Day 114: 'Rorting the planet'
An introductory weekday newsletter from Schwartz Media. Counting the days since Australia had an energy policy.
Good morning and welcome to day 114.
Today in summary: Austrade is encouraging foreign investment so Australia can make more money from lithium-ion batteries; the government could use a loophole to meet the Paris climate commitments; and A$20 billion was committed to renewable projects in 2018.
— Sophie
Today’s policy spin level: 💨💨💨
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The government wants Australia to produce more lucrative lithium-ion batteries and is increasing attempts to attract foreign investment to build a manufacturing hub, reports the AFR. A report from Austrade, to be released today, “found that local lithium producers are beginning to move into new areas of the supply chain, while feasibility studies are under way for local battery production, including a 15-gigawatt-hour "Gigafactory" in Townsville”, the AFR says.
According to the report, Australia earns just 0.5% of the ultimate value of exported ore, and misses out on A$200 billion which is added through offshore production.
Neither the Coalition nor Labor will rule out using a loophole to meet part of Australia’s Paris emission reduction commitments, The Age reports. Australia could use expected credits from beating the 2020 Kyoto goal against the 2030 Paris pledge, meaning it could reach the Paris target with a 15% emissions cut rather than the pledged 26-28%. The Age quotes Bill Hare, director of Climate Analytics, as saying:
"This appears to be the 'canter' the government keeps talking about. It is fake action and would be rorting the planet, and will undermine real action in Australia."
Renewable investments in Australia have doubled in 2018 to A$20 billion, though it could be hampered if the policy vacuum continues, reports the Clean Energy Council. Some 14.6 gigawatts of new renewable energy projects is now under construction. CEC chief executive Kane Thornton said:
“As the year closes, we are no closer to national, bipartisan energy and climate policy. If anything we are further away than when we started. States and territories have stepped in to fill the void with their own initiatives to encourage jobs and investment in new clean energy. But there remains a clear vacuum of federal energy policy in Australia.”
The Commentariat
Business groups should fight to prevent the Morrison government spending money “on their way out the door” writes Richard Denniss, chief economist at The Australia Institute, in the AFR.
“While constitutionally no parliament can pass laws that bind a future parliament, the contracts entered into by one government are usually honoured by the next. Which is presumably why after the Coalition spent five years failing to introduce a national energy policy, Mr Morrison is determined to write contracts subsidising coal-fired power stations for decades to come.
“The need to reduce emissions will not vanish after the next election but it is almost certain that the Coalition government will.”
Three more things
The Australian Energy Regulator has released a new issues paper on the Hardship Guideline, and is calling for responses by January 14. The regulator wants to strengthen existing protections for customers in hardship. It comes after some energy companies were accused of failing in their duty to offer payment programs to struggling households.
Australia has been ranked “very low” in a climate change performance index released by public policy lobby group Germanwatch at the climate talks in Katowice overnight. The index measures action on climate change against 14 indicators in four categories including climate policy. Australia also ran “very low” in the ranking on energy use and greenhouse emissions.
Sweden leads the ranking, and the bottom five are Saudi Arabia, the United States, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei.
US regulators in California are considering taking another look at current rules on de-energising power lines to prevent bushfire disasters. Beleaguered electricity company PG&E considered, but decided against, powering down its grid in the areas affected by the recent California fires. They’ve been criticised for this decision, with one expert saying the current rules for public safety power shutoffs aren’t aggressive enough in judging the danger of fires caused by utility equipment failure.