On March 4, 2022 the Victorian Government set new offshore wind farm targets. Currently there are no offshore wind farms operating in the state.
The new offshore wind targets:
2032 - target of 2 GW
2035 - target of 4 GW
2040 - target of 9 GW
2050 - potential capacity of 13 GW
Federal Minister for Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor has been sitting on Federal legislation that has been needed to allow wind farm planning and construction to go ahead. This legislation was finally passed by the Federal Parliament in 2021.
Hundreds of thousands of Australians each year volunteer with or donate to environment not-for-profit organisations like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Wilderness Society, to name just a few. Now it seems the Federal Government is stepping up it's attack on these organisations through tightening the definition and taxation exemption status for donations to these organisations. An original post to nofibs.com.au
Australians do believe in a fair go and are willing to support in both unpaid time and money the ongoing environmental work and advocacy of these organisations. Millions of dollars is contributed each year by individuals to support a wide range of activities, including 'on the ground' work, education and training, grassroots activism and protests, and political advocacy.
Their work and operation, with limited funding, means running campaigns often on shoestring budgets with limited paid staff and high reliance on volunteers. Their work is a vital component of democracy and free speech in Australia.
Often their opponents in business or mining, or government bureaucracies, have engaged high profile public relations and legal teams with substantial budgets.
Civil society organisations are leaving the climate change negotiations today en masse. The walkout is happening now with observers handing in their security passes. Members from Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, Actionaid, Friends of the Earth, the International Trade Union Confederation and 350.org all started leaving the conference at 2pm. This is an unprecedented action, the first time major civil society groups have staged a mass walkout.
Magda Stoczkiewicz, director of Friends of the Earth Europe commented: "Big polluters were welcomed with open arms and the negotiations are driven by corporate interests. There is no room for people or planet. The Polish presidency's short-sighted coal-driven policy marks these talks out as one of the dirtiest yet."
Friends of the Earth International representatives said that COP19 United Nations climate change negotiations are set to fail due to the very low targets for emission reductions proposed by richer nations, especially with Australia and Japan having dramatically reduced their targets and ambition and with Europe maintaining a very low level of emissions cuts.
FoE International called on governments of the developed nations for greater levels of ambition, to honour the promises they had made to provide finance to help poorer countries to cut their emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The gravity of the situation was made clear: "We are in a planetary emergency. It is known more than ever that climate change is happening. The impacts we are facing are threatening and will become worse. We are in an urgent situation that we have to act. We have to act in a very fast period."
The new Premier of Victoria Denis Napthine today announced a major restructure of the Victorian Public service, with a new Department of State Development, Business and Innovation. The Premier highlighted that Energy and Resources portfolio would be brought into the new Department. This includes development of Victorian's notoriously dirty and carbon intensive brown coal.
Part of the restructure entails the merger of the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and the Department of Primary Industry. Ostensibly to cut red tape, in reality it is more likely to result in greater development at the expense of environmental and conservation issues.
Hidden towards the end of the media release the Premier says, "Bringing the Energy and Resources portfolio into DSDBI will enable a sharper focus on major development opportunities such as Victoria's coal resources."
Rather than develop these dirty coal resources, we need to be shutting down existing Victorian coal mines and coal fired power stations like Hazelwood for health, climate and environmental reasons. As we phase out coal we should be encouraging wind farm development, large scale solar power, and continue with adoption of small scale solar photovoltaic systems now installed on over a million Australian households.
Victoria has a new Premier with Ted Baillieu falling on his own sword, with Denis Napthine, the member for South West Coast, being appointed into the role of Premier of Victoria. Just in time as new economic statistics show that the Victorian economy is in recession. Restoring sanity to planning regulations for wind farm development could boost regional development and the Government's very low environmental credentials as it faces re-election in 2014.
Update 14 March 2013: Sadly, Denis Napthine in conversation with Jon Faine on ABC Radio 774 Melbourne on 14 March scotched the prospect of reversing the anti-wind farm planning regulations as breaking a promise from last election in 2010. I don't know what that has to do with it, as the coalition Government has already broken several environmental policy promises as well as policies on maintaining TAFE and increasing salaries of teachers.
Friends of the Earth have highlighted one small policy change that could make a substantial difference in Victoria's regional economy and employment and also provide substantial climate emissions reduction. We are talking about reversing Baillieu's drastic planning law VC82 for wind turbines whereby anybody within a 2 kiloneter radius of a proposed wind turbine can veto the development.
"There is no doubt that Ted Baillieu was ideologically committed to opposing wind energy" said Friends of the Earth renewables spokesperson Leigh Ewbank. "The new Premier, Denis Napthine, does not have the same ideological baggage."
