The rocky road to Copenhagen

The rocky road to Copenhagen

While here in Victoria we’ve been coping with heatwaves and preparing for the fire season ahead, our world leaders are trying to prepare us for their potential failure on climate change in a few weeks time at Copenhagen.

Last week, world leaders at the APEC regional forum in Singapore, including our own Prime Minister Kevin Rudd conceded that the international climate negotiations to be held in Copenhagen next month will deliver no more than a ‘political framework’ for future action on climate change.

In place of a deal that would effectively form the next Kyoto, they are offering very little.  No deal.  No treaty. Just a ‘political framework’ for future action.

This is simply not a good enough response from those who seek to lead us through this climate crisis.  Our Prime Minister, and our world leaders have a responsibility to act on our behalf.  They have a responsibility to make the hard decisions in order to ensure that we can achieve a safe climate future.

Last weeks lowering of expectations is disappointing, but we cannot let them get away with it.

Australians want action on climate change, and we’ll continue calling on our politicians to show real leadership for our future.

That’s why we’re holding the Walk Against Warming again this year.  It’s more important than ever.  In the middle of one of the most important meetings of all time, we’ll be gathering to send world leaders a message they can’t ignore.  That same day, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people will be gathering all over the world to show that communities are ready for real action on climate change.

Please RSVP at www.waw.org.au and help us spread the word.  We need your help to gather tens of thousands of people on December 12^th, to show that Victorians are part of this important global call for action.

Meanwhile, back at home…

The Brumby Government is still considering proposals to allocate even more brown coal to polluters, and to begin exporting coal to the developing world.  If these proposals go ahead, the greenhouse emissions from the projects would be equal to 20 years worth of Australia’s total emissions.

For more about the dirty coal proposals, CLICK HERE.

We’re following up on these proposals, and will be meeting with a number of Cabinet Ministers over coming weeks to discuss our concerns.  In the meantime, we really need your help.

A number of you have already sent an email or letter to key Cabinet Ministers outlining your concerns about Victoria’s coal addiction.

If you haven’t yet sent an email, please do it now.  It’s easy – just CLICK HERE and enter your details to send an email calling for a clean energy future.   With your emails in front of them, and Environment Victoria sitting opposite, our Cabinet Ministers will get the message loud and clear that the community doesn’t support these proposals for even more coal, and that we’re calling for a transition to a clean energy future.

To send your email now, CLICK HERE.

Solar feed-in fiasco continues

Two weeks ago, the Victorian Government finally introduced Victoria’s net feed-in tariff.  Environment Victoria welcomed the long awaited introduction of the tariff, despite the fact that the model chosen by the government falls short of what is really needed to provide a strong incentive to invest in solar power.

Sadly, a number of the energy retailers look to be using the introduction of the feed-in tariff to take advantage of solar customers.  In fact, two major retailers in particular look like they may force customers to hand over their Renewable Energy Certificates to the retailers, therefore removing the environmental benefit of investing in solar!

We’re speaking to the retailers responsible, and will continue working to make sure the contracts they’re offering people with solar panels on their roofs are fair and reasonable.  We’ve also refrained from naming and shaming those responsible, but unless the situation changes soon, we will be forced to advertise those retailers we think are offering fair deals, and those that clearly aren’t.

In the meantime, our advice to anyone considering taking up the new feed-in tariff is to read the contracts offered carefully, regardless of what your retailer might be telling you over the phone or in a cover letter, or how ‘green’ your retailer might claim to be.

FROM ENVIRONMENT VICTORIA

Coming events for your diary

Walk Against Warming

Walk Against Warming is Australia’s largest community event on climate change, and this year we’re ending the walk with a massive human sign on Princes Bridge! As we walk, world leaders will be meeting in Copenhagen to decide what they’re going to do to solve the climate crisis – and our human sign will make it clear that we want a safe climate for all.

12pm on Saturday 12th December, 2009 – State Library, Swanston St Melbourne

It’s going to be an amazing day as families and individuals from across the state come along to show their support for action on climate change – and we’d love your organisation to be involved. It’s really easy to support Walk Against Warming, and your greatest help will be in assisting us to spread the word

CPRS ACTION ALERT

emissions cuts – not corporate welfare

Be ready to act when CPRS is voted on,
week of Nov 23
(watch this space for exact date!)

Debate on the government’s CPRS began this week in Parliament. Climate Action Groups oppose the CPRS because it will not cut emissions.

The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he agrees with the science that “emissions must be cut urgently”, but his actions do the opposite. His CPRS is all about compensating big polluters.

Voice your concern!

