Let Me Sum Up

Thats right, our very next episode is our fiftieth (how did that happen) so to mark the occasion we are doing an Ask Me Anything! Luke's fashion choices, trolling Frankie about hydrogen in buildings, getting Tennant's attention with questions posed in the form of memes – it is all on the table.But time is of the essence! Get your question into [email protected] by Sunday 9 June 2024. And remember you get extra points if you submit your question as a voice recording (and the chance for it to be spliced into the episode and LMSU history). Huzzah!

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes and other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—Another fortnight, another flurry of activity vis-a-vis the reliability of the NEM! Your intrepid hosts have some whiplash from the just-published May 2024 Update to the 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunities, rendered out of date some 48 hours later when the NSW Government and Origin Energy announced their deal to extend the operation of Eraring for two years. Reliability fears? Temporarily allayed. Broader impacts? More coal gen pain! Our main paperThe Australian Government’s universally beloved, well received, totally uncontroversial Future Gas Strategy proved too tempting to resist for your intrepid hosts. In what could have been titled ‘Gassy McGasface Says: Gas? Gas!’ this report goes to great lengths to paint a picture of gas as far as the eye can see – beyond 2050! – even in the face of the many models suggesting that would be a Very Bad Idea, especially if the need to save the climate is a thing. It might be light on analysis, policy, and funding, but don’t worry, we filled in the blanks. One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is some listener mailbag from Summerupperer Kerry Burke, who reckons the LMSU crew got it wrong – it had to happen eventually – with our broad endorsement of Grattan’s Keeping the Lights On paper last episode. We’ll take a 47/48 strike rate any day, and invite Kerry – who is also not happy with the status quo – to tell us what he’d do instead! Frankie’s One More Thing is a plug for the National Construction Code 2025 Public Comment Draft, now open for comment until 1 July! Improvements to energy efficiency for commercial buildings are on the table, including an intriguing measure to mandate solar on commercial building rooftops. If buildings are your jam, hop on it!Luke’s One More Thing is a plug for the Energy Efficiency Council’s revamped and relaunched First Fuel podcast, featuring no less than the grandfather of energy efficiency, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and Stanford Professor, Amory Lovins. Canvassing extreme efficiency, grid transition and dare we say it, the prospects for nuclear in Australia, we are McLovins it!And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our just-dropped bonus episode on the Federal Budget! Other savoury morsels include our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—Your intrepid hosts turn their gaze stateside for a gander at the recently published rules from the US EPA which will slash emissions and other pollutants from coal and gas generators. We reckon these are a BIG DEAL. With coal generators needing to cut emissions by 90% if they plan on operating post 2039, it’s effectively CCS or die! Our main paperThe Grattan Institute’s latest offering, Keeping the Lights On, makes for a grumpy read in which no government, market body or stakeholder group escapes the ire of authors Tony Wood, Alison Reeve and Richard Yan over the state of the energy transition. This report is serving a healthy dose of realism (the coal closure era is just gonna be messy, deal with it) and a side of optimism on reforms for the post coal era! And the LMSU crew, as always, are here for it.One more thingsLuke’s One More Thing is unpacking some thoughtful listener mail from friend of the pod and Super Summerupperer Dylan McConnell on the history and context of the GSOO. This valiant effort did move your intrepid hosts however – we still reckon the GSOO is in need of a serious makeover!Frankie’s One More Thing is the recently published Decarbonising the US Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector following a chat with the paper’s authors from US Department of Energy and Department of Housing and Urban Development. TLDR: reform across the federation is so much harder when you have 50 states. Good thing the HURRICANE of IRA carrots is there. Mmmm, carrots.Tennant’s One More Thing is a recent collab between two humongous titans whose subject could doom the world - or save it. No, it’s not the highly anticipated King Kong x Godzilla cinematic spectacle, but rather a recent episode of Volts where David Roberts is joined by Michael Liebreich to talk energy transition superheroes vs supervillians.And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—If there’s one thing your intrepid hosts love it’s an acronym! PM Anthony Albanese served up fresh fodder for the LMSU crew in the form of A Future Made In Australia or as it shall henceforth be known, FuMiA! At this stage all we have are the tasty tantalising morsels of pre-budget delights in the billion dollar investments announced for the Solar Sunshot program and critical minerals investments with much MUCH more coming our way. Will the Government go big or go home in backing home-grown advantages and sovereign capability? Our main paperThis week we picked a winner and tackled the ARENA-funded study by the Australian PV Institute, Silicon to Solar, which informed the so-far $1Bn the government is tipping in to the Solar Sunshot program aimed at creating an end-to-end solar PV industry in Australia. A dispassionate, objective look at whether we should establish a domestic solar industry THIS IS NOT! Your intrepid hosts tallied the arguments for ‘making PV in Australia is sensible’ vs ‘making PV in Australia is crazy’ and tackled the totally-not-fraught topic of what-do-we-do-about-China. Which one stacks up? Definitely not our current costs of production at any stage of the supply chain! One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is “Everything Must Go”, a history of stories about the end of the world (featuring an excellent climate section) by Dorian Lynskey, host of the Origin Story podcast. Tennant’s real motivation for the shout out is that it situates Soylent Green as a climate movie. Cue *not listening* emojis. For a taster, listen to the Origin Story podcast's bonus episode on the book!Frankie’s One More Thing is the ISSB’s recent announcement that they are commencing projects to look at disclosure about risks and opportunities associated with nature and human capital. Signalling expansion to human rights and TNFD is super fast compared to climate risk which was a slower burn - exciting times!Luke’s One More Thing is the EEC’s Industrial Decarbonisation Summit and National Conference, featuring global energy efficiency legend Amory Lovins. Not to mention a gala dinner co-hosted by podcast superstars Frankie Muskovic and Tennant Reed!And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—The demand side of the energy system equation is near and dear to the hearts of your your intrepid hosts and so it was with a collective sigh that we mused on the government’s just released National Energy Performance Strategy (NEPS). Built on the bones of the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency (2009) and the National Energy Productivity Plan (2015), this latest iteration is serving up a lot of framework and not a lot of new policy commitments. Is it NUP to the NEPS? Your intrepid hosts reckon there’s not a moment to lose on increasing the ambition and building out this framework post haste! Our main paperAnd speaking of ambition! All the targets were hanging out over here as we set our sights on 2035 and had a gander at the Climate Change Authority’s just published 2024 Issues Paper: Targets, Pathways and Progress. So what is the Goldilocks number, CCA? This target is too high (over 75%)! This target is too low (under 65%)! But THESE TARGETS (65-75%) are *just right*. Add a sneak peak into the early thinking on tech needed in different sectoral pathways, a first foray into carbon removals - yet more targets! - AND the promise of economic modelling which will no doubt feature more IAM piñata bashing, and CCA has sung for their supper for Summerupperers to sup!One more thingsLuke’s One More Thing is some listener mail on our recent ep unpacking the National Adaptation Plan issues paper from none other than friend of the pod, CCA CEO Brad Archer! Brad responded to Luke’s cheeky suggestion that the CCA could play a stronger role on adaptation policy - turns out they ARE doing some stuff and they also have plenty to be getting on with already thank-you-very-much!Tennant’s One More Thing is a recent European Commission report on the gap between real-world light vehicle emissions and the current Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). They used data collected by new vehicles themselves while being driven!Frankie’s One More Thing is a tribute to Jeff Robinson, sustainable building advocate and industry legend, who passed away tragically on April 7. Jeff was larger than life and seemingly everywhere all at once, always generous with his time to support the sustainable buildings movement as a mentor and friend to many. A memorial forest is being planted in his honour and a message board for those who would like to contribute. Vale, Jeff.And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—Your intrepid hosts still have the Need for Speed(y decarbonisation of vehicles) and clocked the New (and improved?) Vehicle Efficiency Standard completed its warm up lap and with industry all signed up now and cheering from the sidelines, it’s go time and we’ll soon find out if the Parliament believes two electric popemobiles will balance out a stretch hummer after all! We revisit our previous episode on the NVES and discuss the changes. Was the original B and ambit claim? Were 4WDs always going to end up switching categories? That may be but we reckon this is still more of a vroom vroom than a putt putt and it will drive a lot of change in new fleets by 2030!Our main paperThis week we enter the twilight zone that is the Gas Statement of Opportunties 2024, more affectionately known by regular customers as the GSOO. In this 2024 edition where new supplies of gas are the ONLY solutions contemplated to forecast shortages towards the end of the decade, your intrepid hosts had some *cough* thoughts about the role of *cough* demand side policy maybe being a thing and also it would be nice if any of the scenarios used were actually aligned to meeting our climate commitments. HOOEEEE we had fun beating this pinata full of charts and magic gas ships!One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is a new paper from our old friend William Nordhaus, updating the widely beloved DICE Integrated Assessment Model with less wildly erroneous inputs and incrementally more functional representations of the world!Frankie’s One More Thing is a reflection on the climate legislation PALOOZA going on in Parliament with three bills introduced for vehicle efficiency standards, Climate Related Financial Disclosures and setting up the Net Zero Economy Authority. And wouldn’t you all like to know what we thought of that! Look no further than our Patreon where we’ve just dropped a BoCo episode on just that! Luke’s One More Thing is a big salute to colleague and friend of the pod, Holly Taylor, the Energy Efficiency Council’s outgoing Head of Partnerships and Strategy. Oft described as energy efficiency’s Hype Woman, Holly’s impact and infectious enthusiasm will be much missed! If YOU dear Summerupperer are contemplating a career shift and fancy a purpose-driven stint as the EEC’s new Head of Partnerships, have a look here for all the deets to apply!And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—It's time to revive *US elections corner* at LMSU HQ and HOOOEEEEE there is a lot to say! Summerupperers, we could have spent the whole pod unpacking the various permutations of the makeup of Congress and its implications for climate policy. BUT, beyond Democracy Good, Demagogue Bad, a re-elected but weakened Biden may be relegated to Executive Actions and bedding down IRA and getting proposed EPA standards for cars, powerplants and oil and gas methane reduction up. Will it be enough? The spectre of a Trump 2.0 presidency would see the US withdraw from Paris again and completely remove climate considerations from all decision making to the extent possible. The wildly popular hurricane of carrots that is IRA may yet survive though.Our main paperLast week the Government released two papers relating to adaptation - the National Climate Risk Assessment : First Pass Assessment Report and the National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper. Your intrepid hosts are here for this culinary climate cabaret! We devoured the National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper, with a little First Pass Climate Risk Assessment amuse bouche! One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is “Indistinguishable From Magic” by Robert L Forward, a collection of mind-expanding essays and indescribably dreadful fiction on the frontiers of future science and engineering by an influential aeronautical engineer and physicist. Featuring incredible levels of energy inefficiency!Frankie’s One More Thing is a great episode of David Roberts’ US climate pod of note ‘Volts’ called “How’s IRA doing?”. It’s a cracking discussion with Trevor Houser of Rhodium Group unpacking data on how successful the IRA has been, two years into implementation. Luke’s One More Thing is to flag ongoing and significant work underway by Treasury and the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute on a regulatory regime for Climate Related Financial Disclosures - due to kick off this year! - and accompanying taxonomy for sustainable finance.And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—We get the ball rolling with some crystal ball gazing this week. Speculation is rife on just how ambitious Australia’s 2035 national emissions target will be and your intrepid hosts are far from immune to a spot of prognostication themselves! When and where will it land we ask? Ambitious states like Vic and QLD (!) suggest 75-80% ambition is supportable, and looking abroad with the EU potentially gunning for a 90% reduction on 1990 levels, A Big Number is very possible! Our main paperA Degrowther’s delight and a downright doozy which decries growth, marketing and pronatalism as the drivers of ecological overshoot in this week’s paper, World Scientists’ Warning: The behavioural crisis driving ecological overshoot by Joseph Merz, Phoebe Barnard, William Rees, Dane Smith, Mat Maroni, Christopher Rhodes, Julia Dederer, Nandita Bajaj, Michael Joy, Thomas Wiedmann, Rory Sutherland. Your intrepid hosts had much to say, and PLENTY to critique as the authors target runaway economic growth, marketers for manipulating the Easily Led Masses, neo-liberal feminists and Big Baby as the source of our woes. The solutions? Well, transitioning our energy system is a futile struggle. What we really need is a campaign of Widespread Behaviour Manipulation by… the marketing industry. STRAP IN FOLKS, this one is a wild ride.One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is the provocative but sadly brief (and possibly bananas) “Food Without Agriculture” Frankie’s One More Thing is the just-announced changes to the Federal Coalition’s shadow ministry, with Melissa McIntosh MP appointed to the new role of Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability.Luke’s One More Thing is to pour one out for Katharine Murphy no longer being a (direct) contributor to our nation’s public debate. If you too are feeling nostalgic, head on back to Episode 7 ‘The last fire in the forest’ where Katharine joined us to talk about the Safeguard Mechanism and climate policy ghosts past, present and future!And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our just-launched Patreon! Our hope is to make this passion project of ours a tad more sustainable. You can sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.---Your intrepid hosts have charged into 2024 and are serving you the hottest takes on the spiciest topics. It’s good to be back!We kick things off by recapping Big Thinkers Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims’ appearance at the National Press Club on 14 February where the duo presented some big think ideas on how Australia could acquire energy Superpower status. A Carbon Solutions Levy proposed on the carbon content of all fossil fuels produced in or imported to Australia would fund the Capacity Investment Scheme, building of new transmission and hydrogen pipelines and support early development in Superpower industries like processing iron, aluminium and other critical minerals for export. Is this a Deadpool/Wolverine bromance destined for critical success? Only time may tell! Our main paperThe Australian Government’s hotly anticipated Cleaner, Cheaper to Run Cars: The Australian New Vehicle Efficiency Standard is out for consultation (you’ve got until March 4 people) and the scrutiny of your intrepid hosts. We have been talking about vehicle efficiency standards for donkeys’ years and the Government is keen to no longer be in a club with Russia as one of two advanced economies left without them. An ambitious timeline to see us converge with proposed (OR ARE THEY) US standards by 2028 would push a big uptick of EVs in new vehicle fleets but will it all be down to our ability to COMPLETE A GOVERNMENT IT PROJECT in time? One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is ex-Bloomberg New Energy Finance charts maven Nat Bullard has published his latest annual chart-a-thon on decarbonisation progress. It is a nerdy datafeast with loads that is positive, some provocative, and a sprinkling of grimness.Frankie’s One More Thing is the US EPA’s introduction of a Waste Emissions Charge for methane on oil and gas facilities that exceed specified thresholds. Combined with rule changes announced at COP28 as part of their Methane Emissions Reduction Program, provides a roadmap other signatories to the Global Methane Pledge could be getting on with!Luke’s One More Thing is riff on one of Garnaut's reflections in the Q&A following his press club address; governments of the past have taken on the task of making (and winning) the argument for doing Hard Things in the National Interest. It worked in the 1980s for microeconomic reform, can it work in the 2020s for climate policy? And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.

