29 November 2024

COP29

COP29 agrees on $460 billion annual funding deal to help nations adapt to climate change (ABC News): Countries represented at the COP-29 summit in Azerbaijan have agreed to a compromise deal on climate financing that will see more than $460 billion spent yearly to 2035 to help developing nations adapt to climate change. The deal will mean that richer nations lead the payments, according to the details of the agreement forged in Baku.

Cop29 climate finance deal criticised as ‘travesty of justice’ and ‘stage-managed’ (The Guardian): The climate finance deal agreed at Cop29 is a “travesty of justice” that should not have been adopted, some countries’ negotiators have said. The climate conference came to a dramatic close early on Sunday morning when negotiators struck an agreement to triple the flow of climate finance to poorer countries.

Climate finance's 'new era' shows new political realities (News): Rich countries' promise of $300 billion a year in climate finance brought fury at talks in Baku from poor nations that found it too paltry, but it also shows a shift in global political realities. The two-week marathon COP29 climate conference opened days after the decisive victory in the US presidential election of Donald Trump, a sceptic both of climate change and foreign aid.

Australia urged to do more on climate crisis as activists rue trillion-dollar Cop29 funding gap (The Guardian): The Australian government has been urged to “step up” and do more to address the climate crisis after a major UN summit ended with a global finance agreement that developing countries criticised for not going far enough. The Cop29 talks in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku ended at 4am on Sunday with a consensus agreement that developing countries would be paid at least US$300bn (A$460bn) a year in global climate finance by 2035 to help them shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather.

Countries to benefit from $460b climate deal blast funding as woefully insufficient (The Sydney Morning Herald): Countries at the COP29 summit in Baku adopted a $460 billion a year global finance target on Sunday to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change, a deal its intended recipients criticised as woefully insufficient. The agreement, clinched in overtime at the two-week conference in Azerbaijan’s capital, was meant to provide momentum for international efforts to curb global warming in a year destined to be the hottest on record.

Australia left in limbo after fight to host global COP talks falters (Australian Financial Review): The Albanese government has been left in limbo over its campaign to host the sprawling annual COP climate summit in 2026, after rival bidder Turkey rejected the prime minister’s requests to stand down so vulnerable Pacific Island states could have a turn. Negotiations at COP29 in Baku that ended on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) failed to endorse the Australian bid for the right to host as many as 80,000 delegates from up to 196 countries for the fortnight-long COP31. The campaign stalled as Turkey refused direct entreaties to step aside from both Anthony Albanese and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.

Australia’s bid to host climate COP for first time on hold as fossil lobby ups the ante at fractious Baku talks (Renew Economy): The prospect of the UN’s annual climate talks being hosted by an Australian Coalition government full of climate deniers, fully committed to extending coal generation and led by a man who once joked about the impact of rising sea levels on Pacific Islands, might have been too much for the rest of the world to contemplate right now. The current Labor government’s bid to host the COP31 talks in 2026, a commitment from the last election campaign, has been put on hold, despite intense diplomatic efforts, until at least the middle of 2025 and certainly after the result of the federal poll to be held before the end of May is known.

CLIMATE POLITICS

Labor passes migration and social media ban bills after marathon Senate sitting | Australian politics | The Guardian A late final sitting in the Senate for the year has passed more than 30 bills, including controversial migration laws that allow the government to pay third countries to take non-citizens and ban travellers from specified countries. Senators sat until almost 11.30pm on Thursday after the Albanese government struck a deal with the Greens. 

Future Made in Australia legislation passes the Senate | Ministers for the Department of Industry, Science and Resources  The Albanese Labor Government’s Future Made in Australia legislation has today passed Parliament, a major step forward in making Australia indispensable to the global net zero transformation.  This legislative package helps put our Future Made in Australia agenda into action, so we make the most of the major economic and industrial opportunities of the energy transformation.

