We’ve updated Carbon Planet’s timeline video through to 1 May 2010. Enjoy — DS

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Clipping from the letter from the DCCEE

The Australian Federal Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has officially re-certified Carbon Planet’s operations and services as being carbon neutral under the soon to expire Greenhouse Friendly™ programme.

We were the first carbon management company ever to have its operations and services awarded Greenhouse Friendly™ certification and today’s re-certification reiterates our commitment to walking the walkwhen it comes to tackling climate change. I mean seriously, would you trust a company that had not bothered to formally neutralise its own services to look at your firm’s carbon management?

The Greenhouse Friendly™ programme will shortly be replaced by the National Carbon Offset Standard and Carbon Planet is already well underway to ensuring that it meets those requirements. In the meantime check out the Government’s list of companies that provide truly carbon neutral services, we think we’re in pretty good company there. — DS

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Carbon Planet’s primary schools programme, Operation:Coolenation® scored a visit yesterday from Mel Hawksley and Kim Oliver, two Bachelor of Education students from the University of South Australia, who wanted to experience first hand a day in the life of the Cooelnation project. They had this to say:

As University of South Australia students coming to an organisation we didn’t know much about, it was good to meet the staff in the Carbon Planet office and learn about all the hard work that gets done.

Being Bachelor of Education students, our learning focus was Carbon Planet’s school program, “Operation Coolenation”. We got to read through brochures, newsletter articles and the teacher resources pack. We also came up with some practical implications for the classroom and reviewed some websites related to global warming and carbon emissions.

As pre-service teachers who are almost beginning teachers, it was good to see that the teacher resource books contains background knowledge for teachers as well as the materials needed to conduct these activities with students in the classroom. As pre-service teachers, we often understand the feeling of wanting to learn more about a topic in order to teach it to students, and knowing you have found a credible source to support you is one of the main goals. Being presented with a comprehensive resource on touchy subjects such as global warming and carbon emissions, gives teachers the confidence to present these topics to their students.

Global warming and carbon emissions are an important global issue that students should be aware of as it has a direct relevance to their lives. Carbon Planet provides the link for students and teachers between not knowing and being uninformed, to understanding and taking action.

If you teach young kids then I urge you to check out Operation: Coolenation®. It really is an amazing, award winning teachers resource designed specifically to teach the science of climate change to primary school aged children.

You can follow Operation: Coolenation® on twitter; see @coolenation and facebook, see facebook.com/OperationCoolenation. — DS

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The Australian Government has shelved plans for a carbon pollution reduction scheme, preferring to wait and see what the rest of the world might or might not do. In November last year Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said:

When you strip away all the political rhetoric, all the political excuses, there are two stark choices: action or inaction… As one of the hottest and driest continents on earth, Australia’s environment and economy will be among the hardest and fastest hit by climate change if we do not act now.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald in a story “Rudd’s ETS flip-flop sparks climate chaos“, Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change said:

… the delay would ”make meeting our [emission reduction] targets more expensive” and that without a carbon price Australia would not meet the targets at all.

So what is to be done? All all is not lost. There is still legislation in place such as the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, enacted by the previous, conservative, Government to determine the raw baseline data upon which an emissions trading scheme might be based. The NGER requires companies who produce or consume more than a certain level of energy, or who produce more than a certain level of greenhouse gas emissions, to report their emissions (see thresholds here). This legislation came in in 2007 and the first reporting period only just ended with barely 60% of the firms that should have reported actually reporting. The fines for failure to report are in the order of $110k per default plus $11k+ per day they remain in default (and there are also clauses for civil penalties of around $200k and possible custodial sentences) and its been estimated that some $500 million in fines will be owing already based on this.

As I have said repeatedly, relying on the Government, any Government, to act in the best interests of its people is pure folly. One shining light in all of this is that Australia, historically, is an overachiever when it comes to voluntary action on climate change. Indeed Australia comprises around 5% of the world’s voluntary carbon market. Recognising this the Government will continue to push ahead with the National Carbon Offset Standard which establishes clear and unambiguous definitions for what comprises a valid carbon offset and defines ‘carbon neutrality’. This is a huge boost for voluntary action in Australia which, in the absence of a viable compliance scheme down-under is, for now, the best shot we have at making any sort of real difference.

What is certain is that the climate problem is not going to go away by itself, and the solution must be tied into an economic response. Firms caught in the NGER Act are being forced to report on their emissions and that in turn is stimulating them to then manage those emissions in anticipation of some sort of carbon price. And a price on carbon is inevitable.

”You can’t get to your targets without a cost on carbon … we have been very clear that we have to put a price on carbon,” said Minister Wong [yesterday].

If your firm is smaller than that required to report under NGER you are still almost certainly going to find yourself supplying goods and services to one or more of those NGER firms. These firms are typically instituting green procurement policies anyway and so there is a trickle-down effect in reporting.

No matter the Government’s inaction, Australian Business has an opportunity to embrace voluntary action and prepare itself for the time when carbon is properly priced.

To express your personal displeasure at the Australian Government’s back-flip, check out GetUp Australia. — DS

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Protect the environment or I’ll f*#%’n kill you!

Frustrated media mogul Ted Turner becomes Captain Planet and takes direct action. Hilarious. — DS

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In the UK The Guardian has explained, in a story “Iceland volcano gives warming world chance to debunk climate sceptic myths” that the oft-repeated notion that human CO2 emissions are trivial compared to natural volcanic activity is, well, a load of cobblers.

Here, for example, is what Plimer wrote on Australia’s ABC Network website last August:

The atmosphere contains only 0.001 per cent of all carbon at the surface of the Earth and far greater quantities are present in the lower crust and mantle of the Earth. Human additions of CO2 to the atmosphere must be taken into perspective. Over the past 250 years, humans have added just one part of CO2 in 10,000 to the atmosphere. One volcanic cough can do this in a day.

