Summer heat: Crazy weather and even crazier climate politics

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Malcolm Turnbull is making energy security a “wedge issue”, particularly after the September blackout in South Australia. 

By JACKSON PECK,
environment editor

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk's recent offer to fix South Australia’s intermittent energy problem has raised the hopes of many who have become disillusioned with the standstill in Australian climate and energy policy.

The tech billionaire’s offer to install a battery storage farm within 100 days or it’s free topped off not only a bizarre few months of weather, but energy and climate politics too.

Now that summer is over, let’s take a look at the past few months of all things energy and climate to put Mr Musk’s offer in context.

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Twitter exchange between Elon Musk and Australian tech entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes. 

December

We started the month with news that the air above the Arctic was 20C warmer than usual and the sea temperature was 4C above average. The arctic sea ice was at its lowest ever recorded level for November.

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg announced his department would undertake a climate change review.

During an ABC interview, Mr Frydenberg said the government was considering an emissions intensity scheme (EIS) for the electricity sector to set a maximum amount of pollution that can come from this sector and make it more expensive to pollute.

An EIS is widely seen as the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions by experts and the business community. The Labor Party took an EIS to the election last year.

Just 36 hours after Mr Frydenberg’s interview, the government emphatically ruled out an EIS – highlighting the divisions within the Coalition over climate policy. Conservative Senator Cory Bernardi, who left the Liberal Party last month to start his own political party, called it the brief flirtation with the idea “one of the dumbest things I've heard in politics in recent times”.

Three days before Christmas, the Government quietly released data that revealed emissions had risen by 0.8 per cent in the year to June. Under current policies Australia won’t reach its emission reduction targets of 26 per cent to 28 per cent by 2030, despite commitments to reduce emissions under the Paris Agreement.

January

At the beginning of January, 2016 was confirmed as the hottest year on record, making it the third year in a row that a new maximum had been established. This in itself sets a 137-year record.

February

On February 8, 90,000 South Australian homes lost power for 45 minutes on a 42C day as the National Energy Market Operator tried to reduce electricity demand by shutting down different sections of the grid, known as “load shedding”. Power outages are particularly controversial in South Australia after a statewide blackout occurred in September last year. A couple of smaller outages have taken place since as the state struggled to ensure enough power is available, particularly during peak use times.

This week, the South Australian government has announced a dramatic $500 million plan to tackle this issue, including constructing a government-owned 250 megawatt gas power plant and Australia’s largest battery.

While Western Australia experienced its coldest summer day and its wettest summer, temperature records were broken all over NSW in mid-February. Residents of White Cliffs, a small town in the west of the state, slept through their hottest night ever with the temperature not dropping below 34.2C, while Penrith in western Sydney experienced its hottest day ever, reaching 46.9C.

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Bondi beach was packed when the temperature headed towards 40C on February 11. 

The recently released Climate Council report Angry Summer, details 205 records that were broken over the 90 days of summer, many of them in February. It was the hottest summer in Sydney, the hottest daytime temperature in Canberra and the hottest summer for mean temperature in Brisbane.

The extreme temperatures led to hundreds of fires burning across the state, wiping out a small town. An analysis found the heatwave leading to the fires was now twice as likely to occur because of climate change.

Around the same time, Treasurer Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal into Parliament and Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin admitted Labor’s so-called carbon tax wasn’t actually a carbon tax. It was framed that way by the Coalition to make the argument about money and not the environment.

"That was brutal retail politics, and it took Abbott six months to cut through and when he did cut through Gillard was gone," Ms Credlin told Sky News.

Mr Frydenberg expressed interest in changing the investment rules of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), a $10 billion green bank, to be able to invest in clean coal. This is despite experts warning that clean coal and low emission technology, would not allow Australia to reach its emissions targets and wouldn’t fit the profitability criteria of the CEFC.

March and beyond

The Climate Institute, one of Australia’s best known climate change thinktanks, will close in June due to an inability to attract enough funding.

Just last week an analysis revealed electricity prices are now double what they were under the carbon tax because policy uncertainty is affecting investment and gas prices are currently high. Origin Energy, despite being one of Australia’s largest electricity retailers, backed calls from the business community for an emissions intensity scheme on its sector, joining BHP Billiton, AGL Energy and National Farmers' Federation.

This year will be an important one for the environment and climate policy as more weather records are broken, US President Donald Trump axes domestic environmental legislation and may begin pulling out of international environmental agreements, and Australia’s climate politics are paralysed after 10 years of backflips. Given the dramatic events over the past few months, anything could happen.