Friday 29th of March 2024

doing the splits...

fried...

The Government's main climate change advisory body has split, with two board members calling for tougher action to reduce emissions.

Last week, the Climate Change Authority published a report calling for the Government to introduce an emissions trading scheme.

But two of the authority's board members, climate scientist David Karoly and economist Clive Hamilton, have since issued a dissenting minority report calling for stronger measures to reduce emissions.

Why we wrote a minority report

If there is no change to the current 2030 target, Australia's Paris Agreement commitment will be impossible to achieve, writes David Karoly and Clive Hamilton.

Professor Karoly said the recommendations in the majority report were inadequate.

"The target that is being used is the current Government targets, which are only 26 to 28 per cent emission reductions by 2030, but in fact that means that Australia would not be contributing its fair share to global action," he said.

"Australia is the highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases of all countries in the world.

"Therefore Australia should be doing more, because it is contributing more to climate change growth, to global warming around the world."

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg brushed off the dissenting report, saying the vast majority of board members had signed on.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-05/climate-change-authority-splits/7813422


Not only inadequate, these small measures as presented to the government by the Climate Change Authority won't even be adopted by the government in time to be effective. We know that the "direct action" is not working, despite the government of Abbott/Turnbull spending oodles of cash in advertising that it does.

Climate scientist David Karoly and economist Clive Hamilton are correct to say THAT NOT ENOUGH IS BEING DONE. The reduction targets are too small as well. 

 

too many economists, not enough real scientists...

 

Climate Change Authority
Chair: Dr Wendy Craik


Dr Wendy Craik was appointed as the Chair of the Authority on 12 October 2015. Dr Craik’s appointment is for five years.

Dr Craik has over 25 years’ experience in senior roles in public policy. She has held many senior positions including Commissioner at the Productivity Commission, Chief Executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC), President of the National Competition Council (NCC), Chair of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), Executive Director of National Farmers Federation (NFF) and Executive Officer of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). She has been a director on a number of boards.  She is currently Chair of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, Deputy Chancellor at the University of South Australia, Chair of the NSW Marine Estate Management Authority and Chair of the NESP Climate Science and Earth Systems Hub Steering Committee.

Dr Craik was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for service to the natural resource sector of the economy, particularly in the areas of fisheries, marine ecology and management of water reform, and for contributions to policies affecting rural and regional Australia.


Stuart Allinson


Mr Stuart Allinson was appointed as a member of the Authority on 12 October 2015 for a term of five years.

Mr Allinson’s career has predominantly focused on the energy sector, as a manager, consultant and company director in Australasia and Europe. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of BidEnergy Pty Ltd when it was established in 2012 and continues in that role. With headquarters in Melbourne, BidEnergy is a cloud-based platform helping multi-site organisations control their energy spend locally and globally.

Mr Allinson attended Imperial College of Science and Technology and holds a BSc Mathematics Upper Second Class Honours (Associate of the Royal College of Science) and Master of Petroleum Engineering (Associate of the Royal School of Mines). He also holds a Master of Business Administration, Royal Victoria University of Manchester, England. Whilst studying for his MBA, he attended Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Illinois as part of an international student exchange programme.

Mr Allinson’s early career was in oil and gas exploration and production. He later specialised in energy and environmental market deregulation. In 1997, he immigrated to Australia to work with Ernst & Young as an energy market specialist, consulting to governments, regulators and businesses involved with market reform. Subsequently, he co-founded Exigency Management Pty Ltd, a specialist energy and environmental advisory firm.


Kate Carnell


Kate Carnell was appointed a member on 12 October 2015 for a term of five years.

Ms Carnell commenced as CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) in May 2014. ACCI, Australia's largest and most representative business organisation is the leading voice of business in Australia advocating for over 300,000 businesses across all industries.

Ms Carnell is well known and respected in the not-for-profit and business communities having served two years as CEO of beyondblue and previously four years as CEO of the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

Ms Carnell began her professional life as a pharmacist. She owned and managed pharmacies for some 20 years, was the inaugural chair of the ACT Branch of the Australian Pharmacy Guild and went on to become National Vice-President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Ms Carnell served as Chief Minister of the ACT from 1995 to 2000. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006 for her services to community through contributions to economic development and support for the business sector, knowledge industries, the medical sector and medical technology advances.