Derec Davies used a bicycle U lock to attach himself to a dredger in Gladstone Harbour this morning. The direct action was taken to protect the Great Barrier Reef against the development of Gladstone harbour liquefied natural gas facilities on Curtis Island to export Coal Seam Gas. Massive Dredging of the Gladstone harbour is occurring which fisherman and environmentalists say is causing turbidity in the water and causing illness of fish effectively closing down the local fishing industry. Development is endangering the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef.
Amid the latest UN climate talks taking place in Bonn Germany Friends of the Earth International have released a report highly critical of the role of the World Bank in continuing to fund dirty energy investment in developing countries and continuing to push carbon markets and offset programs which essentially privatise developing country forests in the process of generating carbon offsets.
The World Bank was made interim trustee of the new Green Climate Fund in December 2010 in Cancun. The Fund was established to assist developing countries to adapt to the impacts of global warming.
The ABC program Hungry Beast has produced a fact file on Hazelwood.
While all eyes focused on Canberra and the Federal Budget this week, the Victorian Government quietly announced that all discussions have been discontinued on retiring all or part of the Hazelwood brown coal fired power station. Environment groups strongly criticised the decision.
"Sadly, what this announcement seems to confirm is that the Coalition government has absolutely no plan to reduce greenhouse emissions in the state. Although environmental groups were unanimous in demanding the full closure and replacement of the ageing and dirty Hazelwood power station, the promised partial closure would have been a good step in the right direction" said Friends of the Earth campaigns co-ordinator, Cam Walker.
Late last week Friends of the Earth Brisbane lodged an objection in the Queensland Land Court against development of a massive open cut coal mine proposed by Xstrata Coal for west of Wandoan in South West Queensland, citing the contribution this mine will make to severe weather events through greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.
The Victorian parliament tackled climate change on Friday with a climate bill passed to set a 20 percent emissions reduction based upon 2000 levels by 2020. "This is a significant Bill which has the potential to stabilise and then drive down our greenhouse emissions, while also creating certainty for investors and industry, and many new jobs across the state," said Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker.
ALP policy on climate change action has been strongly criticised by environment and climate action groups with protests at Julia Gillard's climate change policy launch in Brisbane, and protests at Julia Gillard's Werribee electoral office and her Melbourne Treasury Place office.
Bradley Smith from Friends of the Earth confronted Julia Gillard at the climate policy launch at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. After being physically tackled and lead aware by Federal police Bradley told reporters that to take real action on climate hange the Prime Minister has to address the coal industry "but the coal miners have got her tongue" he said.
"We gave Labor a mandate to take climate action 3 years ago. What she announced today is just another delay tactic. She is essentially turning back the clock to before we ratified Kyoto, to before the Garnaut review. This backwards step will come at an enormous cost, and we cannot let that happen without protest." Bradley said in a media statement.
"40,000 coal seam gas wells in Queensland's darling downs, 11 new coal fired power stations, and huge expansions of coal rail and ports, that's Julia Gillard's real climate policy, and it's condemning our future." he said.
"Scientists have been telling us we need to take action on climate change for a long time. The government have had a mandate to take strong action on climate change for the last three years. That's what the election was about three years ago, and we've seen no action. So I feel the need to do whatever I can because it's not just about me, it's about the whole planet." Bradley told triple j radio Hack program.
In Melbourne, two actions ocurred. Two activists 'locked-on' to a door in Julia Gillard's Weribee electoral office, while climate activists from Environment Victoria and other climate action groups gathered outside the Prime Minister's Melbourne office. Environment Victoria campaigns director Mark Wakeham said in a media statement "The promise that new coal-fired power stations will have to be 'carbon capture ready' is greenwash, particularly given that the commitment does not apply to the 15 existing proposals to build new coal-fired power stations,"
"In effect, today's announcement gives the green light for 15 new coal-fired power stations nationally, including the HRL proposal in Victoria. It allows power stations like Hazelwood to keep polluting. And it signals a complete lack of leadership on climate change from a Gillard Government. "Promises that future proposals for coal-fired power stations would have to be carbon capture ready are meaningless. I'm Tattslotto-winning ready, but it's probably not going to happen" Mark Wakeham said.
Mr Wakeham also condemned the creation of a community panel as another cynical delaying tactic. "We don't appoint citizens juries to decide whether or not to send troops into conflict or to design our tax scheme. This is just another delaying tactic. The ALP designed a similar process with the Garnaut Review last election. The review spent 12 months studying the issues, and then the Labor Party largely ignored its findings. Now they are proposing to spend another year on another process which will have zero impact on our levels of greenhouse pollution."
"At the last election voters showed their support for climate action, and poll after poll consistently shows the majority of Australians want to see action to rapidly reduce our greenhouse pollution, not more delays" concluded Mr Wakeham.
