Afleveringen

  • Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.

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    It's time to revive *US elections corner* at LMSU HQ and HOOOEEEEE there is a lot to say! Summerupperers, we could have spent the whole pod unpacking the various permutations of the makeup of Congress and its implications for climate policy. BUT, beyond Democracy Good, Demagogue Bad, a re-elected but weakened Biden may be relegated to Executive Actions and bedding down IRA and getting proposed EPA standards for cars, powerplants and oil and gas methane reduction up. Will it be enough? The spectre of a Trump 2.0 presidency would see the US withdraw from Paris again and completely remove climate considerations from all decision making to the extent possible. The wildly popular hurricane of carrots that is IRA may yet survive though.

    Our main paper

    Last week the Government released two papers relating to adaptation - the National Climate Risk Assessment : First Pass Assessment Report and the National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper. Your intrepid hosts are here for this culinary climate cabaret! We devoured the National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper, with a little First Pass Climate Risk Assessment amuse bouche!

    One more things

    Tennant’s One More Thing is “Indistinguishable From Magic” by Robert L Forward, a collection of mind-expanding essays and indescribably dreadful fiction on the frontiers of future science and engineering by an influential aeronautical engineer and physicist. Featuring incredible levels of energy inefficiency!

    Frankie’s One More Thing is a great episode of David Roberts’ US climate pod of note ‘Volts’ called “How’s IRA doing?”. It’s a cracking discussion with Trevor Houser of Rhodium Group unpacking data on how successful the IRA has been, two years into implementation.

    Luke’s One More Thing is to flag ongoing and significant work underway by Treasury and the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute on a regulatory regime for Climate Related Financial Disclosures - due to kick off this year! - and accompanying taxonomy for sustainable finance.

    And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

  • Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.

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    We get the ball rolling with some crystal ball gazing this week. Speculation is rife on just how ambitious Australia’s 2035 national emissions target will be and your intrepid hosts are far from immune to a spot of prognostication themselves! When and where will it land we ask? Ambitious states like Vic and QLD (!) suggest 75-80% ambition is supportable, and looking abroad with the EU potentially gunning for a 90% reduction on 1990 levels, A Big Number is very possible!

    Our main paper

    A Degrowther’s delight and a downright doozy which decries growth, marketing and pronatalism as the drivers of ecological overshoot in this week’s paper, World Scientists’ Warning: The behavioural crisis driving ecological overshoot by Joseph Merz, Phoebe Barnard, William Rees, Dane Smith, Mat Maroni, Christopher Rhodes, Julia Dederer, Nandita Bajaj, Michael Joy, Thomas Wiedmann, Rory Sutherland. Your intrepid hosts had much to say, and PLENTY to critique as the authors target runaway economic growth, marketers for manipulating the Easily Led Masses, neo-liberal feminists and Big Baby as the source of our woes. The solutions? Well, transitioning our energy system is a futile struggle. What we really need is a campaign of Widespread Behaviour Manipulation by
 the marketing industry. STRAP IN FOLKS, this one is a wild ride.

    One more things

    Tennant’s One More Thing is the provocative but sadly brief (and possibly bananas) “Food Without Agriculture”

    Frankie’s One More Thing is the just-announced changes to the Federal Coalition’s shadow ministry, with Melissa McIntosh MP appointed to the new role of Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability.

    Luke’s One More Thing is to pour one out for Katharine Murphy no longer being a (direct) contributor to our nation’s public debate. If you too are feeling nostalgic, head on back to Episode 7 ‘The last fire in the forest’ where Katharine joined us to talk about the Safeguard Mechanism and climate policy ghosts past, present and future!

    And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net

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  • Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our just-launched Patreon! Our hope is to make this passion project of ours a tad more sustainable. You can sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.

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    Your intrepid hosts have charged into 2024 and are serving you the hottest takes on the spiciest topics. It’s good to be back!

    We kick things off by recapping Big Thinkers Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims’ appearance at the National Press Club on 14 February where the duo presented some big think ideas on how Australia could acquire energy Superpower status. A Carbon Solutions Levy proposed on the carbon content of all fossil fuels produced in or imported to Australia would fund the Capacity Investment Scheme, building of new transmission and hydrogen pipelines and support early development in Superpower industries like processing iron, aluminium and other critical minerals for export. Is this a Deadpool/Wolverine bromance destined for critical success? Only time may tell!

    Our main paper

    The Australian Government’s hotly anticipated Cleaner, Cheaper to Run Cars: The Australian New Vehicle Efficiency Standard is out for consultation (you’ve got until March 4 people) and the scrutiny of your intrepid hosts. We have been talking about vehicle efficiency standards for donkeys’ years and the Government is keen to no longer be in a club with Russia as one of two advanced economies left without them. An ambitious timeline to see us converge with proposed (OR ARE THEY) US standards by 2028 would push a big uptick of EVs in new vehicle fleets but will it all be down to our ability to COMPLETE A GOVERNMENT IT PROJECT in time?

