Australia committed two years ago in 2022 at the landmark Convention on Biodiversity COP15 meeting in Montreal to hold an inaugural Global Nature Positive Summit. This occurred in Sydney 8-10 October.
Unlike the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at Biodiversity COP15, the Nature Positive Summit proved to have substantial greenwash from the Australian and NSW state Governments, as they continue to approve and subsidise new coal and gas or logging of native forests.
The Federal Labor Government had been elected in May 2022 with a commitment to take strong climate action and to revamp and overhaul Australia's ineffective national environment laws.
A report on State of the Australian Environment had its publication delayed by the previous Coalition Government. This report showed most ecosystems are declining or in a dire state which needs to be addressed, and is already impacting human society and economics. This expert report summaried at The Conversation, argued that:
Australia’s environment is generally deteriorating
Climate change threatens every ecosystem
The importance of Indigenous knowledge and management to deliver on-ground change
Environmental management isn’t well coordinated
Environmental decline and destruction is harming our well-being
Since Labor came to power in May 2022 we have seen some changes made such as a Water Trigger and Nature Repair Market, further changes to establish an Environment Protection Agency and Data Information Agency at a standstill in the Senate with the Government unwilling to compromise with the Greens and crossbench. Most substantive changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act have now been pushed out to beyond the next election. A fundamental fail by this Labor Government.
The Coalition has refused to bargain on a bipartisan basis and has signaled its support for business as usual regarding land clearing, forestry and mining. They too refused to act on the Samuel Review to upgrade ther EPBC Act. Ambition to address biodiversity crisis and species extinction is failing from both major parties.
The Nature Positive Summit seems to be more talkfest as Government policy ambition fails to address the nature negative policies already in place and driving biodiversity loss. The conference was held a week after three new thermal coal mine projects approved by the Federal Government that will result in up to 1.5 billion tonnes of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.
The Labor NSW government can't stand high either as Forests NSW is about to log native forests 400km north of Sydney in the Bulga State Forest, which includes habitat for ther endangered Greater Glider. The Federal Government Regional Forestry Agreements with the states exclude application of the present ineffective national environment laws to protect endangered species.
I was surprised at what I found of the extent of conflict of interest between the sponsors of the UN Climate Conference, the French State and the UNFCCC secretariat.
On Thursday evening I left the UN climate conference at the Le Bourget centre straight after the Fossil of the Day ceremony at 6pm to attend the Pinocchio awards which examines and compares the greenwashed credentials of major corporations.
These awards are run by Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth) to highlight corporate mal-practices. The three categories being judged were local impacts, lobbying and greenwashing.
Banks have still got a long way to go to meet their own carbon principles says a new report from the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) in the US. Three leading banks put forward these carbon principles in February 2008 to make it tougher to finance conventional coal-fired plants in the US as a way to mitigate carbon emissions and climate change.
Six banks have now signed on to the Carbon principles, but the RAN report indicates adherence to the principles has been hollow and is just a greenwashing exercise by the banks.
This week we saw hefty fines of $70,000 handed out to three foreign sailors from a bulk coal carrier, the MV Mimosa, which was caught travelling through restricted waters of the Great Barrier Reef off north Queensland. Also in the news was the arrest and charging of the master and the chief officer on watch of the Shen Neng 1, which ran aground on the Douglas shoal causing damage in a restricted area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. But almost under the radar were the token fines totalling $8,000 handed out to three Fitzroy Coal Mines in Queensland for polluting the Fitzroy river.
The three central Queensland mines were fined for discharging into the Fitzroy River in breach of their environmental licence conditions. Moranbah North coal mine has been fined $4,000 for exceeding its water release limits and for releasing water from an unauthorised discharge point. Rolleston and Callide coal mines were each fined $2,000 for exceeding their water release limits. "These fines are a clear message to mine operators that breaches will not be tolerated," said Kate Jones, Queensland Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability.
