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Current climate commitments are insufficient to reduce emissions by the amounts needed to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, says Unep report

The commitments made by governments on climate change will lead to dangerous levels of global warming because they are incommensurate with the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.

The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) said that pledges put forward to cut emissions would see temperatures rise by 3C above pre-industrial levels, far above the the 2C of the Paris climate agreement, which comes into force on Friday.

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Alan Finkel challenges renewables alarmism, saying they provide ‘many viable technology paths to cutting emissions’

Australia’s chief scientist has challenged the resurgent political alarmism about renewable energy, saying energy security isn’t about locking in the status quo, it’s about ensuring the successful decarbonisation of electricity generation.

In his first public comments since being asked to lead an energy security review for federal and state governments, Alan Finkel delivered an upbeat assessment of renewable energy technologies, saying they provide “many viable technology paths to cutting emissions”.

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The power station will close its doors in March next year.

Brazilian worm arrived in a pot plant from Europe and preys on snails and earthworms that are essential for soil health

An invasive flatworm from Brazil that poses a threat to soil health and wildlife has made its way to mainland Britain.

A 4.5cm Obama flatworm (Obama nungara) – not linked to the US president but named after the Brazilian Tupi words for leaf (oba) and animal (ma) – was discovered this summer crawling out of a Heuchera plant imported from the Netherlands at a garden centre in Oxfordshire.

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Stanhope Dene, Weardale For a few moments the falling rain became a silver sunlit curtain as it swept across the canopy

We knew we were going to get wet, probably very wet, but it was the kind of morning that turns landscape into dramatic theatre; dark clouds unleashing torrential showers, then sunshine breaking through gaps in the clouds, sweeping across fields and fell side.

The first downpour arrived just as we made our way along the footpath that skirts the edge of the dene, a steep-sided cleft in the hillside cut by Stanhope burn, clothed with ash, Scots pine, oak and beech. The impact of heavy raindrops loosened leaves from the canopy above, sending them spinning down to join a carpet of wet beech autumn foliage, as shiny as polished copper, under our feet.

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Leonardo DiCaprio’s new climate change documentary, Before the Flood, began streaming online this week. As a disaster risk scientist, I watched with intrigue.

While it doesn’t cover a lot of new material for those familiar with the topic, DiCaprio will undoubtedly reach a new audience given his star power and access to figures like Pope Francis and US President Barack Obama.

At the time of writing, the film has been watched more than 6 million times on YouTube alone. Clearly, it will make a significant contribution to the contemporary discussion around climate change, much like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth a decade ago.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest work.

Coming in the same week that the Paris Agreement enters into force, the movie helps to set the stage for action to prevent the worst impacts of a global environmental crisis that is already well under way.

But as exciting as it is to see an A-list Hollywood star train his celebrity spotlight on this issue, it is important to critique some of the film’s underlying assumptions. Chief among these are the idea that “green growth” will allow us to have economic growth without environmental damage, and the notion that the politicians and corporations who helped compromise our planet can now be trusted to save it.

Denial and overconsumption

In making the film, DiCaprio spent three years travelling the globe to see the most severe impacts of climate change. He also discussed climate change’s causes, impacts and mooted solutions with leading environmentalists, scientists, innovators and politicians.

He found overwhelming scientific evidence that disaster is imminent. He also found a lobby that is determined to deny that humans are responsible, and a near-universal commitment to technocratic solutions.

While talking to climatologist Michael Mann about the denial movement’s well-funded and effective campaign to confuse the public, DiCaprio remarks: “If I was a scientist, I would be absolutely pissed every single day of my life.” (Presumably he means “pissed” in the American sense, rather than the UK/Australian usage.)

He goes on to trace the corporate sector’s funding of alternative and contrarian climate research, as well as the partisan politics at play in this movement.

One of the film’s most poignant moments takes place in India. DiCaprio’s discussion with environmentalist Sunita Narain turns to the issue of overconsumption in the United States, while poor countries are told they must embrace renewable energy. She insists:

Your consumption is going to really put a hole in the planet. We need to put the issue of lifestyle and consumption at the centre of climate negotiations.

Narain is left shaking her head as DiCaprio argues ruefully that Americans will probably never accept a change to their “standard of living”, a concept that is unavoidably linked to consumption.

Can green growth really save us?

A visit to the Tesla Gigafactory gives us a look at what is possible with today’s technology. Chief executive Elon Musk shares his vision for a clean energy transition, claiming that 100 Gigafactories could power the planet. However, he warns that:

…the fossil fuel industry is the biggest industry in the world. They have more money and more influence than any other sector… [but] if government sets the rules to favour sustainable energy, we can get there really quickly.

While the film captures the jubilant atmosphere at last year’s Paris climate negotiations, DiCaprio is clearly sceptical about the level of political will to challenge corporate power. The film argues that politicians generally follow public opinion, the implication being that they will only take on the fossil fuel sector if and when society demands it.