    One more things

    Tennant’s One More Thing is ex-Bloomberg New Energy Finance charts maven Nat Bullard has published his latest annual chart-a-thon on decarbonisation progress. It is a nerdy datafeast with loads that is positive, some provocative, and a sprinkling of grimness.

    Frankie’s One More Thing is the US EPA’s introduction of a Waste Emissions Charge for methane on oil and gas facilities that exceed specified thresholds. Combined with rule changes announced at COP28 as part of their Methane Emissions Reduction Program, provides a roadmap other signatories to the Global Methane Pledge could be getting on with!

    Luke’s One More Thing is riff on one of Garnaut's reflections in the Q&A following his press club address; governments of the past have taken on the task of making (and winning) the argument for doing Hard Things in the National Interest. It worked in the 1980s for microeconomic reform, can it work in the 2020s for climate policy?

    And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

  • Calling all Summerupperers! We’ve plunged into the partay pool of Patreon to make this passion project of ours a tad more sustainable. You can sign up to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp

    We launched Let Me Sum Up back in 2022 because we had a feeling we weren’t the only ones struggling to keep up with all the latest climate and energy papers and global goings on. We have loved every second of it and meeting many of you, our amazing listeners, who love the pod and have encouraged us to keep going.

    Your intrepid hosts also have busy day jobs and are also trying to do life with young families while we continue to devote time to reading and chatting about papers for y’all.

    We’re launching the Patreon to make the task of doing the pod more sustainable for us - and particularly Luke who has been editing the pod in his spare time since we started. Our initial hope is to get enough subscribers to cover the cost of hiring an editor. Oh No! Our plan for WORLD DOMINATION has been revealed!

    For those of you lovely folk who can afford to, signing up to be a Super Summerupperer will cost you AUD10/month and you’ll unlock access to exclusive subscriber-only episodes of the pod, copies of our copious notes on papers read, a chance to vote on what we should read and more coveted BoCo informed by you, our amazing listener community. Right this instant, over on Patreon, there is a bonus episode on the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap 2.0 for the listening pleasure of our Patreon supporters. You can sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp

    And NEVER FEAR! A standard, spectacular and entirely free episode of LMSU will be hitting your feed this Friday.

    Thanks for your support,

    Frankie, Luke and Tennant

  • By popular demand we are joined once more by marvelous guest host Alison Reeve to round out 2023 with our BUMPER HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR! That’s right Summerupperers, ‘tis the season for the Highly Anticipated and Much Sought After awarding of the second annual Wonkies! This year there were several contenders for top honours but your intrepid hosts have sent up the smoke signal and unanimously declared our favourite climate paper of 2023 was
DRUMROLL


    Getting off gas: why, how and who should pay? By Tony Wood, Alison Reeve and Esther Suckling of the Grattan Institute! This paper was covered in Episode 28 of the pod and your hosts noted the timeliness and influence the report has had since its release in June 2023 on the thorny issue of getting 5 million Australian households off fossil gas. Honourable mentions for our runners up go to “Rethinking markets, regulation and governance for the energy transition” by Dr Ron Ben-David (Episode 32), the Climate Change Authority’s “Reduce, remove and store: The role of carbon sequestration in accelerating Australia’s decarbonisation” (Episode 33) and Discounting the Distant Future: A Critique of the EPA’s Analysis of the Social Cost of Carbon’, by Geoffrey M. Heal, Noah Kaufman and Antony Millner at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy (Episode 27).

    Our climate-themed christmas cracker of a caper for you Summerupperers is the controversial and critically acclaimed How to Blow Up a Pipeline! An Ocean’s 11-esque heist movie in which the caper crew are a rainbow coalition of diverse young environmental activists, and the Big Score is to disable a crucial oil pipeline and strike a blow for the climate. Will they do it? Will they get away with it? And is that even the plan???

    You can watch it on Stan in Australia and also have a listen to this interview with the film’s director and co-writer on The Big Picture podcast.

    Frankie’s One More Thing is Alan Kohler’s quarterly essay The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It and admission of trash TV consumption: Yellowstone (apparently the stepping stone to true trashiness) + The Block.

    Tennant’s One More Things are Netflix trash show about upgrading trash (and not so trash) cars “Car Masters; Rust To Riches”, and non-trashy pop-sci book “A City On Mars” by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith.

    Alison’s One More Things are the quirky Aussie heist movie, Malcolm: the only movie you’ll ever see featuring a Melbourne tram as getaway vehicle, and Long Live Chainsaw a brilliant doco about the very short life and career of Canadian downhill mountain bike racer, Stevie Smith.

