VEN – Good News on Climate Action – Blog
Scientific path to recouping the costs of climate change
Image from Christopher W. Callahan, Justin S. Mankin. Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability. Nature, 2025; 640 (8060): 893 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08751-3 Framework for tying emissions from individual fossil-fuel companies to specific damages linked to climate change Date: April 23, 2025 Source: Dartmouth College in Science Daily Summary: A new study lays out…
Read MoreThe evidence is in: Protests can persuade people, and maybe even change how they vote.
Image from “The impacts of climate activism” in the journal Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. What do climate protests actually achieve? More than you think. Kate YoderSenior Staff Writer for Grist Apr 11, 2025 An estimated 5 million people around the world took to the streets last weekend in the largest show of resistance yet…
Read MoreEnshrining ‘Rights of Nature’ into constitution makes the protection of nature enforceable.
What if Mother Earth could sue for mistreatment? Legal framework to protect people and planet Date: April 21, 2025 Source: University of Vermont Summary: The study highlights the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature, which views nature as a rights-bearing entity, not merely an object of regulation and subjugation by extractive industries. The Llurimagua…
Read MoreDelaying climate action will only worsen the ‘cost of living’ crisis
Tariffs will raise prices. But the climate crisis is the real inflation risk Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli As temperatures rise and countries back off their decarbonization efforts, we must confront a reality central banks can’t correct Tue 22 Apr 2025 Inflation is, at base, a tax on consumption – and it hits the poor…
Read MoreExcluding concessional finance, developing countries spend more servicing debt than they receive in new loans. There are solutions.
from Debt Economy article: In 2023, five African countries had negative net financing flows (Angola, Botswana, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and South Africa). If you exclude concessional financing flows, 22 African countries were in the red in 2023. Net financing flows to developing countries remain precariously low Aid and concessional loans have propped up net…
Read MoreDemocracy reimagined: rebuilding trust.
16 April 2025 Mik Aidt Commentary Leave a comment Can trust in politics be rebuilt? A new online citizens’ assembly model offers a real pathway forward – an exciting experiment in citizen-powered democracy, combining people power with the smart use of AI. 20-minute interview with Eddie Kowalski on The Sustainable Hour – plus a song…
Read MoreRadioactive secrets. Fight to hide AUKUS nuclear waste sites gets absurd
by Rex Patrick | Mar 11, 2025 | in Michael West Media: Government, Latest Posts Where to store nuclear waste from AUKUS submarines is a decision which will impact us for millennia, but they are going to extraordinary lengths to hide it from the public. Rex Patrick reports. Somewhere deep inside a locked government filing…
Read More“We haven’t been very good at doing it.” Garnaut says oligopolies in way of green superpower dreams
Poppy Johnston Mar 11, 2025 CLIMATE, COMMENTARY in Renew Economy There’s no shortage of enthusiasm for Australia’s potential as a zero-carbon export superpower, but leading economist Ross Garnaut worries industry transformation is not happening fast enough. “Knowledge of the opportunity has been expanding,” Professor Garnaut told the audience at Climate Action Week Sydney’s opening-day event.…
Read MoreGrow the Pie
Image: https://dashdevs.com/blog/top-10-fintech-companies-that-worship-sustainability-social-change/ Improving corporate sustainability with new financial sustainability-focused products Alexander Kontoleon Opinion Piece in The Digital Economist Today, the world faces the need for and desire for meaningful economic change: retooling the world economy to embrace sustainability, environmentalism, and biodiversity as essential components of all modern economic systems. New financial products that are sustainability-focused…
Read MoreCommunity groups furious Coalition nuclear plan would go ahead even if locals oppose it AND Forget nuclear, Australia is on fast lane to 100pc renewables!
Critics of policy say residents should be ‘very angry’ they will not be able to veto generators in their towns despite promise to consult them Port Augusta is one of the sites proposed in the Coalition’s nuclear power plant plan. Opponents of the plan say it’s ‘probably the most stupid place to put a nuclear…
Read MoreRevealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species
a Sampling locations for the 111 koala samples included in the current study with each site representing a different colour outlined in the legend, the spread of Greater Sydney, Australia represented by the dark grey area, and the country of Australia as an inset with a red rectangle indicating the study area for context; b…
Read MoreDecarbonization improves energy security for most countries
Fig. 4: Global and regional changes in trade risks (TRI=trade risk index) to energy security due to changes in renewable energy, trade, material intensity and recycling rates. from Jing Cheng, Dan Tong, Hongyan Zhao, Ruochong Xu, Yue Qin, Qiang Zhang, Karan Bhuwalka, Ken Caldeira, Steven J. Davis. Trade risks to energy security in net-zero emissions…
Read MoreAustralia’s great gas giveaway
from The Australia Institute Around 80% of Australia’s gas is exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG), the gas industry pays ZERO royalties on more than half the gas exported. Australia has an abundance of gas. In fact, Australia is one of the biggest exporters of gas in the world, alongside Qatar. Australia Institute research shows…
Read MoreCoalition nuclear plan will plough $58bn wrecking ball through renewable energy projects, analysis warns
Going nuclear will cost ‘real dollars for farmers, real dollars for country towns and real blue-collar jobs’, Clean Energy Council says Adam Morton Climate and environment editor Thu 10 Apr 2025 The Guardian A Coalition proposal to limit the rollout of renewable energy could stop at least $58bn of private investment in new developments and…
Read MoreAll of us have many pathways to climate action
by Christina (Tina) Swanson, Ph.D. MARCH 26, 2025 Project Drawdown A recent conversation with a friend got me thinking another way about the “who” and the “how” of climate action. My friend is deeply concerned about climate change and has already taken actions to reduce her own emissions, including installing rooftop solar panels and switching…
Read MoreAustralia’s regions face ‘social licence’ balancing act as 2030 renewable energy targets come closer
By Adam Holmes abc news Stanley farmer Robert Smith looks over the land that was previously proposed for a wind farm, but which he campaigned to defeat. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard) In short: Australia’s current target is for 82 per cent of electricity to be generated by renewables by 2030, but, on current trends, it’s…
Read MoreGlobal Governance Just Won Big — As The U.S. Left The Room
As it happened – how the vote went at the International Maritime Organisation. Image from @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social On April 11, 2025, the world achieved something rare: a legally binding global climate agreement. The United States didn’t vote—they walked out, warning others to follow or face consequences. But 63 nations stayed. And they passed the deal. That’s…
Read MoreAllegra Spender urges ‘permanent’ power bill relief, with electricity and fuel subsidies due to expire
Zero-interest loan scheme for efficient appliances that could “permanently” cut the power bills of hundreds of thousands of households Exclusive by political reporter Jake Evans in abc news Allegra Spender says the Coalition must provide more detail on its gas reservation plan, which will influence her thinking in a hung parliament scenario. (ABC News: Matt…
Read MoreCoalition and Labor agree on bill busting benefits of electrification, and kicking gas out of homes
Sophie Vorrath & Rachel Williamson in Renew Economy Apr 2, 2025 ELECTRIFICATION, FEATURED, POLICY & PLANNING Key Takeaways Victoria’s Labor government announced plans to ban gas network connections in new homes as part of its Gas Substitution Roadmap policy. The federal Senate inquiry into residential electrification found that households could save money by switching from…
Read MoreClimate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer
Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure Damian CarringtonEnvironment editor the Giardian Thu 3 Apr 2025 The climate crisis is on track to destroy capitalism, a top insurer has warned, with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial…
Read More