Australian states include green measures in COVID-19 recovery plans, banks and insurers move away from fossil fuels and into sustainable development.
Climate Action 100+, an investor initiative representing two thirds of the world’s annual industrial emissions, has released their first ‘progress report’, with sector by sector analysis of performance indicators, company milestones and case studies. Read the report.
Banks and insurers have published Australia’s first ‘comprehensive climate change reporting framework’, to assess emerging risks caused by rising temperatures. Published by the Climate Measurement Standards Initiative, any financial institution can use the guidelines. James Fernyhough at the Australian Financial Review.
ANZ is the first bank to issue a sustainable development goal bond in Australia. On August 20, ANZ announced in a press release the issue of an AU$1.25 billion, Tier 2, capital bond linked to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals.
The Queensland state government has announced that renewables will form part of their COVID-19 economic recovery. State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk committed $145 million to new transmission infrastructure. Marija Maisch at PV Magazine.
New South Wales will pursue large-scale hydrogen production as part of its recovery from the COVID-19 recession, with the Chief Scientist and Engineer releasing a report highlighting the economic benefits of hydrogen, particularly for Newcastle and Port Kembla. Alexandra Smith at the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Victorian government is providing a funding boost to clean energy projects. Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio is testing interest with investors for building 600 megawatts of renewable energy capacity statewide. Nick Toscano and Miki Perkins at The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
Suncorp, one of Australia’s largest insurers, is phasing out insurance of and investment in fossil fuels. It ceased lending to new oil and oil and gas exploration projects this year, committing to phase out underwriting and financing of all oil and gas by 2025, with direct investing to stop by 2040. James Fernyhough and Angela Macdonald-Smith at the Australian Financial Review.
Google has eliminated its entire carbon legacy. CEO Sundar Pichai announced earlier this week that the organisation’s lifetime net carbon footprint for operational emissions is now zero. He also made a commitment to operate on carbon-free energy across all Google data centres and campuses worldwide by 2030. Rachel Cooper at Climate Action.