    Luke’s One More Things are the excellent, unabridged Tolkien audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis: The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King and The Silmarillion. Or if that’s all a bit 1950s high fantasy for you, try the Murderbot Diaires!

    And that’s all from us in 2023! We are taking a break in January but will be back with ever more reports to read in Feb 2024. In the meantime, happy holidays to all our wonderful Summerupperers. While you rest up, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers and climate-themed pop culture to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social

  • Continents apart and featuring LBM (Little Baby Muskovic) once more, your intrepid hosts dive into the eventful last few days of COP28 and swim around in the acronym soupy delight that is the first GST (Global Stocktake, not the pesky 10% tax). Fossil fuels? A transition away! Renewable energy? Triple ‘em! Energy efficiency? Double it! 1.5C? Is our North Star! Next round of NDCs? Parties better bring ‘em and make ‘em good! There is much to sum up here and we wanted to bring you Summeruperers the hottest of hot takes and so voila! Fresh out of the oven and off the plane from our journey home.

    Listen to our last episode where we summed up the first half of COP28, joined by special guest and climate reporter of note Dr Simon Evans from Carbon Brief. For bonus nerdery, read some of Tennant’s extensive notes on the majlis and watch walk n’ talk videos of us digesting the goings on as we stroll the COP venue at Dubai Expo City. And for dare we say it, even more backstory, jump in the delorean and listen to last year’s episode recorded at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

    This is our final substantive episode of 2023, but stay tuned for our holiday special, which will feature our second annual award for the best climate and energy paper, the Wonkies!

    Send your hot tips and suggestions for paper, climate themed movies and COP questions to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social

  • With the help of special guest and climate reporter of note Dr Simon Evans from Carbon Brief, your intrepid hosts sum up all the hot button issues from the first week of COP28. Global Stocktake! Tripling up on renewables! Doubling down on energy efficiency! Phase-down of fossil fuels! Phase-out of fossil fuels! Abated or Unabated! We cover it all, as well the vibe on the ground and around the pavilions, Team Australia’s presence at this COP (coffee diplomacy soldiers on) and wild speculation on the location of the next three (!) COPs.

    Listen to our last episode where we preview key issues on the agenda at COP28, and for even more context, jump in the delorean and listen to last year’s episode recorded at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

    You can find Dr Simon Evans on the site formerly known as Twitter and you can read Carbon Brief’s excellent article on why defining the ‘phaseout’ of ‘unabated’ fossil fuels at COP28 is so important.

    Tennant’s note about a bad LSE paper on the impacts of EU CBAM on Africa is here.

    And if you Summerupperers can’t get enough COP chat, check out our video updates as we roamed the grounds at COP during the first week here and here.

    Send your hot tips and suggestions for paper, climate themed movies and COP questions to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social.

  • Frankie is back from pod mat leave and Tennant is spruiking recipes from Dungeons & Dragons Heroes’ Feast Cookbooks! (Vol 1 and Vol 2). Pleasantries aside we dive in with our own stocktake of the first Global Stocktake on progress of the Paris Agreement towards achieving its purpose and long-term goals. Due to be discussed in Dubai at COP28 shortly, it’s an important if unsurprising summary of where we’re at: Paris has driven a lot of activity but we are not on track for 1.5C.

    And stay tuned for more COP news Sumerupperers as your intrepid hosts are departing for Dubai and will be dissecting all the deliberations for your delight!

    Our main paper

    Nuclear energy and its potential role in Australia’s future energy mix may be the hottest debate around. Enter, the Blueprint Institute, with their report, ‘The lowest cost net-zero grid: a critical analysis of nuclear energy in Australia.’ Authors Cross, D., Ouliaris, M., Williams, L., Poulton, C., and Lubberink, J contend there may be a small but significant role for small modular reactors (SMRs) to provide clean firming in a close-to-100% renewables grid. Your intrepid hosts unpack the ultra centrist but not super critical findings which suggest some low-to-no regrets measures we can take now in case the appallingly high costs come down post 2040.

    One more things

    Tennant’s One More Thing is (if you can believe it) CBAM news! The issues paper for the Government’s Carbon Leakage Review is out and Reed wants you to read it! His sneaky twofer is the recent Australia-Tuvalu climate & security treaty.

    Frankie’s One More Thing is another shout out for the Careers for Net Zero campaign. With two million workers needed for Australia’s transition there’s no time to waste if you’re net zero career curious - check it out!

    Luke’s One More Thing is visiting eminence Josephine Maguire from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland speaking on the SwitchedOn podcast about the mammoth job of running a one-stop-shop for home energy upgrades.

    And Frankie’s one more one more thing is a huge shout out to the marvellous Alison Reeve for her stellar run on LMSU the past couple of months! We are looking forward to Alison joining us for our Holiday Movie Special


    
 which we’re fission for ideas on! Send your hot tips on climate themed movies to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social, @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social.