Calling all Summerupperers! We’ve plunged into the partay pool of Patreon to make this passion project of ours a tad more sustainable. You can sign up to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUpWe launched Let Me Sum Up back in 2022 because we had a feeling we weren’t the only ones struggling to keep up with all the latest climate and energy papers and global goings on. We have loved every second of it and meeting many of you, our amazing listeners, who love the pod and have encouraged us to keep going. Your intrepid hosts also have busy day jobs and are also trying to do life with young families while we continue to devote time to reading and chatting about papers for y’all. We’re launching the Patreon to make the task of doing the pod more sustainable for us - and particularly Luke who has been editing the pod in his spare time since we started. Our initial hope is to get enough subscribers to cover the cost of hiring an editor. Oh No! Our plan for WORLD DOMINATION has been revealed!For those of you lovely folk who can afford to, signing up to be a Super Summerupperer will cost you AUD10/month and you’ll unlock access to exclusive subscriber-only episodes of the pod, copies of our copious notes on papers read, a chance to vote on what we should read and more coveted BoCo informed by you, our amazing listener community. Right this instant, over on Patreon, there is a bonus episode on the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap 2.0 for the listening pleasure of our Patreon supporters. You can sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUpAnd NEVER FEAR! A standard, spectacular and entirely free episode of LMSU will be hitting your feed this Friday.Thanks for your support,Frankie, Luke and Tennant

By popular demand we are joined once more by marvelous guest host Alison Reeve to round out 2023 with our BUMPER HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR! That’s right Summerupperers, ‘tis the season for the Highly Anticipated and Much Sought After awarding of the second annual Wonkies! This year there were several contenders for top honours but your intrepid hosts have sent up the smoke signal and unanimously declared our favourite climate paper of 2023 was…DRUMROLL…Getting off gas: why, how and who should pay? By Tony Wood, Alison Reeve and Esther Suckling of the Grattan Institute! This paper was covered in Episode 28 of the pod and your hosts noted the timeliness and influence the report has had since its release in June 2023 on the thorny issue of getting 5 million Australian households off fossil gas. Honourable mentions for our runners up go to “Rethinking markets, regulation and governance for the energy transition” by Dr Ron Ben-David (Episode 32), the Climate Change Authority’s “Reduce, remove and store: The role of carbon sequestration in accelerating Australia’s decarbonisation” (Episode 33) and Discounting the Distant Future: A Critique of the EPA’s Analysis of the Social Cost of Carbon’, by Geoffrey M. Heal, Noah Kaufman and Antony Millner at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy (Episode 27).Our climate-themed christmas cracker of a caper for you Summerupperers is the controversial and critically acclaimed How to Blow Up a Pipeline! An Ocean’s 11-esque heist movie in which the caper crew are a rainbow coalition of diverse young environmental activists, and the Big Score is to disable a crucial oil pipeline and strike a blow for the climate. Will they do it? Will they get away with it? And is that even the plan???You can watch it on Stan in Australia and also have a listen to this interview with the film’s director and co-writer on The Big Picture podcast.Frankie’s One More Thing is Alan Kohler’s quarterly essay The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It and admission of trash TV consumption: Yellowstone (apparently the stepping stone to true trashiness) + The Block.Tennant’s One More Things are Netflix trash show about upgrading trash (and not so trash) cars “Car Masters; Rust To Riches”, and non-trashy pop-sci book “A City On Mars” by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith.Alison’s One More Things are the quirky Aussie heist movie, Malcolm: the only movie you’ll ever see featuring a Melbourne tram as getaway vehicle, and Long Live Chainsaw a brilliant doco about the very short life and career of Canadian downhill mountain bike racer, Stevie Smith.Luke’s One More Things are the excellent, unabridged Tolkien audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis: The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King and The Silmarillion. Or if that’s all a bit 1950s high fantasy for you, try the Murderbot Diaires!And that’s all from us in 2023! We are taking a break in January but will be back with ever more reports to read in Feb 2024. In the meantime, happy holidays to all our wonderful Summerupperers. While you rest up, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers and climate-themed pop culture to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social

Continents apart and featuring LBM (Little Baby Muskovic) once more, your intrepid hosts dive into the eventful last few days of COP28 and swim around in the acronym soupy delight that is the first GST (Global Stocktake, not the pesky 10% tax). Fossil fuels? A transition away! Renewable energy? Triple ‘em! Energy efficiency? Double it! 1.5C? Is our North Star! Next round of NDCs? Parties better bring ‘em and make ‘em good! There is much to sum up here and we wanted to bring you Summeruperers the hottest of hot takes and so voila! Fresh out of the oven and off the plane from our journey home. Listen to our last episode where we summed up the first half of COP28, joined by special guest and climate reporter of note Dr Simon Evans from Carbon Brief. For bonus nerdery, read some of Tennant’s extensive notes on the majlis and watch walk n’ talk videos of us digesting the goings on as we stroll the COP venue at Dubai Expo City. And for dare we say it, even more backstory, jump in the delorean and listen to last year’s episode recorded at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.This is our final substantive episode of 2023, but stay tuned for our holiday special, which will feature our second annual award for the best climate and energy paper, the Wonkies!Send your hot tips and suggestions for paper, climate themed movies and COP questions to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social

With the help of special guest and climate reporter of note Dr Simon Evans from Carbon Brief, your intrepid hosts sum up all the hot button issues from the first week of COP28. Global Stocktake! Tripling up on renewables! Doubling down on energy efficiency! Phase-down of fossil fuels! Phase-out of fossil fuels! Abated or Unabated! We cover it all, as well the vibe on the ground and around the pavilions, Team Australia’s presence at this COP (coffee diplomacy soldiers on) and wild speculation on the location of the next three (!) COPs.Listen to our last episode where we preview key issues on the agenda at COP28, and for even more context, jump in the delorean and listen to last year’s episode recorded at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.You can find Dr Simon Evans on the site formerly known as Twitter and you can read Carbon Brief’s excellent article on why defining the ‘phaseout’ of ‘unabated’ fossil fuels at COP28 is so important.Tennant’s note about a bad LSE paper on the impacts of EU CBAM on Africa is here.And if you Summerupperers can’t get enough COP chat, check out our video updates as we roamed the grounds at COP during the first week here and here.Send your hot tips and suggestions for paper, climate themed movies and COP questions to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social.