OVERVIEW:

Appointed CEO of ACCI in May 2014

CEO of beyondblue (2012 - May 2014)

CEO of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (2008 -2012)

Awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2006

CEO of the Australian General Practice Network (2004 - 2008)

ACT Chief Minister (1995 - 2000)

Registered pharmacist


Professor Clive Hamilton


Professor Hamilton was appointed a member of the Authority on 1 July 2012 for a term of five years. He holds the Vice-Chancellor's Chair and is Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University. For 14 years, he was the Executive Director of The Australia Institute, a progressive think tank. He holds an arts degree from the Australian National University (ANU) and an economics degree from the University of Sydney and completed his doctorate at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Before establishing The Australia Institute, Professor Hamilton taught in the Graduate Program in the Economics of Development at ANU then joined the Australian Public Service, first with the Bureau of Industry Economics and then at the Resource Assessment Commission. He also worked as a resource economist in Indonesia. Professor Hamilton has held visiting academic positions at Yale University, University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. In 2009 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia.


Professor David Karoly


Professor Karoly was appointed a member of the Authority on July 1 2012 for a term of five years. He is Professor of Atmospheric Science in the University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences. His research expertise is in climate variability and climate change, including greenhouse climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and interannual climate variations due to El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Professor Karoly was Chair of the Premier of Victoria's Climate Change Reference Group during 2008-09 and a member of the Australian Government's High Level Coordinating Group on Climate Change Science during 2009-2011. Since 2011 he has been a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Australian Climate Commission. Professor Karoly is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and the Australian Academy of Sciences' National Committee on Earth System Science.


Danny Price


Danny Price was appointed as an Authority member on the 12 October 2015 for a period of five years.

Mr Price is a founder and Managing Director of economics consulting firm, Frontier Economics. He is a leading expert in energy and greenhouse economics, with over 25 years’ experience advising governments, regulators, private utility companies and investment firms.

Mr Price specialises in power sector modelling, power trading and hedging, industry reform, regulation, asset sales and acquisitions, and greenhouse policy. He has also led a number of major projects on energy industry regulation and reform implementation in Australia.


Professor John Quiggin


Professor Quiggin was appointed a member of the Authority on 1 July 2012 for a term of five years. He is an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. He studied at the Australian National University, obtaining bachelor's degrees in Arts and Economics and a master's degree in Economics, and was awarded his PhD from the University of New England in 1988. He has held academic positions at the Australian National University, James Cook University, the University of Maryland, the University of Sydney, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Queensland and was a board member of the Queensland Competition Authority. Professor Quiggin is among the top 500 economists in the world according to IDEAS/Respect and is best known for his work on utility theory. Professor Quiggin has frequently been recognised for his research, including twice receiving Federation Fellowships from the Australian Research Council. His most recent book, Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk among Us, was published in October 2010 from Princeton University Press. Professor Quiggin is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and in 2011 received the Distinguished Fellow Award of the Economic Society of Australia.


Hon John Sharp


John Sharp was appointed a member on 12 October 2015 for a term of five years.

Mr Sharp is originally from a farming and business background. His political career commenced in 1980 at the age of 25 when he was elected to the Young Shire Council. In 1984 he was elected to the Federal Parliament in the seat of Gilmore. Following redistribution in 1993, he represented the seat of Hume. He served 14 years in the Federal Parliament and, from 1987 to the end of 1997, on the Federal Coalition's front bench as Shadow Minister and later as Minister for Transport and Regional Development. During his parliamentary career he became well known and respected for his role in promoting aviation safety and was responsible for numerous reforms including a complete rewrite of the aviation regulations to simplify them.  He was also responsible for the reform of Australia's railways, creating the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).

