Australia’s secret carbon market is “live” — costs about $7m for the Emissions Trading Scheme we voted against

The first year’s data is out — Australia’s secret Emissions Trading Scheme is up and running, it’s small, inefficient, and pointless, but all the government needs to do is raise those caps, and the carbon trading monster octopus could wrap around on half our economy.

Australian carbon credits are for sale (called ACCU’s), the price was $14-$18 and the total volume was probably around $7 million. This supposed tiny “free market” marvel could not even match the $11/ton price that Abbott’s direct auctions achieved — proving yet again how inefficient economy-wide incentive schemes on essential molecules are. If the caps were raised the price would rocket. (Remember Labor’s carbon price ended up being $5310 per ton.)

What do you mean, you didn’t know Australia had a carbon credit market?

Obviously, you havent been spending your weekends reading the finer points of our legislative instruments. The legislation for this was voted on in the last sitting of Parliament before Christmas of 2015 while Turnbull was a new PM. There was no public debate, no parliamentary discussion and no news coverage of it til May the next year, and it was barely covered at all during the election which occurred the day after this “market” started. For some reason Turnbull didn’t brag about his master success — achieving what Rudd and Gillard failed to do. This is because he is a self-effacing and humble man … or maybe he knew his voters hated it, and he hoped to deceive them.

The Press Release from the Carbon Market Institute, this week:

Safeguard Mechanism Reboots Australia’s Carbon Market

Data released on Wednesday by the Clean Energy Regulator indicates that under the first year of the Government’s ERF Safeguard Mechanism sixteen facilities have exceeded emissions limits, collectively surrendering 448,097 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to meet compliance obligations.

“Today’s announcement by the Clean Energy Regulator clearly indicates that Australia has a functioning carbon market,” says Peter Castellas, Chief Executive Officer of the Carbon Market Institute.

 “Companies that had a liability under the Safeguard Mechanism were able to purchase ACCUs directly from project developers or on the secondary market – and the market was able to meet supply,” says Castellas.

 Ben Potter of The Fin Review put some numbers on the carbon price

About a dozen large emitters caught by the safeguard had to buy an estimated 400,000-450,000 tonnes of Australian Carbon Credit Units, pushing the price to $17-18/T as the 28 February deadline for compliance approached. Most of the trade was in the $14-15/T region.

Potter’s article mentions Tony Abbott fully ten times — slavishly trying to pin this as an Abbott creation. The legislation was drafted two weeks before Abbott was ousted. Was Abbott even aware of the details — would he have allowed this to go through to be voted on? (It would be nice to get clarification on this.) Abbott certainly didn’t want this, and we have Gore and Clive Palmer to thank for it.

Coming next — International Credits — Australians to pay money to foreigners for atmospheric nullity

This market appears to be Australian credits only, but the government made it clear they want to accept international credits next. You didn’t know? That news was also released just before Christmas (when all poison news is announced). International carbon markets are loved by large financial houses like Goldman Sachs, and Deutsch Bank who broker the deals. They also serve supranational unaccountable large governmental bodies like The World Bank and the UN.

Turnbull is not called The Member for Goldman Sachs for nothing. Who does he serve?

Whatever you do, don’t tell the voters

Australians voted emphatically against carbon taxes and carbon markets in two elections. Abbott won a landslide 90 seats with a blood oath in 2013. Then Turnbull ran, didn’t mention his carbon-desires, and barely scraped in. Elections turn on this issue. Gillard would have lost in 2010 if she hadn’t lied about a carbon tax (she only won by 400 votes in Corangamite). Would Turnbull have lost in 2016 if it was an election topic? He easily could have, but even if he didn’t — in a transparent campaign he would have been forced to make some public promises or vows. At the very least, minor parties would have grabbed more power as the Liberal base fled, and Turnbull would have had to make deals with them to form government.

Democracy is not supposed to work by keeping voters in the dark.

Who wants a fake, unfree carbon maket?

Some things were never meant to be in a free market — like basic molecules of life. To recap on the features of a “carbon price”: — The government sets supply and demand and enforces it with threats of jail. This is as fake and unfree as it gets.

The players in a carbon market include “every living thing” on the planet plus oceans, dead peat and some rocks. Most players can’t play, and the product is based on the absence of an invisible gas, and sometimes even the “intentions” of the players. Accounting is nigh on impossible  — we still don’t even know all the big drivers of natural emissions and sinks.

Like all markets that were never meant to be, carbon markets feed crime and corruption, fraud, and financial sharks. It’s prone to cronyism where exemptions are granted according to marginal seat status or the whim of a politician. Australia needs one like we need a massage from the mafia.

The Press Release from the Carbon Market Institute, 14th March, 2018

Safeguard Mechanism Reboots Australia’s Carbon Market

Data released on Wednesday by the Clean Energy Regulator indicates that under the first year of the Government’s ERF Safeguard Mechanism sixteen facilities have exceeded emissions limits, collectively surrendering 448,097 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to meet compliance obligations.

“Today’s announcement by the Clean Energy Regulator clearly indicates that Australia has a functioning carbon market,” says Peter Castellas, Chief Executive Officer of the Carbon Market Institute.

 “Companies that had a liability under the Safeguard Mechanism were able to purchase ACCUs directly from project developers or on the secondary market – and the market was able to meet supply,” says Castellas.

The Safeguard facility reported emissions data for the first year of the Safeguard’s operation to 30th June 2017, shows that of the 154 responsible emitters covered by the Government’s Safeguard Mechanism, sixteen facilities emitted higher CO2-e levels than permitted by their legislated baselines, and so engaged in carbon market activity to purchase and retire ACCUs to acquit their respective liabilities by the 28th February 2018 deadline. This first compliance and reporting period has seen 100% compliance by responsible emitters.

Companies need to be warned, worse is coming:

“This successful carbon market trading under the first year of the safeguard mechanism augers well for a time when the demand for carbon credits increases. Safeguard Mechanism baselines will inevitably have to decline if we are to meet below business as usual emissions required under Australia’s Paris Agreement commitments,” says Castellas.

“The Safeguard Mechanism in its current form was not expected to result in a liability for covered entities. I think the data released today will alert many large greenhouse gas-emitting companies to existing climate risks, and that they are going to increasingly need to look at a carbon liability hedging strategy in anticipation of Safeguard Mechanism baselines declining at some point,” he says.

Most voters don’t want Australia to meet the Paris agreement if it costs much. Unless they elect a government that openly agrees to ignore the Paris agreement like the largest economy on the planet does, big costs are coming:

“It is now more important than ever that the government define the conditions and criteria on how Safeguard baselines will decline to align with the trajectory of our Paris targets. Business needs clarity to manage future liabilities under the Safeguard Mechanism,” says Castellas.

“The purchasing of ACCUs in the first compliance year of the Safeguard sends an important private sector market signal to suppliers and developers of carbon abatement projects. This transition from government funded carbon abatement under the ERF to a private carbon abatement market is underway,” he says.

“It now brings into focus the key questions of how the market will evolve, and how domestic supply will meet demand,” says Castellas.

“Demand for carbon offsets is likely to come from numerous potential sources: future ERF auctions; the Safeguard Mechanism; the National Energy Guarantee; the voluntary market; new funds like Queensland’s Land Restoration Fund; international demand from the aviation sector; and other international markets,” he says. “The ERF’s $2.55 billion fund has been critical to ensuring the longevity of Australia’s domestic offset scheme, but the transition to a Safeguard-led private demand signal is the critical turning point that will begin to drive increased demand for ACCU supply,” says Castellas.