Frankie is back from pod mat leave and Tennant is spruiking recipes from Dungeons & Dragons Heroes’ Feast Cookbooks! (Vol 1 and Vol 2). Pleasantries aside we dive in with our own stocktake of the first Global Stocktake on progress of the Paris Agreement towards achieving its purpose and long-term goals. Due to be discussed in Dubai at COP28 shortly, it’s an important if unsurprising summary of where we’re at: Paris has driven a lot of activity but we are not on track for 1.5C.And stay tuned for more COP news Sumerupperers as your intrepid hosts are departing for Dubai and will be dissecting all the deliberations for your delight!Our main paperNuclear energy and its potential role in Australia’s future energy mix may be the hottest debate around. Enter, the Blueprint Institute, with their report, ‘The lowest cost net-zero grid: a critical analysis of nuclear energy in Australia.’ Authors Cross, D., Ouliaris, M., Williams, L., Poulton, C., and Lubberink, J contend there may be a small but significant role for small modular reactors (SMRs) to provide clean firming in a close-to-100% renewables grid. Your intrepid hosts unpack the ultra centrist but not super critical findings which suggest some low-to-no regrets measures we can take now in case the appallingly high costs come down post 2040. One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is (if you can believe it) CBAM news! The issues paper for the Government’s Carbon Leakage Review is out and Reed wants you to read it! His sneaky twofer is the recent Australia-Tuvalu climate & security treaty.Frankie’s One More Thing is another shout out for the Careers for Net Zero campaign. With two million workers needed for Australia’s transition there’s no time to waste if you’re net zero career curious - check it out!Luke’s One More Thing is visiting eminence Josephine Maguire from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland speaking on the SwitchedOn podcast about the mammoth job of running a one-stop-shop for home energy upgrades.And Frankie’s one more one more thing is a huge shout out to the marvellous Alison Reeve for her stellar run on LMSU the past couple of months! We are looking forward to Alison joining us for our Holiday Movie Special…… which we’re fission for ideas on! Send your hot tips on climate themed movies to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social, @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social.

Our starter is the Strategic Plan of the revived State Electricity Commission of Victoria. What are they up to? Much more than we expected! Large scale clean energy investment, taking on existing contracts for difference, getting into electrification, skills, and governance! No really, that last one might be the most controversial. Overall it’s very interesting and pretty positive, despite Tennant’s xenomorphic metaphors!Our main paper Residual emissions are the stuff that requires the Net in Net Zero - the emissions that can’t be (or, at least, aren’t) eliminated and have to be balanced by removals of carbon from the atmosphere through biological and/or engineered processes. Previously we covered a report on the scope of potential removals and one on the issues involved in Australian removals specifically. Now we consider a paper on how big residual emissions may be, based on the currently available Long Term Strategies submitted under the Paris Agreement: Why residual emissions matter right now - by Buck, Carton, Lund and Markusson.The authors tot up 51 published national strategies, including Australia’s very own late-2021 contribution (a rather more elaborate successor is now being developed). They find a rather high level of residuals; little specificity or consistency around their definition or presentation; and more residuals than the same nations’ land sectors are expected to be able to soak up. At best, a work in progress!One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is a speech on energy and net zero industry by the Federal Treasurer that foreshadows a big, but not just spendy, Superpower push in the 2024-25 Budget.Alison’s One More Thing is a fascinating transcript of a discussion on how the world navigates energy security, economic prosperity, and geopolitics through the period of cross-over between the decline of fossil fuels and the growth of renewables.Who are the winners and the losers are going to be? What are the prospects for various types of mineral-exporting countries? How does a world with terminally declining oil demand look?Luke’s One More Thing is an epic takedown of Integrated Assessment Models for a lay audience “When Idiot Savants do Climate Economics”.And Alison’s one more one more thing is: this is the last episode of her initial LMSU run! Frankie’s Podcast Mat Leave is coming to an end. But Alison will return when the stars are right (or the Holiday Movie Special looms)...Send all your residual paper suggestions and thoughts (after eliminating all the bad ones) to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social @tennantreed.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social.

We start with a quick summary of the High Court of Australia’s decision in Vanderstock v Victoria, which struck down as unconstitutional the State of Victoria’s Distance Based Charge on Zero and Low Emissions Vehicles (aka the EV Tax). But we rapidly descend into an unqualified but compelling fiesta of legal speculation - is State-based EV taxation really dead, and what other unrelated taxes and charges might now be unsound?Our main paper More and more governments have been making use of Contracts for Difference as a tool of energy and climate policy - first to drive clean electricity generation investment, and now for hydrogen and low-emissions industry. These contracts guarantee project revenue per unit of output won’t fall below an agreed price. But who pays, and are any costs fairly distributed?A new paper from Tim Nelson and Tracey Dodd, Contracts-for-Difference: An assessment of social equity considerations in the renewable energy transition, provides a preliminary look based on applying hypothetical costs of the NSW variation on CFDs to hardship customer data from a major retailer. They think the results indicate current CFDs may be highly inequitable, putting the most cost on those least able to afford it. But are they right - and what is the whole picture of CFD impacts? We had thoughts!One more thingsAlison’s One More Thing is the CEFC’s annual report, featuring some big numbers (and big context) for the capital needed for clean industry.Tennant’s One More Thing is: “The momentum of the solar energy transition” by Nijsse et al, in Nature Communications - which offers updated Business As Usual projections for how the world’s energy systems would evolve without new policy. Luke’s One More Thing is the Careers for Net Zero Campaign, a big national effort to highlight the urgent need to ramp up the capability and capacity of the clean economy workforce – featuring our very own Francesca Muskovic!Equitably share the wealth of your thoughts and paper suggestions with [email protected] or @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve (or @tennantreed.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social for hipsters) and @FrankieMuskovic.

We begin with the highs and lows of the International Energy Agency’s updated 1.5 Degrees Scenario, which notes fast progress on scaleup of key technologies that is - just - compensating for slow progress on emissions reductions. IEA reckon 1.5 degrees is still possible without immense reliance on overshoot and net negative emissions; but there’s a big gap between what would be needed to achieve that and most economies’ current plans.Our main paper Benefit-cost analysis informs - and sometimes dictates - a lot of policy decisions about climate and energy, and how the sums are done really matters. In “Efficiency vs. Welfare in Benefit-Cost Analysis: The Case of Government Funding”, law professors and frequent Democratic administration officials Zachary Liscow and Cass Sunstein (coauthor of policy pageturner “Nudge”!) explain what’s up with a major Biden Administration rewrite of key guidance to public agencies.The new approach will re-target benefit cost analysis from prioritising economic efficiency to prizing overall welfare. This means either weighting costs and benefits by the incomes of the affected communities (since an extra dollar creates more welfare improvement for a poor person than a rich one), or averaging values across broader regions.Critics from the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis hate it! Liscow and Sunstein reckon it’s a great start that can produce much fairer and better decisions - including about climate adaptation.Will Australia end up taking these ideas on board? Will they survive the next US Administration? Why do our hosts disagree about rivers? Listen to find out!One more thingsAlison’s One More Thing is Margaret Cook’s history of floods in Brisbane, “A River With A City Problem”, soon due for a new edition covering all-new floods!Tennant’s One More Thing is the commencement of the EU’s path-breaking (for sure), WTO-respecting (they say) and delightfully kawaii (contested) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.Luke’s One More Thing is a speech by AEMC Chair Anna Collyer that highlights the role of Consumer Energy Resources and of regulators in unlocking it - and maybe ripostes the critique of Ron Ben-David?Don’t weigh any costs or benefits before sending your thoughts and paper suggestions to [email protected] or @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve (or @tennantreed.bsky.social and @reevealison.bsky.social for hipsters) and @FrankieMuskovic.

This satisfyingly hourlong episode (you’re welcome) starts with a discussion of the United Kingdom’s recent reset of climate policies, which PM Rishi Sunak casts as a “more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach” to Net Zero, and others decry as a mix of backsliding on things that matter and cancellation of things that weren’t even proposed.* Is this a sign of things to come?Maybe, say the (prescient? Or simply well-hedged?) authors of…Our main paper … “No Time To Lose: New Scenario Narratives for Action on Climate Change” by Mark Cliffe and teams from the University of Exeter and the Universities Superannuation Scheme. This takes the shortcomings of Integrated Assessment Models familiar from previous episodes such as Episode 6 (“An orange, a picture of an apple and a mandarine shaped eraser: Critiquing Integrated Assessment Models”), notes that IAMs remain fundamental to well-intentioned efforts to understand the future such as the Network for Greening the Financial System, and sets out the beginnings of a different approach. New scenarios, focussed not on climate change to 2050 but on extreme weather and the politics and economics of climate and energy to 2030, aim to provide a greater spread of relevant possibilities and provide decision-relevant information. But do they succeed? Opinions differ!Three cited examples of differing paradigms for prognostication are:The Rupert Way et al simple abstract world energy system model included in The Oxford Learning Rates Paper we keep banging on about (originally in Episode 11)Absurdly complex and bug-riddled simulationism like wonderful nerdy videogame Dwarf FortressThe ultimate prediction science of Psychohistory in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novelsOne more thingsAlison’s One More Thing is the National Electricity Law, which has recently been amended to include an emissions reduction objective at s7(c) of the Schedule. Now to flesh out how that will be reflected in decisionmaking… Tennant’s One More Thing is the Victorian Renewable Gas Consultation Paper, open for submissions til 6 October.Luke’s One More Thing is a video game called Umurangi Generation, in which cyberpunk and anime aesthetics collide with a landscape shaped by climate disaster. Available on Steam, and discussed in another podcast!What could possibly top all that, perspicacious Summerupperers? Find out next time - or tell us yourself via [email protected] or @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic.*PS: we realised after recording that Alison referred to ULEV (ultra-low emission vehicle) instead of ULEZ (ultra-low emissions zone) in our opening segment on the Great British Back Off. ULEZ is correct. It’s hard enough to keep the Australian acronyms straight some days, let alone the British ones.

Newly informed and inspired by generous listener survey responses, LMSU bullseyes the 1 hour median YOU demanded! That’s the power of data.Carbon Leakage Corner:This ep we start with the Australian Government’s Carbon Leakage Review, which has found its supreme commander in the form of universally respected ANU boffin Prof Frank Jotzo. Somehow Tennant discusses this without CBAM taking over the whole episode. Our main paper:… is the Climate Change Authority’s April 2023 “Reduce, remove and store: The role of carbon sequestration in accelerating Australia’s decarbonisation”It’s a thought provoking one with plenty of policy ideas for lifting the quality, readiness and deployment of sequestration without de-prioritising emissions cuts. And it marks an evolution in CCA thinking beyond the old paradigm of “a tonne is a tonne”. 🎶 A lot of T’s and C’s apply, as DACCS goes by...🎶You may want to pre-listen to Episode 18 of LMSU, on 'The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal' global report, which sets out a lot of the science and problems to which the CCA is providing policy responses.One more things:Alison’s One More Thing is an ill wind that blows no good in the UKTennant’s One More Thing is the 7th Australia-China High-Level DialogueLuke’s One More Thing is Ron Ben-David’s latest paper - a selection of more specific solutions to the issues with Australian energy market governance raised last episode by the Notorious RBD. Plus a handy write up of both by Ben Potter in the Fin! Another episode sequestered, but for how long? Watch for podcast leakage, vigilant Summerupperers, and send further thoughts and papers to [email protected] or via @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and @FrankieMuskovic.

