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The central Queensland wind farm sent back to the drawing board for posing a “clearly unacceptable” threat to koalas has been approved for construction.

The post Wind farm rejected over threat to koalas gets green light for new design appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Cranes at two major infrastructure projects will start running on so-called renewable diesel, as a key contractor shifts its fleet away from fossil fuels.

The post Cranes on key Sydney construction projects switch to renewable diesel appeared first on RenewEconomy.

That's a wrap. The final gavel came down in Sharm el-Sheikh shortly after 0700 local time on Sunday morning, making COP27 the second-longest running round of UN climate talks. Here's a recast of the *103 articles* published by Carbon Pulse relating to both weeks of the summit.

Negotiations on a new UN carbon crediting mechanism took only limited steps at COP27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh this month, but some believe the process is providing a clear signal to the shape of the current voluntary carbon market (VCM) that will be hard to ignore.

Qualified victory was snatched from defeat at the climate summit with a genuine and surprising agreement on loss and damage. But there’s still no plan to get to 1.5C

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The Cop27 climate summit ended in a desperate and confused flurry more than 40 hours late with a qualified victory clutched from the jaws of complete failure, but with the big issues unresolved.

If this sounds familiar, like so many climate summits before it, well … yes. There were genuine developments over the past week, some of which could reshape the global response to the crisis. But there was also intransigence and blocking where it mattered most. Some of that is getting worse.

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The biggest breakthrough came on support for climate victims, but there was little to stop polluters causing more damage.

The post Explainer: What was decided at Cop27 climate talks in Egypt? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

COP27 made important advances on loss and damage, but the refusal to call out fossil fuels and backtracking on 1.5° target has left a bitter taste.

The post The good, the bad, and a leave pass for fossil fuels at compromised Egypt COP27 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Experts say biggest economies must pledge more cuts to carbon emissions but hail agreement to set up loss and damage fund

• A deal on loss and damage, but a blow to 1.5C – what will be Cop27’s legacy?

The world still stands “on the brink of climate catastrophe” after the deal reached at the Cop27 UN climate summit on Sunday, and the biggest economies must make fresh commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, climate experts and campaigners have warned.

The agreement reached in Sharm el-Sheikh early on Sunday morning, after a marathon final negotiating session that ran 40 hours beyond its deadline, was hailed for providing poor countries for the first time with financial assistance known as loss and damage. A fund will be set up by rich governments for the rescue and rebuilding of vulnerable areas stricken by climate disaster, a key demand of developing nations for the last 30 years of climate talks.

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Australia’s most important public financial institution, the Reserve Bank, runs on rules from the 1950s. For a 21st century economy, managing climate change needs to be added to its 3 key objectives. Toby Phillips, Public Policy Researcher, University of Oxford Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Ageing brick apartment buildings of two to three storeys are being redeveloped in many suburbs. Typically, they are knocked down to be replaced by much bigger developments. But here’s an alternative. Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, Academic Fellow in Architectural Practice, University of Sydney Urtzi Grau, Senior Lecturer, Director of The Master of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The creation of a loss and damage fund is a milestone, but a 1.5C limit to the global temperature rise looks even further out of reach

The Cop process often seems to encapsulate the broader global reaction to climate breakdown. Leaders make grand but vague pledges of action; fossil fuel lobbyists (600 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this year) schmooze and press governments into maintaining the status quo; and scientists, civil society groups and those most affected by the climate emergency have to scream to be heard at all. The results are predictable: indecision, evasion, obstruction and buck-passing followed by desperately needed – but desperately inadequate – last-minute action.

Given the utter disarray evident as late as Saturday evening, the final outcome of Cop27 is a relief, and in one regard even a cause for celebration. The agreement to establish a loss and damage fund is a historic breakthrough, demanded for three decades by developing countries. The devil will as usual lie in the detail: who will fund it? But it should help to provide the financial assistance poorer nations need for rescuing and rebuilding as extreme weather pummels their populations and infrastructure. And it comes despite the sustained opposition of the US and (until the eleventh hour) the EU.

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With the deadly devastation fresh in the world’s mind, Pakistan pushed for damage funds with other frontline countries

In early September, after unprecedented rainfall had left a third of Pakistan under water, its climate change minister set out the country’s stall for Cop27. “We are on the frontline and intend to keep loss and damage and adapting to climate catastrophes at the core of our arguments and negotiations. There will be no moving away from that,” Sherry Rehman said.

Pakistan brought that resolve to the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh and, as president of the G77 plus China negotiating bloc, succeeded in keeping developing countries united on loss and damage – despite efforts by some rich countries to divide them. Its chief negotiator, Nabeel Munir, a career diplomat, was backed by a team of savvy veteran negotiators who had witnessed the devastation and suffering from the floods, which caused $30bn (£25bn) of damage and economic losses. Every day, Munir repeated the same message: “Loss and damage is not charity, it’s about climate justice.”

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Rather than a bloated global talking shop, we need something smaller, leaner and fully focused on the crisis at hand

• Bill McGuire is Prof Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at UCL

In the end, the recent shenanigans at the Cop27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh at least ended up making modest progress on loss and damage: high-emissions nations agreeing to pay those countries bearing the brunt of climate mayhem that they had little to do with bringing about.

But, yet again, there was no commitment to cutting the emissions causing accelerating this crisis, without which this agreement is nothing more – as one delegate commented – than a “down-payment on disaster”. No seasoned observers are of the opinion that the world is any nearer tackling the climate emergency. Indeed, the real legacy of Cop27 could well be exposing the climate summit for what it has become, a bloated travelling circus that sets up once a year, and from which little but words ever emerge.

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Here are selected expert reactions to the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, which was concluded at the UN COP27 summit early on Sunday, along with a snapshot of key announcements made at the two-week event.

Rich nations will pay climate damages, but the final deal does not cut fossil fuels further.

The big news of COP27 was agreement to establish a fund for ‘loss and damage’. But many lamented the summit’s overall outcome, saying it falls short of a sufficient response to the climate crisis. Matt McDonald, Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The biggest win on climate since the Paris Agreement in 2015... or the biggest loss?

World leaders, diplomats and activists respond to signing of ‘historic’ deal as climate talks wrap up

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

World leaders, diplomats, activists and experts have been reacting to the end of the Cop27 climate conference, which produced a groundbreaking agreement on climate finance for poorer countries but failed to make significant progress on many other matters. Here are some of the reactions from major players.

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Deal is hailed as potential turning point that acknowledges vast inequities of climate crisis

Developing countries celebrated on Sunday morning as crucial climate talks ended with a “historic” deal on their most cherished climate goal: a global fund for “loss and damage”, providing financial assistance to poor nations stricken by climate disaster.

Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister and president of the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt, said: “We rose to the occasion. We worked around the clock, day and night, but united in working for one gain, one higher purpose, one common goal. In the end we delivered. We listened to the calls of anguish and despair.”

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UN climate talks closed early on Sunday morning with an agreement to establish a loss and damage fund for vulnerable countries, but negotiators failed to extend a global coal phasedown to all fossil fuels.