“It will be crucial for government and the private sector to work together to ensure our domestic offset supply can meet this demand by investing in new abatement methods, more R&D, innovative financing, and engaging stakeholders on the land,” he says.

 “Australia has a well-designed, well-governed domestic offset scheme and deep project development capabilities. With clear market and policy signals the industry could scale up to meet increasing domestic demand and potentially develop an export market for ACCUs,” says Castellas.

The Carbon Market Institute views a market-based approach to emissions reduction as providing an effective and efficient framework to meet emissions reduction goals and challenges at lowest cost. The primary policy instruments to reduce emissions across the economy should involve emissions trading and putting a price on carbon.

h/t Jim Simpson

Information and References

The details of the Safeguard Mechanism are set out in the following legislative instruments:

The SafeGuard Mechanism Clean Energy Regulator

Emissions Reduction Fund Safeguard Mechanism Dept of Env and Energy

9.8 out of 10 based on 59 ratings

106 comments to Australia’s secret carbon market is “live” — costs about $7m for the Emissions Trading Scheme we voted against

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    The inputs and outputs to the carbon market are indeed, very well hidden.

    Up until a week ago, for some reason, I believed that the installation of Rooftop Solar units was funded by the Federal government.

    I am now aware that the cost is hidden somewhere in our household electricity accounts.

    A gentleman might say that hiding various taxes from consumers is unethical.

    Not being a gentleman I will instead say that politics has reached an all time low and that,

    Hidden Taxes Sux.

    Bring back accountability.

    350

    • #
      NB

      I wonder if any constitutional issues are raised from this? Cth const, s51, and all that.

      120

      • #
        Dennis

        Politicians don’t seem to care about constitutional issues, consider the fumbling and bumbling surrounding citizenship and Section 44.

        141

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          Dennis and NB,

          it’s all about what they can get away with, isn’t it.

          For me, Kurri Aluminium smelter is the symbol of what politicians think of the average Australian : we are just dirt.

          The average person has no idea of the deceit that hides the activity the goes on with our taxes.

          We need a population that is aware that they are being treated badly.

          That’s not going to happen in a hurry.

          It’s just way too hard to inform yourself and think.

          The Australia that I grew up in wasn’t perfect but was full of hope for the future.

          I’m very concerned at the levels of despair, envy politics and victimhood that characterise modern Australia.

          Julie Bishop is the epitome of modern politics: detached from grass roots reality and involving us in a vaguely designed agreement with the EEU. Since Australia’s politicians have demolished most of our industry it’s not likely she has opened up a new market for us.

          Revolt.

          240

          • #
            yarpos

            In general we have never had to fight (I mean really fight) over much at home.
            Each generation is softer and even more compliant.
            If you trickle feed the news and package it up well, they will wear almost anything.
            The Matrix wasnt far off really, no wonder they filmed in Sydney.

            60

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Agreed KK but whats the solution?
      Australians are now in a position where electing a party or individuals into a position of power to implement actions said parties presented as their platform and promised to or make a good attempt to enact those policies that attracted a citizens vote means absolutely nothing.

      There appears to be little to no differences between the two major parties and most independents, all levels of government have grown exponentially over the years to the point of all acts of parliament being played out like a smug Kabuki theatre production where the only applause is given by the players themselves.

      Saddest part is most Australians think their vote makes a difference, the only thing your vote can do is minimize the delegation of power amongst them hoping it might create enough squabbling amongst them to stop truly damaging policies going ahead, but after somewhat achieving this last election low self serving acts as highlighted in Jo’s article above are still occurring so any suggestions at this stage are welcome.

      210

      • #
        Clint

        “…or maybe he knew his voters hated it, and he hoped to deceive them.”

        Right across the Western world with occasional exception, the incumbents political deception appears to have become de rigueur. For the most part, ethics has deserted the political landscape in the sense that there exists a tacit acceptance of the end justifies the means and the electorate be damned. From the enslavement of the RET and carbon markets, to the utter disaster of uncontrolled open borders, to governments by a coalition of minority of parties that have absolutely no mandate to be in power, save the sleight of hand of the electoral system, all these and far more appear a result of a toxic melange of deliberate and orchestrated effort together with, or perhaps taking advantage of natural change, to systematically wreck Western civilisation, culture and prosperity. From ‘cultural marxism’ to ‘eco-marxism’, from ‘political correctness’ to ‘white privilege’ the ideological wrecking ball smashes its way through thousands of years of civilisation.

        I believe that we’re immersed in a fully developed ideological war that moves daily closer to a sustained violent civil war across the West. The quasi religious overtones are merely the touch paper, and don’t the British authorities and others know it. Terrified of losing wider control and the descent into civil war, they suppress and persecute any dissent or commentary about or against the obvious. The real battle lies for freedom from globalist.corporate tyranny and I am not even certain there exists a place or even a side in which the individual might thrive and flourish that lies beyond the omnipresent deep reach of government, corporate control and regulation.

        Perhaps, when we can once again imagine that side or that place, there will indeed be something to fight for, to hold out for and to believe in?

        230

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          Great comment Clint.

          You’ve shown the problem and the solution, however far off that may be.

          As you so rightly say, we have to be able to imagine what it is we are fighting for before we commit to battle.

          So many who have not even had a glimpse of a good and decent Australia would not know what to fight for and may not be capable of imagining what a better Australia would look like.

          Gaining that vision is not going to be easy.

          KK

          60

          • #
            dinn, rob

            and what day is this, fine fellow?

            00

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              In lieu of never reaching that day of understanding, we need good leadership that we can trust.

              00

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Or in the case of South Australia they appear to have “understood” the issue and taken action.

              Now, it’s another question as to whether the incoming Liberal government will get the message.

              Politics is in a bad way at the moment so they may just open the treasury doors and help themselves, but I hope not.

              00

          • #
            Clint

            You’re too generous KK, but thank you. Frank adversity focuses the mind rather well and to date, for the most part those who live in the West are generally quite comfortable, which in short order is their undoing. The one party communist despots in China would probably agree that ensuing one meets the immediate needs and many of the wants of individuals they’ll avoid the inevitable uprising and a further halt-turn of the wheel of revolution. Yet being the Left they cannot resist the desire to regulate and control ever more tightly, which ultimately must be their undoing. They presently move to develop indices of social media ‘fit’ that may be used to ‘rate’ an individual and thus weigh them for suitability and compliance tone used for given positions and jobs. What surer way to promote an under-society?

            So, while China ascends the relative ladder of material comfort and ease, the West descends, and it seems to me that this descent is captured by the loss of liberty and prosperity and by the unfettered growth of invasive, pervasive and dictatorial regulation. When discomfort sufficiently exceeds comfort, there is a point of friction. When the post-millennials choke on propaganda and lies, which they surely must, there is a point of friction. When there are more Telford’s and Brexits and Trumps as their surely will be, then their is a point of friction. When the alt-media completely dominates the propaganda robots of the MSM as forepeople search out the truth and engage in discourse, then their is a point of friction.

            I’d suggest right now we’re not so very far away from ignition.

            60

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Generosity’s got nothing to do with it Clint.