Frankie’s maternity leave is well underway (it’s a girl!) meaning a new host graciously filling in (Alison Reeve) and a new shownote-writer rather less graciously filling in (Tennant).After briefly speculating on the virtues of peak energy nerd board game Power Grid (none of us have played it, but we hear good things!) we make a fresh listener appeal: tell us how we’re doing with the podcast and what you want, including shorter/longer episodes and more/less energy/Dungeons & Dragons crossover content, in our quick and easy survey. You’ll be glad you did!Then it’s a quick tour of the climate bits of the 2023 Intergenerational Report (IGR). Treasury’s latest take on the fiscal long term view has much more to say about climate than ever before. But is it any good?Our main paper this time is “Rethinking markets, regulation and governance for the energy transition” by Dr Ron Ben-David, arch-econocrat, ex-head of the Victorian Essential Services Commission, original-recipe NEM contributor, and deep thinker on markets and regulation. The Notorious RBD now reckons our whole energy market design and associated regulatory and governance structures are increasingly unsound given the move from a steady-state energy system to massive transition. He offers a lot of energy policy provocations, a dash of literary reference and a splash of AI conspiracy. Well worth a read as well as a listen!Tennant’s One More Thing is the tiny deckbuilding videogame Green New Deal Simulator by Paolo Pedercini - get it for free on iOS, Android or Steam and get ready to chortle (or bristle) at the policy judgments embedded in its simple game mechanics!Alison’s One More Thing is the 19th anniversary of Australian jurisdictions’ agreement to introduce mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency of residential property at the time of sale or lease. But PSYCH! because only the ACT has got around to doing this. So far!Luke’s One More Thing is the NSW response to Victoria’s statewide decision to end new residential gas connections starting in 2024: The Premier says nope, won’t follow; but several councils say “yep, we’re doing our own thing.” A seamless national economy in the making!And that’s the episode that was, beloved Summerupperers! Keep circulating the policy papers, or at least emailing them to [email protected], and xeeting further thoughts at us via @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and - if new baby permits time to scroll X: The Everything App - @FrankieMuskovic.

It’s GAS CRISIS CORNER redux this week and so 2022 as European gas markets were seriously spooked. Russia? Nyet this time! In fact a response to developments far closer to home with potential industrial action at WA offshore LNG plants owned by Chevron and Woodside driving prices up by 40%. Yikes! With these plants collectively responsible for over 10% of global gas exports your intrepid hosts wondered whether the diversification juggernaut could be coming for Oz LNG. We shall see.GenCost or GenCON? That is the question Sumerupperers as An Honest Broker, A Cleanskin and An Ultra Centrist unpack the latest annual offering from CSIRO and AEMO in GenCost 2022-23: annual electricity cost estimates for Australia. We’ll let you find out which one of us claims to be the Honest Broker as we chat through the latest cost estimates for all the technologies (inflation impacts inbound!) and just why this annual affair always attracts antagonists keen to weaponise Levelised Costs of Energy. Tennant’s One More Thing is a recount of T. Reed’s Day Off with a recent escapade to an AGL Loy Yang A Energy Hub event and again manages a sneaky twofer in confirming the exciting prospect of previously purported room temperature superconductor LK-99 is in fact, not one.Luke’s One More Thing is a PSA for an awesome little outfit Psychology For a Safe Climate, dedicated to supporting people facing the reality of climate change. Focused on supporting mental health and wellbeing, we thoroughly commend their resources to refill your cup.Frankie’s One More Thing is her last One More Thing for a while! Off to birth a tiny human, Frankie dons her Global VP of Marketing and Extortion hat to IMPLORE YOU, our dear Summeruppers, to help us make the pod the best it can be by filling out this EXTREMELY SHORT AND PAINLESS SURVEY. REALLY WE PROMISE, THIS WON’T HURT A BIT. Please and thank you!And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

FLAMING HOT news out of Victoria – the State Government’s announcement of a ban on planning permits for gas connections to new homes from 1 Jan 2024 – had your intrepid hosts speculating on whether this is indeed the beginning of the end for domestic gas use in Australia. A big call but consensus was that this is an inflection point!And that wasn’t the only news to share with our Summeruppers this week. Dun dun DUNNNN!! It turns out that in addition to recording the occasional pod with Luke and Tennant, Frankie has been growing a tiny human who is about to make their debut! While Frankie will be taking a short break from the pod, we are delighted to announce that Luke and Tennant will not be left unsupervised and will be joined by friend of the pod, climate maven and lovely human-to-boot Alison Reeve. Welcome to the LMSU gang Alison!This week your intrepid hosts DIG DEEP to unearth the state of the world’s critical minerals through the International Energy Agency’s inaugural Critical Minerals Market Review 2023. Lithium, nickel, cobalt oh my - there’s something for everyone in this report, including HUUUGE opportunities for Australia. But not according to everyone. The Productivity Commission remains unconvinced. That didn’t stop Tennant from upping his meme game and finding a way to make this also about CBAM. Because ALL ROADS LEAD TO CBAM.Tennant’s One More Thing was actually Two More Things: a reflection on the highs and lows of his recent trip to Darwin for the Developing Northern Australia Conference, followed some excited speculation on a paper claiming discovery of a room-temperature, normal-pressure superconductor. Is it legit? We’ll see!Frankie’s One More Thing is Chris Bowen’s announcement the government will develop six sectoral plans as part of the long awaited One-Net-Zero-Plan-to-Rule-Them-All. Due by the end of 2024 they will be delivered with the hotly anticipated 2035 interim target. Watch this space.Luke’s One More Thing is a plug for his other pod (outrageous isn’t it) First Fuel in which he unpacks all things ELECTRIFICATION with the guru of gurus Jan Rosenow. Get it in your ears NOW people!And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

In this week’s very special episode, your intrepid hosts eschew the usual compilation of current climate affairs (it’s not like much is happening anyway) and jump into the LMSU DeLorean to time warp our way back to 1965 USA where the ties are paisley, the clothes psychedelically tie-dyed and the climate science prescient (albeit mostly being done by a bunch of white guys).For this week’s paper we present to you Summerupperers a veritable rolled gold classic climate paper, ‘Restoring the Quality of Our Environment - Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel’ from the President’s Science Advisory Council, commissioned by then US President Lyndon B. Johnson. Delving specifically into Appendix Y4, ‘Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide’ this is a truly seminal paper that invokes the earliest use of the term ‘climatic change’, sets out the emerging science around increasing CO2 which had only recently started to be accurately measured, and puts it on the radar of a national government for the first time. We certainly had some thoughts on the things the paper did and didn’t say and even wondered what we would have done had we been given the chance to brief LBJ on climate change in 1965 (hint, check out our LMSU Holiday Special 2022: Don’t Sum Up). We heartily commend this paper to you Summeruppers, unearthed by Tennant from the excellent website Skeptical Science.We always have One More Thing to say and Luke gave a shout out to a paper that was mentioned (but then forthcoming) in this week’s paper from the US Weather Bureau that promised more advanced climate modelling that confirmed and built on thrust of what the President’s Science Advisory Council had to say in 1965.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

We start this week’s show with Tennant taking on tech titan Elon Musk by combining his two great two loves in SPREADSHEETS and SPACE to cast some serious shade on Musk’s plans around Mars colonisation, with hot takes on implications for Hydrogen along the way.Your intrepid hosts also revisit the latest quarterly update from the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Dec 2022 and try as Frankie might to induce sleepiness a la BBC shipping forecast readouts with the numbers, no dice! TLDR: emissions reduction flatlined and there is cause for concern that the rollout of energy transition infrastructure is nowhere near fast enough! And what about our friendly neighborhood Cinderella, Energy Efficiency? Not getting enough attention.Our deep dive this week is a GAS! We unpack the hot-off-the-press Grattan Institute report ‘Getting off gas: why, how, and who should pay?’ brought to us by authors Tony Wood, Alison Reeve and Esther Suckling. We had many things to say on the report’s many insights and recommendations! If this paper piques your interest, you are likely to find these golden nuggets in our back catalogue diverting:On the future of gas in the EU - “EU academy adjudicates hydrogen vs. electrification smackdown!”On learning rates - “Ka-ching! Act now for huge learning rate savings!”On gas transition in Australia - “Infrastructure Victoria presents: A Very December 2021 Gas Report”On transport of hydrogen - “Elementary, my dear IRENA: Hydrogen transport”Frankie’s One More Thing is offsets redux! Revisiting the subject of our second ever episode, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative have finally finalised and launched their Claims Code of Practice.Tennant’s One More Thing is: are clean trade negotiations between EU and US on brink of collapse? With some content harking back to our episode on Climate Clubs, the approach to encourage clean steel and aluminium from the US has received a not-so-friendly reception from the EU. Where to from here? Hopefully not a trade war! Luke’s One More Thing is the most recent two episodes from one of our favourite podcasts, Origin Story, which takes on climate change denial. Reminiscent of some great writing on the topic (Merchants of Doubt, anyone?) get both Part One and Part Two of this double barrelled delight in our ears ASAP.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Summerupperers, it’s our birrrrtthday and we want to say a giant THANK YOU for listening this past year we’ve been in your ears! You're the reason we started this crazy podcasting adventure - we wanted to create a supportive space for all the climate professionals out there who pour so much of themselves into their work and passion for climate action, and it’s been a genuine delight to meet many of you in person at the various goings on since we launched the pod.Now down to business in Bonn. Specifically, the Bonn Climate Conference, an important milestone in the lead up to COP28 to be hosted in the UAE later this year. What happened there? Arguments abounded on the agenda for COP28, from climate finance redux to concern over a lack of further ambition on mitigation efforts. And there was the pushback against COP28 President Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber for running an oil company, and THEN there was pushback to the pushback when said President voiced language about “phase down of unabated fossil fuels” being inevitable!This week’s deep dive delves into the depths of DISCOUNT RATES! A compact but dense and chewy delight,‘Discounting the Distant Future: A Critique of the EPA’s Analysis of the Social Cost of Carbon’, is brought to us by Geoffrey M. Heal, Noah Kaufman and Antony Millner at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. This paper had your intrepid hosts debating the merits of descriptive vs ethical approaches and let’s just say there are no easy answers but plenty of numbers. If this paper piques your interest, Episode 6 in our back catalogue, ‘An orange, a picture of an apple and a mandarine shaped eraser’: Critiquing Integrated Assessment Models’ is a doozy.Frankie’s One More Thing is to alert you to the many brilliant and freely available talks from philosopher Michael Sandel (quoted in this week’s paper) including this BBC special on Should the Rich World Pay for Climate Change?, his first year Harvard course Justice, and this great talk on the moral limit of markets.Tennant’s One More Thing is the slamming of a paper on the impact of the EU CBAM on Africa. Tennant really, really didn’t like this paper. So much so that he was driven to engage in the brave, new (for one T Reed) world of LinkedIn to write a blistering takedown of said paper. This is NOT the one his cat deleted.Luke’s One More Thing is a plug for the latest from irreverent Aussie energy newsletter Currently Speaking on a very important issue occupying the minds of many (any?) climate aficionados. That is, how DO you pronounce AEMO? Read their exclusive investigation here.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Is the recently announced Australia-US Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact going to mean Australia gets to ride the wave of the subsidy superbonanza Inflation Reduction Act rather than get dumped by it? Perhaps too soon to tell, but your intrepid hosts can always be relied on for a hot take! *Shirtfranking with Frontie* includes a PSA for the very excellent app for ethical brand ratings, Good On You, and a rundown on known forced labour and modern slavery risks in cotton t-shirt supply chains. And because all roads lead to climate chat on this pod, there is an intersection with the manufacture of solar panels. Of course there isThis week’s deep dive is a GAS! Specifically, ‘The Future of Gas’, according to the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC). This paper found us heavily referencing our back catalogue (but neglecting to actually properly point to the episodes), so newer Summerupperers might want to check out these gems:On GWP20 v GWP100 - “Measure twice, cut nunce? Tackling methane from Aussie coal mines”On learning rates - “Ka-ching! Act now for huge learning rate savings!”On gas transition in Australia - “Infrastructure Victoria presents: A Very December 2021 Gas Report”On transport of hydrogen - “Elementary, my dear IRENA: Hydrogen transport”Frankie’s One More Thing is the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis article on the latest cost estimates of the small modular nuclear reactor from NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems. Hint: it’s gotten *way* more exxy, mostly due to construction supply chain cost increases. Prediction: it won’t be the last cost increase!Tennant’s One More Thing is “Victoria’s 2035 Climate Action Target: Driving Growth And Prosperity”, the final report from the independent expert panel that recommended a 2035 target of an 80% emissions reduction on 2005 levels for Victoria. Hat tip to Tennant who served on the panel and to the Victorian Government for adopting their recommended target!Luke’s One More Thing is the smorgasbord of climate stars who visited Australian shores to participate in the Energy Efficiency Council’s recent National Conference. Hear from heat pump aficionado Jan Rosenow by revisiting his appearance on ABC Radio doing energy technology: hot or not? And Jacques Morris from the UK’s Transition plan Task Force talking net zero transition plans at an Australian Sustainable Finance Institute event. Oh and Rob Murray-Leach's literal swan song at the Conference's Gala dinner after 14 years at the Energy Efficiency Council. We'll miss you Rob!And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Jump into the LMSU DeLorean for a trip back in time to an episode recorded before our recent Budget Spectacular. With the power vested in him as LMSU Global Vice President for editing the show, Luke has wisely excised budget predictions but kept our then hot (now only slightly warm) takes on Australia's new National Net Zero Authority. This is but a pit stop on the path to the true focus of the opening segment though: the extremely important matter of our burgeoning t-shirt empire gets its own corner on the pod! That’s right, your intrepid hosts are investigating the most sustainable way to produce some seriously magic merch for you Summerupperers and will keep you posted as we delve into the depths of this particular rabbit hole of sustainable t-shirt procurement. AND if this happens to be YOUR area of expertise, we want to hear from you with all the tips you can bestow! This week’s paper is a recent selection from the Investor Group on Climate Change's recent back-catalogue of publications, Driving Australian Climate Innovation: Unlocking capital to support a clean industrial revolution. Let’s just say the patient capital is not so patient!Frankie’s One More Thing is the other recent IGCC paper she thought we were supposed to read for the pod - WRONG! - but a great read nonetheless, The State of Australian Net Zero Investment. This survey of a hefty cohort of Australia’s institutional asset owners and managers reveals progress on net zero commitments, interim targets and a growing interest in pure-play climate transition investments, rare birds though they may be in Aus right now. Tennant’s One More Thing is the release of the draft Mandatory Gas Industry Code of Conduct, which unlike the voluntary version of said code (responsible for sucking many irretrievable hours of his life away) looks able to do things! Among the more controversial things is the ability to maintain price caps on domestic gas use for the next couple of years. And then of course there is the question of what happens next?Luke’s One More Thing is a recent episode of the excellent Watt Matters pod, featuring not one but TWO friends of LMSU, and not one but TWO experts on heat pumps who nerd out on… heat pumps! More precisely, the growth of heat pumps in the European market and their intersection with the tricky issue of regulating the phase out of F-gases. If you’re not already fans of Dr. Jan Rosenow and Thomas Nowak then frankly do you even climate? Get onto it folks!And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

