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Minister Angus Taylor addressed the UN Climate Conference #COP25 today

While Australia is on fire, impacts supercharged by climate change, the Australian government is lobbying for it (and others) to do less climate action

Worth letting that sink in

Mega thread #auspol
Speech - "The Paris Agreement sent a powerful signal to the world that countries are serious about climate action...

Unfortunately this doesn't extend to Aus, with
rising
- emissions
- fossil fuel exports
- climate impacts
- reliance on loopholes

climatechangenews.com/2019/12/06/one…
“Australia is committed to the Paris Agreement. We are already on track to meet and beat the target we have set for 2030…

Actually emissions continue to trend upwards, noting a sight dip due to loss of agriculture from climate impacts...

theguardian.com/environment/20…
"We are meeting and beating our Kyoto Targets…

Well if you start a race halfway in and get to finish before others, sure you will do very well.

Australia gamed Kyoto and now it wants to game the Paris Agreement

climatechangenews.com/2019/10/22/aus…
"On recently released forecasts we expect to beat our 2020 targets by 411 million tonnes, which is around 80% of a full year of emissions....

This new 411 Mt is dodgy. Keep eye out for new report in next day from @TheAusInstitute and @BillHareClimate on the KP carryover....
"Strong messages and targets alone won’t address climate change, no matter how ambitious....

No the Minister is getting stuck into to countries for having ambitious targets after bragging about beating Australia's really easy ones!

#Cantbelieveit
#Auspol
"The world needs action to reduce emissions and Australia believes technology is central to achieving this...

Yes - its not strong targets but technology that will save us.

I'll let @KetanJ0 take this one to task
@KetanJ0 "We can only reduce emissions as fast as the deployment of commercially viable technologies allow.

This means we need to get the right technology to the marketplace...

Except for cheap renewables which Taylor reckons we have too much of #auspol

reneweconomy.com.au/we-have-crosse…
@KetanJ0 "In Australia, we are developing a Technology Investment Roadmap....

Cue a whole minute on 'low emission' tech investments.

See Minister's program to cherry-pick gas and coal power plants to invest in...

theguardian.com/australia-news…
"An example of a priority technology is hydrogen. Last month we released our National Hydrogen Strategy....

Oh hydrogen - great he must mean zero-emission hydrogen? NO.

The national strategy is 'technology neutral'....
#hydrogen #auspol

theconversation.com/for-hydrogen-t…
...“a hydrogen industry that offers enormous benefits for our economy and could, through our exports, assist other countries to reduce their emissions....

Oh so the strategy is about making money first and second possibly it could assist others reduce *their* emissions
Tangent

The problem with hydrogen is that firstly there is alot of hype about the export demand, which according to @TheAusInstitute @Tom_Swann research is highly inflated to drive investment into it now

smh.com.au/national/austr…
Secondly, there is no requirement for clean hydrogen so the hype is used to lock in cheap fossil fuel hydrogen processes which are highly emissions intensive BUT burn clean and therefore reduce emissions for importing countries

Ok back to speech
tai.org.au/content/hy-tro…
''Aus is an active participant in Mission Innovation, particularly in the hydrogen, heating and cooling, and smart grids challenges. I welcome the recently formed Leadership Group for Industry Transition, and am pleased to announce the Australia will join that initiative....
''Australia provides an important perspective as one of the world’s biggest, and most trusted energy suppliers...

Australia sure does as the worlds third largest supplier of fossil fuels (in terms of emissions) with plans to keep growing!

abc.net.au/news/science/2…
''Last year, renewable investment was Australia’s highest on record at AU$14.1 billion, which is world leading investment given our population...

Alot more careful on renewable language, not like at the UN General Assembly - see @10NewsFirst below

@10NewsFirst ''Renewables are now more than 25% of our electricity supply in our National Electricity Market....

Thanks to the national renewable energy target that is finished.

And Minister for Energy Angus Taylor is keen not to let that get any higher cause we have hit a 'threshold'...
''Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the world’s most successful green bank, has mobilised over $20 billion in new investments...

But now Minister Taylor wants the green bank to fund more fossil fuel power projects like gas!

thefifthestate.com.au/energy-lead/en…
''The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has provided $1.4 billion to improve the affordability and increase the supply of renewable energy in Australia....