The Climate Institute's CEO John Connor said the ALP's climate policy provided small steps forwad but the policy falls far short for a credible plan to tackle climate change and carbon emissions pollution.
"A credible plan needs to have a limit and price tag on pollution, needs to make polluters take responsibility for pollution and have investments and incentives to make clean energy cheaper. A credible plan needs to demonstrate how parties can achieve their international commitments to achieve up to 25 % reductions off 2000 levels of pollution by 2020." John Connor said.
"Today's announcement has welcome repeated support of the need for a limit and price on pollution but gives no guarantees for either. There is some encouragement for businesses taking responsibility for their pollution and some extra funding to make clean energy cheaper but we still rate the Government policy at 1 star out of five. Preliminary analysis of the pollution reduction potential of the policy announcements under our Pollute-o-meter sees very little change pre-2020 with current Government policies still witnessing increased pollution levels by 2020."
In comparison, the Climate Institute ranks the Coalition parties climate policy at just half a star out of five and will also see pollution increasing out to 2020. You can access the Climate Institute's Pollute-o-meter to assess the major parties on climate change action.
"We welcome the investment in clean energy and smart grids which is a good down payment but short of what is needed to make strides forward in making clean energy cheaper." concluded John Connor.
On Friday the Greens released a plan for 100% renewable energy for Australia. Under the plan Infrastructure Australia would be tasked with: mapping the renewable energy resource areas of Australia; bringing all levels of government, local communities and renewable energy developers together in consultation; and creating renewable energy development zones based on the mapped areas, with streamlined approval processes and funding connection of the zones to the electricity grid.
Friends of the Earth has welcomed the revelation that the Victorian Labor Government is considering closing down a quarter of the capacity of the Hazelwood brown coal-fired power plant, but has maintained a call along with other climate change and environmental groups for a full phase out of the developed world's dirtiest coal fired station replacing capacity with renewable power generation and energy efficiency savings.
“We will continue to campaign for the political parties to commit to a full phase out of Hazelwood and it's replacement with a mix of energy efficiency and renewable energy within the next term of government” said Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker.
The campaign to replace the Hazelwood brown coal fired Power Station in the La Trobe valley by 2012 was launched in May 2010 on the steps of Parliament House.
According to a report in the Age, the Brumby government is considering replacing two of the eight Hazelwood generating units with alternative generating capacity provided by gas and renewable energy.
Cam Walker said “We do not believe we should be investing in gas, instead we should be replacing coal with renewables, the energy source of the future. However, we must acknowledge this significant move. A rapid phase-out of Hazelwood would mark the first roll back of coal as a primary source of energy for our state and be a powerfully symbolic action and lead to considerable reductions in our greenhouse emissions. According to The Age newspaper, it is likely that this will reduce Victoria’s greenhouse emissions by around 3 million tonnes a year”.
Hazelwood Power station, owned by the British listed International Power, was completed in 1964 and was due for closure in 2005, however the Bracks Labor Government extended it's contact till 2031. It provides just under a quarter of the Victoria's electicity and is responsible for 15% of the state’s emissions. International Power also owns several other coal and gas operations in Australia. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald profit from its Australian business surged 40 per cent to £233 million last year, but the company claims problems in funding capital improvements due to investment uncertainty with regards a price on carbon.
The Federal Government under Julia Gillard has so far indicated there will not be a price on carbon set until 2013 using their current Emissions Trading Scheme - the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) The CPRS has been widely criticised for offering too many concessions to power generators and other carbon intensive industries. "The assistance package under the Government’s proposed carbon trading legislation for emissions intensive industries is a $20 billion waste of taxpayers’ money", said the CEO of the Grattan Institute Professor John Daley in a report on April 22 - Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon. (See article - Conservationists and scientists angry at Rudd retreat on climate)
According to a report commissioned by Environment Victoria and released in March - Victoria’s Energy Mix 2000-2009 - Victoria's reliance on coal fired electricity has increased in the last decade, with both electricity generation and greenhouse pollution from coal increasing by over 9% since 2000.
International Power has indicated it is open to discussing a phased shutdown of Hazelwood if compensation payments could be agreed with the state and Federal Governments. The first phase of a shutdown is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to International Power.
The State Government is facing an election at the end of 2010 and is under pressure to produce climate action and environmental policies to nullify Greens Party electoral threats in a few inner city electorates.
“If confirmed, a commitment by the government to a rapid staged closure would show vision and leadership and put Victoria ahead of the other states once again on this most pressing of issues. It is impressive given the lack of action by the federal ALP on climate. We urge the Commonwealth to do its share by contributing funds for the buy out.” said Cam Walker. “We would see this as the beginning of a profound shift in the debate, one that marks the start of a rapid and complete transition away from coal and into truly renewable energy sources.”
