From 1h ago Chris Bowen throws back to Coalition on energy price rises The energy minister is borrowing a turn of phrase out of Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech when asked about the Coalition’s suggestion that capping coal and gas prices will, in the longer run, increase prices. Chris Bowen: I invite the Coalition to have a look in the mirror. I mean, he had the independent energy regulator this morning pointing out that without the intervention, the price rises would have been closer to 50%. An intervention that Mr Dutton…
Tag: Climate crisis
Chinese cities hit record high temperatures for early March
Temperatures in more than a dozen Chinese cities have hit record seasonal highs this week, with central China’s Wuhan and Zhengzhou more than 10C hotter than average for early March, official data showed. Wuhan, located on the middle reaches of the Yangtze river, registered temperatures of 26C on Monday, 12 degrees higher than the long-term early March average, while Beijing and surrounding cities also saw temperatures reach 25C earlier this week. China experienced months of extreme heat last year, with 267 weather stations breaking records, measuring temperatures in excess of…
Confusion surrounds China’s energy policies as GDP and climate goals clash
China’s energy policies are fast creating a type of “emissions ambiguity”, as the twin goals of boosting GDP growth and reducing carbon emissions come into conflict. The uncertainty is whether and when the world’s biggest carbon emitter will start to curb greenhouse gas pollution. The release of the country’s annual statistics communique on Tuesday did not clear things up. As Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, noted this month, China’s carbon emissions may have risen 1% or fallen by that amount in 2022.…
Australia politics live: ballooning rental prices to fuel inflation, Treasury says
From 31m ago Inflation in rental prices expected to increase: Treasury You may have noticed he mentioned rental increases there. It is not great news for that already tight market, according to Treasury: Rising housing costs remain a source of cost-of-living pressures for many households. Inflation in newly advertised rental prices has been rising sharply for around a year, reaching 10 per cent nationally in January. The national vacancy rate has reached a near-record low of around 1%. Despite the slowdown in population growth during the pandemic, underlying demand for…
Australia’s credibility on human rights blighted by laws targeting climate protesters and jailing children, report says
The detention of children under 14 and new laws targeting climate protesters are harming Australia’s credibility to stand up for human rights in the region, a leading rights body has warned. Human Rights Watch called on Australia to address its own “alarming deficiencies” when the organisation on Thursday published its annual reports on the performance of nearly 100 countries. It specifically raised alarm about New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania introducing “new laws targeting peaceful climate and environmental protesters with disproportionate punishments and excessive bail conditions”. The organisation took aim…
Australia news live: Chinese envoy warns against allowing differences to ‘hijack’ ties, severe storms for Queensland
From 51m ago Chinese envoy warns against allowing differences to ‘hijack’ ties Daniel Hurst China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has warned against allowing differences between the two countries to “hijack” the overall relationship. Addressing the media at the Chinese embassy in Canberra, he said 2022 had been an “extraordinary” year for the relationship between China and Australia. The change of government had provided an opportunity for a reset, he said. Xiao said both sides considered the relationship to be a comprehensive strategic partnership. Differences and disputes remained, he said,…
The world in 2023: what our writers say you should watch out for
A near-inevitable global recession sparked by a lengthening war in Europe’s frozen east; an energy crisis coupled with soaring inflation; Covid-19 finally running rampant in China – predictions for 2023 are grim. Still, there are reasons to be hopeful. That same energy crisis has spurred an unprecedented demand for renewables, which are expected to boom, while in Brazil, a new president has sworn to protect the Amazon. Repressive regimes, meanwhile, will be nervously looking at Iran, where hardline clerics are locked in a struggle with a formidable pro-democracy uprising that…
Amid the climate crisis, Covid and crumbling democracies, I find hope in people who show the best of humanity | Trent Zimmerman
As we farewell 2022, many of the world’s citizens will be hoping for a better new year. It is hard to look back on the past year – indeed couple of years – without a high degree of angst about the direction of our global community. We have been battered by a pandemic that, while past the peak for most nations, is still disrupting societies and economies. After two years of its hermit-like isolation, 1.4 billion Chinese citizens are now experiencing a nationwide Covid onslaught for the first time with…
Gordon Brown says China must pay into climate fund for poor countries
China must pay into a new fund for poor countries stricken by climate-driven disaster on the basis of its high greenhouse gas emissions and large economy, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has said. “America and Europe will have to provide most, but China will have to contribute more too,” he told the Guardian. Last week, at the Cop27 UN climate summit, rich governments finally agreed to a fund for poor countries suffering the impact of extreme weather, known as “loss and damage”. But there is no agreement yet…
US receives stinging criticism at Cop27 despite China’s growing emissions
The US, fresh from reversing its 30 years of opposition to a “loss and damage” fund for poorer countries suffering the worst impacts of the climate crisis, has signaled that its longstanding image as global climate villain should now be pinned on a new culprit: China. Following years of tumult in which the US refused to provide anything resembling compensation for climate damages, followed by Donald Trump’s removal of the US from the Paris climate agreement, there was a profound shift at the Cop27 UN talks in Egypt, with Joe…