Morrisonâs climate stance is shifting say observers, but glacially
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Before Scott Morrison spoke at the National Press Club a rumour spread through climate activist circles that the PM was about to announce a firm target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. Such a target would have brought Australiaâs ambitions into line with Europe, the United States and much of Asia.
It would have been a huge step for a government known for its reluctance to take aggressive action on climate change. Excitement spread among some campaigners. But Morrison did not go nearly so far last week.
Endangered animals bounce back on rat-free Lord Howe Island
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The last rat seen on Lord Howe Island was sniffed out by a detector dog about 15 months ago not long after a sometimes controversial program to rid the island of an estimated 200,000 of the vermin began.
The endangered Lord Howe Island woodhen.
Credit:Alamy
The change in the little island since the rats disappeared has been spectacular, says Terry OâDwyer, a biologist who worked on the program.
Shoots are now covering sections of the islandâs forest floor and its famed Kentia palms are heavy with fruit.
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The head of the worldâs largest private investor has asked companies to disclose plans on how they intend to reshape their businesses to operate in a net-zero economy.
In his hugely influential annual letter to chief executives, Larry Fink, the founder and chief executive of BlackRock, an investment management firm with more than $10 trillion of funds in its care, said rather than distracting global financial markets from the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the response to it.
Larry Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg event on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year.
In the second part of our series Future Power, we explain why the government wants more gas, and we ask, how clean is natural gas – and what is its future in Australia?