We interrupt regularly scheduled programming of your fortnightly 45-min (you laugh, but we actually managed it this time!) deep dive into climate and energy papers of note to bring you LMSU’s 2023-24 Budget Spectacular!That’s right! Strap in Summerupperers, your intrepid hosts are coming in hot with takes on the climate and energy-related budget announcements from the Albanese Government’s second budget. There’s just a bit to unpack here.BONUS CHALLENGE for eagle-eared Summeruppers: to what are we referring in our subtitle ‘Cinderella goes to the ball’? *Hint*: our back catalogue may have the answers. *Hint hint*: it’s definitely not Frankie’s attendance at the budget lockup (even though that might be her idea of a policy wonk’s good time). Tweet/LinkedIn us your guess!If 46 minutes of sweet sweet budget content isn't enough, Luke and Tennant have been talking budget measures on LinkedIn this week (because Twitter is going to hell): See Luke's wrap of energy budget measures, featuring bonus debate in the comments, including a great conversation on the utility of the CEFC capital injection for residential energy performance upgrades.And find out what Tennant's famous dodgy spreadsheet says about what the Hydrogen Headstart program might achieve.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts on all things climate and energy to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Hands up who wants Tennant to complete his rewording of ‘We didn’t start the fire’ for the pod?! Now that you’ve had the taste of Billy Joel-goes LMSU you didn’t know you needed in your lives, your intrepid hosts weigh into the week’s developments by zeroing in on the government’s release of their electric vehicle strategy. Overhyped? Perhaps, but while there are a lot of familiar things on the menu, there’s a new CAFE in town and we don’t mean the hipster coffee variety either! That’s right, we’re looking at the introduction of the first fuel efficiency standards in Australia, with a consultation running until the end of May on the design.This week we dive into the Energy System Transformation section of the just-released IEA country assessment, ‘Australia 2023: Energy Policy Review’. With lots to say about the energy sector’s response to climate change, progress on energy efficiency, renewable energy and R&D, this report packs a lot of punch and your intrepid hosts have more than a few hot takes of our own!But wait, there's more: it’s a shameless week of self-dealing when it comes to One More Things!Frankie’s One More Thing is the launch of Every Building Counts, the Property Council and Green Building Council’s joint policy platform for a zero-carbon-ready and resilient built environment. Frankie is a bit chuffed to be launching this report, which also comes hot on the heels of Jim Chalmers’ investor roundtable on energy with some significant commitments to energy efficiency ratings for homes. Huzzah!Luke’s One More Thing is a new report from the EEC’s resident efficiency guru, Rob Murray-Leach, Clean Energy, Clean Demand. A cracking read and roadmap for optimising the role of demand management as the grid gets greener. And because he’s a cheeky bugger with a sneaky twofer, he’s dared to plug his *gasp* other podcast here! Tragics that we are, we still can’t resist a plug for A Very ETI Episode of First Fuel, unpacking the excellent report from Climateworks Centre and Climate KIC just released on pathways to industrial decarbonisation.Tennant’s One More Thing is a bastion of integrity with no self-interest in sight. He’s flagging a flurry of activity in the US on a series of regulatory ‘sticks’ in the form of regulations from the EPA, addressing tightening of vehicle fuel efficiency standards, emissions of power plants and emissions from the gas sector. Quite the contrast from the hurricane of carrots that is the Inflation Reduction Act! And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

This week’s episode is one we prepared earlier (26 March 2023 to be exact) which means past us have just found out that Labor won the NSW election, and we don’t yet know the Safeguard Mechanism reforms are destined to pass Parliament with Greens support. Slightly confusing, but bear with us as we forge ahead, titillating and teasing our dear Summeruperers with the promise of Tennant’s t-shirt designs invoking Die Hard/Die Harder but make it Safeguard. Folks, if you want to see the glory that is the ‘Safe Guarder’ premier LMSU t-shirt design start your twitter engines and let the spamming begin!Before we dive into this week’s paper we discuss the recent release of the IPCC’s Synthesis report, completing the Sixth Assessment Report. The last major report we’ll see from the IPCC prior to the end of this critical decade, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned, the “climate time-bomb is ticking” and we need “climate action on all fronts - everything, everywhere, all at once.” Hear, hear!This week’s paper is a swashbuckling sum-up (slaying?) of Volume 6: Managing the climate transition, part of the national Productivity Commission’s latest 5-yearly productivity inquiry, the 1,000 page monster Advancing Prosperity. A hard no for charismatic abatement but a yes on one economy-wide policy to rule them all, your intrepid hosts have thoughts! Many, many thoughts.Tennant’s One More Thing is a shout out to the smart folks in NSW Treasury on a newly produced guideline, TPG23-08 NSW Government Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis, which bakes in a value of carbon referencing the EU ETS spot price (around $140/tonne). Super interesting prospects for government policy making. Kudos NSW Treasury peeps!Frankie’s One More Thing is the recent (well it was when we recorded!) NSW election result with the NSW Labor party claiming victory for the first time in twelve years. Recapping key climate election commitments, a good foundation and plenty of room for more ambition!Luke’s One More Thing completes the NSW trifecta with a shout out to outgoing NSW Treasurer, Energy and Climate Minister, Matt Kean, for championing the economic opportunities of the climate transition and his contribution to bipartisan climate policy in recent years. A hat tip to you, Matt!And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Completing our triumphant trilogy* of trilogues** on the Safeguard Mechanism, we’re back and it’s Safe Guard With a Vengeance! That’s right, we’re bringing you a special Rapid Response to Developments as the Safeguard(s?) reforms make their way through the Parliament following the Albanese Government’s deal with the Australian Greens.And if it wasn’t already Christmas come early for you crazy climatephiles, your intrepid hosts are joined by a very special guest, none other than Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor, Adam Morton! Adam has been obsessively cataloguing the Safeguard reforms - with a vengeance dare we say - read some of his excellent coverage here.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].* See Episode 7 - ‘The last fire in the forest’: The Safeguard Mechanism consultation paper and Episode 17 - New Dork Times: Chubb/Safeguard Special Double Report Report Special, or ‘Safe Guarder’ as we affectionately know it!** Two of which involved four people!MASSIVE DOWN & DIRTY DISCLAIMER: We recorded this episode on Wednesday evening, 29 March, and who knows what additional shenanigans may have occurred by the time this ep is hitting your ears! If you’re as tragic as us, you can track the Bill’s progress through Parliament here. Or just read the news!