But Friends of the Earth said the fines were much too light. "This is a token gesture and it will neither silence the critics of this dirty industry, nor deter the mining companies from continuing to illegally pollute the Fitzroy river every time there is a flood," said Friends of the Earth spokesperson Bradley Smith.
In the last financial year, both Callide and Moranbah mines each produced over $1 billion dollars of coal at average export prices, while Rolleston's coal production was $980 million.
Kate Jones said that the fines are a clear message to mine operators that breaches will not be tolerated. A further six mines had been issued with warning notices - Blackwater, Moorvale, Dawson Central, Blair Athol, Peak Downs and Moranbah North. "Eleven mines have been, or are being, investigated for non-compliance with Environmental Authority conditions." said Kate Jones. "The decision not to prosecute was taken because in each instance, despite the breach of environmental operating conditions, the investigations found no evidence of significant environmental harm having been caused," she said.
Enforcement action for breaches of licence conditions can range from a warning notice to a fine of up to $200,000 and two years imprisonment, depending on the severity of water quality breaches. According to Mr Smith the $2000 fines handed down equate to 1.5% of the revenue made by each of these mines in just one hour.
So on the one hand we have 3 foreign sailors from a bulk carrier, the MV Mimosa, being fined $70,000 each for the risks of damaging the sensitive marine ecosystem involved in taking a shortcut through restricted zones of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. On the other hand we have 3 token fines amounting to $8,000 and warnngs issued to coal mining companies for breaching licence conditions and polluting the Fitzroy River and other waterways. The ship taking a shortcut put the reef at risk, but caused no damage. The Discharge from the coal mines polluted the Fitzroy river, but probably with minimal environmental damage. The sailors get fined a total of $210,000, the mining companies just $8,000. So where is the comparative justice?
There seems to be a gross lack of environmental justice in the token fines handed out for pollution by coal mining companies in comparison to the fines against ship masters and officers for equally risky and sometimes damaging behaviour as exemplified by the damage caused by the Shen Neng 1 damaging the reef.
Coal is a major export earner for the Queensland Government. 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. According to the Friends of the Earth the 2009-2010 Queensland Budget has allocated $1,758 million to coal subsidies and expansions.
"The planned doubling of the coal industry will inevitably lead to more pollution of our waterways and more accidents on the Great Barrier reef," said Mr Smith. "Everyday Queenslanders enjoy fishing in the Fitzroy and visiting the Great Barrier Reef. It is unfortunate that the Government more interested in getting a quick buck from expanding the coal industry than protecting these natural assets for all Queenslanders to enjoy," said Mr Smith from Friends of the Earth.
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.
Chris Breen has been active in the Save Solar Systems Campaign. As a person working in the renewable energy sector, he has first hand experience of the lies and double standards our politicians have accorded between the subsidies and support to the fossil fuel industry as against the limited support for the renewable sector. Greenwashing.
I videoed his speech at a picket of Peter Batchelor, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, who was about to attend a $3000 a head Victorian Coal Industry conference. I took the time to transcribe the speech, so you can Read or watch:
Speech
On the one hand the Rudd and Brumby Government say that climate change is one of the most serious problems humanity has ever faced and that they are acting. On the other hand the reason we are here today is what they are actually doing is that they are sending Peter Batchelor to a $3000 day a head coal conference on how Victoria can keep burning coal to Kingdom Come.
And I think Damien Lawson was right when he said there is a simple test. They tell some very complicated lies around carbon trading. But there are simple tests about are they acting or not. The simple test is are we getting large scale renewable energy, are we getting the Mildura Solar power plant, or are indeed are we getting new coal, the new HRL coal power plant.
Unfortunately the answer is the wrong way around at the moment and that is what we are trying to change. If carbon trading came in tomorrow, if we had any sort of carbon pricing, carbon tax, it's not going to build the Mildura Solar Power Plant, and it's not going to stop the HRL power plant. The climate movement needs to be demanding these very practical things about what the Government should do.
