The Canberra Times

The ACT will try to measure its indirect carbon emissions - such as those created in the production of food and goods used in Canberra - and set targets to reduce them.

The Mandarin

The ACT government will create an Office of the Coordinator General for Climate Action to ensure the territory meets its commitments to tackling climate change.

Yahoo News

US Special Envoy on climate change John Kerry has said the country will now push for rapid action after four years of "reckless behaviour" under Donald Trump.

Reneweconomy

Newly inaugurated President of the United States Joe Biden hit the ground running Wednesday (Thursday morning, Australia time) in instituting his administration’s climate and environmental policies, not only re-signing to the Paris climate change agreement and rescinding approvals for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline but initiating the process to roll back Trump-era “environmental” policy by addressing the “social cost of carbon”.

The Canberra Times

It was just about the first action the new President of the United States took - rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. And it was one quick way to signal exactly the path the Biden presidency will take on the biggest challenge of our times. Pandemics come and go, but climate change is a one-way ticket to a catastrophe no vaccine can help us avoid.

The Australian

The iron ore company I founded 18 years ago, Fortescue, generates just over two million tonnes of greenhouse gas — every year. That’s more than the entire emissions of Bhutan.

ABC News

Green hydrogen gives Australia an opportunity to slash our emissions — and if we get this right, the impact could be nothing short of nation-building, argues business leader Andrew Forrest in the first of his ABC Boyer Lectures.

Reneweconomy

Australia’s 2030 Paris Agreement targets are painfully weak. They’re badly insufficient to align to the country with what’s required for global climate action. Currently, they target a reduction of 26-28% by the year 2030, based off 2005 levels of emissions. In fact, setting weak targets and then bragging about achieving them is a very Liberal-National party approach to climate action, and has been the way for some time.

The Australian Financial Review

A new report has found Australian companies pay more for positive ESG outcomes than any other nation.

The Australian Financial Review

Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest says the time is right for Australia to develop its own big steel making industry using the nation’s vast iron ore resources and emerging green technologies.

The Sydney Morning Herald

State-owned Forestry Corporation says last summer's record bushfires scorched half of the native forest estate and a quarter of its softwood plantations, setting the agency on track for a sharp drop in revenue in coming years.

Yahoo News

Prince Charles has said the “dam has burst” on environmental campaigning, with people now coming to him to work on climate issues.

The Conversation

Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals.

Cosmos

Seen your cat rolling around in catnip (Nepeta cataria) or silver vine (Actinidia polygama)? Your furry friend might be using it as an insect repellent.

ABC News

Clint Taylor, who works for Bush Heritage Australia at Bon Bon Station — a former sheep property that is almost the size of Sydney — is all too familiar with the destruction rabbits can cause.

ABC News

Wildlife rescuers in Central Queensland say injured and abandoned birds are coming into their care at an alarmingly high rate and they are struggling to keep up with the demand for help.

7 News

Badly behaved visitors bothering dingoes on Fraser Island have forced authorities to extend the closure of four of the tourist destination’s campsites.

ABC News

Businessman Clive Palmer's plan to mine coal near the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has been condemned by Commonwealth-appointed experts who say they see no way to remove the proposal's threat to the reef.

The Conversation

Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a cyclone in the state’s far north (which thankfully, didn’t hit).

ABC News

The year has only just begun, but already Indonesia has been hit with fatal earthquakes, deadly landslides and volcanic eruptions.

The Guardian

Wallabies great David Pocock has warned “we’re cooked” if the professional sporting world does not act on its moral obligation to combat the rapidly accelerating climate crisis.

The Guardian

Temperatures across south-east Australia are set to soar for at least the next four days and some areas will reach 45C.

The Age

The federal government's gas-fired recovery plan won't deliver the cheaper gas manufacturers need to remain viable, industry warns, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison inks a new deal with liquefied natural gas exporters.

The Conversation

Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. A new 10-year plan is being developed to take its place, likely from March.

The Sydney Morning Herald

The cost of NSW's biggest dam project may blow out to $2.1 billion, or more than triple the original estimate, delivering what is likely to be the most expensive water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Reneweconomy

The ACT government will allocate $307 million over the next five years in its next budget towards growing the territory’s green credentials, delivering on a number of promised big battery, household solar and electric vehicle initiatives.

The Fifth Estate

Major disagreements have broken out in the European Union about how individual countries will achieve net zero carbon, a fight that threatens to block the European Commission’s proposed road map.

Reneweconomy

United States president Joe Biden was inaugurated on Thursday morning, Australia time, and immediately set to work to bring the United States back into the Paris climate change agreement, signalling the start of a new era of United States climate action and a renewed pressure on countries like Australia to do more.

Reneweconomy

It got lost in the haze of the attacks on the United States Capitol building by an army of Trump loyalists, but the success of two Democratic candidates in what are known as ‘run-off’ elections in the state of Georgia had a huge impact on the future of climate in the US and consequently, the world.

Yahoo News

Climate-change leaders and campaigners worldwide have welcomed US President Joe Biden's move to rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement but said Washington must now lead by example.

Yahoo News

A federal appeals court has struck down the Trump administration’s plan to relax restrictions on power plant greenhouse emissions. A US court of appeals said that the plan approved by the EPA in 2019 was a “mistaken reading of the Clean Air Act,” and that the EPA “fundamentally has misconceived the law.” With the current EPA rules invalidated, it will allow President-elect Joe Biden, set to take office at noon ET today, to create tougher laws governing power plant pollution.

