Ok, it’s time to talk about Australia. I know from a UK perspective, all the focus has been about animal welfare standards and the impact of a UK – Australia trade deal on UK farmers. This is important, but this is not the only thing that’s important. 

The FT reports that Australia (and Japan) have disputed the findings of the International Energy Agency’s report on reaching net zero emissions by 2050, indicating they will continue fossil fuel investment despite the watchdog’s advice.

Australia is using public funds to pursue a “gas-fired recovery” policy in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and is resisting international pressure to set a net-zero emissions target, the paper reports. Indeed the country is pursuing a brand new taxpayer-funded $600+ million gas plant.

It comes as an analysis by the Australia Institute (The Guardian) found the trumpeted reduction in Australian emissions over the past 15 years was largely due to two major shocks beyond government control – the drought and the pandemic – and mostly historical changes in the amount of CO2 released from the land and forests.

Fossil fuel and other emissions not linked to the land or agriculture sectors – those from electricity, industry, mining, transport and landfill – actually increased by 7% prior to Covid-19.

The institute found on this basis Australia had done much less to reduce emissions than several comparable countries, including the US, UK and members of the European Union.

Which makes a tariff-free deal between the UK and Austrailia on the eve of a major climate summit and the possible introduction of carbon border taxes, well, awkward. Not only are UK businesses – including farmers – subject to taxes and costs related to the clean transition that their Austrailia counterparts are not, but the deal also sets a problematic precedent.

How is the UK going to insist on a carbon tax for goods coming from other countries whose emissions are out of line with the science of climate change whilst giving the Aussies a free pass? It’s not gonna fly and one, or other, will have to give. 

Monday news blizzard

Infrastructure bill crucial to Biden climate agenda: The Hill reports the president’s American Jobs Plan has a number of provisions aimed at combating climate change including new taxes and tax credits, support for electric vehicles, building efficiency upgrades and a clean electricity standard, which would require power providers to get all their energy from clean sources by 2035. It comes as Biden’s climate advisor moved to dismiss increasing noise from the Republican party and right-wing press that Biden was looking to crack down on red-meat consumption as part of his climate aganda. 

The battle to stop more oil drilling in the Surrey Hills: Until 2019, the Horse Hill oil site, located in the Surrey Hills, only had permission for testing and short-term drilling. That was until Surrey County Council, shortly after declaring a climate emergency, gave its owners permission to dig a further four wells and extract oil for the next two decades.

Boom in ships that fly ‘fake’ flags and trash the environment: The number of ships using a ‘flag of convenience’ loophole that allows them to be scrapped in a place with lax environmental regulations is skyrocketing.

Climate change is already forcing farmers in Uttarakhand to migrate: Climate change in Uttarakhand will increasingly force people to abandon farming at high altitudes and move to the plains over the next 30 years. A new study on the state in the middle of the Himalayan range by the Germany-based Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi has forecast the worst impacts will be in higher elevations. This may accelerate the trend of people migrating and leaving land fallow.

CBI calls for ban on gas boilers from 2025 to ‘accelerate progress’ to net zero emissions target: No new gas boilers should be installed in any UK home from 2025, according to the UK’s largest business lobby group the CBI.  

Everything green is getting more expensive: Bloomberg reports that both solar panels and all kinds of cars (including electric ones) are now going up, not down, in price.