Production tax incentives to help build a Future Made in Australia (Media Release – The Hon Madeleine King MP): Today the Government will introduce the Future Made in Australia (Production Tax Credit and Other Measures) Bill 2024 to Parliament, a big step in making Australia indispensable to the global net zero transformation. This legislation will implement our production tax incentives for renewable hydrogen and critical minerals, and also expand the role and remit of Indigenous Business Australia.

Labor girds for tricky fight for green hydrogen tax credits in last week of parliament (Renew Economy): The federal government has introduced its long-awaited hydrogen production tax credit Bill to Parliament, but it faces a tricky job getting the industry-supported legislation approved in the last week of parliament for the year. The headline tax incentive is the $2/kg credit for green hydrogen produced between 2027–2028 and 2039–40. The closing deadline is a year earlier than the one proposed in the May Budget papers.

Australia’s only wind turbine tower maker to close shop, prompts Coalition to ignore its own history (Renew Economy): Australia’s only remaining domestic wind turbine tower manufacturer, Keppel Prince, says it will mothball what remains of this part of its Victorian engineering business after fighting a losing battle to compete with cheaper Chinese imports. In reports published in The Australian and The Standard (paywall) on Friday, Keppel Prince executive director Stephen Garner said the Portland-based company had this week informed the federal government it will mothball its wind tower operations in March next year, taking with it about a dozen jobs.

Plibersek defends coal mine approvals amid blockades of Newcastle port (Renew Economy): The federal government has defended the continued approval of fossil fuel projects after nearly 200 people were arrested for blocking the world’s largest coal port in protest over politicians’ perceived inaction to address climate change. Protesters formed a “blockade” in the Port of Newcastle over the weekend, calling on the federal government to rule out new coal and gas mines and for a 78 per cent tax on coal and gas exports.

Climate change: Labor on track to hit 2030 target as Chris Bowen heralds ‘pragmatic’ approach to energy shift (The West Australian): The Federal Government is on track to hit its 2030 emissions reduction target, according to new modelling that minister Chris Bowen will use to defend Labor’s “pragmatic” climate policies. Mr Bowen’s annual climate statement on Thursday will reveal Australia is projected to cut emissions 42.6 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 – just shy of Labor’s 43 per cent target.

Lithium industry handed a $150m lifeline amid price crash (WA Today): The WA government has announced a two-year-long $150 million support package for the state’s embattled lithium industry to help it remain globally competitive as it grapples with a price slump for the commodity. On Wednesday, Premier Roger Cook announced the state government would establish a $50 million loan facility to help miners sustain their operations until the average price of lithium spodumene exceeds US$1100 per tonne for two successive quarters or by June 2026.

WA premier lobbied Albanese to kill Greens deal on environmental reform in eleventh hour intervention (ABC News): Anthony Albanese personally promised WA Premier Roger Cook that the federal government would shelve cornerstone environmental reforms, a sign of the state's critical importance to Labor maintaining a majority. Mr Cook indicated he spoke to Mr Albanese on Tuesday during an intense day of last-minute crossbench negotiations between Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Greens counterpart Sarah-Hanson Young on a deal that was said to have "come close" to success.

‘International developments’ hanging over Australia’s climate targets (News): Australia’s climate agency is weighing up “international developments” as it mulls over the country’s 2035 emissions reduction target, Chris Bowen says. The Climate Change and Energy Minister has been somewhat cautious on giving any hints of where the target may fall, saying he would not release it until the next federal election.

Katy Gallagher says EPA deal with Greens could be revised next year despite Anthony Albanese’s intervention (The West Australian): A senior Labor minister insists the Government’s promised environment protection agency is still on the cards for next year despite Anthony Albanese intervening to scuttle a deal that would have allowed it to pass this week. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Mr Albanese was still committed to laws to establish the nature watchdog and wanted to revisit them when Federal Parliament is due back in February.