Yahoo News

Rich countries have over-reported finance to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change by $20 billion over the last decade, leaving at-risk communities drastically underfunded, a new analysis showed Thursday.

Independent Australia

Bushfires caused by climate change had a significant impact on the survival of koalas while the Government continues to ignore warnings, writes Sue Arnold.

The Fifth Estate

We need an army of skilled workers to run the green economy so it’s no surprise demand for sustainability education is on the rise.

Reneweconomy

Over 46,000 Queensland energy consumers have signed on to Australia’s largest ever energy class-action, seeking compensation from two Queensland government-owned power companies accused of manipulating energy markets to boost their own profits.

Mumbrella

DOA, the social purpose consultancy founded by Ebony Gaylor and Thinkerbell’s Adam Ferrier and Margie Reid, has launched its first social cause challenge, calling for innovative business and brand-led ideas that can tackle a social or environmental issue.

Reneweconomy

Now that 2020 has wrapped up, we can begin looking into some key facts and stats from the year. The most rapidly updated is the data from Australia’s National Electricity Market, or NEM. Here are three key takeaways from a preliminary look at Australia’s biggest grid. All data sourced from OpenNEM.

Reneweconomy

An innovative financial instrument for the buying and selling of stored renewable energy has had its debut in Australia via a “virtual storage” electricity swap contract between Hydro Tasmania and two buyers – Macquarie Group and Shell-owned ERM Power.

The Sydney Morning Herald

The world’s first commercially available line of hydrogen-powered domestic products, including a barbecue, a bicycle and most crucially a unit that creates and stores hydrogen power, has been developed by an Australian company, LAVO, working with the University of NSW.

Reneweconomy

China is likely to have installed a record capacity of wind and solar power in 2020, as shown in data emerging from China’s “National Energy Agency” covering the country’s wind power growth. Analytics outlet China Energy Portal suggests a total of 71.1 gigawatts of new wind power capacity was installed in the year 2020, up from around 28 gigawatts in 2019. Solar installations were at 48.2 gigawatts, the second highest on record and up from 30 gigawatts in 2019.

The Fifth Estate

Is it time to consider “un-building” and “non-building” in urban design projects, such as the revival of Sydney’s Parramatta Road?

Sustainability Matters

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has awarded La Trobe University’s new sports stadium a ‘6 Star Green Star Design and As Built’ rating for sustainable building practice. The stadium is reported to be Australia’s first sports building to achieve such an accolade.

ABC News

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) says a controversial bid to build "the greenest port on the Earth" near Western Australia's World Heritage Listed Ningaloo Reef is a brave, bold objective.

ABC News

It was relatively early in his career when crayfish expert Alastair Richardson encountered the short-tailed rain crayfish.

Yahoo News

A commonly used flea and tick product for cats and dogs could be a game-changer in the treatment of debilitating sarcoptic mange in wombats.

ABC News

A warning has been issued for people visiting Golden Beach after a dead sperm whale was found nearby.

The Guardian

Forests in some subalpine areas near Mount Kosciuszko and in Victoria’s East Gippsland region are struggling to recover from the 2019-20 bushfires, according to researchers examining the aftermath of the disaster.

ABC News

The national agency responsible for Australia's seismographic network is expanding its earthquake monitoring capability in the Northern Territory as the Federal Government continues its plans to expedite fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.

ABC News

After a year of ashy water, floods and COVID-19 lockdowns, oyster farmers across the state were looking forward to a bumper summer season.

The Conversation

On Wednesday this week, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was measured at at 415 parts per million (ppm). The level is the highest in human history, and is growing each year.

Cosmos

Think of air pollution these days and you probably think of China. In 2017 alone air pollution is estimated to have caused about 1.24 million deaths in China. But what about elsewhere?

ABC News

There are growing calls for a major overhaul of camping at Queensland's Cooloola Recreation Area after visitors left a trail of filth at the popular Teewah Beach over the weekend.

The Sustainability Report

Extreme heat cut short the netball career of former Australian international Amy Steel – now she’s telling her story so that other sportspeople don’t suffer the same fate

ArtsHub

Sometimes, it's tempting to think that the battle for the environment has already been lost. Despite our warm climate making Australia at immediate risk of negative climate change events, we are the wealthiest nation on the list of deforestation hotspots, and our Federal government is led by a Prime Minister who actively dissuades the adoption of clean energy, having once brought a lump of coal onto the Parliament floor.

The Shout

One of Melbourne’s newest wine stores has put a unique swing on sustainability, opening a retail store that exclusively sells wine on tap.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Blistering heat from inland Australia will sweep towards the NSW coast in the coming days, prompting health authorities to warn the public to take "necessary precautions" to avoid heat-related illnesses.

The Australian

BHP has slashed up to $US1.3bn ($1.7bn) from the value of its NSW thermal coal mines as it looks to offload the out of favour assets, citing the poor outlook for Australian energy coal and the difficulty of recovering tax losses at the operations, as the company also cut production expectations for its coking coal mines.

The Conversation

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs economies up to US$50 billion globally each year, and makes up to one-fifth of the global catch. It’s a huge problem not only for the 59.5 million people who depend on fisheries for their livelihoods, but also for the environment.