australia’s affair with the ocean – in pictures
In his book Heat, the Sydney-based photographer Paul Blackmore pays homage to Australia’s obsession with the coast, exploring the relationship between water, heat and humanity. He documents the pursuit of individual freedom on crowded beaches during sweltering summer days and shoots the sea in its various guises – cool, dark and icy; a powerful force to be reckoned with; a backdrop to foggy Bondi mornings; and a stormy refuge for the wild at heart
• Some of these photographs will be on display at Water, a group exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane from 7 December until 26 April 2020
• Sculpture by the Sea: an inspired stroll along Sydney’s coastline – in pictures
Continue reading...Tasmania's flowering giants: 'We will never see such trees again'
Many of Tasmania’s giant trees suffered in the summer fires of 2019 and now lie in ruins
In Australia’s island state of Tasmania, many of the world’s biggest flowering trees lie in ruins after this year’s bushfires.
The Arve Giant, a eucalyptus regnans (“king of the eucalypts”), had attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors in recent decades, but it succumbed in January.
Adventure photographer Steve Pearce recently photographed the collapsed giant. Before its fall, it was a contender for the world’s biggest flowering tree by volume at 360 cubic metres, which is roughly the equivalent volume of three Boeing 737-300s. “This tree was 87 metres tall. It had a circumference of 17.2 metres. Now it is just a crumpled mess,” said Pearce.
The world’s biggest and tallest trees are the softwood redwood trees of California. This year a 100.7-metre (Yellow meranti) flowering giant was discovered in the Borneo rainforests, topping the tallest of Tasmania’s trees by just 20cm.
Related: Almost a quarter of eucalypt trees found to be threatened with extinction
Continue reading...Climate change: UN talks in Madrid hit rough waters
Experts raise new fears about killer air pollution in UK
The UK’s failure to meet World Health Organisation standards limiting the amount of ultra-fine particles in the air represents a major danger to health that is only now being recognised, experts claim.
Studies published this year link the particles to cancers, lung and heart disease, adverse effects on foetal development, and poor lung and brain development in children. They are considered a key threat to health because they go deep into the lungs and then reach other organs, including the brain. But European standards allow the levels of particles in the air to be 2.5 times higher than those stipulated by the WHO.
Continue reading...COP25: Roundup for Saturday, Dec. 14
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