Australian Climate News

27/03/2020

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered another mass bleaching event - the third in just five years.

Warmer sea temperatures - particularly in February - are feared to have caused huge coral loss across the world's largest reef system.

The third such event in five years prompts scientists to renew urgent warnings about climate change.

27/03/2020

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered another mass bleaching event - the third in just five years.

Warmer sea temperatures - particularly in February - are feared to have caused huge coral loss across the world's largest reef system.

Scientists say they have detected widespread bleaching, including extensive patches of severe damage. But they have also found healthy pockets.

Two-thirds of the reef was damaged by similar events in 2016 and 2017.

The reef system, which covers over 2,300km (1,400 miles), is a World Heritage site recognised for its "enormous scientific and intrinsic importance".

The third such event in five years prompts scientists to renew urgent warnings about climate change.

06/03/2020

Funding is intended to help countries protect their people from the climate breakdown

02/03/2020

Oil giant Equinor has abandoned controversial plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight in a move hailed by environmentalists as a "huge win".

The Norwegian firm was granted approval last December to begin exploratory drills in seas off South Australia.

But on Tuesday it told regulators the plan was "not commercially competitive" compared to options elsewhere.

Australia's government said the withdrawal was disappointing.

The Great Australian Bight is said to be one of the most unspoiled marine environments in the world.

Environmentalists say it is a "huge win" for safeguarding the seas of the Great Australian Bight.

02/03/2020

The Australia Institute found that summer across most of the country over the past 20 years was about a month longer than in the mid-20th century, while winters had become shorter.

Between 2014 and 2018, summers were found to be about 50% longer.

The findings followed Australia's warmest and driest year on record.

"Our findings are not a projection of what we may see in the future. Its happening right now," the Australia Institute's Richie Merzian said.

New weather data analysis says climate change has led to major increases in summer temperatures.

17/02/2020

What many of us have witnessed this fire season feels alive and monstrous. With climate change forcing a relaxed country to stumble toward new ways of work, leisure and life, will politics follow?

30/01/2020

The independent inquiry will examine the impact of climate change on the recent bushfires.

26/01/2020

"Climate change is a really urgent issue so to always do what you're told and play by the rules, it's not going to get us anywhere. We do have to step outside of the boundaries sometimes."

The ACT Young Australian of Year takes to the stage at the Australian of the Year awards in Canberra with climate justice emblazoned across her chest.

25/01/2020

When considering the science around climate change, one expert believes it’s useful to compare it to another famous hypothesis – the theory of gravity.

Not many people would think to cast doubt on the theory of gravity, and according to Professor David Karoly, who leads the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub in the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program at CSIRO, the evidence that human activity is causing global warming is so strong it is equal to this theory.

“The theory on the human impact on climate change is just as strong, or stronger, than the scientific basis for the theory of gravity,” Prof Karoly told news.com.au.

Prof Karoly said that there was also evidence climate change was a factor in recent devastating bushfires in Australia.

When considering the science around climate change, one expert believes it’s useful to compare it to another famous hypothesis – the theory of gravity.

25/01/2020

When considering the science around climate change, one expert believes it’s useful to compare it to another famous hypothesis – the theory of gravity.

25/01/2020

22/01/2020

A leading UK climate scientist has used the page of the MP Craig Kelly to correct his “blatant misrepresentation” of a study she co-authored on a 70,000-year history of bushfires in Australia.

Kelly, a serial denier of climate change, has been using the 2011 study to claim rising CO2 in the atmosphere can’t be linked to Australia’s bushfire crisis, because the study had shown total area being burned was going down while CO2 is rising.

Prof Sandy Harrison tells the Liberal on his page that his misuse of her study should not go unchallenged

15/01/2020

Experts have issued a dire warning for Australians still reeling from the ferocious bushfires that have raged across the country for months – get used to it.

In response to the crisis, a team of scientists in the United Kingdom convened last month to conduct a “rapid response review” of 57 different pieces of research conducted since 2013.

Their conclusion is that dangerous fire weather – high temperatures, low humidity, minimal preceding rainfall and strong winds – is becoming more frequent and severe in Australia.

Experts have issued a dire warning for Australians still reeling from the ferocious bushfires that have raged across the country for months – get used to it.

12/01/2020

As the country deals with deadly fires, the focus is on the government's climate policies.

08/01/2020

The impacts of the climate crisis are now clearly manifesting in ways beyond rising temperatures. In Australia, the conditions for severe bushfires are occurring far more regularly (hot days, dry land and high winds). And the country is now suffering its most intense bushfire season ever. The quantity of land burnt, the smoke pollution impacts, the temperatures and number of homes lost are all breaking historical records.

