One degree

The Australian
By: Greg Roberts, Sean Parnell

Global warming has been blamed for dramatic declines in seabird populations on the Great Barrier Reef and surrounding waters.

Tens of thousands of seabirds are failing to breed because warmer water from more frequent and intense El Nino events means there is insufficient food to raise their young, according to research compiled by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Warm water near the surface forces fish, plankton and other prey into deeper water, where it cannot be reached by seabirds.

The research forms the basis of a report commissioned by the marine park authority and the Queensland Environment Protection Agency to address the impact of climate change on seabirds, and obtained by The Australian under freedom of information laws.

The Courier-Mail GreenBlog
By: Graham Readfearn

“CHAPTER 12 quick - flick to chapter 12,’’ will have been the cry as Ross Garnaut’s 616-page Final Report dropped heavy or, more likely, downloaded onto desktops across Australia.

Why Chapter 12? Because that’s the bit people have been able to get their heads around - the public and journalists included. Nice easy figures and numbers. So for the record, it says Australia needs to cut its emissions by 25 per cent from 2000 levels. By 2050, it should be at 90 per cent from 2000 levels (there are to keep atmospheric CO2-e at 450 ppm - there are less stringent targets for keeping it below 550 ppm but there are too many scientists saying we really don’t want to go there). "

The Geelong Advertiser
By: Jane Harper

Two wheels will take the place of four for staff at the Geelong Advertiser this week.

The company is joining businesses across the city in choosing bikes over cars for Ride to Work Day on Wednesday.

Workers throughout the region are encouraged to dust the winter cobwebs off their bicycles and join in with the national event.

Cyclists in Geelong will be rewarded for their efforts with a community breakfast in Johnstone Park, Gheringhap St, between 7am and 9am on Wednesday.

PANPA Bulletin
By: Brett Taylor

Dr Tony Wilkins came to the PANPA office to audit our green credentials - if he could find them. The aim was to see how we could reduce our emissions and electricity bill.

When it comes to reducing the carbon footprint of a pokey little office for four, it is amazing how a little effort goes a long way and a small device can save you cash.

That is the message of Dr Tony Wilkins, News Ltd's top man on environment and climate change.

The Advertiser
By: From correspondents in Barcelona

Half to three-quarters of major Antarctic penguin colonies could be damaged or wiped out if global temperatures are allowed to climb by more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a report released today.

A two degree hike would threaten 50 per cent of breeding grounds of emperor penguins, and 75 per cent of Adelie penguin colonies, said the study, released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.

The Australian
By: Correspondents in Brussels and Washington
Source: The Times, AP

The future of coal-fired power generation in Europe has been called into question after the European Union backed laws that would force power companies to pay for all their carbon dioxide emissions from 2013.

The decision, which could cost the power industry E30 billion ($56 billion) a year and could trigger a steep rise in electricity bills, represents a huge boost for the renewable energy industry.

The Australian
By: Guy Healy

The severest of the greenhouse pollution reduction targets proposed by Rudd government adviser Ross Garnaut are the minimum requirement for effective action, the country's leading climate scientists have told the Prime Minister.

The scientists include Australian Research Council Federation Fellows David Karoly and Amanda Lynch, as well as Andy Pitman, all of them associated as authors and editors with the UN's 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The Australian
By: Correspondents in Washington and Jakarta
Source: AFP, AAP

Environmental groups and the Bush administration yesterday reached a partial court settlement that requires the Department of Interior to designate critical habitat for polar bears by June 30, 2010.

The Department of Interior in May listed the polar bear as being threatened by global warming, but did not designate any critical habitat protection.

Source: Carbon & Environment Daily (www.cedaily.com.au)

Almost three quarters of ASX100 companies responded to this year's Carbon Disclosure Project questionnaire, up 26% on last year's response rate, according to results for Australia and New Zealand to be launched today by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.

The Advertiser
By: Helene Sobolewski

South Australia's coastline has the potential to supply the state with its base-load power, a report says.

The independent report, commissioned by clean power developer Carnegie Corporation, has found at least 35 per cent of Australia's, and 170 per cent of SA's, current base-load power needs could be generated through a new wave power technology known as CETO.

Australia has a potential near-shore wave energy resource of about 171,000 megawatts, four times the country's installed power generation capacity.

Herald Sun
By: Barry Brook

The Garnaut Climate Change Review is now complete.

Its brief was to "examine the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy, and recommend medium to long-term policies and policy frameworks to improve the prospects for sustainable prosperity''.

To me, the concept of sustainable prosperity is the key to turning climate change mitigation into a win-win scenario. I'll explain why, but first, some background.

The Australian
By: Lenore Taylor, national correspondent

The German Environment Ministry and climate experts have questioned whether emission reduction targets for Australia proposed by Ross Garnaut will be viewed as credible in international negotiations on climate change.