              And from your latest piece: “frank adversity”, for most people this would be something like have to wait 5 minutes for a spot at the petrol bowser.

              The real adversity can’t be seen and that’s the issue. Somebody on this thread suggested that there could be open war soon. Trouble is that to have a war you have to know where the enemy is.
              Until you know that what can you do.

              Mr Trumble and U.N. Julie could be removed but as Golden Sacks stooges they would be replaced with like-minded in a week.

              One good trick might be to follow the path taken by taxpayers money as it went overseas towards the UN or clintonia. Have our representatives truly accounted for the use of Australian taxpayers money or are the details a bit vague.

              The RET is another scam based on a falsehood of massive scientific deceit. The only reason it continues is that the academics who understand the lie cannot speak for fear of extreme personal retribution from the elite beneficiaries.

              In short, we can’t trust current politicians.

              They MUST be made accountable for supporting false science and repressing the truth.

              KK

              10

        • #
          glen Michel

          Excellent synopsis Clint.Be prepared and vigilant and ensure you provide yourselves with protection.Serious times are around the bend and I’m not paranoid.

          10

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Spot on Yonnie and so far it’s the Australian conservatives that are the only party that stand out from the current crop of shonksters parading as politicians.
        I’m not saying they’re perfect either but they’re streets ahead on the main issues that concern me and will be getting my vote .

        130

      • #
        joseph

        But Yonnie, I’ve just voted, in the South Australian election, and I know all will now realign in accord with truth and justice. No need to worry more.

        50

        • #
          Yonniestone

          I guess happiness is a state of mind Joseph, in that case I’m glad you’re happy 🙂

          “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

          10

    • #
      Dennis

      Immigration intake was also ramped up without publicity.

      201

    • #
      Leonard Lane

      Watch for the day when a certain “stealth tax” secretly goes to the ruling political party through, electricity, auto license (rego),etc. or if they are caught, proportional “stealth tax” to all political parties. Now that the gate is open the ruling party can add anything they want. If they share in the spoils (robbery, call it what you will), the opposition parties will keep quiet.
      So if this chicanery with carbon tax is not exposed and stopped, you can see what will happen down the road.

      100

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Share the wealth.

        10

        • #
          Dennis

          I wonder how many Australians have considered sharing what is supposed to be our wealth held in trust by our governments?

          41

      • #
        Asp

        Taxation by stealth has been around for quite some time now.
        The first time I came across it was when I first owned property, and started paying local government rates. Despite rates having been ‘pinned to inflation rate’ supposedly by law, my rates statement showed numerous billable ‘special funds, such as ‘street lighting special fund’ and others of similar ilk, most of which one could have reasonably assumed to be covered by the general rates. So general rates increased at CPI level, but the add-ons ballooned with every passing year.
        As governments at all levels discover how much they can get away with, this practice can only escalate.

        50

    • #
      Appalled

      The carbon tax problem we face now has no solution. We are caught between a rock and a hard place by not having a major party willing to break free of the Paris Agreement.

      Who to vote for? … the minor parties are too small to make a difference

      Slowly, ever so slowly, the global socialists (the LNP is led by socialists who envisage a OWG) are ensnaring us. They destroy our Aussie lifestyle through their UN ambitions to re-distribute the fruit of our labour (our wealth) to wretched and corrupt shit-hole countries that contribute nothing of value to humanity.

      We will be living under the the UN’s Agenda 2030 sustainability objectives with our freedoms severely reduced.

      What to do?

      As far as I can see it …. there’s no way out short of [inevitably] … civil war

      Who’s to blame for our predicament?
      ANSWER … WE ARE … We took our eye off what really matters and the political class have screwed us!

      [Edited so no one can take it the wrong way – J]

      110

      • #
        Serp

        Yeah war’s always being seen as a stepping stone on the path to solving a problem so maybe you should be buying stocks in the resurgent Australian armaments industry and getting back some of what has been pilfered from you but I’d be inclined to keep clear of any actual killing.

        30

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        I was born a free man.

        Now after seven decades, I and the people around me, have become SLAVES on the international market.

        As a beginning Australia must exit the United Nations.

        Then cancel any and all contracts like that binding us to the Paris accord and the European Union.

        KK

        110

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Campbell Newman, if reelected as Qld Premier, promised to take the FIT out of power bills and have it as a budget item. This would not actually save money but it would no longer be hidden and no longer hitting the poor via their power bills. If the community thinks it a good idea they pay, not pass it off to renters and apartment dwellers.

      In their stupidity Queenslanders tossed out Newman after one term.

      110

  • #
    pat

    a lot of this stuff gets hidden at Carbon Pulse, unless you want to subscribe (only meant for so-called “stakeholders)”

    Australia terminates 10th ERF offset deal
    Carbon Pulse-2 hours ago
    Australia has terminated another contract to buy carbon offsets under the Emissions Reduction Fund, data from the Clean Energy Regulator showed Friday, the tenth project to suffer that fate. A Carbon Pulse subscription is required to read the full article.

    160

  • #
    Tezza

    Since I have been following your reporting of this ‘innovation’, the basic facts of this covert and opaque arrangement doesn’t surprise me. Reading of it taking flight, and its protagonists’ aspirations for its future, does give me a fresh sense of disgust at the politicians, bureaucrats and rent seekers who subvert Australian democracy to bring it about.
    After disgust, my next response is to think of it as Australia’s equivalent to the EU, where an unaccountable political and bureaucratic elite plough ahead on an agenda repeatedly rejected by citizens.
    Australia awaits its Brexit and its Trump.

    230

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Bring on our Auxit:

      from unaccountable government: from the immoral: from the unscientific : from the midnight coups where elected Prime minister’s are removed from office and essentially from Taxation Without Representation.

      The comparison with the EU and Bruxelles is all too accurate:

      WE HAVE BECOME SLAVES.

      KK

      180

      • #
        Clint

        One requires no comparison with the EU, it’s redundant because Australia is already shackled to it, and it seems Australia was barely aware that the EU agreement took place?

        EU-Australia sign Framework Agreement for closer cooperation

        The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, signed the EU-Australia Framework Agreement on 7 August in Manila, the Philippines.

        The signing of the Framework Agreement marks the beginning of a new era of strategic cooperation between the European Union and Australia.

        The Agreement will enable the European Union and Australia to tackle challenges in foreign and security policy, sustainable development, climate change, and economic and trade matters. It will encourage closer links between leaders across government, business and civil society.

        Civil society‘ is UN speak for thousands of NGO’s. The above ‘agreement’ is solely concerned the promotion and implementation of the UN Transformational Agenda (Post 2015 sustainable development agenda), to be irretrievably locked into place by 2030. It is also referred to as the ‘transformational agenda’ and the ‘road to dignity‘.

        130

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          Wonderfully soporific words covering the reality of deceit.

          Voters don’t have a clue.

          World War Three has been cancelled because the elites can now divert enough of the world’s wealth to their own use by mutual agreement.

          KK

          140

          • #
            Serp

            So in a decade since the mirror opposites Rudd and Turnbull had arrived at voodoo CO2 concurrence the intricate fiscal mechanisms have been surreptitiously cemented in place and the steady outflow of Australian money to low tax jurisdictions is well under way and shall be adjusted up from time to time since no price is too high to save the planet.