Community climate action groups and environment NGOs met at the climate action centre on Saturday and were of the unanimous view that keeping three-quarters (12 million tonnes of carbon pollution) of Hazelwood operating indefinitely was totally unacceptable and that the campaign would continue until all of Hazelwood was replaced.
A mass protest to Switch Off Hazelwood, Switch On Renewable Energy has been scheduled on Sunday 10/10/10 as part of an International Day of Climate Action. (Facebook event page)
First the Bickham coal mine was stopped, now Xstrata is placing the Wandoan coal mine project in Queensland - potentially one of the largest coal mines in the world - on hold. Friends of the Earth reckons Xstrata is scapegoating the Rudd Governments super profit resource rent tax for the decision when in reality it is poor planning by Xstrata.
The Anglo-Swiss mining company Xstrata announced today the "loss" of potential jobs at Ernest Henry copper mine in Queensland and in the Wandoan coal project. These jobs are for planned work - they haven't been created and don't yet exist. The announcement was part of the mining industry's campaign against the imposition of a Resource rental tax (RSPT) on all mining.
The Wandoan coal mine was planned to be one of the largest coal mines in the world, estimated by Xstrata to be worth $6 billion dollars. Situated to the west of the Queensland town of Wandoan which is located just off the Leichhardt Highway 407 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, and 382 kilometres south-west of the Port of Gladstone, in the local government area of Dalby Regional Shire.
"The RSPT puts the future of this globally significant AUD6 billion project at risk, together with the development of the Surat Basin as an internationally competitive export coal region," Xstrata Coal Chief Executive Peter Freyberg said.
But Friends of the Earth have claimed the project has been poorly planned based upon high coal export prices.
"We've been watching this project for a number of years and could see that it was not viable without the inflated coal export prices we saw during the boom. Xstrata are using the Government's Resource Profits Tax as a scapegoat to cover up for their own poor planning" said spokes-person for Friends of the Earth Brisbane, Eleanor Smith.
"The Wandoan Coal Project is a climate killer", said Ms Smith "At 30 million tonnes of coal per year, it was to be one of the biggest coal projects in the world and add millions of tonnes to our carbon debt."
Coal mining is a highly destructive activity often destroying rural communities and alienating agricultural productive farming land. "Xstrata have gone into Wandoan and absolutely decimated that community. Landholders have left, leaving schools and local businesses under pressure. A creeping death has taken over the community which was once a vibrant rural hub," said Ms Smith who visited the community as part of a research tour of coal affected communities in 2008.
A report on the Queensland coal industry - Community Dialogues on Coal - released by Friends of the Earth on May 1, 2009 said "The coal industry in Queensland is entering a period of enormous uncertainty and risk, with continuing job losses, shrinking global demand, and massive sector-wide restructures due to climate change policy responses. In all this, it is the people of Queensland's coal communities who will have to deal with the very real impacts of this period of transition."
Friends of the Earth have supported the Rudd Government's proposed Resource Super Profits Tax. "It is high time governments taxed mining companies appropriately," said Eleanor Smith, "The resources belong to us, we bear the environmental and health costs of these industries and yet as it stands the Queensland Government gives all the royalties they earn and then some straight back to the coal industry in infrastructure and other services."
"We're really glad the Federal government is standing up to the mining industry and imposing a super profit tax, it's a shame the Queensland Government won't stand up and support it" said Ms Smith.
Friends of the earth have called for the phasing out of the coal industry due to it's contribution to climate change and destructive environmental and social costs of mining. "We need a tax on mining that funds a just transition of our economy away from fossil fuel energy and dirty jobs to sustainability. As the state with the largest mining industry in Australia we should be doing some major planning for a future without coal mining." said Ms Smith.
"The Xstrata case shows that we cannot trust these companies with our future. We simply must move towards sustainable industries that have been shown to provide more jobs, and decent jobs at that!" concluded Ms Smith.
Court documents and arguments on the Wandoan Coal Mine Case are available at Environmental Law Publishing.
And just for your entertainment is this video - a song about Xstrata closing a copper smelter plant in Canada earlier this year throwing 670 people out of work. Search on Youtube and you find a lot of nasty stories about Xstrata's attitude to fair employment in local communities.
Friends of the Earth in Brisbane, Australia have described the proposed Waratah Coal Galilee mine, set to become the world's largest coal mine, as another nail into the coffin of our climate. Waratah Coal's Clive Palmer and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh jointly announced on February 7, 2010 a multi-billion dollar deal which would see a twenty year supply of coal to Chinese power-stations, and a substantial expansion of coal exports.
