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Today’s top story is a summary of the 38 recommendations laid out in the final report reviewing Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act and presents a call for four changes to be implemented as a package. Australia has one of the worst rates of biodiversity decline and deforestation of any developed nation. It is really very important that the rules change. Academics strongly support the Samuel report but the government is cherry picking recommendations and not committing to the change required.
 
In other news:
  • In the UK all government departments are asked to put forward a carbon pricing scheme as Boris is chastised by James Hasen on the new coal mine in Cumbria;
  • A meta-analysis of 500 publications finds noise pollution harms sea life;
  • Economists argue that low interest rates and stagnation mean now is exactly the right time to spend big on green investment;
  • A university think tank recommends the Australian government spent big on green investment and put the right policies in place to ensure net zero by 2050;
  • A high court in Australia rules the expansion of the New Acland coal mine in Queensland’s Darling Downs be reassessed; and
  • A French court rules the government is not doing enough to combat climate change;
  • Scientists find that global heating caused most of the 1oC of warming that has melted a Peruvian glacier putting 120,000 downstream of the glacial lake at risk of flooding, boosting a case to hold polluters to account;
  • Maori representation in government is essential to maintaining a diverse culture and healthy society;
  • Australia’s government announces three priority areas for 2021 but is criticised of political spin;
  • The USA administration is continuing with its aggressive changes but is seeing strong backlash from the Republicans; and
  • Denmark gets approval to build an artificial island to produce and store green energy to meet its ambitious climate goals.
 
 

Top Story

 
To fix Australia’s environment laws, wildlife experts call for these 4 changes — all are crucial | The Conversation
AUSTRALIA - The independent review of Australia’s main environment law, released last week, provided a sobering but accurate appraisal of a dire situation. The review was led by Professor Graeme Samuel and involved consultation with scientists, legal experts, industry and conservation organisations. Samuel’s report concluded Australia’s biodiversity is in decline and the law (the EPBC Act) “is not fit for current or future environmental challenges”.

Land clearing and cattle grazing are among the threats black-throated finches face. Stephanie Todd, Author provided
 
 

Climate Crisis and Emissions

 
California's rainy season starting nearly a month later than it did 60 years ago | Phys.org
USA - The start of California's annual rainy season has been pushed back from November to December, prolonging the state's increasingly destructive wildfire season by nearly a month, according to new research. The study cannot confirm the shift is connected to climate change, but the results are consistent with climate models that predict drier autumns for California in a warming climate, according to the authors.
 
Government mulls carbon tax push, as criticism mounts over 'contemptuous' coal mine decision | BuisnessGreen
UK - The Times reported this morning that it has seen a Whitehall memo that confirms Number 10 and the Treasury have asked all departments to bring forward plans for a carbon pricing scheme that would cover all areas of the economy, potentially leading to new levies on carbon intensive products and services, such as meat and dairy, and gas for heating, which are currently subject to negligible or non-existent environmental taxes… "The big driver for this is if you can get a decent chunk of countries to agree to some kind of carbon price floor then you can finally have an [international] system that encompasses all the big competitive industries and potentially agriculture," one source close to the government's thinking told The Times.
Related:  
EU climate change plans will ripple through foreign policy, researchers say
The European Union’s goal to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will have “profound geopolitical repercussions,” including sharply lower revenue to oil and gas exporting neighbors such as Russia, Algeria and Libya, the European University Institute and two influential think-tanks said on Wednesday.
 
Important days for the Climate Change Bill | Climate Act Now
AUSTRALIA - The House Standing Committee, Environment and Energy completed two days of public hearings into the Climate Change Bill on Monday February 1st. The overwhelming expert testimony offers broad support for the Climate Change Bill and recommends that the government take more urgent climate action for the good of Australia and its people. You can view excerpts from the public hearings on the parliament website. Search for “Environment & Energy” on Friday 29th January and Monday 1st February.
 