            20

          • #
            Clint

            World War Three has been cancelled because the elites can now divert enough of the world’s wealth to their own use by mutual agreement.

            … and meanwhile everyone walks about in hemp jandals, locked goose-step?

            I reflect on the carnage of WW1, a piece of history that no one at the time wanted to repeat at any cost. It led to the disarmament of the UK. The mighty League of Nations failed dismally, pathetically and totally to confront the ascent of Nazi power and Adolf Hitler, the rise of Mussolini and his fascist Black Shirts and the systematic, intentional racially based genocide of Jews. Meanwhile on the other side of the World, the Japanese fresh from their grotesque and evil Rape of Nanking were busy extending their reach into the Pacific. The institution lost its ability to exercise its own mandate. Once spineless, it became powerless.

            Now the situation is reversed. Perhaps the past history of institutional experience has taught the UN that it can never lose control in the same way again. But they have. They have moved away from their founding charter and into the land of totalitarianism, regressively, relentlessly and intentionally.

            Now the administrative UN and its proto-global NWO the EU are blindly sowing the seeds of their own destruction. They have reams of documents that attest to their present and future intentions and there isn’t a hint, not a whiff of freedom or democracy anywhere, just the molasses of politically correct, social justice warrior, eco-phraseology. There are titanic amounts of consultation with any number of identity groups, and an endless parade of victims and causes that consult endlessly with ‘civil society’, that special arm of the UN specially accredited to participate in their private circular discussion of implementation and the how to of, ‘trust us, we know best for your now good’.

            You’re spot on KK. Voters don’t have a clue … yet. But it’s inevitable they will.

            10

        • #
          James Murphy

          Road to dignity, or road to Dignitas for the economy and freedom of speech?

          80

        • #

          Clint, it seems the “Synthesis Report of the Secretary-General ” you’ve linked to claims a lot of credit via their “Millennial Development Goals” for lifting 700 million out of poverty, among other things. No mention of the population of Venezuela plunging into penury because of insane socialist policies. No mention of the fact that it may have been capitalism that lifted those 700 million out of the misery of poverty, and not a bunch of people swanning around the globe attending “Summits” in exotic venues.

          20

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Legislation like this should have been put to the people not snuck through while no one was looking .

    140

    • #
      Richard Ilfeld

      Not in a lot of jurisdictions. If put to the people, it would be labeled the “save the planet”
      act, not a carbon tax. It would be small, warm, and fuzzy. Once voted in, with good feelings all around,
      it wold metastasize. We have a Republic for a reason, the the Republic of Kalifornia has been a great lab
      for direct democracy. What remains true, however, is that sunshine is the best antiseptic.

      Many legislative setups recognized this, by specifying a unique path for financial measures, and requiring a supermajority
      to pass them. But, as politicians are our only native criminal class, taxes suffer from mission creep more than any other area of government. The ‘best’ trick is legislation that doesn’t impose a tax, fee, or fine, but merely authorizes some other agency to
      do so; a ‘carbon market’ has no takers if there is no ‘pollution’ so not one of your fine parliamentarians actually voted to remove so much as a nickel from the market to flow into the hands of their crony capitalists: it is all the polluters fault.

      Bda Bda Bda — That’s all Folks!

      140

  • #
    pat

    not sure if any of the info at the following is worth checking out, but am posting it just in case:

    16 Mar: CleanEnergyRegulator: Emissions Reduction Fund project register
    *The total number of eligible offsets projects does not include revoked projects. Rev​oked ​projects are included in the downloadable spreadsheet…

    Downloadable data Emissions Reductions Fund Register (LINK)

    ERF Register of Projects FULL LIST
    http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/project-and-contracts-registers/project-register

    16 Mar: CleanEnergyRegulator: Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme registered agent visits
    Throughout April and May this year staff from the Clean Energy Regulator will be visiting various Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) registered agents across Australia who regularly create small-scale technology certificates within the REC Registry.

    The purpose of these visits is to inform registered agents about our compliance expectations and to gain a better understanding of how their business operates. ​​Over the coming weeks we will be in contact with any registered agent being visited.
    Agents are critical to the integrity of the SRES…

    We are reminding all registered agents that you must comply with your legal obligations and have certain capabilities to make you ‘fit and proper’ to participate in the SRES. For further information on the ​expected capabilities and standards of practice we consider essential to participate in the SRES see Registered agent responsibilities, expected capabilities and standards of practice (LINK)​.
    http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/About/Pages/News%20and%20updates/NewsItem.aspx?ListId=19b4efbb-6f5d-4637-94c4-121c1f96fcfe&ItemId=488

    40

  • #
    NB

    Oxygen should be banned. More than 97% of scientists agree that it is responsible for fires, acid rain, and the destruction of ships, buildings, and other important infrastructure. It forms an essential part of greenhouse gasses. It is used to create explosive weapons and mass death. Moreover, it plays a key role in burning coal, oil, diesel, resulting in various forms of pollution, thus endangering the planet and community health. Anyone using oxygen, or creating compounds including oxygen, should be taxed heavily. I propose a market for oxygen, including its dangerous compounds. Although I work for an investment bank, I am only concerned for the health of the planet.

    260

    • #
      Environment Skeptic

      I propose a Plutonium Emissions Tax (PET).

      70

    • #
      wal1957

      The greenies would undoubtedly vote for the tax.

      I would support the greenies wholeheartedly.

      EVERYBODY listen up! All green voting parasites, on the count of three hold your breath until I say stop!

      Ready…ONE…TWO…THREE…

      Hold it…

      Hold it…

      Keep holding…

      80

    • #
      C. Paul Barreira

      I think it’s covered by death and taxes, the two great certainties of life.

      60

    • #
      Allen Ford

      You left out the deadliest of all oxygen derivatives, NB, dihydrogen monoxide – see here.

      50

  • #
    pat

    all the following are from recent “Australia” results at Carbon Pulse:

    14 Mar: CarbonPulse: Opposition grows against use of international offsets in Australia’s NEG
    Australia’s biggest industry lobby group on Wednesday added its voice to the growing choir warning against accepting international carbon credits in the nation’s proposed National Energy Guarantee.

    14 Mar: CarbonPulse: Australian emitters surrender 448k carbon credits under Safeguard Mechanism
    Sixteen facilities had to surrender a total 448,000 offsets to meet their CO2 targets in the first year of Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism, with the vast majority of the emitters covered by the programme encountering few problems staying below their caps.

    12 Mar: CarbonPulse: Australia’s power firms want flexible CO2 trading to help meet NEG targets
    Australia’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG) must allow for flexibility in trading CO2 intensity contracts and should place the responsibility for meeting emission targets on generators rather than retailers, according to several of the nation’s biggest power companies.

    9 Mar: CarbonPulse: Queensland to set up A$500m land-based carbon fund
    Australia’s Queensland state has begun work to establish a A$500-million ($390 mln) fund that will use carbon markets to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the land sector, the government said Friday.

    7 Mar: CarbonPulse: Australia lowers ambition for next ERF carbon offset auction
    Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator will hold the next auction under the Emissions Reduction Fund on June 6-7, it announced Wednesday, but said it is aiming to spend less money this time than in any of the previous six rounds.

    7 Mar: CarbonPulse: Australia launches review of major offset methods
    Australia on Tuesday launched a public review of two offset methods from which the government has contracted to buy over 90 million carbon credits.

