Australia has 117 new coal, gas, LNG projects in the pipeline at the end of 2023

Australia is expanding oil, gas, coal, despite the 'transition away from Fossil Fuels' decision at the UN Climate Conference COP28.  In a Climate Crisis the first best action is to stop digging. 

A new report released by the Federal Government on 18 December - Resources and Energy Major projects 2023 - outlines some 117 new coal and gas projects across the continent. Some of these may not get through the approvals process, or the Safeguard Mechanism. Some may prove uneconomic to proceed to the final stage. But many are still on the cards and may go into production. 

Most of these fossil fuel projects are driven for the export market.

The Albanese government has approved or extended eight fossil fuel projects and two carbon capture projects since taking office in May 2022 reports Callum Foote for Micheal West Media in September.

Documents released under Freedom of Information last week show the $1.5 billion allocated by the Federal Government for the Darwin Middle Arm petrochemical development of common use infrastructure may balloon out to $3.5 billion. This is an incredible fossil fuel subsidy for Fossil gas expansion.

Australian Aviation CO2 emissions equivalent to 5 coal power stations

A new website uncovers the aviation emissions associated with 1300 airports globally, covering 99 per cent of passenger flights. Twenty four of those airports are located in Australia producing carbon emissions equivalent to five coal fired power stations.

The aviation sector would have been the sixth-largest emitter of CO₂ in 2018 if it were a country, responsible for 2.5 per cent of global emissions. Up until the pandemic aviation was growing 5 per cent annually since 2013. Despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, the sector remains off-track for limiting global heating to 1.5ºC.

Aviation emissions for the website is based on data from 1300 airports from 2013, 2018, 2019. The website was a joint project by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), International Think Tank ODI, and Transport and Environment (T&E).

This is the first global attempt to focus on the infrastructure that enables and induces air travel and leads to more CO₂ emissions in future decades.

Mapping the heat trend in Australia's capital cities for 2018 and future projections

The Is it hot right now? website provides a daily view on daily average temperatures for Australian capital cities, comparing the average temperature to it's history for that day, to see where it sits in the distribution of temperatures typical for the time of year.

The site was developed by climate researchers Mathew Lipson, Steefan Contractor and James Goldie. The data comes from the Bureau of Meteorology's ACORN-SAT.

Mat Lipson provided the Yearly average temperature charts and the 2018 heat maps for each city. The trend in rising temperatures is clearly visible in each. I have added details for each city of future projections done by CSIRO in 2015.

In the year heat maps for each city you can still see the fluctuations in temperature due to weather events, but the cold days (blue) are getting rarer, and the hot days (red) are getting more common, a telling sign of the long term climate temperature trend affecting all regions of Australia.

Guest Post: wet warning from Australia's Top End on rising sea levels

Rising sea level should concern us all. Sea levels will not rise evenly: it will vary from region to region. In Eastern and southern Australia sea levels are rising at about the global average, but in Northern Australia the rate is three times or more above the average. It poses difficult decisions of climate adaptation now about whether to defend coastal infrastructure or a managed retreat.

It comes at a time when many scientists are worried the IPCC is underestimating sea level rise. In Queensland we have seen Reversal of sea level rise co-ordinated planning increasing risk to Australian coastal development. The natural coastal defences need bolstering but Planners also need to allow for Coastal wetlands migration due to sea level rise, climate change. See also my 2011 article on Sea Level Rise and Australia.

This article by Andrew Campbell, Charles Darwin University and Stephen Garnett, Charles Darwin University, highlights the planning dilemmas involved with rapidly rising sea levels.

Tens of Thousands rally for Climate Action across Australia

More than 60,000 people are estimated to have rallied or marched for climate action across Australia in a demonstration that a significant number of people view climate change as a serious issue requiring substantive action from all levels of Government, including the Federal Government lead by cinservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The rallies were organised by GetUp, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The protest comes as the bills to dismantle Australia's carbon price and funding subsidies for renewable energy are introduced into Federal parliament on Monday. If successful, Australia would become the first country to rill back a functioning carbon pricing mechanism.