  • Our starter is the Strategic Plan of the revived State Electricity Commission of Victoria. What are they up to? Much more than we expected! Large scale clean energy investment, taking on existing contracts for difference, getting into electrification, skills, and governance! No really, that last one might be the most controversial. Overall it’s very interesting and pretty positive, despite Tennant’s xenomorphic metaphors!

    Our main paper

    Residual emissions are the stuff that requires the Net in Net Zero - the emissions that can’t be (or, at least, aren’t) eliminated and have to be balanced by removals of carbon from the atmosphere through biological and/or engineered processes. Previously we covered a report on the scope of potential removals and one on the issues involved in Australian removals specifically. Now we consider a paper on how big residual emissions may be, based on the currently available Long Term Strategies submitted under the Paris Agreement: Why residual emissions matter right now - by Buck, Carton, Lund and Markusson.

    The authors tot up 51 published national strategies, including Australia’s very own late-2021 contribution (a rather more elaborate successor is now being developed). They find a rather high level of residuals; little specificity or consistency around their definition or presentation; and more residuals than the same nations’ land sectors are expected to be able to soak up. At best, a work in progress!

    One more things

    Tennant’s One More Thing is a speech on energy and net zero industry by the Federal Treasurer that foreshadows a big, but not just spendy, Superpower push in the 2024-25 Budget.

    Alison’s One More Thing is a fascinating transcript of a discussion on how the world navigates energy security, economic prosperity, and geopolitics through the period of cross-over between the decline of fossil fuels and the growth of renewables.Who are the winners and the losers are going to be? What are the prospects for various types of mineral-exporting countries? How does a world with terminally declining oil demand look?

    Luke’s One More Thing is an epic takedown of Integrated Assessment Models for a lay audience “When Idiot Savants do Climate Economics”.

    And Alison’s one more one more thing is: this is the last episode of her initial LMSU run! Frankie’s Podcast Mat Leave is coming to an end. But Alison will return when the stars are right (or the Holiday Movie Special looms)...

    Send all your residual paper suggestions and thoughts (after eliminating all the bad ones) to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social.

  • We start with a quick summary of the High Court of Australia’s decision in Vanderstock v Victoria, which struck down as unconstitutional the State of Victoria’s Distance Based Charge on Zero and Low Emissions Vehicles (aka the EV Tax). But we rapidly descend into an unqualified but compelling fiesta of legal speculation - is State-based EV taxation really dead, and what other unrelated taxes and charges might now be unsound?

    Our main paper

    More and more governments have been making use of Contracts for Difference as a tool of energy and climate policy - first to drive clean electricity generation investment, and now for hydrogen and low-emissions industry. These contracts guarantee project revenue per unit of output won’t fall below an agreed price. But who pays, and are any costs fairly distributed?

    A new paper from Tim Nelson and Tracey Dodd, Contracts-for-Difference: An assessment of social equity considerations in the renewable energy transition, provides a preliminary look based on applying hypothetical costs of the NSW variation on CFDs to hardship customer data from a major retailer. They think the results indicate current CFDs may be highly inequitable, putting the most cost on those least able to afford it. But are they right - and what is the whole picture of CFD impacts? We had thoughts!

    One more things

    Alison’s One More Thing is the CEFC’s annual report, featuring some big numbers (and big context) for the capital needed for clean industry.

    Tennant’s One More Thing is: “The momentum of the solar energy transition” by Nijsse et al, in Nature Communications - which offers updated Business As Usual projections for how the world’s energy systems would evolve without new policy.

    Luke’s One More Thing is the Careers for Net Zero Campaign, a big national effort to highlight the urgent need to ramp up the capability and capacity of the clean economy workforce – featuring our very own Francesca Muskovic!

    Equitably share the wealth of your thoughts and paper suggestions with [email protected] or @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve (or @tennantreed.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social for hipsters) and @FrankieMuskovic.

  • We begin with the highs and lows of the International Energy Agency’s updated 1.5 Degrees Scenario, which notes fast progress on scaleup of key technologies that is - just - compensating for slow progress on emissions reductions. IEA reckon 1.5 degrees is still possible without immense reliance on overshoot and net negative emissions; but there’s a big gap between what would be needed to achieve that and most economies’ current plans.

    Our main paper

    Benefit-cost analysis informs - and sometimes dictates - a lot of policy decisions about climate and energy, and how the sums are done really matters. In “Efficiency vs. Welfare in Benefit-Cost Analysis: The Case of Government Funding”, law professors and frequent Democratic administration officials Zachary Liscow and Cass Sunstein (coauthor of policy pageturner “Nudge”!) explain what’s up with a major Biden Administration rewrite of key guidance to public agencies.