Your intrepid hosts start this week’s rollicking rollercoaster by recounting the annual rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth that arises from AEMO’s Gas Statement of Opportunities, affectionately(?) known as the GSOO! How worried should we be about the market operator’s forecast on next year’s demand and longer term outlook on the supply of fossil gas? You may be shocked that there were differing perspectives out there in energy land (including some very sensible suggestions from friend of the pod Tristan Edis)! A shout out to Thomas Longden, one of the authors of last pod’s paper on hydrogen production emissions and costs, who reached out to us - Hi! - and pointed us in the direction of a handy explainer they’d written up on the paper in The Conversation. Well worth a read, however this plug should not be taken as encouragement for Summeruperers to defect from the pod and seek other handy explainers!Speaking of defectors, you wouldn’t be doing too great in the world of Bill’s Angels if the Norhausian thesis on climate clubs had made its way to the climate zeitgeist. We are indeed speaking of the eminent, illustrious, notorious economist and father of integrated assessment models (yep those pesky IAMs), William Nordhaus, whose 2015 paper Climate Clubs: Overcoming Free-riding in International Climate Policy your intrepid hosts tackle this week. Luke and Frankie sleep-walked into Tennant’s trap on this one, as well as another, far more sensible, paper on climate clubs, Climate clubs: politically feasible and desirable? written by Robert Falkner, Naghmeh Nasiritousix and Gunilla Reischl. And because we really are that tragic we also unpack the G7’s recent announcement of a climate club, its terms of reference and our best feelpinions on how that might go!Frankie’s One More Thing is a neat bit of analysis from the IEA on the record fall in fossil gas demand in Europe in 2022. Weather, renewables growth, electrification and behaviour change all get a guernsey! Luke’s One More Thing is the EU parliament’s recent passing of an amendment to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive to up the ante on renovation rates and performance of the EU’s poorer performing building stock. Woot! Off to trilogues it goes, however not without some controversy in the form of a carve out for ‘renewable gas-ready’ boilers.Tennant’s One More Thing is the Productivity Commission’s 5-year Productivity Inquiry report, Advancing Prosperity. Or more specifically, volume 6 of this 1,000 page monster, Managing the climate transition. Expand the Safeguard? Rubbish other policies? Tennant has thoughts! And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Frankie and Tennant start the pod by making Luke jealous for missing their serendipitous Sydney airport rendez-vous late on a Monday evening before reflecting on the quality of T Reed’s ties and pivoting to the IRApocalyse we find ourselves in? Your intrepid hosts discuss whether, as some are contending, the IRA will eat Australia’s renewable hydrogen lunch. With serious subsidies flowing in the US threatening to cannibalise investment in green hydrogen elsewhere (here!), it seems a prudent step for Australia to review our 2019 Hydrogen strategy. Our colourful climate conundrum this week* is ‘Clean’ Hydrogen? An analysis of the emissions and costs of fossil fuel based versus renewable electricity based hydrogen, brought to us by Thomas Longden, Fiona J. Beck, Frank Jotzo, Richard Andrews, Mousami Prasad. And whilst this paper didn’t lay out the RAINBOW of the bajillion different methods of hydrogen production, friend of the pod Tim Baxter has gotta catch ‘em all like pokemon, read his excellent blog post on all the colours of hydrogen here.*After we recorded the episode, the Japanese Government announced the next stage of the Latrobe Valley CCS hydrogen project was shortlisted for up to AUD2.3 Billion in finance. One to watch! Frankie’s One More Thing is her and the fam’s fun on the Pride March over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the atmosphere of fabulousness experienced over the last fortnight as Sydney played host to WorldPride for the first time. This year the Mardi Gras banned all use of single plastics - that’s right, no glitter! (unless it’s the water soluble, biodegradable kind) #loveislove. Tennant’s One More Thing is a cracking episode of Volts, ‘How to think about solar radiation management’, a conversation with Kelly Wanser of SilverLining, who focus on research and policy efforts on near-term climate risks and interventions such as increasing the reflection of sunlight from clouds and particles in the atmosphere. Give it a whirl peeps!Luke’s One More Thing is the peculiar and increasing prevalence of the term ‘Safeguards’ in relation to the Safeguard Mechanism. The addition of an errant s has some hot and bothered (Hi Tim Baxter again!) but could Patient Zero of the ‘Safeguards’ be our very own Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen? Summeruperers we’re counting on you to get to the bottom of this.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

What would Bing’s chatbot make of your intrepid hosts’ attempts to achieve the elusive 45 minute podcast we promised our Summeruperers all that time ago? As T Reed conjures increasingly elaborate powerpoints that (so far) have failed to keep us in line, we’ve decided to stick with Clippy for fear of Bing chatbot seeking to turn us against each other Yoko Ono style and breaking up the pod. Welcome to your fortnightly one-hour 45 minute podcast!We revisit the last fire in the forest this week as the fear of Safeguard embers dimming is on minds across the Aussie climatesphere (with not a little PTSD from the CPRS days) as the political debate over legislating for Safeguard SMCs sees a stalemate of worrying familiarity. Where will the ground give - limits on offset use, treatment of new facilities, baselines? We refrain from speculating too hard lest we bend the karmic space time continuum to guarantee no ground is given at all. AKA watching brief.Our curated paper of choice this week for you dear Summerupers is the world’s first comprehensive assessment of the State of Carbon Dioxide Removal brought to you by a host of experts in CDR who are also authors of IPCC reports, the lead authors being Stephen M Smith, Oliver Geden, Jan C Minx and Gregory F Nemet. This paper was brought to US by Summeruperer Filomena Beshara - many thanks for your excellent suggestion!Frankie’s One More Thing is her recent out of body experience seeing the Sydney Theatre Company’s one-woman spectacular The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Eryn Jean Norvill. Tennant’s One More Thing is a climate change-solving computer game called Terra Invicta in which solving the climate crisis is a mere byproduct of fending off an alien invasion!Luke’s One More Thing is the recent annual foresighting forum held by Energy Consumers Australia. Putting people at the heart of the energy transition is what they do best! Sessions will be available here shortly if you’d like to watch back.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected]

Weeeeee’re baaaack! Miss us? A very happy 2023 to you Summerupperers, we hope you all had a fabulous break and respite from reading ALL the climate and energy papers. And as we kick things off in the new year, the landscape is serene and quiet, not a climate paper or consultation in sight… *jokes* *trigger warning*Before diving into our double header, we note some early success for Tennant’s weird-and-until-recently-rather-obscure obsession with CBAMs because, in their Safeguard mechanism design paper, the Government committed to a review of policy options to further address carbon leakage - including an Australian CBAM! Tennant is just a bit excited. Given he wrote the paper on implications of CBAMs for Australia (hell he even made a cake out of it and talked to Luke on his other podcast about it) we felt it only appropriate to give a hat tip to Tennant’s role in stimulating local CBAM curiosity - bravo Mr Reed!Of the ELEVENTY BILLION consultations and reviews running at the moment your intrepid hosts simply cannot choose just one! This episode is a double header doozy delight where we unpack the findings of Professor Ian Chubb’s review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and then dive into the proposed design of the Safeguard Mechanism in the Government’s reform paper and THEN talk about the implications of one for the other, and vice versa. Incidentally, the Safeguard design paper is out for consultation. If that tickles your fancy, you can have your say on the design here until February 24.Frankie’s One More Thing is a report on the latest frontier of the American culture wars, this time featuring gas cooktops! Following comments by a US Consumer Product Safety Commission on the hidden hazards (increased child asthma anyone?) posed by gas cooktops and the suggestion that unsafe products could be banned, the right fringe of the Republican party lost their collective minds and set about to protect ‘God. Guns. GAS STOVES’. Yikes. Here’s hoping we can have a more sensible debate at home.Tennant’s One More Thing is suitably on brand for both nerdery and obscurity. A book called ‘Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants’ by John D. Clark. From red fuming nitric acid to the latest liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen rockets, this book has you covered. The bonus climate-related spoiler is that liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen rocketry will be a source of greenhouse gases. A Project Orion breadcrumb followed by tangent on why we don’t just build a bunch of nuclear power stations and shoot the waste into space (Luke has you covered with this educational video) and we are in danger of never finishing the pod.Luke’s One More Thing thanks Twitter user @rockwallby for proposing the people's choice for the inaugural Papie awards, the ‘Wonkys’ (an extra special thanks from Frankie) and also reflects on how our podcast of record for climate and energy in Australia has eschewed the lamestream media’s focus on climate papers! Carbon Brief’s analysis of the climate papers most featured in the media in 2022 revealed your intrepid hosts covered but one of their top 10. We’ve decided we like our hipster climate paper niche and are less ‘Quelle catastrophe!’ and more ‘Can we fix it, yes we can!’.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

