September 2023

August 2023

July 2023

June 2023

May 2023

April 2023

Can carbon offsets save the environment?

by Polly Hemming

If you’ve ever ticked ‘yes’ to offsetting your carbon emissions when you booked a flight, it might have felt like you were doing something good. Planting some more trees to make up for your trip certainly offsets our guilt. But does it actually take carbon out of the atmosphere?

March 2023

Science before politics crucial in climate change fight

by Ebony Bennett in Canberra Times

Just as the recent economic policy debate about tax breaks for multimillionaire superannuants has been overshadowed by sensationalist tabloid journalism (instead of what constitutes a dignified retirement), now the debate about climate policy risks being dominated by history wars and partisan politics – instead of what the science has been telling us for decades.

February 2023

Labor’s safeguard mechanism does more to save the fossil fuel industry than it does the planet

by Richard Denniss in The Guardian

The enormous PEP-11 gas project off Sydney’s northern beaches is back in the headlines and the timing couldn’t be worse for a federal Labor government trying to rush a new climate policy through the parliament; a policy that does nothing to stop new gas and coalmines being built and doesn’t even stop major polluters increasing their emissions. Labor’s Madeline King must now remake the decision made by our undercover resources minister, Scott Morrison.

January 2023

December 2022

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

We pay billions to subsidise Australia’s fossil fuel industry. This makes absolutely no economic sense

by Richard Denniss in The Conversation

Fossil fuel subsidies from major economies including Australia reached close to US$700 billion in 2021, almost doubling from 2020, according to new analysis by the International Energy Agency and OECD. These subsidies are expected to keep rising in 2022 as governments worldwide attempt to use fossil fuel subsidies to shield customers from the high energy prices caused

August 2022

Fight for climate peace starts now

by Ebony Bennett

AS PEOPLE gathered for the electric vehicle summit in Canberra yesterday, the hope in the air was palpable. But despite the Albanese government’s rhetoric, the so-called climate wars are far from over. In reality, the fight for meaningful climate peace is only just beginning. The policy struggle now is not between Labor and the Coalition,

July 2022

Ignoring warnings of Europe’s extreme heatwave locks Australia into a worst-case scenario

by Mark Ogge in The Guardian

The unprecedented heatwave and fires engulfing Europe might seem a long way away, but they are a frightening portent of what’s in store for Australia. Britain has just experienced its highest temperature ever, extreme conditions and fires are sweeping Spain, Portugal, France and Greece. This is just the latest in a string of extreme events

Australia’s farcical climate policy: market forces to cut emissions and subsidies to destroy carbon sinks

by Richard Denniss

Climate change often gets blamed on market failure, but government failure plays a pretty big role as well. Not only do Australian governments spend more than $11.6 billion per year subsidising fossil fuels, at the same time the Federal Government spends billions paying some landholders to grow more trees, state governments perversely continue to subsidise

June 2022

‘We want to be part of that movement’: residents embrace renewable energy but worry how their towns will change

by Dan Cass in The Conversartion

Amid soaring energy costs, the new Labor government is working to deliver a A$20 billion pledge to rebuild and modernise Australia’s electricity grid. It will help deliver a plan for 122 gigawatts of new renewable energy in the National Electricity Market by 2050, eventually replacing coal generation. The transition will bring significant social, economic and environmental change. Electricity generation

Gaslighting Australia

by Richard Denniss in The Monthly

Local gas suppliers aren’t in crisis – soaring prices are going according to plan The Australian gas industry isn’t in crisis; it’s in heaven. Its profits and share prices are rising even faster than its greenhouse gas emissions, and everything is going according to the plan it has been working on for more than a

General Enquiries

Emily Bird Office Manager

02 6130 0530

mail@australiainstitute.org.au

Media Enquiries

Adam Gottschalk Media Advisor

0457 974 636

adam.gottschalk@australiainstitute.org.au

RSS Feed

All news