"This deal drives another nail into the coffin of our climate. If the project goes ahead, then emissions from the exported coal would equal 20% of Australia's total domestic emissions," said Friends of the Earth spokesperson Bradley Smith on the Galilee mine being declared a 'significant project' .
"This makes a mockery of claims made by Premier Bligh that the Queensland Government is serious about tackling climate change," Mr Smith said.
"The 8000 Ha Bimblebox Nature Refuge near Alpha would be cleared and mined by this project. How ironic that in the International Year of Biodiversity, Queensland still lacks legislation to protect areas of high conservation significance from mining," commented Mr Smith, echoing similar calls from the Mackay Conservation Group.
Bimblebox was purchased in 2000 with the savings of a number of concerned individuals, as well as funding from the Australian National Reserve System program. In 2003, the Bimblebox Nature Refuge Agreement (category VI IUCN protected area) was signed with the Queensland state government to permanently protect the conservation values of the property. Nature Refuges and the protected areas that make up the National Reserve System are not automatically protected from mineral exploration and mining, which in Australia are granted right of way over almost all other land uses.
The Bimblebox Nature Refuge website describes "We are faced with the absurd irony, that in 2009 with all that we know about Australia's biodiversity crisis and the threat of climate change, that a protected area rich in biodiversity and with carbon stores intact could be sacrificed for the sake of producing more climate changing coal."
"This case reveals a stunning contradiction in Australian government priorities and policies, which aim to conserve biodiversity on protected areas, but yet which affords no protection for these areas if minerals are found beneath the soil." says the Bimblebox Nature Refuge website.
"We want to know why the Queensland Government continues to put coal mining first when it is destroying our biodiversity and our climate," Mr Smith said.
The open cut coal mine, projected to be the world's largest, is on the traditional land of the Darumbal indigenous people.
The project involves construction of a railway line 490km to the Port of Abbot Point, where a new coal terminal will be built, and construction of a dam within the Belyando River catchment and a water pipeline from the Burdekin Dam. Waratah Coal website advises the project's estimated total development cost is AU$7.5 Billion.
Queensland is the largest coal exporting state in the largest coal exporting country in the world, accounting for as much as 20% of the global trade, with mining and infrastructure projects set to double coal exports.
Australian, European and U.S. investor groups representing $13 trillion in assets said in a statement issued at a meeting at the UN in New York on Thursday "we cannot wait for a global treaty," They called on the U.S. Congress and other global decision-makers "to take rapid action" on carbon emission limits, energy efficiency, renewable energy, financing mechanisms and other policies that will accelerate clean energy investment and job creation.
Why the strong push from the Investment sector for Government Climate Action? It could be just altruism. But, as always the devil is in the detail. In this case, the push is for carbon trading - Emissions Trading Schemes like Kevin Rudd's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), often referred to as Cap and Trade.
I can understand that these people want the Government to set the rules for climate action and reducing carbon use - this gives the market predictability and stability for basing investment decisions on. But these same people have a vested interest in another financial market - the carbon market. It's another way for them to make money. All well and good, except if it fails, so does the prospects for avoiding dangerous climate change.
The meeting was the Investor Summit on Climate Risk, a meeting of 450 global investors at the United Nations that included UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, United States Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern, billionaire investor George Soros, and former Vice President Al Gore.
Australia was represented at the meeting by the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) which represents investors of over $500bn across all sectors of the Australian economy, including many retail and industry superannuation funds.
The meeting called for a legally-binding climate agreement this year with comprehensive long-term measures for mitigation, forest protection, adaptation, finance, and technology transfer, including a global emission reduction target of 50-85% by 2050, consistent with estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"Investors are poised and ready to scale up investments in building the low carbon economy, but without policies that create a stable investment environment our hands are tied," said Anne Stausboll, chief executive officer of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), one of larghe largest public pension funds in the USA with more than $205 billion in assets. "U.S. leadership is critical in this regard, including U.S. Senate action to limit and put a price on carbon emissions."
"What investors need most from national and state legislatures are transparency, longevity and certainty," said Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Asset Management and member of Deutsche Bank's Group Executive Committee. "Until the U.S. Congress passes climate regulation, America will be at a competitive disadvantage in the development of renewable energy and other climate change industries."
On emission reductions, the statement said "We call on developed countries to establish emission reduction targets of 80-95% by 2050, with interim targets of 25-40% by 2020. Developing countries should have clear action plans that deliver measurable and verifiable emission reductions compared to projected levels."
The statement called for "national regulators worldwide, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to require companies to disclose to their investors material climate-related risks and the programs in place to manage those risks."
Excellent stuff! But keep in mind most of the people at this summit are part of the financial and investment establishment. They have a vested interest in market based policies to establish a carbon price - in the Cap and Trade Emissions Trading Systems in place in Europe and proposed for the USA and Australia.
