November 2024

CONTENTS – Earth’s ‘vital signs’ show humanity’s future in balance, say climate
experts – Five main takeaways from the Global Commission on the Economics of
Water Report, October 2024 – Extracts from IEA World Energy Outlook 2024 Executive Summary – Extracts from Energy Source & Distribution Magazine, Sep/Oct 2024 – Reducing climate emissions from farm livestock – Energy-saving coffee concrete makes major project debut – Deakin launches hydrogen R&D hub in Warrnambool – Amid Australia’s chaotic climate politics, the rooftop solar boom is an unlikely triumph – First Dog on the Moon, 11 October 2024.

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Submission in response to the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill 2024

This submission relates to the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill, on which public submissions opened on 26 September 2024. ESR very strongly recommend that the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration not be removed. Instead, we need to be taking very rapid action to reduce our emissions by moving away from the use of fossil fuels.

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September 2024

CONTENTS – A history of the human mind – What is degrowth and can it save the planet? – News items from Reuters Sustainable Switch, August 2024 – Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. – Submission on the second emissions reduction plan consultation, 26/08/2024 – National Land Transport Programme 2024-27

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August 2024

This newsletter includes potential new uses of wood; a process for potentially reducing cement emissions; a process which could reduce green hydrogen production costs; a new catalyst for efficiently converting ammonia to hydrogen etc.; converting trucks from diesel to hydrogen combustion; and Danish measures to reduce methane emissions and make its agricultural sector more sustainable. It ends with a reminder of the impacts of the climate crisis on the world’s oceans.

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Watch video: A perspective on New Zealand’s climate change policies

The policy problem of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is not simple. For most people the official numbers are confusing and the policy architecture is obscure. Speaker Geoff Bertram gets both of those into perspective and shines a spotlight on Aotearoa/New Zealand’s Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, focusing in particular on the accounting procedures that New Zealand has used to over-state its performance since 1990.

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Submission in response to proposed changes to NZ Emissions Trading Regulations 2024

In this submission the primary points we cover are steps that can be taken to improve the way the ETS operates, so that it becomes a lot more effective and capable of meeting the
urgent need to reduce our emissions. The possibility of replacing the current ETS with a
simple carbon tax is also covered.
Two other key points we cover are first the need for greater clarity in our net emissions measurements, and second the strong case for introducing a citizen’s dividend, funded from the revenue the Government receives from carbon charges, to compensate people for the rising costs of goods and services that will result from carbon charge increases.

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