    2 Mar: CarbonPulse: Australia’s Santos earns first carbon credits
    Santos, Australia’s second-biggest independent oil and gas producer, this week received its first carbon credits under the government’s offset programme.

    15 Feb: CarbonPulse: Australia releases ETS-like draft design for National Energy Guarantee
    Australia’s Energy Security Board (ESB) on Thursday released a draft design proposal for the National Energy Guarantee that included many of the same elements found in intensity-based emissions trading schemes.

    2 Mar: CarbonPulse: SAVE THE DATE: Carbon Forward 2018 – Survive and thrive in the global carbon markets
    SPECIAL 30% SUPER EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT
    Smaller industrial emitters are eligible for up to 70% OFF standard ticket prices*…
    EU carbon prices have doubled in the past year and are now at a 6-year high above €10.

    Rules governing the global CORSIA aviation offset market are becoming clearer, while negotiations surrounding the Paris Agreement’s market-based mechanisms are accelerating.

    China’s national emissions trading scheme has launched, and an unprecedented number of carbon pricing programmes are steadily emerging in North America.
    Needless to say, it’s a very exciting time for carbon markets globally…

    And join us for the EU ETS pre-conference training day organised by carbon market experts Redshaw Advisors, where you will learn how to effectively manage your carbon risk ahead of the looming overhaul of the bloc’s emissions trading scheme. In combination with falling free allocation and the start of the Market Stability Reserve, EU ETS risk has never been higher.
    When? 16-18 October, 2018
    Where? London’s Canary Riverside Plaza Hotel…
    http://carbon-pulse.com/48333/

    reminder of Carbon Pulse’s strong Reuters connections. funny how a major news agency hides all the carbon finance news behind subscriptions at an obscure website:

    CarbonPulse Staff (partial)
    Kathy Chen
    Kathy is a Beijing-based carbon and energy researcher for Carbon Pulse. She covered Chinese climate policy and carbon markets for Point Carbon and Reuters from 2010 to 2016…
    At Reuters she also wrote about renewables, coal, natural gas, and oil, before joining Carbon Pulse in Oct. 2016.
    Pre-carbon (LOL), she worked for Xinhua news agency’s Outlook Magazine, a specialist publication tracking major international news developments…

    Ben Garside
    Ben is a director and co-founder of Carbon Pulse. He was previously a senior correspondent at Reuters News, covering carbon markets and climate policy, with a focus on EU developments. Before that, he was a correspondent at Point Carbon’s news service, which was gradually integrated within Thomson Reuters following its acquisition in 2010…

    Stian Reklev
    Stian is a director and co-founder of Carbon Pulse. Stian has reported on carbon markets and climate policies for Point Carbon and Reuters from 2001 to 2015…

    Mike Szabo
    Mike is a director and co-founder of Carbon Pulse. Mike previously worked as an environmental markets correspondent for Reuters and Point Carbon from 2007 to 2014…
    He was also editor of Reuters’ European Power, Gas and Carbon Forum, as well as the Thomson Reuters Carbon Market Community.
    Prior to that, Mike worked as an analyst for Reuters and JP Morgan in London and TD Securities in Toronto…
    http://carbon-pulse.com/staff/

    50

  • #
    Lionell Griffith

    That a “carbon market” is called a “market” is as meaningful as calling a rock a marshmallow. A name does not make the thing. The rock is still a rock no matter what you call it. That the so called “carbon market” has the coercive force of government motivating the transactions specifically excludes it from being an actual market. It is the moral equivalent to a common thug using a gun to force you to hand over your wallet or purse for the benefit of him not shooting you. In a moral society, this is called extortion and is a violation of individual rights. That the source of force is the government does not change the morality of the action no matter what words it uses nor how many laws it passes that say it is OK to do.

    220

    • #
      C. Paul Barreira

      That the reporting thereof required split infinitives of the the laziest sort—”they are going to increasingly need to look at . . .”—hints at the utter delinquency of all concerned. The corruption of language. . . . We’ve been here already.

      80

  • #

    Can’t we just have a local tax with a creepy name so the dough gets wasted here? Call it the Meeting Paris Targets for Climate Justice tax so nobody argues. The government could belt punters or providers a straight percentage on power, right? Then some lucky recipient like the LBQTWTF Climate Action Group or the Committee of Concerned Living National Treasures or the Weatherill-Flannery Institute or the Biochar Awareness Foundation could take the winnings to the pub right here in Australia.

    Because, lemme tell you, someone is going to take it all to the pub somewhere. May as well be here.

    170

    • #
      wal1957

      …”Because, lemme tell you, someone is going to take it all to the pub somewhere. May as well be here.”

      Aint that the truth!

      On a happier note…Turdball turns 30 in 2 more polls!

      100

  • #
    Dennis

    During the carbon tax period when Labor was in government Minister Combet was repeatedly questioned on radio about 10 per cent of the carbon tax being sent to the UN. He reluctantly confirmed that it was.

    The radio journalist then asked about emissions trading replacing carbon tax and again Combet was reluctant to answer directly but finally confirmed that carbon tax was destined to become emissions trading scheme and then, as if it sounded better for voters listening, he confirmed that Australia would join the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

    Maybe there is a clue as to why Al Gore was lobbying Clive Palmer and met with Malcolm Turnbull and others during his visits to Australia.

    And “Australia’s secret carbon market” is the start.

    91

  • #
    • #
      RickWill

      It appears the Provincial governments have learned lessons op pushing intermittents onto their constituents. This is probably 10 years ahead of Australia as the State governments are trying hard to outdo each other on the intermittent front.

      In Australia the only significant contrarians are a few electricity retailers:
      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-23/erm-power-alinta-pay-penalties-rather-than-meet-ret/8296680
      I wonder what is their reason for this. Morally the RET is a horrible system. It certainly falls disproportionally on those with the least capacity to pay. Those with spare capital can eliminate household energy costs with assistance from those least able to pay – all strongly endorsed by the battler’s party at State and Federal levels.

      40

      • #
        robert rosicka

        I think someone said that the fines for not paying the RET (green bribe) were less than the RET payment and if that’s true it makes good business sense to be fined .

        20

      • #
        kevin george

        If it’s getting warmer (big if) Canadians haven’t noticed.

        10

  • #
    Another Ian

    Around this area though distant (IMO)

    “Delingpole: Kudlow; Pompeo…Trump’s Picks Just Get Better and Better…”

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/16/delingpole-kudlow-pompeo-trumps-picks-just-get-better-and-better/

    70

  • #
  • #
    Ted Cooper

    I’ve commented elsewhere and a long time ago that Al Gore had given his spiel on how to make money with carbon trading to Goldman Sachs in Europe. A purely calculated rip-off with no moral standing. Go figure!

    60

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      And this is the only truth about that dangerous gas carbon dioxide.

      Some people make money out of the lies.

      10

  • #
    RickWill

    The Libs in SA are only offering 40,000 home battery banks compared with 50,000 from Labor.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-10/sa-opposition-releases-$100m-home-battery-plan/9032900
    So South Australians have a clear choice today – more batteries or slightly fewer batteries.

    The increased capacity link to NSW is a good thing. It is only fair that NSW should be exposed to high intermittency from the SA network so they too can enjoy the higher prices now being experienced in Victoria.