In this EXTRA SPECIAL HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR your intrepid hosts eschew the normal dissection of climate and energy reports and instead, in an exercise of regrettable democratic process, critique a climate movie of YOUR choice, dear Summerupperers.But before we do that, we kick off with the inaugural awarding of our favourite climate and energy paper of 2022. This award, which most-definitely-will-not-be-named-the-Papies, was awarded to… DRUMROLL pleeeeease…..'Empirically grounded technology forecasts and the energy transition’ from Rupert Way, Matthew C. Ives, Penny Mealy and J. Doyne Farmer from Oxford University. AKA the learning rates paper! A very worthy recipient of Let Me Sum Up’s inaugural NON-Papie! Honourable mentions for our runners up go to Infrastructure Victoria’s ‘Towards 2050: Gas Infrastructure in a Net Zero Emissions Economy’ and the Commonwealth’s ‘Safeguard Mechanism Reforms consultation paper’. And of course you could do a lot worse than hit the back catalogue to hear us discuss these three papers on Episode 11, Episode 5 and Episode 7 respectively!Grabbing the popcorn and maybe some rotten tomatoes, your intrepid hosts settled in to critique the climate movie of your choice for 2022, the satirical comedy ‘Don’t Look Up’ in which two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. The response from a distracted world: Meh. The response from your intrepid hosts? We’re not going to make it that easy for you Summerupperers! We watched so you can listen ;-)Frankie's One More Thing is Noel Pearson’s Boyer Lecture for 2022, available as a podcast or on ABC iView, where he discusses constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, contending this is not a project of identity politics, but one of justice, unity and inclusion.Tennant's One More Thing is a retro fantastic re-reading of a favourite science fiction book by William Gibson, Neuromancer, published in 1984. Go check it out!Luke's One More Thing is a summer movie whodunnit, Glass Onion starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, a charming PI with a southern drawl. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie and also skewering the rich and powerful, this is currently filling Menzel’s void of Rian Johnson’s missing Star Wars trilogy so give it a watch peeps!We are taking a break in January but will be back with ever more reports to read in Feb 2023. In the meantime, happy holidays to all our wonderful Summerupperers. Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Perhaps for the final time in 2022 your intrepid hosts reconvene ENERGY CRISIS CORNER. Why you might ask? Only: the spectacular recall of the Federal Parliament to pass legislation on a price cap for wholesale gas for the next year, $3bn in bill relief for vulnerable Australians to be jointly paid by the Commonwealth and the states, price caps on coal to be enacted by the states AND somewhere in there a significant commitment to fund energy efficiency and electrification for households and businesses, $TBA. So y’know. #fairbitonThis week we discuss one of the bagillion reports launched at COP27, this one from the UN High-Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities, ‘Integrity Matters: Net Zero Commitments by Businesses, Financial Institutions, Cities and Regions’. AKA the Greenwashing Report! Frankie's One More Thing is the recent announcement from Treasurer Jim Chalmers that the Government will develop a comprehensive sustainable finance strategy, including mandatory climate risk reporting, a sustainable finance taxonomy and a crackdown on corporate greenwashing. It’s allllll coming together folks. Tennant's One More Thing is a hot-off-the-press update from European Trilogues in which an agreement was reached on a host of measures, but of most interest to our resident CBAM enthusiast, was the green light on implementation for the European CBAM which will come into force in 2026 after a 3-year transition. Enough time for other jurisdictions to implement their own CBAMs? OUI! says Tennant.Luke's One More Thing is a cracking podcast for the politically inclined, etymology curious subset of Summeruperers (ALL OF YOU RIGHT?). Origin Story sees hosts Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey dive into the histories behind words and concepts that are commonly misunderstood and get thrown around willy nilly. McCarthyism? Woke? Centrism? This pod has got you covered. HOLIDAY SPECIAL: Summerupperers, to a collective ‘meh’ from your intrepid hosts at the result of our poll, we will indeed dutifully go and watch Don’t Look Up and bring you what could potentially be the last remaining hot spicy vindaloo takes on this analysed-up-the-wazooo climate movie. Frankie is happy it’s not Naked Gun 2.5 (also wasn’t an option) and Tennant is about as happy as the gas industry is right now (did you catch his openly self interested and partisan campaign for Soylent Green on Twitter?). The Good News? Don't Look Up is streaming now (and likely until the End Times) on Netflix, so you can watch along at home! Go on!And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Recovered from epic Egyptian adventures your intrepid hosts begin by revisiting the final outcomes of the formal negotiations at COP27. That’s not the only thing we revisited though! This video of Tennant’s Beat Saber antics in the ruins of the Australia pavilion as he and Luke waited until the bitter end of COP is well worth a watch. You’re welcome ;-)This week we unpack the Albanese Government’s first Annual Climate Change Statement, tabled by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in the Parliament last week, as required under the recently passed Climate Change Act. This One-Climate-Statement-to-Rule-Them-All wasn’t the only present under the climate christmas tree though! We also had a look at the Climate Change Authority’s First Annual Progress Report, Australia’s Emissions Projections for 2022 and the latest National Greenhouse Gas Inventory quarterly update, all released with the statement. A veritable feast of climate delights Summerupperers! Aaand, if you enjoyed this week’s Numbers Talk with Frankie, is it because it recalled fond memories of the BBC’s Shipping Forecast? Shout out via the socials!Frankie's One More Thing is a just released report from the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), ‘Unlocking the pathway: why electrification is the key to net zero buildings’ which finds electrification is the lowest cost, fastest emissions reduction pathway for building operations and would save $49 billion out to 2050 compared to BAU. Boom!Tennant's One More Thing is a movie he’s crushing on in which Michelle Yeoh and her fists of fury go on a rollicking adventure through the multiverses exploring lives she could have led. If you need an escape from the heavy heaviness of climate policy land for a bit go check out Everything Everywhere All at Once!Luke's One More Thing is Katharine Murphy’s excellent new Quarterly Essay, ‘Lone Wolf: the making of Anthony Albanese’, an account of his formative years, rise to the Labor leadership and the journey through the 2022 Federal election to victory, including the internal machinations over what Labor’s climate policy should be. A fascinating read for climate policy nerds!VERY IMPORTANT PODCAST MATTERS: Summerupperers, we need your vote on what climate-related movie we should watch and discuss for our very first holiday special and last episode of the year before the xmas break. Should it be Soylent Green, The Day After Tomorrow or Don’t Look Up? Make your vote count RIGHT HERE.And that’s all from us this week Summerupperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

Recorded on the ground in Sharm El-Sheikh as negotiations got to the pointy end of things at COP27, your intrepid hosts ditch the usual format in this very special episode of Let Me Sum Up.Listen in as we dive into all things COP27: the hot button issues in the negotiations, the vibe on the ground and around the pavilions, Team Australia’s presence at this COP (coffee diplomacy included) as well as our personal highlights across an incredibly packed couple of weeks full of speeches, events and launches of papers! So many papers! Don’t worry Summer-upperers, we’ve got material to keep this pod going in perpetuity. Frankie's One More Thing was a look ahead at future COPs! COP28 next year will be in Dubai, UAE, and early insights from the presidency have energy transition, finance for adaptation and inclusivity from a gender and youth lens are key thematics. Following Dubai we are looking at Eastern Europe in 2024 (Prague anyone?) and Brazil in 2025 before a potential Australian COP31 in 2026! Tennant's One More Thing was to promote a new avenue of Let Me Sum Up *cough* propaganda *cough* CONTENT! If you were following along on our socials the last couple of weeks you will have seen us slaving away to bring you content and daily video reports on the goings on. These are now all available on our shiny new Youtube channel where you can binge watch them all over again and see cameos from legends like Anna Freeman, Matt Kean, Jojo Rouse, Richie Merzian, Darren Miller and Krista Singleton-Cambage.Luke's One More Thing is to ask all of YOU, dear Summer-upperers, for your vote on what climate-related movie we should watch and discuss for our very first holiday special and last episode of the year before the X-mas break. Should it be Soylent Green, The Day After Tomorrow or Don’t Look Up? Make your vote count RIGHT HERE.And that’s a wrap on COP27 from us in Sharm El-Sheikh Summer-Upperers! We shall see you next time and until then, please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

In this short bonus episode your intrepid hosts are joined by CEO of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Darren Miller to unpack the latest from COP27 in Egypt. You will learn of Darren's heroics in the Australia Pavilion, why there is 'no way' negotiations will be done by Friday, and hear our hosts react to the unexpected appearance of a certain US Climate Envoy in the Bedouin Tent.There is a video version of this episode! To see John Kerry crash a recording of Let Me Sum Up with your own eyes click here.

In a tantalising pre-COP27 gathering your intrepid hosts start by dissecting the implications of the Australian Government's commitment to sign up to the Global Methane Pledge. An initiative spear-headed by the EU and US ahead of COP26, the pledge requires signatories to commit to cutting methane emissions 30% on 2020 levels by 2030. More seaweed coming to a trough near your friendly neighbourhood cows? Most certainly, but as always, there are sectors that present more quick wins (read on!) and others that will be slower to mooove.The locus of our focus this week is a paper by UK-based think tank Ember, 'Tackling Australia's Coal Mine Methane Problem' by Dr Sabina Assan. The paper picks up on the recent revisions by the IEA to Australia's estimated fugitive methane emissions from coal mines based on new-fangled satellite imagery and suggests measures to improve measurement, reporting, mitigation and ultimately, avoidance of coal mine methane emissions. A topical choice ahead of COP27 to be sure. What did we make of it you may ask? Listen on for spicy vindaloo and yogurt antimatter takes!Frankie's One More Thing starts us off at the bleak end of the climate action spectrum with UNEP's Emissions Gap Report 2022. TLDR: there is currently no credible pathway to 1.5C and current policies have us on track to 2.8C of warming by the end of the century. Your intrepid hosts, ever the optimists, like to picture the window into a clean energy future Utopia is just that bit further ajar with comfort taken in recent commitments from the US and the conservative nature of models representing the uptake of renewable energy (see episode 11!).Tennants's One More Thing had him scandalously plugging another podcast! Quelle horreur! Michael Liebreich, we salute your fantastic pod Cleaning Up and in particular, your recent episode with former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis on the structure of energy markets. A cracking and timely conversation about the role of Government in driving more structural energy market governance reform. If you felt so inclined to return the favour to your friendly neighbour pod here at Let Me Sum Up we'd love to have you on to talk all things energy transition and dare I say it, explore demand side action with fellow efficiency acolytes. Slide on in to our DMs ;-)Luke's One More Thing brings us home by christening YOU our dear listeners with a well deserved moniker "Summer-upperers". With more syllables than the title of the pod we feel this is incredibly ON BRAND for your fortnightly one-hour, 45-min podcast on all things climate and energy. Massive thanks to listener Cynan for the inspo in coining the collective noun for this burgeoning pod community!The next time you hear from us dear Summer-upperers will be from COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt! We look forward to dissecting and reporting the goings on over the next two weeks. Make sure you follow us on Twitter at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and in the meantime please send us your spicy vindaloo takes and suggestions for papers at [email protected].

In this short bonus episode, your intrepid hosts reveal they are all going to COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh. They also speculate on the possibility of Let Me Sum Up Live from Sharm – an event which is in no way organised, but if you will it dude, it is no dream...

This week your intrepid hosts recapped some BIG news out of Victoria with the announcement of new emissions reduction targets - 75% to 80% (on 2005 levels) by 2035, net zero by 2045 and a renewable electricity target of 95% by 2035. Wowser! The first government in Australia to formalise a 2035 target which has significant implications for the decarbonisation of fossil gas during that timeframe deserves a special shout out! Your resident Victorian co-hosts lamented the overhyped media focus on the revival of state-owned power company SEC with a measly $1Bn in funding - even if they do have a fab retro logo.A big shout out to friend of the pod Allison Reeve for the recommendation for this week’s paper. As we’re leaning into our (initially) accidental and now somewhat intentional pile-on regarding IAMs, we’ve decided to drive another nail into the coffin of these woefully inadequate-but-still-wildy-influential models and talk technology learning rates. Specifically, a look at 'Empirically grounded technology forecasts and the energy transition’ from Rupert Way, Matthew C. Ives, Penny Mealy and J. Doyne Farmer from Oxford University. This paper has caused quite a stir in IAM-land. Were your intrepid hosts shaken, stirred, dirty or taken with a twist? Only one way to find out.Frankie’s One More Thing is some encouraging progress on the circular economy from a recent meeting of Environment Ministers in which Commonwealth and state and territory governments committed to a product stewardship scheme for solar panels and household electronics, regulation of packaging and further work on phasing out single use plastics.Tennant’s One More Thing is a computer game called The Case of the Golden Idol in which the intrepid player explores crime scenes frozen in fantasy 18th Century England to solve a bunch of grizzly murders. What’s it got to do with climate and energy? Absolutely nothing! Loads of fun for our analytically minded listenership? You betcha.Luke’s One More Thing is a 2019 paper he stumbled on and got distracted by, ‘Recalibrating climate prospects’ which includes Amory Lovins, a grandfather of the energy efficiency movement, as a lead author and sets out the case for stronger focus on demand management and energy efficiency paired with renewables in IAMs. Yep, it’s those pesky IAMs undervaluing energy efficiency again. That’s all folks, see you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some golden threads through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