 

Environment and Biodiversity

 
Why is the Earth blue? | The Conversation
There is only one known planet with permanent bodies of liquid water at its surface: ours. Earth sciences allow us to explain why the Earth has almost always been blue: it’s neither too warm nor too cold… The average temperature on a planet’s surface depends on the interaction of three parameters that can vary widely from one planet to the next: the energy arriving from the Sun; the albedo of the surface, meaning how much it reflects solar radiation away; and greenhouse gases, which trap solar radiation within Earth’s atmosphere.

Earthrise
 
Noise pollution is harming sea life, needs to be prioritized, scientists say | Reuters
Far beneath the ocean surface, a cacophony of industrial noise is disrupting marine animals’ ability to mate, feed and even evade predators, scientists warn. With rumbling ships, hammering oil drills and booming seismic survey blasts, humans have drastically altered the underwater soundscape – in some cases deafening or disorienting whales, dolphins and other marine mammals that rely on sound to navigate, researchers report in a metastudy published online Thursday and in the Friday edition of the journal Science that examines more than 500 research papers.
 
'It doesn't have to be this way': Could surging demand for EV batteries supercharge human rights fears? | BusinessGreen
It's going to be one of the great commercial opportunities of the 2020s - plus it is absolutely core to the world's net-zero ambitions. But could batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) simultaneously pose a grave social and environmental threat to communities in the Global South where the raw materials for modern batteries are obtained? Demand for cobalt, lithium, natural graphite, and manganese - all key components in electric car batteries - is set to soar over the next decade, as policies to slash transport emissions by phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles drive an EV boom.
 
 

Fires

 
As Perth’s suburbs burn, the rest of Australia watches and learns | The Conversation
AUSTRALIA - February has already been a bad month for Perth. Bushfire has destroyed 81 homes and burned more than 10,000 hectares northeast of the city. Residents in the midst of a COVID-19 lockdown were told to abandon their homes and seek shelter as the bushfire raged. The disaster calls to mind the unprecedented Black Summer fires that devastated eastern Australia last summer. But the tragedies are very different beasts… So let’s examine the drivers of the Perth fire, and consider what the rest of Australia can learn as we face a future of worsening bushfires.
 
 

Economy and Business

 
Secular stagnation, climate action, and the natural rate of interest | Brookings
The present macroeconomic environment… offers governments a unique chance to lead the climate transition through public investments to decarbonize energy and transportation systems, as well as buildings and cities. Rather than imposing a large cost on present economic output, in a world of secular stagnation they could help raise output because greening our economies will require a large amount of investment and hence help to productively absorb excess savings.
 
Scott Morrison has embraced net-zero emissions – now it’s time to walk the talk | The Conversation
AUSTRALIA - We are researchers at ClimateWorks, an independent advisory body based at Monash University. For much of the past decade, we have investigated how Australia can reach net-zero emissions. The transition will require targeted government spending and specific, forward-thinking policies for each sector. Without this, Australia risks missing the opportunities being seized by our international peers.
 
Top UK firms 'woefully' failing on climate risk disclosure, study warns | BusinessGreen
UK - A significant number of major UK companies may be breaking the law by failing to adequately disclose how climate change and the net zero transition could impact their operations and prospects, ClientEarth has claimed. A new study by the environmental law group found more than 90 per cent of the UK's 250 largest firms make no reference to climate-related factors in their financial accounts, despite existing law requiring all major forms to disclose material information about climate risks and impacts. The research, published today, comes amid growing calls from major investors for listed firms to measure, disclose, and address the potential threats and opportunities facing their business as a result of the impacts of climate change and the shift to a greener economy.
 
 

Politics and Society

 
New Acland coalmine expansion to be reassessed after high court judgment | The Guardian
AUSTRALIA - Activists have had a victory in the high court, which has upheld an appeal to have the expansion of the New Acland coalmine in Queensland’s Darling Downs reassessed by the state’s land court. The Oakey Coal Action Alliance, represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, won its long-running legal case in a judgment handed down on Wednesday.
 
