The realities of environmental insurance – are you really covered?
An October 6 evening briefing in Sydney, hosted by the Australian Land and Groundwater Association.
Investor Group on Climate Change 2015 summit
An October 6-7 conference in Melbourne, featuring speakers including Jillian Broadbent (CEFC), Emma Herd (IGCC) and Andrew Vesey (AGL), as well as video presentations by Rachel Kyte (World Bank), Christiana Figueres (UNFCCC) and Al Gore.
Powering towards 2020: Energy Users Association of Australia 2015 Conference
An October 6 and 7 conference in Sydney, with speakers from the Australian Energy Market Commission, the Australian Energy Regulator and the Australian Aluminium Council.
Pollution Incident Response Management Plans and Response
An October 7 workshop in Sydney, hosted by the Australian Sustainable Business Group.
Energy Exchange seminar
An October 7 breakfast seminar in Brisbane, featuring Dow Chemical chief economist Rafael Cayuela and ClimateWorks chief executive Anna Skarbek.
Preparing for the ISO14001: 2015 transition
A series of one-day seminars hosted by SAI Global (Melbourne, October 9; Brisbane October 19).
How to prepare a best practice sustainability report
An October 13 and 14 workshop in Melbourne, hosted by the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Australia-NZ climate conference
An October 20-21 conference in Auckland.
Hypothetical: Effective management of incidents: responses and investigations
A one-hour October 21 seminar in Melbourne, hosted by Norton Rose Fulbright.
ISO14001: 2015 training
A series of various training courses on ISO14001:2015 offered in several locations by LRQA.
For other events, including an AEBN briefing on changes to federal and state environment laws, see the extensive Footprintwhat's on listings.
The US-based Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions, backed by Bank of America, has released a new report on business resilience to extreme weather.
(September 30 launch presentation by Amy Luers, Assistant Director, Climate Resilience and Information at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 23 minutes:)
Other launch videos are available here.
The Global CCS Institute has released a CCS legal and regulatory indicator, prepared by law firm Baker & McKenzie, that outlines CCS regulatory frameworks across 55 countries. The indicator describes Australia as one of five countries with legislation that covers all aspects of the CCS lifecycle.
National:
More than 30 major Australian utility and energy providers, industry, research and environmental organisations and governments will jointly support an independent study of the costs and performance of power generation technologies.
The study will examine the emissions intensity, technical efficiency and water use of commercially available and fast-emerging technologies, including fossil fuels, direct injection carbon, solar thermal and solar PV, onshore wind, geothermal, hydro-electric, nuclear, biomass and energy storage.
The study is being led by a steering committee comprising the CO2CRC, CSIRO, ARENA, the Office of the Chief Economist and ANLEC.
It will be undertaken by the Electric Power Research Institute, Worley Parsons and Ernst and Young, and will be peer reviewed by the federal Bureau of Resource Research Economics.
The report will be published in November 2015, in advance of UN climate talks in Paris.
NSW Roads and Maritime Services will no longer need to refer minor roadworks projects to the Federal Government for EPBC Act consideration, if they are carried out in a specified manner. Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt last week approved the NSW agency to carry out minor works if they are performed in accordance with 14 commitments made in a strategic assessment program report.
NSW-based solar PV company Dyesol has received a $449,000 grant from ARENA to help it prepare a pathway to commercialisation of potentially cheaper and more efficient solar cells. The cells would be constructed from perovskite, a more abundant and cheaper material than silicon.
The Department of Environment is inviting comments by November 2 on a proposal to provide national heritage listing for Queensland's Chillagoe Karst region.
Grant opportunity: Applications close on December 1 for funding under round two of the rural research and development for profit program.
Funding priorities for the program include projects that better manage soil and water and improve climate resilience.
The Department of Environment has released for comment by December 18 draft recovery plans for two endangered birds, the Plains Wanderer and the Regent Honeyeater.
Queensland:
The Palaszczuk Government will amend water legislation later this year, according to Acting Natural Resources and Mines Minister Mark Bailey.
Bailey said the changes would introduce requirements for all resource companies to assess and manage groundwater impacts, and 'make good' any impact on groundwater resources.
These requirements currently only apply to the petroleum and gas industries, he said.
New requirements for people and organisations investigating, managing or remediating contaminated sites have entered into force in Queensland, and the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection now also has powers to secure enforceable undertakings from companies for environmental offences. (See source material here and here, and the Footprint article 'Queensland legislative changes').
NSW:
Comment closes November 13 on a draft NSW EPA noise guideline that includes more flexible provisions to manage sound from clusters of industry and eases daytime limits in low-noise areas.
(See source material here and the Footprint article 'NSW overhauls industrial noise guideline').
The Dam Safety Act 2015 is now in force, after being passed by Parliament on September 16.
Lubricants company Nulon Products Australia Pty Ltd must pay a $120,000 penalty plus costs for odour-related air pollution.
(See source material here and the Footprint article 'Odour costs company $180,000').
The Scientific Committee established under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 has gazetted various determinations on listed species.
Grant opportunity: Waste facility operators have until October 9 to apply for round two of the Resource Recovery Facility Expansion and Enhancement Program, dollar-for-dollar matching grants of up to $1 million.
Grant opportunity: Applications close on October 23 for a share of $1.3 million in litter prevention grants.
The funding round is open to local government regional waste groups that have developed a regional waste strategy.
Submissions close on October 31 to the independent inquiry into the EPA.
Public consultation meetings will be held in 17 locations across the state and the inquiry will report to the Victorian Government by the end of March next year.
EPA Victoria has released its annual plan for 2015-16.
EPA Victoria has released a summary of stakeholder responses to the review of Victoria's State Environment Protection Policies (SEPP) for Noise.
The Andrews Labor Government has appointed an independent environmental expert to review operations of Newmarket Gold's mine near Stawell. Both the company and the Friends of Big Hill community group have supported the appointment of Dr Peter Beck.
The WA Department of Mines and Petroleum is consulting on draft guidelines for mining proposals that will oblige project proponents to demonstrate that environmental risks are properly identified and managed.
Comments are due by November 23.
(See source material here and the Footprint article 'WA issues new mining guidelines').
Environment Minister Albert Jacob has launched an app describing 'rare and priority plants of the Pilbara.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife developed it in collaboration with Rio Tinto.
Jobs and appointments:
The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is seeking a Brisbane-based investigator to work within its petroleum, gas and compliance branch.
Carmichael Fisher is recruiting for a Sydney-based environmental officer to ensure compliance with approval conditions for a state significant chicken farm development.