John Cook of the increasingly popular Skeptical Science website currently lists the “volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans” viewpoint as number 54 on his ever-growing list – 107, to date – of debunked sceptic arguments.

I had the opportunity to see Ian Plimer in person at an event recently and there is no doubt he is a skilled, avuncular speaker who understands the power of a good narrative. He weaves fact and fiction seamlessly and with such confidence that it’s hard for an audience, even a smart, well read audience like the one I was at, to see where the truth ends and the lies start. That in my mind makes people like Plimer more dangerous than the ranting street-corner climate sceptics who have been popping up of late.

Plimer also neglects to mention the vast sums of money he is paid by his mining interests, or the money he’s made simply be being a professional climate change denier.

So cheers to The Guardian and to people like Jon Cook for presenting the bare facts.

Oh and if you, like me, have no clue how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull, this little song might help. — DS

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Wow I just reduced carbon emissions in the UK by 45% from current levels. How? Well I closed all its coal fired power stations, and then closed oil and gas fired power too. I shut half of the UK’s nuclear reactors and built some massive solar and offshore wind farms. I reduced blighty’s reliance on imported food and improved manufacturing efficiency by a mere 12%. Then I mandated 50% electric cars, 100% electric rail, and moved heaps of freight from the roads and the skies and onto rail as well. I did all this and overall reduced travel and consumption by a realistic 0% and kept my energy production in a slight surplus. I’m now thinking of building giant underground batteries to keep the nation going even if another volcano blacks out the sun for a few months.

You can have a go yourself using the Guardian’s awesome interactive National Carbon Calculator.

The one thing it didn’t show me was how long all my changes might take and how much they’d cost. Nor did they give me an option for moving more people onto bikes, improving the walkability of cities, or give me the option to beam power down from giant space mirrors and grow rooftop gardens. That’s how I’ll get my next 45% reduction to be sure. — DS

The climate is changing and human activity is almost certainly to blame. That’s the conclusion of a new report called State of the climate just released by the Australian CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

This snapshot provides observations and analysis of Australia’s climate and the factors that influence it. Two organisations, CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology have combined to present this current picture of Australia’s climate.
The Bureau of Meteorology has been observing and reporting on weather in Australia for over 100 years, and CSIRO has been conducting atmospheric and marine research for over 60 years.

The snapshot is sourced from peer reviewed data on temperature, rainfall, sea level, ocean acidification, and carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere.

Some key facts from the report:

1. Since 1960 the mean temperature in Australia has increased by about 0.7°C
2. The number of days with record hot temperatures has increased each decade over the past 50 years
3. There have been fewer record cold days each decade
4. 2000 to 2009 was Australia’s warmest decade on record
5. The geographic distribution of rainfall has changed significantly over the past 50 years
6. From 1870 to 2007, the global average sea level rose by close to 200mm
7. The rate of sea level rise increased during the 20th century
8. During 1993 to 2009 sea level rise has been 1.5 to 3mm per year in the south and east of Australia and 7 to 10mm per year in the north and west
9. Sea surface temperatures around Australia have increased by about 0.4°C in the past 50 years
10. Ocean Acidification is now being observed at the base of the food chain in the Southern Ocean

What this means.

Australia will be hotter in coming decades

Australian average temperatures are projected to rise by 0.6 to 1.5°C by 2030. If global greenhouse gas emissions continue at current levels, warming is projected to be in the range of 2.2 to 5.0°C by 2070. Warming is projected to be lower near the coast and in Tasmania and higher in central and north-western Australia. These changes will be felt through an increase in the number of hot days.

Much of Australia will be drier in coming decades

In Australia compared to the period 1981-2000, decreases in rainfall are likely in the decades to come in south- ern areas of Australia during winter, in southern and eastern areas during spring, and in south-west Western Australia during autumn. An increase in the number of dry days is expected across the country, but it is likely that there will be an increase in intense rainfall events in many areas.

It is very likely that human activities have caused most of the global warming observed since 1950

There is greater than 90% certainty that increases in greenhouse gas emissions have caused most of the global warming since the mid-20th century. International research shows that it is extremely unlikely that the observed warming could be explained by natural causes alone. Evidence of human influence has been detected in ocean warming, sea-level rise, continental-average temperatures, temperature extremes and wind patterns. CSIRO research has shown that higher greenhouse gas levels are likely to have caused about half of the winter rainfall reduction in south-west Western Australia.

Climate change is real

Our observations clearly demonstrate that climate change is real. CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology will continue to provide observations and research so that Australia’s responses are underpinned by science of the highest quality.

The CSIRO and the BOM are two of Australia’s most trusted, most respected scientific institutions. This report comes out at a time when many members of the public have been confused by the non-stop lobbying by fossil fuel industries, by charlatan academics and by a Government whose response to climate change has been lacklustre to say the least. Climate change is here, it’s real and it’s something Australians have to address head-on. — DS

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The Ted Talk above by Shai Agassi is all the more remarkable given it was given in 2009 and, since then, his vision is starting to be rolled out. The Better Place network is being rolled out in Canberra, where I live, and the Renault Fluence electric car that uses Better Place’s charging system will be sold here for around AU$45,000 they believe. I got to take one for a test drive last year in Copenhagen and they are awesome. – DS

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Simon McCabe, Carbon Planet’s Queensland State Manager, gave the above speech the other day at a breakfast ever for Aged Care Queensland. Simon touches on the existing and forthcoming climate change legislation in Australia and makes the point that it doesn’t matter what you believe about climate change, the Carbon Economy is here already and your business can ill afford to ignore it. — DS

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