Their statement calls for "governments to put in place market-based policies to establish a carbon price that will signal that investments in carbon-intensive projects may yield lower returns, that new and established zero- or low-carbon technologies can be deployed profitably, and that investment in clean energy infrastructure will yield sound returns."
They "call on governments to support robust, transparent, well-governed markets that include mechanisms for directing private financial flows to low-carbon development in developed and developing countries."
Yet an emissions trading system has great dangers of rorting and not sufficiently encouraging investment to low carbon or carbon neutral projects. Stopping government fossil fuel subsidies should be a major priority, and placing a tax on carbon where it is produced, with subsidies to low carbon alternatives and dividends to the population should be considered.
Friends of the Earth UK prepared a report on carbon trading in November 2009 - 'A Dangerous Obsession (PDF)' - in which they outline that carbon trading could be the next 'sub-prime' crisis.
'A Dangerous Obsession' focuses on the buying and selling of a new artificial commodity - the right to emit carbon dioxide - which the UK and other developed country governments want to see expanded into a massive worldwide market.
According to FoE UK the trade in carbon permits and credits, mainly based in Europe, was worth $126 billion in 2008 and is predicted to balloon to $3.1 trillion by 2020 if a global carbon market takes off.
Releasing the report in November Friends of the Earth's international climate campaigner and author of the report Sarah Jayne-Clifton said: "Pushing a world carbon market as part of a global agreement to tackle climate change risks a double whammy of financial and environmental disaster.
"Carbon trading is failing dismally at reducing emissions, yet allows speculators to grow rich from the climate crisis and hands politicians and industry a get-out clause for polluting business as usual.
"Science tells us rich countries must act first and fast to cut their emissions at home if we are to avert climate catastrophe - and support poorer countries with adequate public money to grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change which they are already feeling.
"The credit crunch has taught us that Governments, not markets are best placed to safeguard our future - at this critical point in the fight against climate change Ministers must step in and lead the way with a new, direct approach to tackling carbon emissions to create a safe and green future for us all."
So what will Australia's CPRS do? Emissions won't begin to fall until 2033, according to Treasury modelling. And the reason they will fall then is the 'predicted' introduction of 'clean coal' technology and import carbon permits from developing countries. Sounds pretty shonky to me. Climate greenwash!
The Investor Statement on Catalyzing Investment in a Low-Carbon Economy (PDF). The Investor Statement was endorsed by four groups representing more than 190 investors. The groups are the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).
Takver is a citizen journalist from Melbourne who has been writing on Climate Change issues and protests including Rising Sea Level, Ocean acidification, Environmental and social Impacts since 2004.
Australian Greens Senator, Scott Ludlum, has written to the Danish Consul demanding the release of climate protester Natasha Verco. "The use of heavy handed and disproportionate tactics like preemptive arrest of peaceful demonstrators was a grim counterpoint to the total failure of Governments to come up with a just and effective response to climate change," said Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
"Natasha Verco is an Australian whose record of work for climate justice speaks for itself. She was arrested, along with many others, for the crime of helping organise a peaceful demonstration in Copenhagen. She has been incarcerated ever since." said Senator Ludlam.
Natasha Verco is being held in Copenhagen's Vestre Faengsel jail, unable to contact her Australian family or friends. The Department of Foreign Affairs have confirmed they are aware of the case and are providing consular assistance. Senator Ludlum argues that the Federal Government should demand her immediate release.
"It is utterly perverse that people seeking to give voice to community demands for action on climate change should pay this kind of price. Mrs Verco and all those who remain behind bars with her should be released today," Scott Ludlum concluded.
According to ABC News 25 people gathered on January 4 outside the Danish consulate in Sydney to demand Verco's release. The group was hoping to hand a letter to the Consul General urging urging Australian born Princess Mary to intercede in the case for all charges to be dropped.
Friends of the Earth spokeswoman Holly Creenaune told the ABC "It's our information that Natasha has been charged with an incitement charge, basically an incitement to get people to come to a protest," she said.
Natasha Verco is one of several climate activists still in prison. On January 1 they released the following statement, reproduced from the Climate Justice Action website.
Something is rotten (but not just) in Denmark. As a matter of fact, thousands of people have been considered, without any evidence, a threat to the society. Hundreds have been arrested and some are still under detention, waiting for judgement or under investigation. Among them, us, the undersigned.
We want to tell the story from the peculiar viewpoint of those that still see the sky from behind the bars.
A UN meeting of crucial importance has failed because of several contradictions and tensions that have shown up during the COP15. The primary concern of the powerful was the governance of the energy supply for neverending growth. This was the case whether they were from the overdeveloped world, like the EU countries or the US, or from the so-called developing countries, like China or Brazil.