Tamworth council backs Greens move to continue fight against contested wind project (Renew Economy): The battle for the controversial Hills of Gold wind project continues, with the Tamworth Regional Council this week voting to support a Greens councillor motion to continue its fight against the newly approved project. Two Hills of Gold motions were on the table on Tuesday night: To write to federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek to plead their case against the proposed wind farm, and to join a court case in the New South Wales (NSW) Land and Environment Court seeking to block it.

Bowen declares mission accomplished on 2030 emissions as 2035 row heats up (ABC News): Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will claim a major win in the fight to meet Australia's 2030 emissions target after closing part of the predicted pollution "gap" with policies to get more Australians into EVs and expanding use of grid-scale batteries. Mr Bowen will present parliament on Thursday with the latest annual official scorecard by the Department of Climate Change and Energy.

Labor has ‘no intention’ of shutting down civilian nuclear research (The Australian): The Albanese Government has no intention of limiting or shutting down Australia’s research and international co-operation on civilian nuclear energy in the Australian Nuclear Science and Research Organisation and leading universities despite the rejection of a request to cooperate with our AUKUS nuclear submarine partners on nuclear power.

‘Nothing’s off the table’: Expert panel to overhaul electricity market (Australian Financial Review): An expert tasked with overhauling how the electricity system operates says government subsidies for new power generation should be temporary fixes that give way to a market-led solution that will come from a targeted overhaul of the rules. The future National Electricity Market should ensure incentives exist to encourage generators to invest in new gas power plants as well as battery storage and pumped hydro, which will support weather-dependent wind and solar, said Tim Nelson, a former senior AGL Energy executive and one of four experts appointed to lead an overhaul of the markets’ rules.

Coalition demands cost details on plan to host COP31 (The Australian): The Coalition wants Labor to release figures around the cost of hosting the United Nations climate summit in 2026, after Chris Bowen said agreements had come at ‘zero cost’ to Australians.

Albanese government says Australia on target to reduce emissions – but campaigners say they could do more (The Guardian): The Australian government will claim it is on track to meet its legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 after a departmental analysis found it had improved its position over the past year. The government said annual emissions projections, based on an assessment of government policies and other trends, suggest national climate pollution would be at least 42.6% less than 2005 levels by the end of the decade, compared with 37% last year. The forecast included the impact of an underwriting scheme for new large-scale renewable energy and batteries, and vehicle efficiency standards that from next year require auto companies to start selling more zero and low-emissions cars.

New tender opens for another 6 GW of wind and solar as record year puts 2030 renewables target within reach (Renew Economy): The federal government formerly opened the second of its six gigawatt (GW) wind and solar tenders on Thursday, as new data pointed to a record 7.5 GW of new capacity in 2024 that will help put the country’s renewable energy target back within reach, if not yet on track. The Capacity Investment Scheme is seeking a total of 32 GW of new capacity (23 GW of wind and solar generation and at least 9 GW of four hour storage capacity) to help it meet its target reaching 82 per cent renewables by 2030, a key plank of its current and future climate policies.

Greens deal struck to pass bills (Business News): The federal government is expected to pass 29 bills in its final day of sitting after reaching an agreement with the Greens and independent senators for their support. Albanese’s Labor initially hoped to get 36 bills through the senate by the end of the day but scaled back plans due to a lack of time.

'All about jobs': minister spruiks net zero tax breaks (The West Australian): Failing to secure production tax credits for critical minerals and renewable hydrogen will be a blow to industry and jobs, the federal resources minister has posited in a bid to drum up political support for the key Labor policy. Madeleine King urged the federal opposition, Greens and crossbench senators to support the tax incentives for net zero industries, arguing the plan had "many friends in industry".

CARBON MARKETS

COP29: Reactions to the new Baku Finance Goal, Article 6 deal (Carbon Pulse):  Here are selected party, stakeholder, and expert reactions to the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG), dubbed the Baku Finance Goal, as well as the agreement on Article 6 reached at the COP29 climate summit, which wrapped up early Sunday.