And now ARENA will run out of funding (no more $ for projects this financial year and no funding at all in 2022)!
Tangent

Lets remember, Minister Taylor tried their hardest to kill the Renewable Target, the CEFC and ARENA!

reneweconomy.com.au/abbott-to-cont…

Because he failed it unleashed $23 billion in renw
''This increase has not been without issues and one of Australia’s challenges is to ensure energy remains affordable and reliable as these changes occur...

Electricity prices has increased and reliability of old coal power plants (118 breakdowns last year) is highly problematic
''We cannot move faster than the technology allows...

No we wouldn't want to be ambitious like Denmark that is cutting 70% emissions by 2030 without knowing exactly how. That is ambition @NordicPolicyCtr

climatechangenews.com/2019/12/06/den…
@NordicPolicyCtr Minister Taylor promises a technology strategy next year and talks to the $3.5 Climate Solutions Package (less money over a longer period for ERF) and turns to the Pacific

''Australia is focused on working with our developing country partners to address climate challenges...
''We have announced an additional $500 million over five years from 2020 to help Pacific nations invest in clean energy and climate and disaster resilience.

Problem is you can't replace climate change action with pocket change in Pacific

theguardian.com/australia-news…
''Australia will also invest $140 million to mobilise private sector investments in low emissions, climate-resilient solutions for region

It doesn't make up for pulling out of the Green Climate Fund which got Aus a fossil of the day yesterday...

canberratimes.com.au/story/6295355/…
''We play a leading role in the International Partnership for Blue Carbon to improve understanding and management of coastal blue carbon.

Ah blue carbon. Planting mangroves is great for sinking emissions and building resilience to coastal erosion but...
Here are the numbers from the Blue Carbon project two years ago that the Australian Government was spruiking

Compare the numbers on Mangove planting and fossil fuel expansion in Galilee basin...

@R_o_d_C
tai.org.au/content/blue-c…
And finally, a guarded reference to concluding Article 6 negotiations

''A clear path forward on Article 6 arrangements will help countries deliver on our Paris Agreement goals and signal commitment to Paris Agreement implementation.''

True - hence it should rule out loopholes
No mention at all of bushfires! NONE

My one year old is in Sydney choking on fumes 11 times worse than ‘hazardous levels’

Fires supercharged by climate change and NOT A SINGLE MENTION

Here is Sydney before and now #COP25 #ClimateCrisis
There is an absolute tragedy going on back home, clearly linked to climate change, and the Australian Government's representative spends most of his time talking about how only technology could unlock ambition.

The disconnect is insane.
smh.com.au/national/nsw/t…
For context, I was negotiating for the Australia Government when a Super Typhoon hit the Philippines , and the Philippine negotiator across from me went on a hunger strike to demand more climate action.

And look at what Minister Taylor mentioned...

businessgreen.com/bg/news/230619…
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#COP25 #auspol #Cantbelieveit #hydrogen #ClimateCrisis

More from @RichieMerzian see all

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Richie Merzian
@RichieMerzian
1/ Time to dispel a few climate furphies.

The first is that no one is doing anything on #ClimateChange.

Here is the % change in emissions (excluding LULUCF) from 2005-17 for all #OECD nations.

Australia is one of only five (in red) that has increased emissions! #auspol
2/

All 32 OECD countries combined make up 57% of world GDP and those countries that saw emissions fall make up 54% of world GDP.

Australia is not part of the pack. It is at the back and is an outlier #auspol #ClimateCrisis

(thanks @MattGrudnoff @TheAusInstitute for stats)
3/ Australia’s total emissions rank it as 14 largest in the world.

Australia has higher absolute emissions than 40 countries with bigger populations.

If you look at per capita emissions, Australia tops it.
#auspol #COP25
Read 8 tweets
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Richie Merzian
@RichieMerzian
The long expected modelling of Labor's climate policy by long-time coal consultant Brian Fisher, BAEconomics is out and it will be parroted by #greatworkme @AngusTaylorMP on @RNBreakfast this morning #auspol

Here are the many red flags in this work 👇
baeconomics.com.au/wp-content/upl…
Firstly, it misunderstand Paris Agreement. It assumes the Coalition Government's 26% target is all Australia needs to comply.

It is not.

Coalition policy to hit 26% is rated as 'highly insufficient' according to @climateactiontr and in line with 4 degree global warming
Paris is asking for targets aligned with under 2 degrees global warming.