    The new approach will re-target benefit cost analysis from prioritising economic efficiency to prizing overall welfare. This means either weighting costs and benefits by the incomes of the affected communities (since an extra dollar creates more welfare improvement for a poor person than a rich one), or averaging values across broader regions.

    Critics from the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis hate it! Liscow and Sunstein reckon it’s a great start that can produce much fairer and better decisions - including about climate adaptation.

    Will Australia end up taking these ideas on board? Will they survive the next US Administration? Why do our hosts disagree about rivers? Listen to find out!

    One more things

    Alison’s One More Thing is Margaret Cook’s history of floods in Brisbane, “A River With A City Problem”, soon due for a new edition covering all-new floods!

    Tennant’s One More Thing is the commencement of the EU’s path-breaking (for sure), WTO-respecting (they say) and delightfully kawaii (contested) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

    Luke’s One More Thing is a speech by AEMC Chair Anna Collyer that highlights the role of Consumer Energy Resources and of regulators in unlocking it - and maybe ripostes the critique of Ron Ben-David?

    Don’t weigh any costs or benefits before sending your thoughts and paper suggestions to [email protected] or @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve (or @tennantreed.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social for hipsters) and @FrankieMuskovic.

  • This satisfyingly hourlong episode (you’re welcome) starts with a discussion of the United Kingdom’s recent reset of climate policies, which PM Rishi Sunak casts as a “more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach” to Net Zero, and others decry as a mix of backsliding on things that matter and cancellation of things that weren’t even proposed.* Is this a sign of things to come?

    Maybe, say the (prescient? Or simply well-hedged?) authors of



    Our main paper

    
 “No Time To Lose: New Scenario Narratives for Action on Climate Change” by Mark Cliffe and teams from the University of Exeter and the Universities Superannuation Scheme. This takes the shortcomings of Integrated Assessment Models familiar from previous episodes such as Episode 6 (“An orange, a picture of an apple and a mandarine shaped eraser: Critiquing Integrated Assessment Models”), notes that IAMs remain fundamental to well-intentioned efforts to understand the future such as the Network for Greening the Financial System, and sets out the beginnings of a different approach.

    New scenarios, focussed not on climate change to 2050 but on extreme weather and the politics and economics of climate and energy to 2030, aim to provide a greater spread of relevant possibilities and provide decision-relevant information. But do they succeed? Opinions differ!

    Three cited examples of differing paradigms for prognostication are:

    The Rupert Way et al simple abstract world energy system model included in The Oxford Learning Rates Paper we keep banging on about (originally in Episode 11)Absurdly complex and bug-riddled simulationism like wonderful nerdy videogame Dwarf FortressThe ultimate prediction science of Psychohistory in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels


    One more things

    Alison’s One More Thing is the National Electricity Law, which has recently been amended to include an emissions reduction objective at s7(c) of the Schedule. Now to flesh out how that will be reflected in decisionmaking


    Tennant’s One More Thing is the Victorian Renewable Gas Consultation Paper, open for submissions til 6 October.

    Luke’s One More Thing is a video game called Umurangi Generation, in which cyberpunk and anime aesthetics collide with a landscape shaped by climate disaster. Available on Steam, and discussed in another podcast!

    What could possibly top all that, perspicacious Summerupperers? Find out next time - or tell us yourself via [email protected] or @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic.

    *PS: we realised after recording that Alison referred to ULEV (ultra-low emission vehicle) instead of ULEZ (ultra-low emissions zone) in our opening segment on the Great British Back Off. ULEZ is correct. It’s hard enough to keep the Australian acronyms straight some days, let alone the British ones.

  • Newly informed and inspired by generous listener survey responses, LMSU bullseyes the 1 hour median YOU demanded! That’s the power of data.

    Carbon Leakage Corner:

    This ep we start with the Australian Government’s Carbon Leakage Review, which has found its supreme commander in the form of universally respected ANU boffin Prof Frank Jotzo. Somehow Tennant discusses this without CBAM taking over the whole episode.

    Our main paper:

    
 is the Climate Change Authority’s April 2023 “Reduce, remove and store: The role of carbon sequestration in accelerating Australia’s decarbonisation”

    It’s a thought provoking one with plenty of policy ideas for lifting the quality, readiness and deployment of sequestration without de-prioritising emissions cuts. And it marks an evolution in CCA thinking beyond the old paradigm of “a tonne is a tonne”.

    đŸŽ¶ A lot of T’s and C’s apply, as DACCS goes by...đŸŽ¶

    You may want to pre-listen to Episode 18 of LMSU, on 'The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal' global report, which sets out a lot of the science and problems to which the CCA is providing policy responses.