PUBLIC PROTEST: 5.30pm on the day of the vote
Outside Lindsay Tanner’s office: 280 King St Melbourne (near cnr of Lt Lonsdale St). Lindsay Tanner is Minister for Finance and Deregulation and the Labor MP for the seat of Melbourne.

Bring banners, costumes, noisemakers!

Fund renewable energy – not corporate welfare
Organized by voluntary Climate Action Groups Victoria

Cracks appear in coal industry’s expansion plans

From Environment Victoria

Well it’s been a pretty crazy past three weeks on the climate campaign trail. While globally climate negotiations in the lead up to the Copenhagen climate meeting in December are struggling, in Victoria we’ve been deluged with news stories about state government and business proposals to massively expand our coal industry. The news stories have followed some brilliant investigative journalism by The Age newspaper.

Environment Victoria has been fighting the good fight over the past three weeks highlighting the lunacy of coal industry expansions and ensuring that the stories are widely picked up across all media outlets. And it appears that the movement might have a win on the way with Exergen’s proposal to export brown coal likely to be put on the backburner.

The Age’s powerful stories, community campaigning including a rally on the steps of Parliament which involved many of you (organised by Environment Victoria along with a number of other environment and climate action groups), and a letter to the Premier from a number of scientists and community leaders seem to be swaying the Brumby Government towards rejecting the Exergen proposal. As The Age reported on Tuesday,“a highly placed government insider confirmed that at a forthcoming meeting cabinet would consider a ‘’strategic allocation” of coal to Exergen. But the source said cabinet would refuse it”.

While this is a positive development, we understand that no final decision has been made and even if we are successful in delaying the Exergen project there is still a proposal on the table to begin a tender process for the remaining 13 billion tonnes of unallocated coal.

Other important stories that have emerged over recent weeks that we’ve played a part in include The Age’s revelation that Victorian taxpayers have given Alcoa $4.5 billion in subsidies over the past two decades to reduce their electricity bills (here, and here) and a story today that Latrobe Valley coal generators want to get their hands on the remaining water in the Latrobe River despite the fact that they already have access to 125 billion litres per year.  We’re working hard on the Gippsland Sustainable Water Strategy to ensure that this doesn’t happen and that this water is instead used to provide a n environmental flow to the Latrobe River and Gippsland Lakes.

We know that many people have found these stories, and the apparent level of climate change denial that is behind such aggressive expansion plans, upsetting. For our part we’re very glad that the dirty politics of the coal industry is out in the open for all to see and get outraged by. The more scrutiny that our lopsided and dangerous energy policy gets the better – particularly in the lead up to 2010 state and federal elections.

In the meantime we need your help.

There are two main ways you can help this campaign.  Firstly, by contacting state cabinet ministers and telling them to reject plans to expand the coal industry, and secondly by supporting our new ‘Coal Watch’ project.

1. Send a message to key Victorian cabinet ministers
2. Make a donation towards Coal Watch (make sure you enter coal in the campaign box).

Under the Coal Watch campaign, Environment Victoria’s first two projects will be 1) a brief report outlining why the state government should not undertake a new coal allocation process drawing on some Government studies EV managed to get hold of through Freedom of Information, and 2) a brief report outlining how we can shut Hazelwood and replace it with clean energy over the next two years.

Environment Victoria needs to raise $10,000 to complete these projects. Please support them as much as you can.

Upcoming Events: Run or Walk for action on climate change

Run for a Safe Climate

2pm Sunday 29 November

St Kilda Sea Baths, St Kilda

Run for a Safe Climate is a 6000 Kms run, from Cooktown to Melbourne. Twenty-five emergency workers, policemen and fireman, are running to raise awareness of the need for a strong government response to climate change. They are also running to highlight the solutions that already exist to deal with the problem. The run commenced on 2 November, and will finish at the St.Kilda Sea Baths, St.Kilda Beach, at 2pm on Sunday 29 November. Here, until 5 pm, there will be a free celebration, with bands, entertainers, celebrities and children’s entertainment. Details at runforasafeclimate.org. Please RSVP if attending.

Walk Against Warming

12pm Saturday 12 December

State Library, Swanston Street

Walk Against Warming is Australia’s biggest day of community action on climate change. The Melbourne event will begin at 12pm, Saturday 12 December at the State Library, Swanston Street. As World Leaders are gathering to discuss what action they are prepared to take on climate change, we’ll be walking down Swanston Street to Princes Bridge, where we’ll form a giant human sign to send them a message that Australians want a safe climate future. Details at waw.org.au. Please RSVP if attending.