Sustainability

New Zealand begins negotiations with four other small nations on trade agreement to remove tariffs on environmental goods, such as solar PV, and eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. The deal would be a world’s first, and another example of the confidence boost New Zealand enjoys during the Rugby World Cup.

Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian Corp, has used the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York to announce plans to help fund the ambitious 10 GW, $20 billion, Sun Cable Project in the Northern Territory (NT).

Australia’s chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel continues to voice his support for some modicum of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Australia’s hydrogen future, providing a lifeline to fossil fuel producers. While Finkel’s argument holds some water, it holds nowhere near enough water to produce a hydrogen economy. 

The Australian Space Agency (ASA) has joined the next generation, or rather this generation, space race, between the U.S. and China. A $150 million investment from the Morrison Government into the ASA will see Australia partner with NASA on its next sustainable exploratory missions.

ANZ has become the latest Australian signatory of The Climate Group’s RE100 initiative, joining a growing pool of businesses in the global transition to a zero carbon grid.

South Australia is looking to leverage its wind, sun, land, infrastructure and skills to be a world-class renewable hydrogen supplier.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is allocating $460,500 in funding to investigate opportunities for using renewables in process heating in manufacturing.

The Northern Territory (NT) Labor Government has launched its draft Climate Change Response, a comprehensive and informed plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The NT is looking particularly to solar, as “Solar is the cheapest form of new electricity generation, and the NT has one of the best solar resources in the world.”

Electricity retailer Powershop is encouraging the uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs) with the introduction of a “Super Off-Peak Tariff”, a way for EV owners with smart meters to charge their vehicles at a reduced rate.

Redflow has won a significant order of its ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries for mobile phone tower sites across South Africa in a deal which should see the Australian energy storage company receive revenue this calendar year.