Tony Abbott Branded ‘Climate Denier’ After Carbon Trading Tirade

Last updated on 15 July 2013, 8:11 am A summary of today’s top climate and clean energy stories. Email the team on info@rtcc.org or get in touch via Twitter. Tony Abbott has branded emissions trading as dealing in an “invisible substance”, carbon dioxide. (Source: Liberal Party) Australia: Opposition leader Tony Abbott has branded emissions trading a “so-called market” that deals in an “invisible substance”, carbon dioxide, as the Coalition digs in politically ahead of Labor’s looming overhaul of its clean energy package. ( Guardian ) Poland: Poland’s shale gas business is facing a serious challenge after the EU’s highest court, European Court of Justice, ruled that Warsaw violated European law by allowing licences to be issued for the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons, without fully open tenders. This affects around 100 shale gas exploration licences issued by Warsaw to firms believed to be in breach of the EU’s Hydrocarbon Directive. ( EurActiv ) UK: The government may be promoting the controversial practice of fracking for gas shale because figures from that industry hold senior advisory roles within the government, campaigners have warned. The former BP boss Lord Browne, Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw and BG Group director Baroness Hogg have all been accused of the potential for conflicts of interest. ( Independent ) Germany: The European Union is planning an investigation into Germany’s renewable energy law due to concerns that exemptions for some firms from charges levied on power users breaches competition rules. Lawyers in Brussels are rumoured to have been looking at the law which provides a framework for Germany’s push to renewable energy, and that Commissioner Joaquín Almunia had concluded it may breach EU rules. ( EurActiv ) China: China’s electricity consumption, used a barometer of economic activity, rose 6.3% year on year to 438.4 billion kilowatt hours in June, an official statement said Sunday. The National Energy Administration said that the growth rate was 2% higher than a year earlier and 1.3% points higher than in May. ( Xinhuanet ) China/Australia: A new research programme has been announced which will see Chinese and Australian researchers working together to confront the challenges of climate change policy. The $305,000 programme will be run by the Australian National University’s (ANU) and led by Associate Professor Frank Jotzo of the School’s Centre for Climate Economics and Policy. ( PS News ) Pakistan: Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to inaugurate Pakistan’s first private hydropower project in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, on Monday to be registered with the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate as a clean mechanism development project. The 84MW project is expected to replace 135,000 tons of oil import valued in excess of $100 million per annum. ( News Tribe ) Czech Republic: A new unique station near Bystrice nad Pernstejnem will examine the impact that expected climate changes will have on wheat and barley. The station, built with the EU’s financial support, consists of 24 automatically controlled chambers similar to greenhouses that enable researchers to simulate different climate phenomena which experts expect to develop in the Czech Republic in the next hundred years. ( Prague Monitor ) – See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/…h.aCxubGOy.dpuf Taylor Scott International