In last week’s election, the respective contenders to lead the nation offered contrasting views on the transport future. One opted to promote urban roads and the other, urban passenger rail. We chose roads…
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Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Comment
Displaying 5901 - 5925 of 7547 articles
Australians should not be alarmed but pleased at the current Indonesian proposal to invest in cattle production in the north of Australia. It demonstrates a renewed confidence in Australia’s ability to…
The Coalition has returned to government at a time of uncertainty and rapid change in almost every area of energy policy. With an energy policy released and a responsible minister named, what can we determine…
Recently the New South Wales Department for Planning and Infrastructure proposed changes to the State Environmental Planning Policy that governs mining. This amendment will make the policy an instrument…
More electric vehicles (EVs) are hitting Australia’s roads, and more public charging stations are being installed to support them. What is missing, however, is an Australian standard or even a recommendation…
Australia’s new government plans to axe not only the carbon price, but also iconic, World Heritage-listed, Tasmanian forests. Opening these forests for logging would break international law, and that would…
In the coming months our new federal government will be promoting a massive expansion in Australia’s coal exports. In all likelihood they’ll hail it as “good For Australia”. It isn’t. Most of us are familiar…
The Pacific Islands Forum, the peak regional body of Pacific Island states, met in Majuro, Marshall Islands, last week. A major outcome of the meeting was the Forum Communiqué. This is the blueprint for…
The Bramble Cay Melomys (Melomys rubicola) has one of the most unusual and precarious distributions of all Australian mammals. The melomys is restricted to an unstable 4-5 hectare coral cay in the eastern…
Yesterday’s fires in Sydney’s western outskirts are a timely warning for all Australian communities. Being prepared for a bushfire is not just a summer job – communities in bushfire prone areas, and in…
Australia is a harsh and volatile environment, subject to extremes of fire and flood. We’ve just seen a particularly early start to the bushfire season, with over 60 fires burning and at least two homes…
Over the last 30 years, every forested continent has had a widespread drought which has killed trees. The geographical scale of drought, and the duration and almost coordinated nature of these droughts…
Coal-fired electricity may have little or no economic future in Australia, a new analysis has found. While the new government seems determined to turn its back on renewable energy, our study shows that…
**Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. This is the last of our weekly series, developed…
Australia’s new government is likely to repeal the carbon price, by striking a deal with crossbenchers in the Senate after July 2014, or possibly going to a special election if it looks electorally attractive…
You might have heard that peak oil - the theory that one day crude oil production will stop increasing, even as demand grows - is dead. Shale oil production is surging in the US. The premiere peak oil…
What would happen to the world if, with the snap of our fingers, we shifted all our energy supplies to renewable sources overnight? You might be surprised at the answer: not much, at least for biodiversity…
In Australia, the “cute and cuddlies” receive the vast amount of publicity and conservation management dollars. Little is left for the small, scaly and slimy species that many consider just plain creepy…
For several years, and particularly since the advent of the Coalition’s Direct Action policy for reducing emissions, the potential of agricultural soils in Australia to soak up carbon has been widely debated…
Barely noticed behind pre-election debate over the climate policies of the major parties sits a proposal by the Liberal-National Coalition to make important changes to Australia’s natural resource management…
As a climate scientist, it seems for every extreme event - be it the recent hottest 12 months on record for Australia or the floods and heavy rains of 2011 and 2012 - one question is inevitably asked…
Australia is surrounded by a thin green line of seagrass meadows potentially worth A$5.4 billion on international carbon markets, and which could contribute to Australia and other nations meeting carbon…
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt’s ambition to broker a new global rainforest recovery plan reopens an important conversation about Australia’s role in tackling tropical deforestation. And it…
If we haven’t heard much about carbon policy this election, we’ve heard even less about the other side of the climate equation - adaptation. We’re already seeing an increase in extreme weather, and climate…
We’re simply talking about the very life support system of this planet. - Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, chief climate advisor to the German Government It is not news that we are over stretching our planetary…