    One more things:

    Alison’s One More Thing is an ill wind that blows no good in the UK

    Tennant’s One More Thing is the 7th Australia-China High-Level Dialogue

    Luke’s One More Thing is Ron Ben-David’s latest paper - a selection of more specific solutions to the issues with Australian energy market governance raised last episode by the Notorious RBD. Plus a handy write up of both by Ben Potter in the Fin!

    Another episode sequestered, but for how long? Watch for podcast leakage, vigilant Summerupperers, and send further thoughts and papers to [email protected] or via @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic.

  • Frankie’s maternity leave is well underway (it’s a girl!) meaning a new host graciously filling in (Alison Reeve) and a new shownote-writer rather less graciously filling in (Tennant).

    After briefly speculating on the virtues of peak energy nerd board game Power Grid (none of us have played it, but we hear good things!) we make a fresh listener appeal: tell us how we’re doing with the podcast and what you want, including shorter/longer episodes and more/less energy/Dungeons & Dragons crossover content, in our quick and easy survey. You’ll be glad you did!

    Then it’s a quick tour of the climate bits of the 2023 Intergenerational Report (IGR). Treasury’s latest take on the fiscal long term view has much more to say about climate than ever before. But is it any good?

    Our main paper this time is “Rethinking markets, regulation and governance for the energy transition” by Dr Ron Ben-David, arch-econocrat, ex-head of the Victorian Essential Services Commission, original-recipe NEM contributor, and deep thinker on markets and regulation. The Notorious RBD now reckons our whole energy market design and associated regulatory and governance structures are increasingly unsound given the move from a steady-state energy system to massive transition. He offers a lot of energy policy provocations, a dash of literary reference and a splash of AI conspiracy. Well worth a read as well as a listen!

    Tennant’s One More Thing is the tiny deckbuilding videogame Green New Deal Simulator by Paolo Pedercini - get it for free on iOS, Android or Steam and get ready to chortle (or bristle) at the policy judgments embedded in its simple game mechanics!

    Alison’s One More Thing is the 19th anniversary of Australian jurisdictions’ agreement to introduce mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency of residential property at the time of sale or lease. But PSYCH! because only the ACT has got around to doing this. So far!

    Luke’s One More Thing is the NSW response to Victoria’s statewide decision to end new residential gas connections starting in 2024: The Premier says nope, won’t follow; but several councils say “yep, we’re doing our own thing.” A seamless national economy in the making!

    And that’s the episode that was, beloved Summerupperers! Keep circulating the policy papers, or at least emailing them to

    [email protected], and xeeting further thoughts at us via @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and - if new baby permits time to scroll X: The Everything App - @FrankieMuskovic

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  • It’s GAS CRISIS CORNER redux this week and so 2022 as European gas markets were seriously spooked. Russia? Nyet this time! In fact a response to developments far closer to home with potential industrial action at WA offshore LNG plants owned by Chevron and Woodside driving prices up by 40%. Yikes! With these plants collectively responsible for over 10% of global gas exports your intrepid hosts wondered whether the diversification juggernaut could be coming for Oz LNG. We shall see.

    GenCost or GenCON? That is the question Sumerupperers as An Honest Broker, A Cleanskin and An Ultra Centrist unpack the latest annual offering from CSIRO and AEMO in GenCost 2022-23: annual electricity cost estimates for Australia. We’ll let you find out which one of us claims to be the Honest Broker as we chat through the latest cost estimates for all the technologies (inflation impacts inbound!) and just why this annual affair always attracts antagonists keen to weaponise Levelised Costs of Energy.

    Tennant’s One More Thing is a recount of T. Reed’s Day Off with a recent escapade to an AGL Loy Yang A Energy Hub event and again manages a sneaky twofer in confirming the exciting prospect of previously purported room temperature superconductor LK-99 is in fact, not one.

    Luke’s One More Thing is a PSA for an awesome little outfit Psychology For a Safe Climate, dedicated to supporting people facing the reality of climate change. Focused on supporting mental health and wellbeing, we thoroughly commend their resources to refill your cup.

    Frankie’s One More Thing is her last One More Thing for a while! Off to birth a tiny human, Frankie dons her Global VP of Marketing and Extortion hat to IMPLORE YOU, our dear Summeruppers, to help us make the pod the best it can be by filling out this EXTREMELY SHORT AND PAINLESS SURVEY. REALLY WE PROMISE, THIS WON’T HURT A BIT. Please and thank you!

    And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

  • FLAMING HOT news out of Victoria – the State Government’s announcement of a ban on planning permits for gas connections to new homes from 1 Jan 2024 – had your intrepid hosts speculating on whether this is indeed the beginning of the end for domestic gas use in Australia. A big call but consensus was that this is an inflection point!

