Report finds GreenPower market improves; other companies still misleading consumers about renewable energy products

A report by the Total Environment Centre, Australian Conservation Fund and World Wildlife Fund Australia found that the GreenPower market – government-accredited new, renewable energy sourced from wind, water, waste or the sun – had improved in recent years, but some companies were still misleading consumers about the products they sold, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (8/10/2007, p. 8).

Kangaroo burgers can save the planet: switch from beef cuts GHGs by 12mt, says UNSW report

A report by the director of the sustainability centre at the University of NSW, Mark Diesendorf, said a 30 per cent reduction in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 was achievable but would need both energy efficiency and renewable energy measures, as well as a change of diet, wrote Mathew Murphy in The Age (11/10/2007, p.B1).

National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007: all-powerful Commonwealth reporting power could potentially usurp or marginalise state laws and programs

Speaking on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007, on 20 September 2007, Penny Wong, Senator for South Australia, said the bill established a single national framework for reporting greenhouse gas emissions, emission reduction actions, and energy consumption and production by corporations from 1 July 2008.

Fledgling Climate Change Coalition runs high-profile candidates from industry and science in WA, NSW

A former BHP Billiton executive would run for the fledgling Climate Change Coalition (CCC) on the West Australian Senate ticket, bolstering the profile of a party aiming to capitalise on growing concern about global warming, reported The Australian Financial Review (10/10/2007, p.4).

Eco-Carbons to convert cereal-grain ‘seconds’, husks, fruit stones, nut shells, even straw, into renewable energy

A pilot factory based in Gunnedah, NSW, and perhaps a second unit in Toowoomba, Queensland, could spearhead the emergence of an industrial process able to turn farm wastes into charcoal beads, providing a new source of renewable energy, wrote Graham Fuller in Queensland Country Life (4/10/2007, p.23).

Tough going in Australian courts for environmental campaigners: judges take limited view of scope for review of administrative decisions

According to Marcus Priest, in Australia climate change litigation had been limited to planning matters and there had been no nuisance or negligence claims, reported The Australian Financial Review (5/10/2007, p. 59).

152 Acts (States) versus 19 Acts (Commonwealth) since 1986: Australian constitution leaves the States with the major responsibility for environmental law

In the past 20 years, environmental legislation had become increasingly complex and there was an ever increasing number of environmental laws at all levels of government, according to a NSW Business Chamber study into the effect of environmental law on business.

WA landowners face charges for alleged illegal land clearing of more than 470ha of bush

Three Western Australian landowners faced charges for alleged illegal land clear­ing of more than 470ha of bush, reported Farm Weekly, (27/9/2007, p.15).

Canadian farmers paid for not tilling soil; not yet possible in Australia since no mechanism for non-permanent carbon trading

Canadian farmers were starting to be rewarded for providing environmental services to the world. The Chicago Climate Exchange was paying no-till farmers for the carbon they stored in the soil as a result of the cropping management they employed, reported Farm Weekly (20/9/2007, p.29).

UNEP sponsors talks on including ecosystem services in “avoided deforestation” regime; aims to establish avoided deforestation as part of voluntary and regulated markets for CO2 dumps

Deforestation accounted for 20 to 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and was a primary cause of biodiversity loss world wide, according to the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention at its Second Meeting, 9-13 July 2007, in Paris, France, which was devoted to developing International Payments for Ecosystem Services (IPES).