At odds, hundreds of delegates and thousands of people in the streets have raised the issue that the rationale of life must be (and actually is) opposed to that of profit. we have strongly affirmed our will to stop anthropic pressure on the biosphere.
A crisis of the energy paradigm is coming soon. The mechanism of the global governance have proven to be overwhelmingly precarious. The powerful failed not only in reaching an agreement on their internal equilibria but also in keeping the formal control of the discussion.
Climate change is an extreme and ultimate expression of the violence of the capitalistic growth paradigm. People globally are increasingly showing the willingness of taking the power to rebel against that violence. we have seen that in Copenhagen, as well as we have seen that same violence. Hundreds of people have been arrested without any reason or clear evidence, or for participating in peaceful and legitimate demonstrations. Even mild examples of civil disobedience have been considered as a serious threat to the social order.
In response we ask - What order do we threaten and who ordered it? Is it that order in which we do not any more own our bodies? The order well beyond the terms of any reasonable "social contract" that we would ever sign, where our bodies can be taken, managed, constrained and imprisoned without any serious evidence of crime. Is it that order in which the decision are more and more shielded from any social conflicts? Where the governance less and less belongs to people, not even through the parliament? As a matter of fact, non-democratic organisms like the WTO, the NB, the G-whatever rule beyond any control.
We are forced to notice that the theatre of democracy is a broken one as soon as, one approaches the core of the power. That is why we reclaim the power to the people. We reclaim the power over our own lives. Above all, we reclaim the power to counter-pose the rationale of life and of the commons to the rationale of profit. It may have been declared illegal, but still we consider it fully legitimate.
Since no real space is left in the broken theatre, we reclaimed our collective power - Actually we expected it - to speak about the climate and energy issues. Issues that, for us, involve critical nodes of global justice, survival of man and energy independence. We did marching with our bodies.
We prefer to enter the space where the power is locked dancing and singing. We would have liked to do this at the Bella Center, to disrupt the session in accord with hundreds of delegates. But we were, as always, violently hampered by the police. They arrested our bodies in an attempt to arrest our ideas. we risked our bodies, trying to protect them just by staying close to each other. We value our bodies: We need them to make love, to stay together and to enjoy life. They hold our brains, with beautiful bright ideas and views. They hold our hearts filled with passion and joy. Nevertheless, we risked them. we risked our bodies getting locked in prisons.
In fact, what would be the worth of thinking and feeling if the bodies did not move? Doing nothing, letting-it-happen, would be the worst form of complicity with the business that wanted to hack the UN meeting. At the COP15 we moved, and we will keep moving.
Exactly like love, civil disobedience can not just be told. We must make it, with our bodies. Otherwise, we would not really think about what we love, and we would not really love what we think about. It's as simple as that. It's a matter of love, justice and dignity.
How the COP15 has ended proves that we were right. Many of us are paying what is mandatory for an obsessive, pervasive and total repression: To find a guilty at the cost of inventing it (along with the crime perhaps).
We are detained with evidently absurd accusations about either violences that actually did not take place or conspiracies and organizing of law-breaking actions.
We do not feel guilty for having shown, together with thousands, the reclamation of the independence of our lives from profit's rule. If the laws oppose this, it was legitimate to peacefully - but still conflictually - break them.
We are just temporarily docked, ready to sail again with a wind stronger than ever. It's a matter of love, justice and dignity.
Luca Tornatore, Italian social centres network "see you in Copenhagen".
An Australian held in a Danish prison for three weeks for organising a protest during the Copenhagen climate change conference has been released.Natasha Verco was arrested on December 15, a day before the biggest protest march during the United Nations talks in Copenhagen.
The chief prosecutor for the Copenhagen police, Dorit Borgaard, says Verco was released overnight along with American citizen Noah Weiss.
Their case has been adjourned until March 16 when they will face charges of attempted assault of a police officer and planning to disturb public order.
If convicted, they face up to six months in jail.
Verco insists she organised a peaceful event during the conference and denies accusations that she assaulted a police officer and planned to disturb public order.
"I participated in organising people to speak about climate change with youth delegates for the UN," she said.
"They say I organised riots and when we said that riots didn't happen, they said, 'No, you were charged with organising riots that were stopped by the good work of the police'.
"I wasn't at a protest. I wasn't on my way to a protest. I was riding along the side of the road.
"When I asked them what was going on (and) were they just picking up anybody who was wearing black clothes - I had a black jacket on and some black pants - they said, 'no we've been hunting you'."
Prisoner support and legal aid report there are still seven foreign persons detained in relation to the climate summit. It has not been possible to confirm this figure with the police.
