UN set to reject World Heritage listing for Murujuga rock art. Wants polluters like Woodside's North West Shelf plant removed. ===Breaking news=== www.boilingcold.com.au/un-set-to-re...

UN set to reject Murujuga World Heritage listing

The draft of a decision to be made in July tells the Australian Government to remove polluting industries - such as Woodside's North West Shelf plant - from the area.

boilingcold.com.au

This week EnergyAustralia was forced to clarify that: “Burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gas emissions that are not prevented or undone by carbon offsets …” Re-upping this Conversation piece explaining *why* offsets can’t be used to cut emissions. theconversation.com/a-tonne-of-f...

A tonne of fossil carbon isn’t the same as a tonne of new trees: why offsets can’t save us

Labor must resist the false promise of carbon offsets in its safeguard mechanism. The only thing that matters is actually cutting emissions

theconversation.com

Workshops May 20-22: UNSW's Institute for Climate Risk and Response is holding three half-day workshops to give practical insights on climate risk - covering climate science, climate law, and climate decision drivers. Sign up here for one session, or all three. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/icrr-works...

The debate about energy policy is now, in broad terms, over. Australia’s energy future is wind and solar, backed by storage. Ben Newell and I have penned a piece explaining Australia is set to be a renewables nation. This will change our place in the world. theconversation.com/australia-is...

Australia is set to be a renewables nation. After Labor’s win, there’s no turning back

Under a Labor government, coal and gas have a fast-declining role to play in Australia’s energy mix – and nuclear has none at all.

theconversation.com

In 2022, the Australian people voted to finally act on climate change After three years of progress- in 2025 they said keep going.

Peter Dutton threatens to take Australia backwards on climate - expanding gas production, weakening emissions targets and abandoning plans to host COP31 with Pacific nations. As I explain here 👇 this would undermine Australian foreign policy in our region theconversation.com/peter-dutton...

Peter Dutton’s climate policy backslide threatens Australia’s clout in the Pacific – right when we need it most

As China seeks to expand its influence in our region, Pacific leaders have questioned Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s climate action stance.

theconversation.com

Martin Wolf is not messing around here www.ft.com/content/d96d...

Australia's iron ore exports are worth about $85 billion a year and metallurgical coal a further $34 billion, but the potential increase in value by switching to producing green iron for export was put as high as $252 billion a year. www.reuters.com/markets/comm...

Green iron is a prize worth billions, winning is the trick: Russell

Decarbonising the steel industry is one of the massive challenges in meeting climate goals, but could end up being extremely profitable for companies and governments prepared to take the risks.

reuters.com

Fresh analysis from me. A national gas reservation scheme is on the table for Australia's federal election. Gas reservation may be useful - to ensure we meet remaining, dwindling, demand and as signal to trade partners like Japan - but no new gas is needed. theconversation.com/dutton-unvei...

Stating the obvious, but the Republican Party in the US is dangerously radicalised and peddling outright conspiracies. Can only imagine this will get a lot worse before it gets better.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.

Musk: "The waste and fraud in entitlement spending -- that's the big one to eliminate. That's the half trillion, maybe 600 or 700 billion a year. That's also the mechanism by which Democrats attract & retain illegal immigrants by essentially paying them to come here & then turning them into voters."

If you are looking for an analytical framework to think about what is happening in the US, this piece from Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way is very useful - how a radicalised Republican Party is weaponising the machinery of state against political enemies. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

The Path to American Authoritarianism

What comes after democratic breakdown.

foreignaffairs.com

How dangerous is Trump? Has he undermined the post-1945 world order already? He's condoned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's razing of Gaza (and wants spoils - minerals, land). Comments on Greenland, Panama (and Canada!) suggest a predatory foreign policy 1/4 www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...

Opinion | ‘​The World Is There for the Carving’: Two Columnists on the Trump-Putin Alliance (Gift Article)

We’ve never seen anything like this: a president who appears aligned with a Russian dictator in targeting the weak and the vulnerable.

nytimes.com

Great thread here 👇 if you want to understand why today's announcement at Whyalla is so exciting - it paints a picture for a Future Made in Australia (leveraging renewables to export the commodities our trading partners need to decarbonise).

Tom Quinn@tomquinn.bsky.social · last yr.

Making green iron in Australia is a critical part of driving global emissions down to zero - quick thread on why given the developments in Whyalla this week. First up - Each year Australia pulls almost 1bn tonnes of iron ore out of the ground - 39% of total annual production.