French court rules France not doing enough on climate change | Reuters
France’s government must do more to combat climate change, a French court said on Wednesday, in what environmental campaigners called a landmark ruling that could ramp up pressure on other countries to act on global warning. The case was brought by a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who accused the French state of not living up to its own commitments, including a multi-year plan to cut carbon emissions, and the 2015 Paris Climate accord.
 
Global heating to blame for threat of deadly flood in Peru, study finds | The Guardian
PERU - Human-caused global heating is directly responsible for the threat of a devastating flood in Peru that is the subject of a lawsuit against the German energy company RWE, according to groundbreaking new research. The study establishes links from human-made greenhouse gas emissions to the substantial risk of a dangerous outburst flood from Lake Palcacocha, high in the Peruvian Andes. The resulting flood would trigger a deadly landslide inundating the city of Huaraz, and threatening about 120,000 people in its path. Climate litigators say the research published in Nature Geoscience could be key to holding major polluters accountable for their contribution to climate change.

The study found human-induced heating had caused between 85% and 105% of the observed 1C temperature rise in the region since 1880. That had, in turn, caused the retreat of the Palcaraju glacier. Photograph: Dan Collyns/The Guardian
 
Guaranteed Māori representation in local government is about self-determination — and it’s good for democracy | The Conversation
NEW ZEALAND - The recent controversy over a decision by the Tauranga City Council to establish a Māori ward reminds us that arguments about Māori political representation are nothing new. In this latest case, the Hobson’s Pledge lobby group helped organise a petition to overturn the council decision… As Waitangi Day on February 6 approached, Mahuta announced proposed law changes that would remove the process for overturning such decisions and therefore make guaranteed Māori representation more likely. This would bring councils into line with central government where Māori seats in parliament have given Māori a distinctive political voice since 1867.
 
Coalition's 'three critical priorities' for environment scorned as 'shameful inaction and spin' | The Guardian
AUSTRALIA - The Morrison government has nominated waste policy, climate adaptation and reform of national conservation laws as its environmental priorities for 2021, prompting criticism that it is not focused enough on improving the plight of the country’s declining wildlife and threatened species.

Australia’s environment ministers did not meet in 2020, prompting concern from conservationists about a lack of coordinated action after the devastating bushfires that killed or displaced an estimated 3 billion animals. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images
 
Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate crisis have – predictably – provoked GOP backlash | The Guardian
USA - The Democrat in the White House may be different, but the attacks are very familiar. Joe Biden’s early blitz to confront the climate crisis has provoked a hostile Republican backlash eerily similar to the opposition that stymied Barack Obama 12 years ago. Once again, efforts to reduce planet-heating emissions are being assailed as radical, job killing and elitist. Republican lawmakers in Congress have denounced Biden’s flurry of executive orders on climate and have even introduced legislation to bypass the president and approve the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Related:  
Scott Morrison's first call with Joe Biden covers China, Covid and climate | The Guardian
AUSTRALIA - After speaking with Joe Biden on Thursday for the first time since the president took office, Scott Morrison told reporters the new occupant of the White House did not press him to adopt more ambitious commitments on climate action. A separate readout from the White House does not contradict that point. It states the two leaders “discussed how we can work together to address global and regional challenges, including dealing with China, beating the Covid-19 pandemic, and combating climate change”.
See also:  
 

Energy

 
Denmark approves renewable energy island in the North Sea | Reuters
DENMARK - Denmark on Thursday approved a plan to build an artificial island in the North Sea that will produce and store enough green energy to cover the electricity needs of 3 million European households. The island, which in its initial phase will be the size of 18 football fields, will be linked to hundreds of offshore wind turbines and will supply both power to households and green hydrogen for use in shipping, aviation, industry and heavy transport. The move came as the European Union unveiled plans to transform its electricity system to rely mostly on renewable energy within a decade and increase its offshore wind energy capacity 25-fold by 2050.
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