Among those who remain behind bars, include the Italian Luca Tornatore, an astro-physicist and staff member at the University of Trieste, who was a spokesman for the Italian climate campaign group 'See You in Copenhagen'. There have been several demonstrations of solidarity in Italy, calling for his immediate release. Danish consulates in several Italian cities have been filled, a petition has been started, and his case was raised in parliament.
Takver is a citizen journalist from Melbourne who has been writing on Climate Change issues and protests including Rising Sea Level, Ocean acidification, Environmental and social Impacts since 2004.
Danish authorities are continuing to detain an Australian, Friends of the Earth activist Natasha Verco, for a third week since the Copenhagen climate conference. She will appear in court in Copenhagen on Monday January 4th 2010.
The Copenhagen meeting was an abject failure - with rich countries like Australia pushing false solutions of offsetting and carbon trading, and avoiding urgently needed emissions reductions. But instead of taking action, the authorities locked up those who actually were.
Natasha was arrested on Tuesday December 15th, a day before the major 'Reclaim Power' protest during the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is being charged with "incitement" for her role in organising the climate justice protest.
Tadzio Mueller, a German arrested alongside Natasha, said on his release from custody, "The Danish government's appallingly disproportionate reaction, the political policing used to gaol some 1800 activists for nothing at all; using tear gas, pepper spray, baton charges and mass preemptive arrests; sets a precedent dangerous not only for Denmark, but for the future of the world."
Tash Verco is a long-time advocate for social change in Sydney, Australia. She is a graduate of the University of Technology honors program in Social Inquiry; a founder of Rural Australians for Refugees; and a co-founder of Friends of the Earth Sydney.
A direct appeal to the Danish Consul General in Sydney, Michael Hansen, will be launched as Friends of the Earth Sydney will hand-deliver a personal letter. The letter asserts the right to protest as a fundamental human right, and demands the charges against Tash and all other climate justice activists be dropped and they be immediately released.
If in Sydney: Free Tash! Solidarity action this Monday Date:Monday, January 4, 2010 Time:11:00am - 11:45am Location:Sydney Danish Consulate, Goldfields House Street:1 Alfred Street, Circular Quay For more information, contact Holly Creenaune on 0417 682 541 People can send letters addressed to Natasha Verco via this email address: retsgruppe69@yahoo.dk The group (Anarchist Black Cross - prison support) are visiting daily to deliver letters.
Copenhagen. Dec 14, 2009. Australia and Japan are currently blocking movement on legally binding emissions reductions for rich countries, which has precipitated in the G77 group of 130 developing countries walking out of climate negotiations unless talks on a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol are prioritized ahead of broader discussions under a second LCA track. A Flashmob of support by civil society for the African and island nations walkout was held in the convention centre.
Industrialised countries have not tabled any meaningful commitments around mitigation and medium - long-term financing and are pushing for a new agreement to sideline the Kyoto Protocol.
Two climate protesters were sentenced today in Brisbane and ordered to pay damages of over $3000 to Queensland Bulk Handling Corporation after a protest at the Brisbane coal port in October where they halted coal loading and had to be cut free of port infrastructure.
The protesters, Steve Skitmore (22) and Nathan Elvery (19) from Six Degrees Coal and Climate Campaign pled guilty to charges of trespass and obstructing a police officer and received $300 fines and good behavior bonds. The original damages claim was over $10,000, which the magistrate found "perplexing" and reduced the damages to $3000.
"The QLD government is neglecting to protect the futures of every day Queenslanders by not phasing out the coal industry. When the coal mining companies have so much power in the halls of parliament, the only way to expose the truth here was through civil disobedience" Said Mr Elvery
"Premier Bligh is contradicting every promise she makes to us that she is protecting our futures," Mr Skitmore said.
The pair plan to appeal the compensation order, believing the claim is unfounded and inflated, and merely a tactic to dissuade further climate change protests at a time when they are most needed.
The October protest involved more than 20 people, many in kayaks and canoes who attempted to blockade a coal ship from departing - see Climate Change Kayakers Blockade Coal Ship.
While Newcastle, New South Wales is the largest coal port in the world, Queensland is the largest coal exporting state in the largest coal exporting country in the world.
The Victorian parliament tackled climate change on Friday with a climate bill passed to set a 20 percent emissions reduction based upon 2000 levels by 2020. "This is a significant Bill which has the potential to stabilise and then drive down our greenhouse emissions, while also creating certainty for investors and industry, and many new jobs across the state," said Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker.
ALP policy on climate change action has been strongly criticised by environment and climate action groups with protests at Julia Gillard's climate change policy launch in Brisbane, and protests at Julia Gillard's Werribee electoral office and her Melbourne Treasury Place office.