    80

  • #
    Leonard Lane

    In America most politicians at the national level are lawyers and thus enter office as rich with small fortunes accumulated in property, savings,etc.. Years later when they are defeated or retire they are multi-millionaires with large fortunes accumulated. A simple analysis of starting fortune, salaries, and ending salaries, accumulated earnings, property, etc. show that apparent accumulations and savings are many times smaller than existing additional large fortunes are accumulated beyond possible from salaries, savings, legal investments, etc.only.
    If their original wealth from all sources including salary when elected, were adjusted for salary increases, increased value of known values through inflation, and known savings at the end of their career in politics is called “known reasonable wealth”. If this is compared with actual wealth at the end of their career and the sum is larger than the “known reasonable wealth” they should have accumulated from legal sources and cannot be justified by any legal and reported gains, then if the difference was confiscated to reduce the national debt, perhaps sweetheart deals, bad legislation, etc. would be significantly reduced. Also, we might have a better representation of our population rather than mostly lawyers. Of course, some are going to be better savers, better investors, and so on, but the concept of “reasonable” should take of these variations between individuals. What we want to prevent is people such as the Clintons who are fabulously rich far beyond any measure that could have been obtained legally. No person should enter politics as middle class and end up billionaires on legal reasonable salaries and investments, etc..
    How nice and clean it would be if politicians represented their constituents, i.e., as farmers, small business, owners, carpenters, teachers and so on with a small proportion of lawyers. Same rules for all appointed positions such as judges, generals, government employees, etc..

    80

  • #
  • #
    Another Ian

    View as such until proven otherwise

    “Sorry, scientific analysis is not allowed as a criteria when the green clergy have deemed otherwise. Your overlords always know what’s best for you, the planet, and their re-election prospects.”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2018/03/the-sound-of-se-617.html#comment-1160731

    40

  • #
    pat

    o/t the dam has broken.

    17 Mar: Reuters: Attorney General Sessions fires former FBI no. 2 McCabe
    by Makini Brice
    “Based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” said Sessions.
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mccabe/attorney-general-sessions-fires-former-fbi-no-2-mccabe-idUSKCN1GT02J

    40

  • #
    a happy little debunker

    Conservative politics in Australia suffered a near fatal blow on September 15th 2015 – by the hands of Malcolm Bligh Turnbull.

    Long, may he rue the day – for we all certainly shall!

    90

  • #
    pat

    Youtube 9mins17secs: 16 Mar: Laura Ingraham Show, Fox: FBI’s Andrew McCabe fired, DOJ releases statement
    Sara Carter, Alan Dershowitz etc
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCJUmAZKr5s&index=1&list=PLlTLHnxSVuIwmOvGQydmAe8UcdfTvMvQr&t=0s

    00

  • #
    pat

    Youtube: 12mins04secs: 16 Mar: Sean Hannity: New Strzok-Page texts reveal damning information
    Newly obtained text messages between Strzok and Page show personal relationship with federal judge who presided over Michael Flynn’s case.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5tH2VC0ddg

    11

  • #

    We have a carbon market in New Zealand. It is truly wonderful!

    On the electricity market, the spot price is usually set by the thermal stations. They now have to pay a carbon tax so their price goes up. This sets the price given to the hydro and geothermal stations so they win windfall profits. They generate 85% of our power so for every $10 carbon tax, the consumers pay more than $50. Wonderful isn’t it!

    As my wife and I are majority owners of a hydropower station, we get it too! Shouldn’t I be on the other side?

    40

  • #
    Whalehunt Fun

    The promoters of these scheme are murdering the poor in the third world. These vile people are profiting from their killing the weak. They need to be subjected to the harshest penalties known to the mind of man. Medieval punishments must be restored for use against these people and their families. No relative can be free of guilt so black as this. Not so much as a memory of them should be allowed to remain without concimmittant feelings of horror at their fate.

    40

  • #
    pat

    16 Mar: Fox News: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe fired
    By Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson
    “Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.
    “After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR),” Sessions said.

    “The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor − including under oath − on multiple occasions.

    “The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, ‘all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand.'”…

    Sessions’ decision to fire McCabe came as Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded a bureau oversight investigation, with a report expected to be critical of McCabe’s handling of the Clinton email probe, his handling of the bureau during the early months of the Russia investigation, and his ties to the Democratic Party.
    Horowitz determined that McCabe hadn’t been forthcoming in regard to the handling of the FBI’s probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state in the Obama administration.
    The inspector general’s finding sparked an FBI disciplinary process that recommended McCabe’s firing…

    Horowitz’s investigation, which landed McCabe in hot water, faults the former deputy director for the way he answered questions about his approval for interactions between an FBI official and a reporter about the bureau’s investigation into the nonprofit Clinton Foundation.

    McCabe was “removed” from his post as deputy to FBI Director Christopher Wray in January, setting in motion a plan to leave the bureau after months of conflict-of-interest complaints from Republicans — including President Trump…

    Republicans have also long criticized McCabe for his ties to the Democratic Party — his wife received donations during a failed 2015 Virginia Senate run from a group tied to a Clinton ally, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe — all while the Clinton email probe was underway…

    “How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?” the president tweeted in December…

    McCabe returned to the white-hot spotlight when Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released its memo on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses in connection with the Russia probe, saying that McCabe signed a FISA warrant targeting former Trump campaign volunteer adviser Carter Page.
    “McCabe testified before the committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the [FISA court] without the Steele dossier information,” the memo read. The Steele dossier was unverified, and financed as opposition research by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign.

    And recently uncovered text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page revealed a new timeline in the Clinton email probe, apparently showing McCabe’s knowledge of the investigation.

    The text messages suggest that as of Sept. 28, 2016, Strzok, Page and McCabe were aware of new Clinton emails found on the laptop of disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, spouse of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
    “Got called up to Andy’s earlier … hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s atty to sdny, includes a ton of material from spouse. Sending team up tomorrow to review…this will never end …” Strzok wrote in a text message to Page.

    But it wasn’t until Oct. 27, 2016 that Comey was briefed on the newly discovered emails — meaning McCabe kept the director in the dark for a month.
    Horowitz is specifically investigating McCabe and whether he wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the presidential election, in which Clinton lost to Trump.
    According to testimony obtained by Fox News from an Office of Special Counsel interview with former Comey Chief of Staff James Rybicki, McCabe’s office did not notify him until the night of Oct. 26, 2016.
    The OSC also interviewed FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson, who testified that Comey was first briefed on the material found on Weiner’s laptop on Oct. 27, 2016…

    So it wasn’t until Oct. 28, 2016, that Comey sent a letter to Congress announcing the “recent developments” of the discovery of the Clinton and Abedin communications found on the laptop —which he had just been briefed on a day before. That letter reopened the Clinton email probe just a week before the election. The inspector general is investigating McCabe’s involvement in this timeline.
    Several Republicans also have pointed with alarm to the Strzok-Page texts and their references to McCabe in relation to an “insurance policy” to prevent Trump from being elected president, and a “secret society” within the bureau.
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/16/former-fbi-deputy-director-andrew-mccabe-fired.html

    30

  • #
    Leigh

    Jo, I drew your attention to what Turnbul was up to years ago. You politely asked me not to make unfounded allegations against the honorable member. Due to possible legalitys against you and your blog. I respected that and posted no more……..The problem is they were not unfounded. All I did was do a little public investigation into Turbuls public registry of interests. Simply by investigating Turnbuls publicly declared share investments and where they made their money. It was a no brainer to see that another CO/2 tax in any form was going to be a bonanza for one them. I had a hard drive crash a couple of years ago and lost a lot of my quite simple research. I’m a little older now and really can’t be bothered doing it all again. Considering nobody listened then. For a “real reporter” it shouldn’t be difficult to do what I did.
    It’d be just as interesting now to see how those shares are faring now.
    Turnbul is first a lawyer, secondly an investment banker. Its where he made his fortune. As a politician he has had but one agenda and that was to introduce a cO/2 tax in any shape or form. It is the reason he was removed as “leader” when in opposition. It was one the first things he did after removing Abbott. That and the signing of the Paris accord. Like the rest of these rich shills. Is imposing such hardship on the not so fortunate really to “help” us or them!?

    70

    • #
      Dennis

      Leigh, there is information to be found by search engine, Keshik Capital Pte (Singapore) and investment in Infrigen Wind Resources (Australia).

      The share price for Infrigen Australia was very ordinary until the federal government made changes for the energy industry and after that the share price increased considerably.

      52

      • #
        Dennis

        Company Name:
        KESHIK CAPITAL PTE LTD
        Address:
        36 Robinson Road #14-03 City House
        Singapore 068877

        Email:
        contact@keshikcapital.com
        Contact:
        Mr Alexander Bligh Hughes Turnbull
        CEO & Executive Director
        Categories:
        Asset Management/Fund Managers -> Asset Management/Fund Managers

        42

        • #
          Dennis

          Infigen’s first-half loss compared with a bottom line profit of $1.6 million in the first half of 2014-15, but net profits from continuing operations turned positive with a $9.7 million improvement to $0.5 million. Revenues rose 27 per cent to $83.4 million, thanks to higher production, and increased prices for LGCs and electricity.
          The company, the former Babcock & Brown Wind Partners, sold its US wind business in October and divested its US solar venture earlier last year, leaving it focused on its Australian activities. Mr George said the sale had delivered a “step change” in Infigen’s capital structure, allowing it to pay down its debt pile while leaving a cash balance able to be directed to new project development.
          The improvement means Infigen now expects to be able to repay about $50 million on its “Global Facility” borrowings from operating cash flow this financial year, some 43 per cent more than it had anticipated.
          Infigen shares, which dropped to a low of 22c last August, rose as much as 5.4 per cent to 48.5c.

          42

      • #
        Leigh

        Your on it Dennis but like the Clinton foundation. Nobody in the left bent media wants to hold anybody to account. The taxpayer money that’s punted on our behalf just doesn’t seem to be newsworthy.They’d rather deflect a real news story and report on who’s sleeping with who.
        I’m to old to be doing what others more capable should be doing. My opinion is there are crimes being committed in plain sight. That are being ignored by those who should know better. Till somebody actually holds these “leaders” in society to account. I like you can do little more than write I told you so.

        80

  • #
    pat

    more virtue-signalling, ***Norwegian public not impressed:

    15 Mar: Reuters: Statoil to rebrand as Equinor in green energy push
    by Joachim Dagenborg, Nerijus Adomaitis; additional reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen Writing by Gwladys Fouche
    In a video posted on social media, Statoil presented the switch as a way to show its determination to develop investments in renewable energy.
    Reactions by various social media users were mixed.

    “Equinor sounds like a princess on a horse in Game of Thrones,” one Twitter user said. “Equi” is the genitive singular in Latin for “horse”.

    Others liked the change. “Congratulations on an exciting name change. The green shift is happening faster and faster. Norway must be a part of it. Good luck with the process,” tweeted Norwegian Culture Minister Trine Skei Grande.

    Equinor is a combination of “equi”, the starting point for words like equal, equality and equilibrium, and “nor” for Norway, the company said.

    “Reflecting on the global energy transition and how we are developing as a broad energy company, it has become natural to change our name,” Statoil CEO Eldar Saetre said in a statement.
    Rebranding would cost up to 250 million Norwegian crowns ($32.5 million), he later told a news conference…

    ***Local newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad ran a straw poll asking readers whether they liked the name change, with 4,730 people saying “no” and 809 saying “yes”…

    The proposal will be put to the annual general meeting on May 15, but Statoil said it already had the backing of the Norwegian state, which has a 67 percent stake in the company…
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-statoil-name-equinor/statoil-to-rebrand-as-equinor-in-green-energy-push-idUSKCN1GR0K2

    10

    • #
      pat

      Twitter: Jason Bordoff, Professor and Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia Univ.; former White House energy advisor to Pres Obama
      TWEET: 15 Mar: Jason Bordoff: There’s a lot in a name. Having already built a large offshore wind business, & with plans to ramp up renewables further, @Statoil officially signals its intent to diversify beyond oil and gas by changing its name to #Equinor

      15 Mar: CNBC: In a huge shift, Norway’s Statoil will remove the word ‘oil’ from its name
      by Anmar Frangoul
      Statoil is the latest big energy business to change its name. Danish energy powerhouse Orsted, for example, was previously known as Dong Energy, with the Dong originally referring to Danish Oil and Natural Gas. That all changed in October. With the business moving towards green energy – it said it would be coal free by the year 2023 – and divesting its upstream oil and gas business, it said that its old name was “no longer suitable for the company.”

      7 Mar: Reuters: Statoil has room to grow more in North Dakota’s Bakken: exec
      by Ernest Scheyder
      Statoil ASA, the Norwegian state-controlled oil producer, has plenty of growth opportunities left in North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation, an executive said on Tuesday (at CERAweek Houston)…
      Oil development has spiked in recent years in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. Concern has spread about a maturation of operations in North Dakota, the second-largest oil-producing U.S. state where Statoil is one of the largest producers…
      The company does not see its North Dakota operations slowing down and it using new technologies and other process improvements to suck more oil from the Bakken, Reitan said.
      “We still see a great opportunity in the Bakken,” he said.

      13 Mar: BusinessInsider: PETROBRAS: Regulatory Agency Approves Sale Of 25% Of Roncador To Statoil
      (RTTNews) – The Brazilian competition regulator authorized Petrobras to sell a 25% stake in the Roncador field to Norway’s Statoil for US$ 2.35 billion, plus additional contingent payments of up to US$ 550 million. The transaction nearly triples Statoil’s production in Brazil.
      Roncador is the third largest field operated by Petrobras, with around 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place and an expected remaining recoverable volume of more than 1 billion boe.

      16 Mar: UpstreamOnline: Statoil gets OK for Mexico deep-water plan
      Mexican regulators have granted approval to Statoil for an exploration plan on a deep-water block won in 2016, a programme that covers exploratory studies as well as a single well envisaged for late 2019. The Norwegian operator captured Contractual Area 3 in the Salina del Istmo basin as part of …

      15 Mar: UpstreamOnline: Statoil seeks Barents well permits
      Statoil has applied to the authorities to sink three wildcats in the Barents Sea off Norway later this year using semi-submersible West Hercules. The Norwegian giant, set to be renamed Equinor, has apparently exercised an option to drill an additional well with the unit

      16 Mar: ClimateActionProgramme: Durham University to divest its shares in fossil fuels
      One of Britain’s oldest and most revered universities is joining the growing movement of institutions who are divesting from companies involved in fossil fuel extraction.
      Durham University took the decision after a year-long consultation which reviewed the options, impacts and views of the college.
      The University will now divest its current holdings in fossil fuels, said to be less than £1.5 million, “as soon as practicable”. It now hopes to become a leader in promoting renewable technologies instead…
      Durham Student’s Union (DSU), which first put forward the proposal, responded with enthusiasm at the move…

      10

  • #
    RoHa

    “maybe he knew his voters hated it, and he hoped to deceive them.”

    An Australian Prime Minister attempting to deceive? Surely not!

    50

    • #
      Dennis

      Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” refers to how complicated life becomes when people start lying.

      It originally referred to a love triangle in the play “Marmion” by Sir Walter Scott.

      62

  • #
    Another Ian

    Somewhat O/T

    Willis helping with terminology, Looks like “social cost of carbon” and “IPCC Likelihood Scale” look to apply directly IMO

    “The Climate Dictionary”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/03/16/the-climate-dictionary/

    20

  • #
    pat

    16 Mar: Daily Mail: Tycoon who ran a ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ boiler room fraud is found guilty of conning elderly investors out of £3.5million life savings for ‘worthless carbon credits and inferior diamonds’
    Dylan Creaven ran two fraudulent companies he ran from London ‘boiler room’
    The 44-year-old gave motivational speeches encouraging them to fleece elderly
    Claimed to be selling non-existent carbon credits and low-quality diamonds
    Co-defendant Andrew Rowe, 41, also found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court
    By Lara Keay
    An Irish tycoon who ran a ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ boiler room where he conned elderly investors out of their life savings for worthless carbon credits and low-quality diamonds has been found guilty of fraud.
    Dylan Creaven, 44, of County Clare, fleeced pensioners out of a total of £3.5million promising huge returns on fake investments.
    He set up two fraudulent companies in order to run a plush ‘boiler room’ office in St James’s Square, central London…

    Between 2012 and 2013, Creaven delivered motivational speeches to his salesmen every morning to ‘rev them up’ and they were allowed to keep crates of beer in the office, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
    Creaven and his co-defendant Andrew Rowe, 41, told their victims the carbon credit market was growing with companies having to take their footprint into account…

    Creaven and Rowe, of Barnet, north London, were convicted of two counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property after a six-week trial.
    Judge David Richardson told Creaven: ‘You face a substantial sentence and I advise you to get representation.’…

    ‘Between 2012 and 2013, they operated a company called Agon Energy Limited and that company purported to sell carbon credits to investors.
    ‘Carbon credits are a means of offsetting an individual’s or corporation’s carbon footprint – essentially by paying someone else to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, most often in developing or semi-developed countries.’…
    Rowe and Creaven were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on April 19.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5509127/Wolf-Wall-Street-Irish-fraudster-Dylan-Creaven-guilty.html

    00

  • #
    pat

    UK carbon fraud conviction comment in moderation.

    full program, which began as the McCabe story broke:

    of particular note: 20mins20secs in: Ingraham/Dershowitz on the oddity of Dems defending the Intel agencies.

    16 Mar: Youtube: 59mins49secs: The Ingraham Angle 3/16/18 Fox News March 16, 2018
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imt1wMKVpuE

    00

  • #
    pat

    what a carbon footprint? very lengthy. READ ALL:

    17 Mar: NZ Herald: Prince Charles’ remarkable travel demands revealed
    Before a visit to one friend in North-East England, he sent his staff ahead a day early with a truck carrying furniture to replace the perfectly appropriate fittings in the guest rooms, according to The Daily Mail.
    And not just the odd chest of drawers: the truck contained nothing less than Charles and Camilla’s complete bedrooms, including the Prince’s orthopaedic bed, along with his own linen.

    His staff had also made sure to pack a small radio, Charles’s own lavatory seat, rolls of Kleenex Premium Comfort lavatory paper, Laphroaig whisky and bottled water (for both bedrooms), plus two landscapes of the Scottish Highlands.

    The next delivery to arrive was his food — organic, of course…READ ALL
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12014916

    70

    • #
      Geoffrey Williams

      How the bloody rich live; and he (Charlie boy) tells us all how we should think and live . .
      GeoffW

      10

  • #
    el gordo

    ‘The Liberal Party is predicted to form a majority government in South Australia, according to the ABC’s election computer.’

    80

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      That sounds very encouraging.

      Have they really seen the light.

      Now the next trick is for the new government to turn it all around.

      If they follow the Federal liberals with Trumble they won’t be doing the right thing.

      Time.

      70

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Yes they have won but where to now , more batteries and bad policies or investigate just how much the ideology of the previous govt has hurt the state and wasted how much money ?

        71

        • #
          GD

          It can only be hoped that they don’t pursue the renewables fantasy with as much religious fervour as Weatherill did.

          40

    • #
      wal1957

      I think the Libs in SA are as effective as the idiots federally. Probably worse really.
      More of the same, just a different idiot at the helm. Renewables, bloody renewables!

      “It’s Time”….to cut the interconnector lifeline to SA. Only then will the politicians in SA understand how renewables actually work in the real world. They’ll have the gas plants and those diesels running most of the day.

      OOOPS….Forgot the Eveready! Silly me! That’ll save the day!

      What a bloody joke this country is turning into!

      82

    • #

      Have to wait and see if the new leadership is sufficiently green/globalist/banksterish. If not there’ll have to be a mild scandal and an appointee installed, to the general approval of the ABC and Murdoch. You know the drill: Malcolm Baird, fiscally responsible like a good Lib but believes in sustainable monorails…and totally loves the planet thingy.

      80

  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    Yes change of government in SA but it won’t make a blind bit of difference. Power supply was never an issue in the election why change now . . .
    GeofdW

    60

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Geoff:

      Wait until the next rise in electricity bills. And don’t forget that the hitherto concealed cost of the various measures Labor made will now become public.
      It is a pity that Labor didn’t win and install trams everywhere. Nothing like a tram stalled in the middle of a busy intersection to gain adverse publicity, and with more blackouts that would have come under their lunatic ideas, well deserved.

      60

  • #
    RodM

    The easiest ways for businesses caught up in this foolishness to avoid the extra cost are to reduce activity or move to a more sensible place, such as the USA.

    10

  • #
    Faye Busch

    A retired engineer friend whom I respect and like has just started lecturing on “Understanding Climate Change” at U3A. I can’t help it but being a skeptic, I am afraid it has affected my regard for him. I thought engineers had to deal in facts otherwise their calculations fail.

    10

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Faye,
      he may be as much a victim as everybody else.

      Not everyone does chemistry past first year uni and many graduates may not have the necessary skills to deconstruct the warming lie based on CO2.
      As a metallurgy graduate I have solid training in process modelling which is essential for complex systems.
      Climate Scientists do not have this training and use “models” that appear to be based on the same set-up as economic models.

      Useless.

      Still, it’s a worry when a science trained person falls in the CO2 pit.

      A year ago I met a bloke with the same profile at a weekend meeting at Bonny Hills. Might be the same guy.

      KK

      10

    • #
      Leigh

      Faye, maybe you could quietly suggest. He reacquaint himself with some very simple facts. Here would be as good a start as any for a budding alarmist. Before he/she makes an absolute dill of him/herself. You never know. You might just save a friendship.
      https://co2islife.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/climate-change-global-warming-homework-to-piss-off-your-teacher/

      00