No winners if Tassie forest deal unravels

GreenPages

The Forest Industry Association, Tasmania’s peak timber industry group, has announced it is suspending support for the groundbreaking Intergovernmental Agreement to protect forests signed in August 2011. The Wilderness Society’s National Director, Lyndon Schneiders, says that if the peace deal unravels, it will be a tragedy for Tasmania’s forests and timber industry as well. Schneiders is calling on cool heads to prevail and for all parties to step back from the brink while awaiting key soon-to-be-released reports on how much of the State’s forests should be permanently protected and what lower conservation value forest could be made available for logging.

posted by seamas on February 21, 2012 at 7:24 am · filed under

Indonesia exploits loopholes to grant new logging and plantation concessions

via Mongabay

Back in 2010, we featured commentary by Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s Campaigns Director Shailendra Yashwant on a landmark commitment by Indonesia to protect its remaining forests with $1 billion financial support from Norway. The pact was agreed in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions caused by the destruction of forest and carbon packed peat-land; it promised to be a flagship large-scale example of REDD+ in action. At the time, a moratorium on new logging and plantation concessions was announced on a supposed ‘no reduced deforestation, no money from Norway’ basis.

Now, Jakarta-based NGO Greenomics-Indonesia has revealed that over 1 million acres in Indonesian New Guinea was revised out of the moratorium in November 2011. How will Norway react to this worrying revision of the parameters? Do Indonesia’s actions bode ominously for other REDD+ initiatives? Is it possible to save the ambitious moratorium? We hope the Greenomics report will invite greater scrutiny of how this keystone pact is being implemented.

posted by seamas on February 19, 2012 at 7:16 am · filed under

Clean coal lobby demands more federal funding

ABC News

Developing ‘clean coal’ power plants won’t make business sense for at least two decades unless the Australian Government assists the carbon capture and storage industry more, says Dick Wells, Chairman of the National Low Emissions Coal Council. The Government has budgeted $1.68 billion for a carbon capture and storage ‘flagships’ program, but NLEC estimates $10-17 billion in development funding from public and private sources is necessary to make clean coal technology a commercial viable investment for power plants within the next decade.

posted by seamas on February 16, 2012 at 7:35 am · filed under

Renewable energy projects need better investment marketing

ACF

News that two major solar projects are struggling to find investor backing highlights the urgency importance of shifting finance sourcing responsibility into the hands of independent experts who can identify the strengths in the renewables industry and connect them with the right investors, according to the Australian Conservation Foundation. The group is calling on the Federal Government to implement the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) in order to support and encourage private investment in renewable energy projects.

posted by seamas on February 8, 2012 at 7:22 am · filed under

Solar power’s cost effectiveness clearest in the developing world

Yale Environment360

While the price of coal has doubled in recent years, solar energy costs have roughly halved during the same period. Analysis by Yale University also highlights the fact that solar and other forms of distributed renewable power have even higher price competitiveness and greenhouse emissions savings when it comes to connecting ‘off-the-grid’ communities, such as many poor villages and neighbourhoods in the developing world.

posted by seamas on February 3, 2012 at 7:01 am · filed under

Overfishing threatens world food supplies

The Age

Despite Australia’s efforts to protect marine life, global fish stocks are collapsing due to overfishing. A key example is the jack mackerel - its numbers in the Southern Ocean have been decimated by 90% in just the last two decades. Now industrial fishing fleets are sailing further and further south into waters off Antarctica in search of catches, while the international community cannot agree on measures to make fishing sustainable. Oceanographer Daniel Pauly believes a major world power must take a stand and rally nations into action to protect fish stocks before it’s too late for them to rebound.

posted by seamas on January 30, 2012 at 7:27 am · filed under

Australia’s carbon price may not compete

Farm Weekly

A significantly lower carbon price in Europe will put “Australian business at a stark competitive disadvantage,” according to a National Party spokesperson. The Australian Government plans to introduce a flat $23 per tonne CO2 tax on high emitters in July. However, European financial giant Societe Generale’s assessment of stagnating EU economies and expanding low-carbon energy sources has curtailed its outlook for the continent’s carbon price, making Australia look like it could be sitting further out on a limb.

posted by seamas on January 23, 2012 at 7:33 am · filed under