Labor's 45% target is just within this band according to the Climate Change Authority.

All countries are expected to regularly ratchet up its target to align with 2 degrees.

carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-…
Read 12 tweets
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Richie Merzian
@RichieMerzian
Professor Diesendorf's simple four-step recipe for #fairdinkumpower published by @TheAusInstitute in @renew_economy today

1) Provide additional $4 billion to @ARENA_aus & $2 billion @CEFCAus over 4 yrs to to stimulate dispatchable, flexible, renewable electricity and storage
2) expedite construction of key transmission links between Qld and NSW, SA and NSW, within north-western and western Vic, and within northern NSW to better integrate renewable electricity into the grid;

reneweconomy.com.au/four-key-steps… #auspol
3) bring forward simple rule changes in #NEM to reward demand response and flexible, fast-response, dispatchable power and to reduce ‘gaming’ of the market by gas-fired generators

(See @DanJCass demand response rule suggestion - afr.com/news/aemc-mull…)
Read 4 tweets

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James Mitchell Ⓥ
@MesMitch
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Scale and speed of loss much higher than predicted, threatening inundation for hundreds of millions of people
Greenland’s ice sheet is melting much faster than previously thought, threatening hundreds of millions of people with inundation and bringing some of the irreversible impacts of the climate emergency much closer.
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💧simon holmes à court
@simonahac
👇THREAD on @ScottMorrisonMP and #climate

no doubt the prime minister will have noticed the shift in the public mood, and the media, around climate change.

“climate and the environment” is literally top of mind.

afr.com/politics/feder…
morrison can implore us not to discuss climate change while the country is on fire, but as the fire chiefs have tried to tell him, we have months of fires ahead of us — this is the new normal.

unless australia gets a lucky break, this fire season is morrison’s "port arthur".
if @ScottMorrisonMP seeks to be a great PM, he needs to rapidly pivot to real #climate leadership — meaningful words and meaningful deeds.

to be meaningful:
Read 8 tweets
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Sophie Lewis
@aviandelights
Here's a brief summary of some of the our Australian #climate extremes research since 2013, a year that has nothing to do with any particular events, government or ideology
Australia's then record hot 2012/2013 summer was made substantially more likely because of climate change agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
Night time temperature increasing faster than day time temperature, a key fingerprint of climate change, though this feature is not well modelled agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
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James Glave
@jamesglave
In April, Alberta, Canada, will elect a new provincial government. Many may be unaware that the current @rachelnotley govt has adopted a globally significant #climate plan. Here is what's in it, what it has done, and what is at stake next month. A THREAD #abvote 1/24
First, where did Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan plan come from? (George Soros, perhaps? Foreign-funded radicals?) No. It came from Albertans. A volunteer panel led by @andrew_leach spoke w 1K residents in-person and heard from 25K+ online. 2/24
The panel also engaged with 350+ stakeholders and met w Aboriginal Peoples in three cities, and received hundreds of detailed submissions from NGOs, industry groups and others. 3/24
Read 26 tweets
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Georgina Woods
@georgefwoods
I was in my last year of high school in '97 and the Howard Government was campaigning and lobbying world leaders against an emerging climate change deal, as revealed by the 96/97 cabinet papers naa.gov.au/collection/exp…
Cabinet submissions and decisions on #climate change in the first 18 months of the Howard Govt are notable for not mentioning the impacts or consequences of climate change at all....
The motivation that kept Oz reluctantly involved in the Berlin Mandate negotiations that led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol was international ostracism and the fear of trade sanctions if it was recalcitrant
Read 7 tweets
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Patrick Galey
@patrickgaley
Just returned from Bangkok, where nations made little progress towards finalising the Paris agreement on climate change that aims to limit global temperature rises over the next 80 years.

It was my first @UN #climate change rodeo and there were a few things I wasn't aware of
Under Paris, countries agreed to a fairly detailed set of promises to keep global temperature rises under 2C by 2100.

It was the first time all nations - both developed and developing economies - signed up to the same set of climate rules. But they weren't binding
Parties gave themselves in effect 3 years to come up with a text agreed by everyone, ratified, and translated into national law on a state-by-state basis. The idea is the accord isn't legally binding, but the rulebook it provides could be on a national level
Read 23 tweets

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