Professor Garnaut has said that while a global deal to stabilise the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million is desirable, a less ambitious goal of 550ppm is likely to be more feasible.

The Australian
By: Natasha Robinson

Alice Springs's largest hotel is set to erect the biggest solar panel installation in Australia, which will provide between 40 and 80per cent of the hotel's power requirements.

The Crowne Plaza, overlooking the MacDonnell Ranges, has joined in the Alice Solar City project and will erect a $3 million photovoltaic installation on its roof as part of a push by the central Australian town to reduce its carbon footprint.

news.com.au
Source: Agence France-Presse

China has leapfrogged the US as the world's biggest carbon emitter and India is heading for third place, scientists say in a report that warns global greenhouse-gas levels are scaling record peaks.

The report, by a research consortium called the Global Carbon Project (GCP), confirms an estimate that China has become the biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas that causes global warming.

The Daily Telegraph
By: Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time -- and our response must be decisive. It must also be delivered in a way that helps us build a stronger economy for the future.

That's why the Government is committed to developing cleaner solutions for Australia's current energy sources.

The Adelaide Advertiser
By: Cara Jenkin, Environment reporter

The number of South Australians who have solar panel systems in their homes has more than doubled in the past year, figures show. ETSA Utilities figures provided to The Advertiser show 3700 homes have a solar system and are generating power for the electricity grid. This is 2000 more systems than at the same time last year.

The Mercury
By: Peter Boyer

It's reasonable to attack Professor Ross Garnaut's proposal for a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 10 per cent by 2020. But it's unreasonable to attack the man himself, because years of political deception and complacency have put him in an impossible position.

The Australian
By: Michael Stutchbury, Economics editor

Australia has brought together the world's two major greenhouse gas polluters, China and the US, to search for common ground on cutting carbon emissions -- including clean coal technologies -- while protecting security of energy supplies. The top Chinese, US and Australian climate change negotiators will gather for two days this week in Washington at a political and business meeting organised by the Melbourne-based Global Foundation and Georgetown University.

Herald Sun
By: Peter Jean

Buyers of environmentally friendly cars would get cash rebates while those buying gas guzzlers would have to pay more, under a proposal to be considered by state and federal governments.

Source: AAP

One of Australia's biggest miners is amongst a group of 11 power generators labelled carbon emissions "dinosaurs" by an environmental group.

Rio Tinto, which has majority ownership of a Gladstone generator, and aluminium giant Alcoa, are among the group that failed a WWF scorecard on carbon reduction performance.

The organisation found about half the 19 generators performed very badly, scoring less than two out of five stars.

Alcoa, Intergen and Rio Tinto were the worst performers.

The Geelong Advertiser
By: Jessica Craven

The council will begin tests later this year to determine the feasibility of the program, which aims to harness the landfill gas to deliver power into the electricity grid.

Councillor Tom O'Connor said the system would dispose of landfill gas (a high percentage of which is methane) currently captured within the site, in an environmentally friendly manner.

The Australian
By: Lenore Taylor, National correspondent

Crucial climate change modelling to be unveiled today by the Rudd Government's greenhouse adviser, Ross Garnaut, concludes that Australia would reap greater economic benefit from deep cuts than shallow cuts to global greenhouse emissions.

The conclusion from Professor Garnaut's modelling -- which looks at both the costs and benefits of acting to mitigate climate change -- contrasts with the traditional focus on the long-term costs to Australia of reductions in exports of fossil fuels.

The Australian
By: Matthew Franklin, Siobhain Ryan

Kevin Rudd will be asked to drastically lift Australia's reserves of natural forests and grasslands as part of its climate change solution in a bid to ease emissions cuts on industry as part of the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Prime Minister's climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut, yesterday urged Australia to lift its focus on retaining natural forests and grasslands in northern Australia as part of its climate change response.

The Courier-Mail
By: Richard Ingham

Scientists yesterday said they could no longer rule out a fast-track melting of the Greenland icesheet -- a prospect, once the preserve of doomsayers, that would see much of the world's coastline drowned by rising seas.

The researchers found that the great Laurentide icesheet which smothered much of North America during the last Ice Age melted far swifter than realised, dumping billions of tonnes of water into the ocean.

The Mercury
By: Peter Boyer

I don't know about you, but I enjoy being human, mixing with other humans. If talking and writing about climate has done one thing for me, it's been to emphasise how precious is this society in which I move, and from which I draw sustenance.

Among the things I enjoy most are the cut and thrust of our public debates in which we work out how we relate to each other and to our universe, and the wonderfully clever, imaginative ways we've found to express these ideas. And therein lie a paradox and a problem.