Yet sections of society have been demanding it for decades, and their outrage has routinely been dismissed. At this moment, protesters at Standing Rock, North Dakota are in a protracted standoff with police and private military over a planned oil pipeline that Native American tribes fear will harm local groundwater. President Obama’s suggestion of allowing the situation to “play out for several more weeks” speaks powerfully of the political establishment’s willingness to give armed backing to corporations.

Before the Flood lines up a series of leaders, scientists and innovators to tell us that we need to move faster towards sustainable energy. But their implied backing of the economic status quo of indefinite growth goes unchallenged, because DiCaprio sees such a challenge as impossibly radical. We therefore leave ourselves at the mercy of a technocratic response that has failed time and again.

A robust critique of “green growth”, and of the growth paradigm in general, would have been well within this film’s remit. Instead, it is presented as our only hope.

Likewise, the film neglects to challenge the implicit suggestion that the current crop of leaders and corporations are the best people to lead us into this green utopia.

Radical change

The film’s message is that we simply need to educate, organise and take action in our communities, and then politicians will follow suit. This downplays the influence of money in politics, and the reality that voting in many countries is an exercise in futility. Rhetoric aside, can we really trust the same political elite that have allowed such destruction on their watch?

The film’s intention to reach a mass-market audience might explain the editorial decision to sidestep the uncomfortable issue of economic growth. But this is to shirk a crucial responsibility. Less developed countries experiencing rapid growth are looking to the United States for leadership, but finding only hypocrisy.

DiCaprio tells a story that pins humanity’s hopes on cheaper, high tech renewable technologies, alongside political will. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, he pleads:

No more talk, no more excuses, no more ten-year studies. This is the body that can do what is needed, all of you sitting in this very hall. The world is now watching. You will either be lauded by future generations or vilified by them.

I wonder whether we have mistaken our wishes for reality – that we can just will an energy revolution into being without making any hard choices. Why else do we defend a system where multinational corporations’ right to profit comes before our health, livelihoods and environment?

Before the Flood offers us a choice between planetary destruction and the promised green tech revolution. But it doesn’t tell us about the third option: radical system change. Its advocates are vocal, but repressed. I, for one, am convinced that the scientific community must now rally to their cause.

Jason von Meding receives funding from the Australian Government.

The blackout that occurred in South Australia as well as the power price rises in that state since the closure of their two coal fired power stations have been hailed by a range of media commentators and senior politicians as the horrors that come from too much renewable energy.  As a warning that we must […]

Independent analyst says claims Hazelwood coal plant closure will have any significant impact on retail electricity prices "not at all credible".

With no economic option to clean it up, and no buyer, the French owner of Victoria's Hazelwood coal power plant has confirmed it will close in March 2017. Engie also looking to sell Loy Yang B coal plant, and WA Kwinana gas station, as it transitions to low-carbon generation.

The Emissions Reduction Fund cannot serve as the foundation for more serious action without completely separating industrial emissions from land sector abatement.

Redflow CEO says Tesla's launch of Powerwall 2 battery with a built-in inverter takes a leaf from the Apple playbook of vertical integration – and could polarise the industry.

The first version of Tesla's Powerwall battery storage device had a big impact on prices in Australia. The second version, unveiled last week, is expected to do it all over again.

The first trades in 2019 LGCs raised some eyebrows, as did the continued activity in the STC market.

Decentralised technologies are now becoming the cheapest way to bring power to the people, as they were 130 years ago, but we still need the grid.

Legislation needed because lifejackets are not being worn despite campaign issuing free ones, says MAIB after spate of deaths

Marine investigators are calling for the wearing of lifejackets to be a legal requirement on commercial trawlers after a spate of deaths at sea.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch took the unusual step of recommending legislation as it released reports into four of the nine commercial fishing deaths so far this year.

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NSW outlines major push into renewables - and new storage technologies - as part of its plan to reach zero net emissions by 2050. The state that once boasted of being the "California" of clean energy in Australia, but slipped in the opposite direction, is now starting to do something about it.

DESERT SURVIVAL TACTICS: The secret to thorny devils' survival in the desert is shovelling sand on top of themselves to suck the moisture out of it, a study suggests.

Thousands of school children have been helping to carry out experiments to see whether seeds that have been in space grow as well as those that have stayed on Earth.

AUSTRALIAN ARCHAEOLOGY: The chance discovery of one of the most important prehistoric sites in Australia pushes back the date of human occupation in the arid outback 10,000 years.

These stunning aerial photos capture the extraordinary colours and painterly flows of Kati Thanda – aka Lake Eyre – in central Australia. The images by Adam Williams, Luke Austin, Ignacio Palacios and Paul Hoelen of the Light Collective depict a remote and pristine landscape few will ever see. They were taken for a new book and exhibition, which opens on Thursday at the Depot Gallery in Sydney

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