This week in our tenth episode (woot!) your intrepid hosts reconvene ENERGY CRISIS CORNER and oh boy there was no shortage of fodder for us to traverse. From the UK where gas reserves are low but the hubris is high and they’ll be capping energy bills and paying people to use less at peak times, to our French friends who’ve coined the best moniker for their efforts in La Sobriete Energetique (Energy Sobriety) campaign with voluntary measures to save 10% energy use. The debate is also running hot in the EU about how they will pay for Fit for 55, maybe CBAM proceeds! And how are things looking at home in Oz? Not much better we’re afraid. This week there was much discussion on just how bad energy prices are likely to get in the next little while. Yikes.At this point we’d normally cast about for a silver lining but instead we spiralled into apocalyptic catastrophe and with a paper appropriately titled ‘Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios’ brought to us by four horsemen Luke Kemp, Chi Xu, Joanna Depledge and Timothy Lenton and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS). These guys contend that facing a future of accelerating climate change while blind to worst-case scenarios is naive risk management at best and fatally foolish at worst. What did we make of it? Listen on!Tennant’s One More Thing is a piece of 70s futurism called The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space by Gerard K. O’Neill, a Princeton professor who suggested the answer to the world’s industrial challenges was GIANT SPACE COLONIES that would build orbital solar power stations and beam energy back to Earth via microwaves. Jeff Bezos is a disciple, could you be one too? Well worth a look! Frankie’s One More Thing was to celebrate the successful 2022 Energy Efficiency Summit. Your intrepid hosts worked on this in their day jobs and were excited to have Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister there to announce a National Energy Performance Strategy, veritable music to our ears. Failed to gatecrash the sesh? Never fear, you can watch it all here. You can also read the communique from hosting orgs and the Minister’s media release and speech. Special shout out to the crew at EEC for making the magic happen!Luke’s One More Thing is a super article in the Economist, ‘The energy transition will be expensive, but not catastrophically so’. It draws an interesting analogy to the current energy transition from fossil gas to heat pumps that we could all take heart from in the transition the UK made from town gas to fossil gas. It can be done! We’ve done it before! Now where do I get my heat pump installer ticket.That’s all folks, see you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some red thread through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

This week your intrepid hosts recap some listener mail from friend of the pod, Dylan McConnell, who boldly contends that some of our critiques on IAMs could be appropriately directed closer to home at the ISP. Also Dylan earns mega bonus points by renaming the ISP as our very own energy system HEGELIAN DIALECTIC. If we called it that we might get even less focus on the process because shiny hegelian dialectic people. Hell Yes!The paper we explored this time represents perhaps peak wonk in the just released Victorian Healthy Homes Program research findings. The program was designed to measure the impact of an energy efficiency and thermal comfort home upgrade on temperature, energy use, health and quality of life. A thousand homes of low-income and vulnerable Victorians were chosen for the study that demonstrated some compelling findings, including… LISTEN TO THE POD. Tennant’s One More Thing was to spruik the 2022 Energy Efficiency Summit at which the many the opportunities for energy efficiency to accelerate our journey to net zero emissions will be discussed. Sound awesome? It will be! Want to come? You can! You can register to join online. Regretfully, the full version of Frankie’s incitement for you to storm the venue was edited out, not that that should be taken as a challenge to our dear listeners…;-)Frankie’s One More Thing was to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the Green Building Council of Australia who turn 20 this year. So many talented and passionate people have passed through the GBCA over the years, creating a community of alumni whose influence on building a more sustainable built environment goes from strength to strength. Frankie’s sneaky twofer was to remind us all that King Charles cares a bunch about climate change and even wrote a book about it. This book!Luke’s One More Thing dangerously broke the mold of our pod and departed from climate I KNOW HOW OUTRAGEOUS to flag a particularly brilliant piece of pop culture in the new David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream. Hard recommend from Mr. Menzel!That’s all folks, see you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and if you would like to weave some red twine through our back catalogue, give us your feelpinions or suggest papers to read we are always here for that - hit us up at [email protected].

In this short bonus episode, your intrepid hosts make a series of increasingly aggressive pitches for the pod, and finally explain Frankie's official LMSU job title.Remember to rate, review, like and subscribe 😉 We'll be back with a full episode next week!

Your intrepid hosts failed to start a flame war with friends of the pod over the relative merits of IAMs so we were forced to reconvene ENERGY CRISIS CORNER. And wowser, the past week has provided plenty of fodder there! We recap Russia’s brinkmanship on threatening to cut off gas supply to Europe altogether, triggering an emergency meeting of EU energy ministers last Friday at which several policy responses were discussed but nothing agreed. Will the EU move to put price caps on all imported gas? It’s looking likely but the ramifications will be far and wide and certainly bound to touch us here in Australia. Stay tuned as we continue to watch what comes out of a very tense period of negotiations amongst our European friends! Our deep dive this week sees us consider a paper recently published in Nature Climate Change, “Determining the credibility of commitments in international climate policy” brought to us by David G. Victor, Marcel Lumkowsky, and Astrid Dannenberg. Attempting to assess the credibility of pledges made by countries in the Paris Agreement, they’ve surveyed 800+ climate “elites” with decades of experience to inform some analysis with some interesting conclusions - listen on folks to hear what we made of it!Frankie’s One More Thing this week was the passing of the Climate Change Bill through the Australian parliament last Thursday, meaning we now have legislated targets for 43% emissions reduction by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050! Frankie happened to be at Parliament House that day to soak up the elation amongst those who managed the Bill’s passage, surely a turning point in Australia’s journey towards stronger climate action :-)Tennant’s One More Thing was to flag the very important and live independent review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) being led by former Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb. The panel led by Chubb is doing a short sharp period of public consultation until 26 September, so if ACCU integrity keeps you up at night dear listeners it’s time to get a move on and lodge a submission while you can! This review will maybe definitely most assuredly be the subject of a future pod.Luke’s One More Thing was yet more good news in recapping the agreement of Building Ministers at their recent meeting on 26 August to adopt proposed increases to the minimum energy efficiency requirements for new homes in the National Construction Code. It’s been over a decade since these were last increased and these changes represent lots of hard work by public servants and advocates over an extended period of time. A time to celebrate this win and massive shout out to all involved! That’s all folks, see you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and email us your suggestions for papers to read at [email protected]!

This week your intrepid hosts return some friendly fire from esteemed peer and friend of the pod Erwin Jackson! Despite Erwin’s commentary on the positive role IAMs have played aligning the finance sector around rallying support for a 1.5C scenario, one currently immuno-compromised T. Reed refused to de-escalate and doubled down on the critique. Frankie weighed in on guard rails and it all went south quickly. We await further commentary from Erwin and others to populate our newly minted IAM CRISIS CORNER section of the pod :-) Our deep dive this week sees us wade into controversial waters to tackle the most talked about paper in town, the Commonwealth’s “Safeguard Mechanism Reforms consultation paper”, currently open for comment until Tuesday 20 September.Helping us unpack the fraught history of this Steven Bradbury of climate policies and ‘last fire in the forest’ is a very very special guest: none other than the battle-hardened, climate politics guru of note, the inimitable Katharine Murphy! We were super chuffed and not a little starstruck that Katharine, political editor at Guardian Australia, took time out from her writing sabbatical (look out for her Quarterly Essay at the back end of this year) to talk all things Safeguard with us.In the course of the pod we also flag another, related and ongoing policy review that will have implications for the Safeguard and is also not without a level of controversy: the independent review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) being led by former Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb. The panel led by Chubb is yet to begin public consultation but that is due to kick off imminently so stay tuned!Luke, Tennant and Frankie’s collective One More Thing for this week was appreciation to the marvelous Katharine Murphy for taking the time out to join this pod. We hope her writing sabbatical goes well and on the off chance you’re not already following her on socials, you can find her on twitter @murpharoo. That’s all folks, see you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and email us your suggestions for papers to read at [email protected]!

This week your intrepid hosts cast their attention abroad to the historic passing of the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and the $370 Bn odd of investment into climate action it contains. Now just waiting for the stroke of Joe Biden’s many pens, this will be a relief for many Democrats seeking re-election in the upcoming midterms.For our deep dive report we go FULL METAL WONK and attempt to average an orange, a picture of an apple and a mandarin-shaped eraser… no wait, that’s what Integrated Assessment Models do and underpin little-read things like the IPCC’s reports on climate mitigation and adaptation! We read climate economists of note Nicholas Stern, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Charlotte Taylor’s paper and critique of IAMs,“The Economics of Immense Risk, Urgent Action and Radical Change: Towards New Approaches to the Economics of Climate Change” published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Are these guys the Avengers to Nordhaus’ Thanos? You’ll have to listen to find out.Luke’s One More Thing was a shout out and tribute to the Australian Energy Foundation (formerly Moreland Energy Foundation Limited) who have announced they are closing their doors after more than 20 years of working to improve everyday Australians’ lives through programs to improve home energy performance.Frankie’s One More Thing is the anticipation of a decision by the Building Ministers Meeting coming up on 26 August on whether to adopt proposed increases to the minimum energy efficiency requirements for new homes in the National Construction Code. It’s been over a decade since these were last increased and there is lots of interest in seeing this get over the line.Tennant’s One More Thing was to claim a win for the pod out of the recent Energy Ministers’ Meeting committing to a truckload of work, including what is effectively a supercharged ISP as part of the wide ranging National Energy Transformation partnership! See the full deets in their communique.That’s all folks, see you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic and email us your suggestions for papers to read at [email protected]!

This week your intrepid hosts braved some interstate travel craziness (the things we do for you) and came together IN 3D REAL LIFE AND EVERYTHING to bring you this pod from Wurundjeri land.We have been loving the energy twitterati folks having at our ISP episode and in response to our follow up question “what would you want to see in a supercharged ISP?” we received plenty of excellent fodder from friends of the pod Emma, Tom Quinn, Craig Memery and more! A no-surprises tech scenario, a supercharged electrification/green hydrogen one as well as the fraught question of a just transition and how all this necessary infrastructure is to be paid for. Gulp.Our truly hipster choice for this week’s pod was to eschew the boringly mainstream Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap and instead dive into one of the reports that fed into it… Infrastructure Victoria’s report ‘Towards 2050: Gas Infrastructure in a Net Zero Emissions Economy’. Thank you to dear friend of the pod, Rob Murray-Leach for recommending the 190-page-report-disguised-as-half-that-size 😬. Love you Rob!Frankie’s One More Thing was to reconvene GAS CRISIS CORNER and flag the truly grim situation that continues to develop in Europe as Gazprom announced they’d be lowering the flow of gas through Nordstrom 1 into Germany down to 20% capacity, prompting responses to limit heating and hot water use in pubic buildings to conserve gas reserves ahead of the European winter.Tennant’s One More Thing was a speech given by Dr Steven Kennedy PSM, Secretary to the Treasury, on the Australian Public Service and Academia to the University of Sydney. Dr Kennedy chose to focus his reflections from his extensive career as a senior public servant on climate policy, and the importance of academia in providing unbiased advice and expertise on different mechanisms to drive action. AND as an unexpected bonus, Tennant engaged in a rap poetry twitter-off with the aforementioned Rob Murray-Leach to summarise the energy crisis in rhyming couplets by reworking Boney M’s “Rasputin”. Who won? You decide!Luke’s One More Thing was the incredibly exciting development of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s mandate being formally expanded to include energy efficiency and electrification! So uncontroversial was this change to ARENA’s regs there have been no objections or shenanigans in the Parliament (it might also have something to do with it not being bundled with other more contentious issues *cough CCS cough* as it was the last time this was attempted).See you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts and suggestions for new papers to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic. Or drop us a note at [email protected]!And for those reading along at home, our next ep will be on “The Economics of Immense Risk, Urgent Action and Radical Change: Towards New Approaches to the Economics of Climate Change” by Nicholas Stern, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Charlotte Taylor, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.