Australia launches new registry for carbon, biodiversity units (Carbon Pulse): Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has launched the first stage of its new Unit and Certificate Registry, designed to house various unit types for the government’s climate and environmental crediting schemes.

Western Australia releases CCUS action plan, allocates $17 mln for two major projects (Carbon Pulse): Western Australia on Thursday announced the state’s inaugural action plan for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), pledging to spend A$26 million ($17 mln) towards two CCUS projects.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

‘Myopic’ gas-sceptics ‘leading us to crisis’ (The Australian): Australia’s failure to approve gas facilities had simply led to higher emissions projects being rubber-stamped elsewhere, the Wesfarmers boss says.

Anti-coal protesters clear court hurdle for kayak flotilla near port (The Sydney Morning Herald): A flotilla of kayaks will be launched into Newcastle Harbour on Friday morning to protest coal exports after the protesters won an 11th-hour victory in the NSW Supreme Court overturning a government ban. Less than an hour before a marine exclusion zone for Newcastle Harbour was due to take effect, Justice Sarah McNaughton ruled on Thursday afternoon that the exclusion zone declared by the state government was invalid and had no further effect.

Labor failing gas industry on lawfare, approvals: O’Neill (Australian Financial Review): Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill says federal Labor is failing to spell out for oil and gas developers what consultation needs to happen before offshore projects can get under way despite repeated promises to do so. Speaking in her capacity as chair of industry group Australian Energy Producers, Ms O’Neill also said it was disappointing that the Albanese government continued to bankroll the Environmental Defenders Office even after the Federal Court found the climate-focused legal service had presented confected evidence when it sued Woodside’s rival Santos.

EDO to pay $9m legal costs (Business News): The not-for-profit group that has led legal challenges to resource projects has suffered a crushing blow after it was ordered to pay $9 million in legal costs to Santos. The Federal Court of Australia has ordered the Environmental Defenders Office to pay 100 per cent of the costs incurred by Santos in fighting a challenge to its Barossa gas project.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

BGC, lithium miners ink cement deal (Business News): BGC has started construction on tens of millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure in a bid to start producing “green cement” after inking a deal with a lithium heavyweight. The major cement supplier has locked in a five-year offtake deal with Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia to use a by-product from the nearby Kwinana hydroxide refinery in its cement mix.

Massive 70 GW wind and solar project that straddles Nullarbor given environmental criteria (Renew Economy): A massive 70 gigawatt (GW) wind and solar project – which would be the biggest in the world if fully developed – has been told of its environmental assessment criteria as it begins its work through the state and federal planning processes. The Western Green Energy Hub – which was already the potentially the world’s biggest before being increased in ambition from 50 GW to 70 GW – aims to be built in stages and progressively feed into massive green hydrogen and green ammonia production for use in industry and export.

South Australia’s biggest battery charges up as new wave of storage prepares to enter grid (Renew Economy): The Blyth battery in South Australia, the biggest to be connected to the state’s high renewable grid in terms of storage, has kicked off its commissioning stage as part of a new wave of big batteries to be connected to the grid. Blyth is owned by Neoen, the French renewable and storage developer that was responsible for the country’s first big battery at Hornsdale, built in 2017 and since expanded to 150 MW, and 193 MWh.

WA gets 800 MWh renewables boost with completion of Kwinana stage two (PV Magazine): Perth-headquartered, state-owned gentailer Synergy in collaboration with Western Australia (WA) infrastructure provider GenusPlus Group have completed the 200 MW / 800 MWh Kwinana battery energy storage system Stage 2 (KBESS2), located 30 kilometres southwest of Perth. Feeding into the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) both stages of Kwinana will power 450,000 Perth households for up to four hours, with KBESS2 providing over four times the storage capacity of the 150 MW KBESS1.