Mr Sharp is founder and director of Thenford Consulting, a high-level aviation and transport consulting company, Deputy Chairman of Australia's largest independent regional airline Regional Express (Rex), Chairman of Pel Air, an airfreight business and charter operator, and recently retired as a director of Airbus Group Australia Pacific where he served from 2001-2015. He was also a director of Skytraders operating aircraft for the Australian Antarctic Division from 2005 to 2013. He served as Federal Treasurer of the Nationals from 2000-2015 and was also a Director of the French/Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.


Ex Officio Member: Chief Scientist; Dr Alan Finkel


The Climate Change Authority Act 2011 appoints the Chief Scientist as an ex officio Member of the Climate Change Authority. The current Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, began his three-year term on 1 January 2016. Dr Alan Finkel is a prominent engineer, respected neuroscientist, successful entrepreneur and philanthropist with a personal commitment to innovation and commercialisation. He is currently the Chancellor of Monash University and is President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.


Andrew Macintosh


Andrew Macintosh is an Associate Member assisting with the Special Review. Andrew was appointed on 1 November 2015 until the conclusion of the Special Review.

Mr Macintosh has degrees in law, commerce (majoring in economics, finance and accounting) and environmental management. He has expertise in environmental law and policy, particularly in relation to climate change mitigation and adaptation, property rights regimes, land use, land-use change and forestry, and environmental impact assessment and approval processes.

After graduating from Sydney University in 1997, he worked as a solicitor at Mallesons Stephens Jacques and later at Minter Ellison, where he was a member of the firm's environmental and planning practice. Later he tutored law at several colleges at Cambridge University. Prior to joining the ANU College of Law, he was Deputy Director of The Australia Institute and has previously worked as an environmental advisor to the Australian Democrats.

Mr Macintosh has been the Associate Director of the ANU Centre for Climate Law & Policy since 2007. He is also a fellow at the Australian Centre for Environmental Law and member of the ANU Centre for Climate Economics & Policy, ANU Climate Change Institute and ANU Energy Change Institute. He teaches postgraduate Australian Climate Law and Commonwealth Environmental Law and supervises both PhD and Honours students.

 


A/g Chief Executive Officer: Shayleen Thompson


Shayleen Thompson has extensive experience in international and domestic climate change policy with both state and Commonwealth governments. She has served as a lead negotiator on land issues for the Kyoto Protocol and has worked on the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, the Government’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme and the Renewable Energy Target.  More recently Shayleen led work on the Carbon Farming Initiative and the Emissions Reduction Fund before being appointed as the Acting CEO of the Climate Change Authority.

http://www.climatechangeauthority.gov.au/about-cca/authority-members#WendyCraik

 

a monochromatic spewed dog's breakfast...

The Climate Change Authority’s latest report is a “recipe for further delay” on climate change, contravenes the authority’s legal obligations and recommends “a dog’s breakfast” of policies, say two key members in a dissenting minority report.

Climate scientist David Karoly and economist Clive Hamilton said they could not “in good conscience” put their name to the majority report, which they said privileged “political feasibility” over environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency.

“We believe that the effect of the majority report will be to sanction further delay and a slow pace of action with serious consequences for the nation,” the two members wrote in their 24-page report published on the website of the Climate Council on Monday.

The dissenting report was dismissed by the federal environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, who said Australia had very ambitious targets and Australia’s economy was undergoing a “dramatic change”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/05/climate-change-authoritys-plan-is-a-dogs-breakfast-say-dissenting-members

dissenting for good reasons...

 

Previous CCA reports have been marked by their efforts to stay true to the challenge of bringing the policy and the science together.

Hamilton and Karoly’s chief accusation is that the authority has ignored the realities of the Paris agreement, which calls for all countries to work together to keep global warming “well below 2C” and eventually shoot for 1.5C.

The pair’s report says:

We believe that the effect of the majority report will be to sanction further delay and a slow pace of action with serious consequences for the nation. Those consequences include one or both of: very severe and costly emission cuts in the mid to-late 2020s; or, repudiation of Australia’s international commitments and free riding on the efforts of the rest of the world. The latter would weaken global momentum for an effective response to climate change and harm the nation diplomatically.

What’s more, Hamilton and Karoly have suggested the authority has effectively ignored its previous recommendations based on a “carbon budget” approach. This “budget” has suggested Australia must not emit more than 10.1bn tonnes of greenhouse gases between 2013 and 2050.

Hamilton and Karoly say that under the CCA’s latest recommendations, more than 90% of that budget will already be used up by the year 2030.

I spoke to Hamilton and asked why he thought the authority had apparently shifted away from its previous advocacy for more rapid cuts and stricter targets. He wouldn’t comment.

So was he intending to stay at the authority? He told me:

We’re still members and we’re not going anywhere. It has been suggested that we might resign. We are not resigning and we’re there until out five-year terms expire in July next year. We have an important contribution to make within the terms of the authority’s act.

Hamilton said he had started to become concerned about the direction of the authority’s latest report “two or three months ago”:

I crossed a point where I thought that [the report] goes too far to try to accommodate political circumstances – or an assessment of the political circumstances.

He told me the CCA was modelled on Britain’s Climate Change Committee and had two key functions – “expertise in its advice” and “independence from government interference or dictation”. He said:

I think that all that an independent authority like the Climate Change Authority can do is to attempt to adhere to that. Of course, no one can be purist and everyone wants their report to have an influence rather than get dusty on shelves, but you can go too far and be too clever by half and second guess the political process. And of course, you can just get it wrong.

 

read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2016/sep/05/were-not-going-anywhere-say-climate-change-authority-dissenters

 

fighting to the death...

Ross Gittins is an economist... His article in the Sydney Morning Herald today is a bit like a rotund economist sort of claiming that it's best for a little fatty to race the 100 mete dash against Usain Bolt, rather than not race at all...

This is why he claims he is no greenie: 

 

Forgive me, but I'd never make a card-carrying greenie, righteously condemning any proposal to act on climate change that's less than heroic – as both the Paris agreement and the climate authority's report on the policies we need to ensure we deliver on our commitment, most certainly are.

 

Understood... Thereafter he explains to us that the Climate Change Authority report, which was dissented with by two prominent individuals on the board, is not as bad as we think...

 

This may explain why the media's coverage of a potentially breakthrough report from the government's Climate Change Authority focused on environmentalists' criticisms of it rather than its actual content.

 

Here of course I disagree with Gittins, the tone of whom seems to be apologetic for the report. Say, the report by the CCA is not that bad — but it is designed not to solve the problem of global warming, nor to reduce our humanly portion of our impact on the planet. It is a political document and Gittins knows this: 

 

The climate authority's proposals are a little more conscious of politicians' aversion to losing face. They thus have a good chance of being accepted.

Whatever it says, the government must know its present arrangements are insufficient to meet its international commitments without hugely increased cost to taxpayers.

 

But by now, the taxpayers have to realise that whatever they don't pay in more taxes or other ways to make far more reductions in emissions, this will eventually cost them far more in insurance payouts, private and public. 

 

Here the attitude of the Turdball/Turdy government has been to put brakes on doing anything proper about mitigating global warming while appearing to do something. On paper at least this government spend more or advertising it is doing something than doing something.

 

And the report from the CCA is a good platform for this exercise, while the CCA has been on death row from this Turdball/Turdy government, only saved by the Senate last year. Had the Turdball/Turdy government got the numbers in the last elections, in the senate and the lower house, the CCA would be history. Trust me.

 

And this is why we need dissent. And this is why we need to concentrate on the dissent. Because unless one fatty finds a way to stop Usain Bolt from the start, one will loose the race anyway or die halfway of a hear attack.

At least Gittins knows we have to do something, but by how much and how fast is still in the nebulous areas of economic rationality. This will be like hitting a golf ball with a feather, instead of a stick:

 

And bipartisan policy provides just the certainly needed for business to stop arguing the toss and accept that, since our moved to a decarbonised economy is now inevitable, it should get on with adjusting.

 

For Gittins article: 

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/climate-change-...

 

the next question is:...

The next question is should we (humans — all over the planet) reduce our CO2 emissions by 30 per cent in 2030 compared to emissions of 2000 achieve sumpthin'? Anything? Or even reduce those emissions by 50 per cent in 2050?

Good questions here, considering: 

 

by 1996, humans had already spewed enough EXTRA CO2 and methane to make the global temperature rise by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. 

 

by 2100, the world population of humans could be almost double the population of 1996. THUS THE REDUCTION PER CAPITA NEEDS TO BE FAR MORE DRASTIC THAN A FEW FIDDLES.

 

So, what are we going to achieve by fiddling?

 

First, we will give ourselves a pat in the back "for having tried" while not killing ourselves "economically" by reducing our emissions of CO2 at our chosen pace. Is this delusion? Probably yes.

 

On present figures alone, including population growth, reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 means that each and everyone of us needs to do at least 45 per cent reduction in our consumption of carbon products. This ain't going to happen with the dilettante foot-on-the-brake-pedal approach of the Turdball/Turdy government...

 

And even if we manage to reduce emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, would this prevent global warming? No it won't. All this will do is prevent the SECOND STAGE OF WARMING FROM BEING MORE SEVERE. 

 

On all figures presented to us, including the planned reductions, by 2100, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere will be around 500 ppm. What this means is your guess is as good as mine. Mine is that temperature will shoot through beyond 6 degrees Celsius EXTRA on present temperatures — with all the attached derivatives such as sea level at 12 metres higher than present and massive storms, severe droughts and floods. And getting worse.

 

So be prepared. We need to be technologically clever and less "economically" fiddling. TIME'S UP. Please read:

we do not have much time left...

not saving the planet to save cash...

The creation of more than 5,000 jobs in regional areas would be at risk if the Federal Government gutted the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as planned, the Australian Conservation Foundation has warned.

Key points:
  • ARENA cuts would threaten 5,126 potential regional jobs, ACF says
  • The Government says the ACF analysis is "dodgy"
  • ARENA was set up to assist renewable energy projects

 

ARENA was set up by the Gillard government in 2012 to award grants to viable new renewable energy projects in order to get them off the ground.

However the Government wants to strip it back to save $1.3 billion.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said an analysis it conducted showed the decision could seriously slow jobs growth.

It estimated 5,126 potential jobs in regional towns jobs could have been advertised if 20 new solar projects received funding.

Kelly O'Shanassy from the ACF said for every direct job created "ARENA estimates there's about 10 indirect jobs and those jobs are going to be across regional Australia".

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-07/renewable-energy-cuts-risks-regional-job-creation-acf-says/7823140

saving the planet is off the menu...

 

The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says Australia’s electricity sector is looking for stability, “not necessarily” for handouts, in a signal the Turnbull government is poised to abandon the clean energy target.

In comments to an energy summit on Monday, Frydenberg pointed to the falling costs of renewable energy as one of the calculations in the government’s consideration of the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel.

Asking whether the falling costs of renewables meant Australia no longer need a clean energy target, which subsidises renewables, Frydenberg said: “Industry is looking for stability, they’re not necessarily looking for a handout.

“What they’re looking for is a settled bipartisan investment climate whether there are subsidies or not.”

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/09/frydenberg-signal...

 

Creeping back, crawling back, these useless pricks are not going to save the planet... Read from top...

 

you say coal, I say gas, let's call the whole thing off...

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar, increasing for the third consecutive year according to new data published by the Department of Environment and Energy.

The Turnbull government published new quarterly emissions data late on Friday which reveals Australia’s climate pollution increased by 1.5% in the year to December 2017. 

The expansion in LNG exports and production is identified as the major contributor to the increase, but the data shows a jump in emissions across all sectors – including waste, agriculture and transport – except for electricity, the one area that recorded a decrease in emissions.

In particular, the department’s data shows a 10.5% increase in fugitive emissions from the production, processing, transport, storage, transmission and distribution of fossil fuels such as coal, crude oil and natural gas, driven by an increase of 17.6% in natural gas production.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/14/gas-fuels-australias...

 

 

Read from top. See also:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34189