Myths about the bushfires grow online before being voiced by the rightwing press and politicians, says climate science expert Ketan Joshi

03/01/2020

he diplomatic cost of Australia’s determination to defend its coal industry in the face global efforts to cut greenhouse emissions is significant, broad and so far incalculable, says Herve Lemahieu, the director of the Lowy Institute's Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, an ongoing project that measures shifting national power dynamics across our region.

Speaking from London, he said that as a result of coverage of Australia’s performance in Madrid and of the bushfires Australia is now seen in a different, darker light across Europe. Where once it existed in the popular imagination as a place of almost pristine natural beauty, it is now viewed as the Western nation most ravaged by climate change. It’s reputation as a global citizen has been irrevocably tarnished.

As a result of coverage of our performance in Madrid and the bushfires, Australia is now seen in a different, darker light.

02/01/2020

Australia's existing emissions reduction policies will do enough to protect the environment and seek to reduce bushfire risks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists, as vast bushfires burn in all six states.

Mr Morrison said the National Security Committee of cabinet would meet on Monday to consider bringing in more Defence Force ships and helicopters "as well as the longer-term response and some issues we have identified to consider amongst premiers after the fires".

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has acknowledged the anxiety of those fleeing fire zones, but insists Australia's existing climate policies are doing enough.

02/01/2020

Australia is no stranger to wildfires, but this season has been unprecedented in scale and intensity - and the summer is far from over.

31/12/2019

As 2019 draws to a close, the rift between the climate vanguard and the laggards has never been so wide.

Public pressure for faster and deeper emissions cuts has peaked this year and a growing alliance of countries, regions, cities and businesses are pushing for more ambitious climate action.

Across the world, the reality of climate impacts has grown ever starker. But support to help the most vulnerable cope is lacking. Meanwhile, scientists continue to warn of a narrowing window of time to act.

Entrenched nationalism continues to threaten the multilateral order which underpins the Paris Agreement and a global commitment to limit warming “well below 2C”.

Donald Trump has officially started to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement and Jair Bolsonaro is working to open up the Amazon to large agribusiness interests. Other emerging economies such as China and India are seemingly hiding behind the US retreat to delay bolder action.

Throughout 2019, Climate Home News has continued to report on the science, the people and the big diplomatic players shaping the commitments and disagreements taking the world into the future. Here were the biggest moments.

We look back on CHN's reporting from a year that saw a great collision of political and physical forces

30/12/2019

The debate in Madrid was not about Australia’s performance. The primary focus was on how to make international carbon markets work. That is a debate that is not directly relevant to Australia because we don’t trade international credits. Countries such as China, India, Brazil and Russia have accumulated large numbers of tradeable credits over a long ­period. They want to be able to sell them in the future. Some developing countries also want access to a slice of those proceeds. These ­issues weren’t resolved because Brazil and others refused to compromise on this issue.

Most Australians are proud of their country, and rightly so. Shrill cries that we should be ashamed to be Australian do not ring true with the quiet Australians. That wont stop some commentators telling us that we should feel guilty about our performance on emissions reduction. They are wrong.

30/12/2019

So far, 84 jurisdictions in Australia covering about a quarter of the population – mostly cities and local government areas – have declared a climate emergency. The first elected body in the world to act, Darebin council in Victoria, is credited with starting a movement that is now supported by governments representing 800 million people worldwide, including the European Union and Bangladesh.

At any level of Australian government, there is little so divisive as suggesting that a climate emergency be declared

29/12/2019

Schoolchildren skipping class to strike, protests bringing city centres to a standstill: armed with dire warnings from scientists, people around the world dragged the climate emergency into the mainstream in 2019.

27/12/2019

The Boxing Day Test may need to be moved to November or March in the future to avoid extreme heat, which is a danger to players and cricket fans, a new report has suggested.

A report commissioned by conservationists warns that under current climate models, it could become too hot and dangerous to play the Boxing Day Test in December, suggesting the event may be moved to November or March instead.

23/12/2019

“It’s not for me to make commentaries on what those outside of Australia think that Australia should do. We’ll do in Australia what we think is right for Australia. And that has always been my guiding principle.

Scott Morrison has dismissed Greta Thunbergs call for Australia to take more action on climate change, declaring he was not here to impress people overseas.

23/12/2019

Bushfires in Australia are now burning in five different states, with emergency services warning that at least 60 fires are out of control. New South Wales (NSW), which last week was paralysed by a seven-day state of emergency amid "catastrophic" conditions, accounts for more than half of the fires.

Scott Morrison defends his government's climate policy, as authorities warn the wildfires crisis could fester for months.

23/12/2019

Australia's government is resisting growing calls for a more ambitous response to climate change, even as the country battles devastating bushfires triggered by record temperatures that have sent air pollution to critical levels.

Experts say Australia is on 'front line' of the climate crisis and the government has to do more to tackle problem.