    And that wasn’t the only news to share with our Summeruppers this week. Dun dun DUNNNN!! It turns out that in addition to recording the occasional pod with Luke and Tennant, Frankie has been growing a tiny human who is about to make their debut! While Frankie will be taking a short break from the pod, we are delighted to announce that Luke and Tennant will not be left unsupervised and will be joined by friend of the pod, climate maven and lovely human-to-boot Alison Reeve. Welcome to the LMSU gang Alison!

    This week your intrepid hosts DIG DEEP to unearth the state of the world’s critical minerals through the International Energy Agency’s inaugural Critical Minerals Market Review 2023. Lithium, nickel, cobalt oh my - there’s something for everyone in this report, including HUUUGE opportunities for Australia. But not according to everyone. The Productivity Commission remains unconvinced. That didn’t stop Tennant from upping his meme game and finding a way to make this also about CBAM. Because ALL ROADS LEAD TO CBAM.

    Tennant’s One More Thing was actually Two More Things: a reflection on the highs and lows of his recent trip to Darwin for the Developing Northern Australia Conference, followed some excited speculation on a paper claiming discovery of a room-temperature, normal-pressure superconductor. Is it legit? We’ll see!

    Frankie’s One More Thing is Chris Bowen’s announcement the government will develop six sectoral plans as part of the long awaited One-Net-Zero-Plan-to-Rule-Them-All. Due by the end of 2024 they will be delivered with the hotly anticipated 2035 interim target. Watch this space.

    Luke’s One More Thing is a plug for his other pod (outrageous isn’t it) First Fuel in which he unpacks all things ELECTRIFICATION with the guru of gurus Jan Rosenow. Get it in your ears NOW people!

    And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

  • In this week’s very special episode, your intrepid hosts eschew the usual compilation of current climate affairs (it’s not like much is happening anyway) and jump into the LMSU DeLorean to time warp our way back to 1965 USA where the ties are paisley, the clothes psychedelically tie-dyed and the climate science prescient (albeit mostly being done by a bunch of white guys).

    For this week’s paper we present to you Summerupperers a veritable rolled gold classic climate paper, ‘Restoring the Quality of Our Environment - Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel’ from the President’s Science Advisory Council, commissioned by then US President Lyndon B. Johnson. Delving specifically into Appendix Y4, ‘Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide’ this is a truly seminal paper that invokes the earliest use of the term ‘climatic change’, sets out the emerging science around increasing CO2 which had only recently started to be accurately measured, and puts it on the radar of a national government for the first time.

    We certainly had some thoughts on the things the paper did and didn’t say and even wondered what we would have done had we been given the chance to brief LBJ on climate change in 1965 (hint, check out our LMSU Holiday Special 2022: Don’t Sum Up). We heartily commend this paper to you Summeruppers, unearthed by Tennant from the excellent website Skeptical Science.

    We always have One More Thing to say and Luke gave a shout out to a paper that was mentioned (but then forthcoming) in this week’s paper from the US Weather Bureau that promised more advanced climate modelling that confirmed and built on thrust of what the President’s Science Advisory Council had to say in 1965.

    And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

  • We start this week’s show with Tennant taking on tech titan Elon Musk by combining his two great two loves in SPREADSHEETS and SPACE to cast some serious shade on Musk’s plans around Mars colonisation, with hot takes on implications for Hydrogen along the way.

    Your intrepid hosts also revisit the latest quarterly update from the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Dec 2022 and try as Frankie might to induce sleepiness a la BBC shipping forecast readouts with the numbers, no dice! TLDR: emissions reduction flatlined and there is cause for concern that the rollout of energy transition infrastructure is nowhere near fast enough! And what about our friendly neighborhood Cinderella, Energy Efficiency? Not getting enough attention.

    Our deep dive this week is a GAS! We unpack the hot-off-the-press Grattan Institute report ‘Getting off gas: why, how, and who should pay?’ brought to us by authors Tony Wood, Alison Reeve and Esther Suckling. We had many things to say on the report’s many insights and recommendations! If this paper piques your interest, you are likely to find these golden nuggets in our back catalogue diverting:

    On the future of gas in the EU - “EU academy adjudicates hydrogen vs. electrification smackdown!”On learning rates - “Ka-ching! Act now for huge learning rate savings!”On gas transition in Australia - “Infrastructure Victoria presents: A Very December 2021 Gas Report”On transport of hydrogen - “Elementary, my dear IRENA: Hydrogen transport”

    Frankie’s One More Thing is offsets redux! Revisiting the subject of our second ever episode, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative have finally finalised and launched their Claims Code of Practice.

    Tennant’s One More Thing is: are clean trade negotiations between EU and US on brink of collapse? With some content harking back to our episode on Climate Clubs, the approach to encourage clean steel and aluminium from the US has received a not-so-friendly reception from the EU. Where to from here? Hopefully not a trade war!