Ace Power hits go on brave new proposal for a New England wind farm, along with solar and battery (Renew Economy): A new wind farm has been proposed for the highly contentious New England arena in New South Wales (NSW), but the developer is hoping the local council will be more amenable to its proposal than those in Tamworth to the south. ACE Power wants to pop the 200–300 megawatt (MW) Hillview wind farm on the site next to a proposed big solar farm and a gigawatt scale battery installation, covering some 6000 hectares of farmland in the New England renewable energy zone (REZ).

CSIRO venture plans 50 MW concentrated solar tech plant (PV Magazine): Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has teamed with global advisory firm RFC Ambrian and Japanese utility Osaka Gas to launch concentrated solar thermal (CST) technology venture FPR Energy. The new venture plans to commercialise CSIRO’s particle-based CST technology that it says is capable of producing temperatures up to 1,200 degrees Celsius.

Novonix secures supply deal with Volkswagen battery arm (PV Magazine): Novonix announced it has signed a binding offtake agreement with Volkswagen’s battery company PowerCo for a minimum of 32,000 tonnes of high-performance synthetic graphite material over a five-year term starting in 2027. Established by Volkswagen in 2022, PowerCo is committed to building six battery cell gigafactories by 2030 with a combined annual volume of 240 GWh – enough for about 3 million electric vehicles.

Engie signs ‘virtual battery’ deal with Neoen for Victoria battery (PV Magazine): The Australian arm of French developer Engie says it has struck a long-term virtual battery agreement with Neoen that is backed by that company’s 300 MW / 450 MWh Victoria Big Battery energy storage system (BESS) near Geelong. The offtake agreement allows Engie to mirror the services of a grid-scale battery, providing the ability to virtually charge or discharge up to 40 MW of the Victoria Big Battery’s capacity at any time as a financial product that is separate to the physical operation of the energy storage system.

NSW gives planning approval for giant 2 GWh battery at site of state’s likely last coal generator (Renew Economy): The New South Wales government says it has given approval for a giant battery project at Mt Piper, near Lithgow, at the site of what could well be the last coal fired power station to close in the state. The plan for a 500 megawatt (MW), 2,000 megawatt hour (MWh) is being proposed by Mt Piper owner EnergyAustralia, one of a number of storage projects in its development portfolio, including the neighbouring Lake Lyell pumped hydro project.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

NSW dodges blackouts as heat strains coal power-reduced grid (The Australian): The Australian Energy Market Operator used emergency powers to reduce demand for electricity in NSW to combat blackouts fears as outages at power stations continue.

“Get out of the way:” Manufacturer wants more renewables to soften price crunch and avoid shutdowns (Renew Economy): An Australian manufacturer has called on governments to “get out of the way” and allow developers to build more renewable energy projects after it was forced to shut its operation due to threatened outages caused by the failure of multiple fossil fuel power stations this week. Metropolitan Sydney, the Hunter and Illawarra regions roasted through a heatwave on Wednesday, making for the hottest November day in four years, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Deadline shift for power paper (Business News): The deadline for a paper guiding Western Power’s infrastructure planning from July 2027 has been pushed out by 12 months, less than a week before it was due to be published. The delayed Economic Regulation Authority paper sets out the Western Power services to be regulated and the incentive mechanisms to apply to the utility for a period starting July 2027, and is a starting point to the utility's access arrangement proposal.

Kwinana battery complete as renewable energy records tumble (Media Statement – Hon. Roger Cook and Hon. Reece Whitby): The Cook Labor Government's clean energy plan is powering ahead, with the second Kwinana big battery now complete and the State smashing renewable energy records in November. The $661 million Kwinana Battery Energy Storage System stage two comprises 288 shipping container-sized battery modules and features 72 inverter units, with 800 megawatt-hours of storage and 200 megawatts of capacity.

EPA to assess green energy hub (Business News): The Environmental Protection Authority will examine a major wind and solar hub proposal after receiving more than 280 responses during a seven-day comment period. The EPA announced it would undergo an environmental impact assessment over Western Green Energy Hub’s plan to build the renewable energy project about 440 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie.