Emma from SS4C seated at the bow of the Rainbow Warrior at dusk in Fremantle, 27 April 2023.

What is your name? Emma. I’m 16.

Where did you grow up? Margaret River – I love the ocean there, the trees and the community is really nice. I’m glad I live there.

Describe how you got involved in climate activism. When I was 13 or so we watched a David Attenborough documentary in class. It was called ‘A Life On Our Planet’ and there was a scene where he went through what would happen in 40 years if we did not meet our global 1.5 degree global warming target. Fires, floods, trees, no animals. This really really shocked me – so much doom and gloom. But then he started talking about solutions and I remember thinking they all seemed really easy. Really achievable, and they would make a much better world. So I struggled to understand why we weren’t doing any of those things, why our politicians kept ignoring the calls for change and continued leading us down an irreversible path towards an unsafe climate. That summer we had the 2020 bushfires. I was over east and saw the Hawkesbury covered in smoke and became increasingly frustrated by watching Scott Morrison, his inaction, and the way he ignored climate affected communities, the way he kept blocking and delaying climate justice. That’s when I started googling climate organisations and found School Strike 4 Climate. I learned about the Fund Our Future Not Gas campaign that SS4C was running. Scomo in the budget after the recession at that time was all “gas lead recovery” for the economy. I’m no economist but I knew that sounded like a terrible plan.

Do you have any particular anecdote or story about becoming an activist that you’d like to tell? Are there any special moments that stand out? The May 21st strike in 2021 was really crazy for me. I was 14 and had never done any community organising before. I helped to organise a Friday School Strike in the park. I remember going through permits and learning everything from scratch. But on the day, seeing friends and volunteers all turning up to the strike to stand together for climate justice, against dangerous gas was incredible. We’re just a small town but on that day it felt so powerful. It’s still one of my favourite moments. The community you make and meet through this work is so beautiful. Just hugging people and feeling lucky, so proud of this movement is one of my favourite things – there is so much love and support. Since then I’ve met some incredible mentors. Anybody that has worked at School Strike – graduated strikers and adults. I’ve learnt so much from them, and I’m so grateful.

What are you doing at SS4C? Describe how you got involved. Right now, locally we are in the process of conducting a survey to learn more about what people want to see in the Federal budget. Our Federal MP hasn’t really been very engaged with our community and listened or advocated for us. So we’re organising a big visual art installation of what our community wants to see in the Federal Budget so they won’t be able to miss it. This is in my electorate of Forrest.

Have you witnessed anything that makes you especially anxious about climate change?

Fires and seeing the impact it has on communities. When a fire happens it affects everyone. I’ve watched friends evacuate their whole lives. Politicians making big decisions that have big implications – new fossil fuel project approvals, like the process currently underway for Woodside’s Burrup Hub.

What gives you hope? The community in the climate movement and everyone I work with. Walking to be a proxy at Woodside’s shareholder meeting and seeing everyone there protesting, being so strong and staunch.  I am so proud of everyone I get to organise with,  seeing people everywhere, particularly my friends, organising things across the country to fight for climate justice makes me so hopeful – that we can build a better, more just future.

What do you know about Burrup Hub? I know its emissions will be 4 x times bigger than Adani – bigger than Australia’s national emissions combined with 6 x times Australia’s annual climate pollution. A lot of people have been outraged recently over the Willow project in America being approved – I watch their jaws drop when they find out that the Burrup Hub is 14 x times bigger in emissions than that. Burrup Hub’s climate change impacts have real and more tangible impacts on communities across the country. It has the potential to harm our oceans and reef, and damage First Nations’ Country. I love open water swimming and do this every weekend at Gnarabup and this alone is enough to make me angry. Imagine what it feels like to have your sacred spaces threatened or destroyed?

What would you like to say to Woodside ahead of the Paddle Out?

To Meg O’Neil – how do you stand there looking so poker-faced knowing your decisions are going to do so much damage to my generation and everyone in the future? You keep saying phrases like ‘offsetting emissions’ knowing full well the impact it will have. I want to believe your empty promises, so very much, but I have no trust in your words. You throw words around like confetti, but I don’t think you know that these words you throw around mean so much, that they matter. I expect better from you because it means so much to young people like me – you are playing with my future. Burrup Hub is risking everything – our country, our futures, our hopes of having a safe climate

Greenpeace and community paddle out in Fremantle, Western Australia for #WhalesnotWoodside. credit line: © Michael Lutman / Greenpeace

What will you do when you leave school? I thought about environmental law or environmental science for a while there but I am not sure I want to work in environmental law. I am in Year 11 now so it’s something I’m actively thinking about. I know I want to keep organising when I leave school. Where I find joy is organising and fighting for a better future. 

Was your mum a big influence in your life? In some ways yeah. In the early and late 90s she lived in Northcliffe – a tiny town kind of on the way to Albany. She used to go there and do sit-ins in trees. It was the start of the decades-long fight to save Western Australia’s old growth forests. She wasn’t in that movement for the longest time or necessarily the most active member, but I recall her telling me about a forest called Boorara. She lived in a house on her friend Wally’s property, he is a farmer, and the state government had decided to log trees on his property. In her room there is a photo of one of the huge trees in Boorara.

What advice do you have for other young people like yourself who may want to get involved in the climate movement but aren’t sure where to start? Just start! Getting involved with the climate movement is one of the best things I’ve ever done! Something that I was told growing up was you can’t complain about something if you are being passive, not doing anything to fix it, and I think you can apply this to the climate crisis! If you are frustrated by government inaction or scared for the future, transfer that into action! There are loads of great climate orgs in Australia to get involved with, and they all have the most lovely people who will support you in getting involved.

Some that I recommend,

1. School Strike for Climate (SS4C)
2. Greenpeace
3. The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC)
4. Tomorrow Movement 

They all do different amazing things. There’s also so many local organisations who you can get involved with – your local environment centre, a local environmental campaign! I went into organising with no support or knowledge other than what my mum had shared with me about how she used to blockade forests, it was a good experience to learn through doing things. Nannas for Native Forests are amazing – nannas going to sit on equipment and lock on! They are a community group that has helped me so much! 

If the nannas can do it – so can you!

In announcing Australia is back as a constructive, positive and willing climate collaborator, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen talked to the Australian government’s bid to co-host COP31 with the Pacific, mentioning the previously announced $900 million in the federal budget towards aid for Pacific nations and claiming Pacific voices have led the climate debate for decades and “they must be heard”. However, today’s statement contained no new funding or policy commitments, particularly on the Pacific’s key demand for a dedicated loss and damage finance facility. 

Shiva Gounden, Pacific advisor at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said it is disappointing that, despite now being in the second week of COP27, the Australian government continued to be all talk while delivering little action.

“The Australian government certainly sounds better than the previous government on climate, but a lack of action means they are failing to meet the promise of their talking points. Simply being better than their Scott Morrison-led predecessors is not good enough, and it shouldn’t earn a gold star from anyone.

“Australia is still ‘very low performing’ on the annual climate change performance index, only rising four places to rank 55th out of 63 countries. Australia cannot be a very low performing country on the issue of loss and damage, particularly given the government’s rhetoric on supporting its Pacific neighbours and co-hosting COP31. 

“The idea of loss and damage was actually born in the Pacific some thirty years ago. Pacific Island nations are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and at the forefront of the fight for climate justice. 

“We have been calling for loss and damage funding for thirty years so we urge the Australian government to step up, hear us, and answer these calls. We cannot keep kicking the can down the road on loss and damage.

“It’s time for the Australian government to convert its rhetoric on the Pacific and climate into action by supporting the establishment of a dedicated loss and damage finance facility at COP27.”

Ulaiasi Tuikoro, Fijian climate activist and representative of the Pacific Youth Council, said that while the Australian government claimed to be listening to the Pacific, it isn’t hearing the clear calls. 

“The Australian government is right to say the Pacific has been leading the debate on climate for decades. But no matter how long or how loudly we speak, we are still not being listened to.

“We do not need more empty talk. We need clear and urgent action. Lives and livelihoods are being destroyed, and we have no time to waste. Australia and other developed countries must support the establishment of a loss and damage finance facility at COP27. 

“Australia is part of the Pacific family. Families listen, they act, they come together when times are tough. That is what Australia must now do. Enough talking, we need action.”

—ENDS—

Optus is the 38th largest electricity user in Australia, using 539GWh of electricity a year – the equivalent of more than 85,000 homes, or nearly all the homes in Hobart. It’s announced that under a new climate action plan, 100% of its electricity requirements will be backed by renewable energy sources by 2025. 

Greenpeace’s research reveals that telecommunications and data centres are some of Australia’s biggest electricity users, streaming through a vast 3,913 GWh of electricity annually – as much as 630,000 Australian homes combined. The sector has been one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, creating nearly 3.1 million tonnes of climate pollution.

REenergise campaign director Lindsay Soutar from Greenpeace Australia Pacific said that today’s clean commitment by Optus should get the telecommunications sector back on the renewable energy track. 

“After years of pressure on the telco sector from Greenpeace and the community, we’re pleased that Optus has today said yes to renewable electricity. Now Optus is dialling in to clean power, all major Australian telcos will be powered by the wind and sun by 2025. The telco sector is now streaming to the front in Australia’s renewable race” she said.

“We’ve been working with Australia’s biggest energy-using companies, from supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths through to Bunnings and Kmart, to accelerate their shift to renewables and make firm commitments to make the switch within the next few years.”

“The appetite for renewable change amongst Australia’s top brands has been huge, with over 40 major companies now committed to power their business with renewable electricity by 2025. These companies together represent almost 12% of corporate and industrial energy use in Australia’s National Electricity Market. 

“At a time when both major political parties fall short on their climate policies, we are pleased to see Australian businesses step up. This sends a strong message that while Scott Morrison and the federal government may continue to drag their feet, Australian businesses and consumers want to see the country powered by cleaner, cheaper renewable energy,” she said.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling on Optus and all major telco and tech companies to sign up to the global RE100 initiative. 

—ENDS—

READ GREENPEACE’S TELCO INDUSTRY BRIEFING PAPER

Jess Panegyres, Head of Clean Transitions at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said that the Morrison Government is effectively granting Woodside an expensive, tax-payer funded license to pollute.

“The Morrison Government is essentially giving Woodside a license to pollute, handing taxpayer’s money to a company with billions of dollars of revenue to waste on ineffective, unproven and costly carbon capture technology,” she said.

“Carbon capture has never worked anywhere in the world at scale, with the most salient example of its failure being found right here in Western Australia. Chevron’s colossal Gorgon gas plant, Australia’s only commercial-scale carbon capture and storage project, has comprehensively failed – and now the Morrison Government wants to hand over more public money to waste on this dangerous fantasy technology.”

“Woodside’s Burrup Hub, if it goes ahead, is set to be the most climate-polluting project in Australia. Tacking a useless carbon capture facility to the Burrup Hub is applying the world’s smallest fig leaf to this fossil fuel monstrosity, leaving Woodside free to destroy our climate.”

“With renewable solutions like wind, solar and batteries offering boundless opportunities for Western Australia, the Federal Government should be investing in long term energy and employment solutions for our state, rather than funding technology designed to prolong the life of polluting fossil fuel projects.”

Carbon capture and storage has been widely derided by energy experts as “fantasy technology”, which comes at a huge cost. While the cost of renewable energy has plummeted , carbon capture and storage is still very expensive and drives up power costs, with research from energy expert Bruce Mountain finding that carbon capture attached to coal and gas power stations is at least six times more expensive than wind power backed by batteries. There are still no projects operating anywhere in the world that have delivered carbon capture and storage on time, on budget or in the quantities promised.

—ENDS—

Idoya and her six-year-old son live in an apartment in the suburb of East Brisbane. When floodwaters rose rapidly, Idoya had to evacuate urgently – carrying Fionn through waist high water with only her passport in hand. Their apartment is at the bottom of a slope and close to the river, so was completely inundated. None of their personal belongings were salvageable, and without insurance the pair now need to find a new home and start from scratch. (Tammy Law/Greenpeace)

Australia has always experienced damaging climate impacts such as droughts, bushfires and floods. But climate change is making the severity and frequency of these disasters much worse. 

Climate change, driven by the burning of coal, oil, and gas, makes floods more severe. It makes the atmosphere warmer and wetter which increases short and heavy rain events that can cause dangerous flash flooding.

For decades scientists have warned of this but for as long as they have sounded the alarm, our political leaders have hit the snooze button. We are now living in a time of more frequent and intense climate disasters and we are unprepared.

That stark reality was laid bare in southeastern Queensland and northern NSW, where only the bravery and resilience of local residents prevented even more deaths and provided sustenance and comfort in the aftermath. With government support nowhere to be seen, communities stepped in to fill the breach, using jet skis and tinnies to rescue their stranded neighbours and providing food and shelter. 

Flood clean up on the streets of Rosalie, Brisbane. (Tammy Law/Greenpeace)

These communities were left alone in their hour of need because Scott Morrison failed to prepare,  just like he failed to prepare for the 2019/20 bushfires. And while responding to disasters is difficult even with careful planning, the failure to prepare for such disasters despite literally decades of warning was a dereliction of duty.  

Communities in Northern NSW and Western Sydney have been hit by bushfires, floods, heatwaves and more floods. Disaster after disaster with little time between events makes recovery harder and takes a toll on mental health.

The few steps Scott Morrison and his predecessors have taken have been reactive, misguided and fallen drastically short of the scale of the crises we are now facing. Our federal political leaders have dramatically failed to reduce the emissions that are causing the climate crisis. But perhaps even more damaging, they have perpetuated the myth that they can protect Australians from the deadly impacts of climate change while bankrolling and cheerleading the expansion of coal and gas. 

While the companies that are driving the climate crisis have enjoyed unfettered access to governments and government funding, everyday Australians have been left alone. 

Flooding in New South Wales has forced the evacuation of at least 18,000 people. Scenes from the flooded towns of Windsor and Pitt Town, north-west of Sydney, Australia on 23 March, 2021. (Isabella Moore/Greenpeace)

As the climate crisis worsens, the time has truly come to break this fundamentally broken dynamic. Communities have done the heavy lifting for too long and with disasters coming quicker than ever, there is not enough time for people to recover between events. These mega-floods show that the climate threat to Australia has reached a point where we must make realistic and honest plans for a climate safety net to protect people, alongside harder and faster emissions reduction. This includes vastly increased funding for emergency services and disaster recovery. Sadly, it’s an investment that will pay dividends very quickly, given the frequency with which climate disasters now strike.

“The first page of this report correctly identifies that climate change is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef but instead of acting on that threat with the urgency required the Prime Minister and Environment Minister Sussan Ley appear more concerned about expanding the fossil fuel industry that is driving the Reef’s destruction,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Impacts Campaigner, Martin Zavan said.

“This announcement reeks of hypocrisy. Morrison calls on other countries to do more to fight climate change when he refused to join the world in increasing climate ambition at COP26 in Glasgow and continues to shower the climate-wrecking coal and gas industries with taxpayer’s money. It’s classic Morrison. He never tells the truth and he never takes responsibility.”

Despite the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority downgrading the outlook for the Reef from “poor” to “very poor” and the Reef being on the cusp of a fourth mass coral bleaching event in six years, the report says that “Australia has made significant progress in Reef protection efforts”.

“Record high sea temperatures and multiple coral bleaching events are evidence that the Great Barrier Reef is in danger,” Mr Zavan said.

“If the Morrison Government was genuine about its commitment to protecting the Reef it would act on climate change, the number one driver of its decline, instead of playing political games and dreaming up band-aid solutions to the climate crisis facing the Reef.”

Notes

[1] https://www.awe.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/gbr-state-party-report.pdf 

At last year’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Australia was one of only a handful of developed economies to refuse to lift its dangerously low 2030 emissions reduction target of 26-28 per cent. Australia’s policies, if extrapolated across all nations, would lead to global heating of more than 3 degrees Celcius and the destruction of all coral reefs worldwide. [2] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/australia/ 

A recent report found that even with global heating of 1.5 degrees Celcius only 0.2 per cent of coral reefs will avoid regular heat stress. [3]  https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000004

Contact

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Impacts Campaigner, Martin Zavan

0424 295 422

martin.zavan@greenpeace.org

“Our politicians have long known that climate change is the number one threat to our precious Reef. When will they act on it?” Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Impacts Campaigner Martin Zavan said.

“The outlook for our Reef has gone from devastating to catastrophic but instead of addressing climate change, which is the number one driver of the decline of our beautiful Reef, the Morrison Government is pocketing record donations from the fossil fuel industry and handing out billions of dollars of taxpayer money to those same donors, whose projects are putting the Reef at dire risk.

The announcement comes just as the World Heritage Committee due to publish a report submitted by Australia, on the measures it is taking to protect the Reef since Environment Minister Sussan Ley spearheaded a lobbying campaign to keep the Reef off the conservation body’s “in danger” list. 

As part of that World Heritage process, a reactive monitoring mission will be visiting the Reef in the first half of this year to help inform committee members before they again vote on whether to add the Reef to the “World Heritage in danger” list in June.

It comes as ocean temperatures in parts of the Great Barrier Reef are at their highest since records began in 1900 and some coral bleaching has been confirmed. If a mass bleaching event is declared it would be the fourth in just six years.

“It’s deeply frustrating that Environment Minister  Sussan Ley and Scott Morrison know that climate change is driving the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef but consistently refuse to act with the urgency necessary to give the Reef a fighting chance and instead engage in deceitful international lobbying to cover their failure to protect one of the world’s greatest natural wonders,” Mr Zavan said.

“Ley and Morrison should worry less about their donors in the fossil fuel industry and worry more about protecting our beautiful and vitally important reef that supports an incredible marine ecosystem and the multi-billion dollar Queensland tourism industry.”

Notes

[1] https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000004 

Contact

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Impacts Campaigner, Martin Zavan

0424 295 422

martin.zavan@greenpeace.org

“It’s astounding that the Morrison Government plans to allocate so much money to the Reef while ignoring the number one driver of its decline – climate change caused by burning fossil fuels,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Impacts Campaigner Martin Zavan said.

“A marine heatwave is causing coral bleaching in parts of the Reef right now. If a mass bleaching event is declared it would be the fourth in six years when these events previously happened once in a generation.

“Harebrained schemes like heat resistant coral and more money for monitoring the decline of the Reef will do nothing to prevent the heating of the ocean that is driving the destruction of this beloved and vitally important ecosystem.”

The announcement comes with Australia approaching a 1 February deadline to submit a report to the World Heritage Committee on the measures it is taking to protect the Reef. Last year the committee declined to add the Reef to its “in danger” list after a deceitful lobbying campaign led by Environment Minister Sussan Ley.

As part of that World Heritage process, a reactive monitoring mission will be visiting the Reef in the first half of this year to help inform committee members before they again vote on whether to add the Reef to the in danger list in June.

“It’s an indisputable scientific fact that the Reef is in danger and that is being driven by climate change. It is inexcusable that the Morrison Government has no credible plan for rapidly cutting emissions and continues to promote and subsidise the mining and burning of dirty coal, oil and gas that are the number one drivers of global heating”

“In order to give the Reef the fighting chance it deserves, the Morrison Government must come up with a plan to replace all coal-burning power stations with clean and safe renewable energy by 2030 and commit to net-zero by 2035.”

Contact

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate Impacts Campaigner, Martin Zavan

0424 295 422

martin.zavan@greenpeace.org

Glenn Walker, Senior Coal Campaigner for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the Morrison Government and big polluting energy companies like AGL need to start urgent planning now for the early retirement of coal.

“The most authoritative forecasting of Australia’s National Electricity Market has coal-burning power stations closing almost three times faster than previously anticipated. The renewable energy revolution has arrived, with cheap solar and wind power pushing dirty coal and gas out of the energy system at ever increasing rates,” he said. 

“The big energy companies and the Morrison Government urgently need to get their heads out of the sand and face the reality that Australia’s dirty, polluting and increasingly unreliable coal-burning power stations need to close within the decade. There are huge opportunities for local power station communities to be at the forefront of the renewable energy revolution, but this can only be fully realised if planning starts now.

“AGL, Australia’s biggest climate polluter, can no longer pretend it can mine and burn coal out to 2048, as is currently planned. It’s downright stupid and only serves to financially damage the company and waste precious time for local communities to plan for change.

“Similarly, the Federal Government’s preference to play dumb climate politics hurts local power station communities and consumers most. Scott Morrison talks about Australia becoming a hydrogen superpower, but it’s now clear from AEMO’s modelling that this means we need to phase out coal by 2030. If his government wants to walk the talk on climate action and the hydrogen economy, it needs to get on board with a clear plan for early coal power station retirement.”

Households are demanding cleaner energy and faster action on climate change and businesses are responding by flocking to renewable energy, with major companies including Telstra, Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings now committed to 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025. Heavy industry is also moving fast to decarbonise, with plans afoot to power Australia’s energy-intensive aluminium smelters with renewable energy by 2030.

Notes

[1] https://aemo.com.au/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp 

AEMO’s ISP is the most authoritative forecasting of Australia’s National Electricity Market, guiding both policy and investment decisions.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Martin Zavan on 0424 295 422 or email martin.zavan@greenpeace.org OR Maddison Bates-Willis on 0401 244 296 or email maddison.bates-willis@greenpeace.org

The cheapest and lowest emissions option to replace the Liddell coal-burning power station in the New South Wales Hunter Valley is clean energy backed up by batteries, according to a new report by energy analytics firm RepuTex. Take action to demand no new gas projects replace Liddell.

Liddell, one of Australia’s oldest and dirtiest coal-burning power stations, is closing in 2023.

The report, commissioned by Greenpeace Australia Pacific, shows that replacing the ageing and unreliable Hunter Valley power station with renewables backed up by batteries is 17% cheaper than replacing Liddell with gas and will result in fewer emissions.

However, the Federal Government has announced they are planning to replace Liddell with another highly polluting and dangerous source, methane gas.

Take action to demand that Scott Morrison does not support new gas projects to replace Liddell.

“Renewables firmed with storage solves the so-called ‘energy trilemma’ — affordable, reliable and cleaner power. This report demonstrates that by continuing to add renewables and storage to NSW’s grid, the state will enjoy reliable power that’s cheaper and much better for the environment than gas,” senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University, Simon Holmes à Court said.

“The closure of Liddell won’t be like Hazelwood. With only five months’ notice Hazelwood’s closure came as a surprise to the community, workers, government and the power sector. The closure of Liddell, on the other hand, was announced in 2015 and AEMO’s modelling shows that the market is on track to replace the lost capacity when the early 1970’s era power station retires in 2023.”