    Luke’s One More Thing is the most recent two episodes from one of our favourite podcasts, Origin Story, which takes on climate change denial. Reminiscent of some great writing on the topic (Merchants of Doubt, anyone?) get both Part One and Part Two of this double barrelled delight in our ears ASAP.

    And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

  • Summerupperers, it’s our birrrrtthday and we want to say a giant THANK YOU for listening this past year we’ve been in your ears! You're the reason we started this crazy podcasting adventure - we wanted to create a supportive space for all the climate professionals out there who pour so much of themselves into their work and passion for climate action, and it’s been a genuine delight to meet many of you in person at the various goings on since we launched the pod.

    Now down to business in Bonn. Specifically, the Bonn Climate Conference, an important milestone in the lead up to COP28 to be hosted in the UAE later this year. What happened there? Arguments abounded on the agenda for COP28, from climate finance redux to concern over a lack of further ambition on mitigation efforts. And there was the pushback against COP28 President Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber for running an oil company, and THEN there was pushback to the pushback when said President voiced language about “phase down of unabated fossil fuels” being inevitable!

    This week’s deep dive delves into the depths of DISCOUNT RATES! A compact but dense and chewy delight,‘Discounting the Distant Future: A Critique of the EPA’s Analysis of the Social Cost of Carbon’, is brought to us by Geoffrey M. Heal, Noah Kaufman and Antony Millner at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. This paper had your intrepid hosts debating the merits of descriptive vs ethical approaches and let’s just say there are no easy answers but plenty of numbers.

    If this paper piques your interest, Episode 6 in our back catalogue, ‘An orange, a picture of an apple and a mandarine shaped eraser’: Critiquing Integrated Assessment Models’ is a doozy.

    Frankie’s One More Thing is to alert you to the many brilliant and freely available talks from philosopher Michael Sandel (quoted in this week’s paper) including this BBC special on Should the Rich World Pay for Climate Change?, his first year Harvard course Justice, and this great talk on the moral limit of markets.

    Tennant’s One More Thing is the slamming of a paper on the impact of the EU CBAM on Africa. Tennant really, really didn’t like this paper. So much so that he was driven to engage in the brave, new (for one T Reed) world of LinkedIn to write a blistering takedown of said paper. This is NOT the one his cat deleted.

    Luke’s One More Thing is a plug for the latest from irreverent Aussie energy newsletter Currently Speaking on a very important issue occupying the minds of many (any?) climate aficionados. That is, how DO you pronounce AEMO? Read their exclusive investigation here.

    And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

  • Is the recently announced Australia-US Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact going to mean Australia gets to ride the wave of the subsidy superbonanza Inflation Reduction Act rather than get dumped by it? Perhaps too soon to tell, but your intrepid hosts can always be relied on for a hot take!

    *Shirtfranking with Frontie* includes a PSA for the very excellent app for ethical brand ratings, Good On You, and a rundown on known forced labour and modern slavery risks in cotton t-shirt supply chains. And because all roads lead to climate chat on this pod, there is an intersection with the manufacture of solar panels. Of course there is

    This week’s deep dive is a GAS! Specifically, ‘The Future of Gas’, according to the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC). This paper found us heavily referencing our back catalogue (but neglecting to actually properly point to the episodes), so newer Summerupperers might want to check out these gems:

    On GWP20 v GWP100 - “Measure twice, cut nunce? Tackling methane from Aussie coal mines”On learning rates - “Ka-ching! Act now for huge learning rate savings!”On gas transition in Australia - “Infrastructure Victoria presents: A Very December 2021 Gas Report”On transport of hydrogen - “Elementary, my dear IRENA: Hydrogen transport”

    Frankie’s One More Thing is the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis article on the latest cost estimates of the small modular nuclear reactor from NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems. Hint: it’s gotten *way* more exxy, mostly due to construction supply chain cost increases. Prediction: it won’t be the last cost increase!

    Tennant’s One More Thing is “Victoria’s 2035 Climate Action Target: Driving Growth And Prosperity”, the final report from the independent expert panel that recommended a 2035 target of an 80% emissions reduction on 2005 levels for Victoria. Hat tip to Tennant who served on the panel and to the Victorian Government for adopting their recommended target!

    Luke’s One More Thing is the smorgasbord of climate stars who visited Australian shores to participate in the Energy Efficiency Council’s recent National Conference. Hear from heat pump aficionado Jan Rosenow by revisiting his appearance on ABC Radio doing energy technology: hot or not? And Jacques Morris from the UK’s Transition plan Task Force talking net zero transition plans at an Australian Sustainable Finance Institute event. Oh and Rob Murray-Leach's literal swan song at the Conference's Gala dinner after 14 years at the Energy Efficiency Council. We'll miss you Rob!

    And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].