When it comes to the Mildura Solar Power Plant it really is part of the smoke and mirrors that the Government is acting on climate change. Brumby has been saying that they are committed to this project for three years, and yet we still don't have a construction date. The Victorian Government put out a media release recently saying that the money is on the table; they want this project to go ahead but the company Solar Systems who were going to build it has been sold to, are saying it may go ahead in 2011 which is conveniently after the next two - state and federal - elections. There is no date for construction.
And the other key thing is that Solar Systems who were going to build it had 150 employees. After the sale, Silex, who it has been sold to, has 14 employees. How are you going to build a solar power plant with 14 employees, let alone continue the research and development programs to commercialise the technology. This was going to be 1000 jobs in construction in Mildura, this was going to power all of Mildura by the sun, and yet it is not going ahead.
I would love Batchelor and Brumby to prove I'm wrong and start construction but it seems that is not happening. What we are getting instead is the coal conference. If you look at the agenda of the coal conference is very much the same sort of thing: on the one hand they are talking about low emissions coal technology, clean coal - it's entirely fantasy - it's about coming up with the lies they are going to need to keep burning coal for as long as possible.
Clean coal is simply not going to work, not going to work at scale. You would have more chance at turning a cigarette into a safe cigarette by adding uranium to it than clean coal going to work.
You don't need to go to a Future of Coal Conference at $3000 a head to understand what the future of coal is. The future of coal is death. If we don't stop burning coal and build renewable energy, we will pass climate tipping points, we will see the deaths of hundreds of millions of people, we will see agricultural collapse, we will see war, we will see starvation, we will see disease, we will see hundreds and hundreds of millions of refugees.
So what Peter Batchelor is choosing is obscene. There is a choice. You can choose the future of coal or the future of the planet. And it is obscene we have Government ministers going to this. Imagine if Peter Batchelor was at a conference on the future of tobacco? the future of Asbestos? But this is what we are getting again and again.
I think that climate change has made renewable energy an essential service. Like Government built schools and hospitals, it needs to start building renewable energy. These things should be part of the social wage. There are more jobs in renewable energy than there are in new coal, the HRL thing is only going to have 35 jobs if it gets up and running. There was going to be a 1000 jobs in the construction of the Mildura Power plant.
The Government should employ people like it employs nurses and teachers to start to transform our economy. People tell you that Governments don't do things directly anymore, but they do. The same week that Solar Systems was sold the Brumby Government gave $363million to build a new roof for the tennis centre directly. That is about the cost of the Mildura Solar power plant.
Nothing against tennis, but what's more important? That we have a planet on which to play tennis or that we have a roof on the tennis centre?
The Government is spending $40billion on the national broadband network directly. They are spending $36billion on new submarines. To put that in context: $36billion you divide that up by $50,000 each, you could employ 700,000 people for that money to begin to transform our economy.
The very last thing I will say is this. I think it was fantastic we had the firefighters union here today. If we are going to force our government to start to do what is necessary to stop climate change, we are going to need a power, which is an alternative power, to the power of the corporations which are currently running the show.
I think that power is in the union movement. I think we need union leaders, not just in the firefighters but in every union, we need union members saying again and again and again give us the jobs that will save the world.
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You can see images from the Peter Batchelor picket at my Flickr Peter Batchelor Climate Picket Set. Some of the speeches I have transcribed.
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.
In December Kate Jones, the Queensland Climate Change Minister, stated "Queenslanders are by per capita the highest emitters of carbon in the world." and said the Queensland Government was "committed to world action on climate change." Spoken at the Copenhagen climate talks on December 15, they illuminate the greenwashing, spin and hypocrisy that our politicians are engaging in.
"We as a State are already taking action. We are home to the world's largest reef, the Great Barrier Reef, and that is why we are committing here today to reduce runoff into the reef by 50% in four years." she stated to the crowd of climate bureaucrats and fellow politicians.
Bradley Smith from Friends of the Earth Brisbane said that "If the Queensland government were serious about protecting the Great Barrier reef, they wouldn't be expanding the coal industry. Without deep and urgent emissions reductions, reducing runoff to the Great Barrier Reef is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic."
