Let Me Sum Up

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.

In this episode your intrepid hosts recap listener feedback say WHAAAAT! While basking in the glow of our dear listeners – proving both their existence AND interest in our musings – we:do a combined shout out to Laura Hamilton O'Hara at Living Future Institute of Australia for letting us know their Declare Material transparency label has recently expanded to include embodied carbon, as well as the team at NABERS and GBCA who are leading some important work for governments on embodied carbon in the buildings sectorcelebrate IRENA finally releasing Part I of their Hydrogen paper series (Trade outlook for 2050 and way forward). We remain mystified by the rationale for releasing Part I after Parts II and III, but absolutely claim credit for the release of Part I within 24 hrs of our hydrogen carriers episode going live!and while we're on claiming credit for things, in perhaps our last Gas Substitution Roadmap Corner for a bit, we can only assume our keen interest in this paper's whereabouts drove the Victorian Government's decision to release their roadmap ahead of the state election in November. While there are whispers of a major update next year, for now we will pore over the current version.Want your hot take featured in the next round of follow up? You're in luck! Send your comments, questions (and reports you think we should cover on the show) to [email protected] and we'll see what we can do.With all family business settled, we turn our attention to our whizz bang report for this week….. AEMO's 2022 Integrated System Plan (ISP)! So much to unpack. Guess you’ll have to listen to find out what we think ;-)Tennant's One More Thing (apart from a plea to Katharine Murphy and David Speers to plug the pod) is trilogues! Taking place in the EU (Council, Commission, Parliament) to resolve how to implement their ambitious Fit for 55 legislation, including expanding ETS (will it include transport and heating of buildings?) and Tennant’s favourite topic, the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and whether hydrogen will be in or out. Complex? Yes. Fascinating? For sure!Frankie's One More Thing is the hotly anticipated legislation that will give effect to the Federal Government’s target to reduce emissions by 43% on 2005 levels by 2030. Will the Greens vote in support? Will Labor build a floor not a ceiling? Will the future of coal and gas projects feature in the debate? See two longform interviews with Adam Bandt here and here for some insights and stay tuned!Luke's One More Thing (apart from usurping Frankie’s with the Victorian Opposition’s gauntlet throw down to legislate a net zero by 2050 target for Victoria if elected) is a bit of shameless self promotion for his other work-related pod, First Fuel. For any listeners interested in Luke and Frankie’s German adventures on a recent energy efficiency delegation, you can hear Part I of the wrap on the delegation from Luke, Frankie and ‘rando ring-in’ Carlos Flores, Director of NABERS right here. (We love Carlos, a dear friend of the pod).See you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts and suggestions for new papers to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic. On our next episode we will be chatting about the other blockbuster government report on gas in Victoria, Infrastructure Victoria's Towards 2050: Gas infrastructure in a net-zero emissions economy. Didn't see that coming, did you? Blame this bloke.

In this timeless episode (recorded before Luke and Frankie departed for Europe on an energy efficiency delegation) your intrepid hosts crack out the crystal ball to make wild predictions on what those occupied in ENERGY CRISIS CORNER might be concerned with by the time the episode is live. Energy is still expensive! We are all in an Antopocalypse under the totalitarian Antonese regime! Wait, what? Exactly.Our report for this week is………. Part II of IRENA's series on Global Hydrogen Trade to Meet the 1.5C Climate Goal, a Technology Review of Hydrogen Carriers! We *still* cannot find Part I (Trade outlook for 2050 and way forward) however since we recorded we have located Part III (Green Hydrogen Cost and Potential). As for Part I, a special prize for any listeners able to unearth this rare gem, which must exist in hardcopy format only under guarded surveillance by Jedi knights in a basement somewhere in IRENA HQ!Tennant's One More Thing is a yet-to-be-available report (set your alarm clocks for March 2023 people) from the Victorian Government on what the state's 2035 emissions targets should be. It will consider the role of specific sectors and will be the first report from an Australian jurisdiction on targets post-2030. Tennant also happens to be helping write the report as a member of the expert panel, so this is must-read stuff! Or will be. In 2023.Frankie's One More Thing is a start-up called Planet Protector Packaging, the brainchild of Joanne Howarth, out to disrupt the use of polystyrene for packaging by using wool from sheep bred commercially for meat and otherwise going to landfill. Kicking some serious circular economy goals.Luke's One More Thing is the latest Australian Energy Emissions Monitor from Dr Hugh Saddler at ANU. TLDR is ongoing progress on renewables but little progress (from perhaps less recent policy focus?) on reducing gas and petroleum emissions.See you next time! Please keep tweeting your thoughts and suggestions for new papers to us at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic. And for those reading along at home, our next ep will be on AEMO's 2022 Integrated System Plan (ISP).

In this episode, your intrepid hosts reconvene ENERGY CRISIS CORNER where the landscape is hellish but the feeling between energy ministers is decidedly warm and fuzzy following their get together and commitment to a host of sensible things (at the time of recording, AEMO had not yet suspended the NEM wholesale spot market for the first time ever, *wowsers*). After Tennant laments a bad week for CBAM enthusiasts with stalled progress of legislation in the EU Parliament, we dive into the paper for this week which was….The Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative (VCMI) draft Claims Code of Practice!Want to know whether that carbon neutral branded soap in the supermarket gets a gold, silver or bronze for their emissions reduction and offsetting efforts? Tune in to hear what your hosts award this claims code (mithril, aluminium and chocolate coin level recognition is also in the mix). Special shout out to one of our listeners, Joe Karten at Built, for suggesting we tackle this paper.If you feel strongly about this *draft* claims code then don’t stop at podcast commentary, you can make submissions to VCMI until 12 August here.Here is the initiative from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market that will deal with the issues Frankie was really looking for in the claims code, due to be released in Q4 2022. And there is so much more to say. Will the podcast get a regular Carbon Accounting Chronicles segment we hear you ask? Only time will tell!One More ThingTennant’s One More Thing is an encore with the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap - never more timely, though it seems we may have to wait until after Victoria’s state election in November to get all the juicy detail.Frankie’s One More Thing was a sneaky twofer with the EU Parliament voting in support of zero emissions cars and light utility vehicles by 2035, and the leader of the German social democrats floating some bold ideas to keep fuel costs down - autobahn speed limit anyone?Luke’s One More Thing is ClimateWorks’ excellent, locally produced complement to the VCMI claims code, Corporate climate action for 1.5 degrees: Best practice for Australian company net zero commitmentsPlease keep tweeting your thoughts and suggestions for new papers to us at @LukeMenzel @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic.Our Next PaperWant to read along with the team? On our next episode we'll be chatting about the International Renewable Energy Agency's fascinating technology review of hydrogen carriers, which focuses on how we transport those promising but pesky hydrogen molecules around.

Our very first episode of Let Me Sum Up is here and so is Australia's energy apocalypse (remember, correlation is not causation, folks). Your intrepid hosts open by surveying the challenging conditions facing households, businesses and policymakers as electricity and gas prices hit historic highs.After a brief detour into just how late to the ball 'energy efficiency Cinderella' can afford to be, they unpack the podcast's very first report, drum roll pleeeeease….The 'Industry' chapter of 'Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change' report from Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report!And what else can't we stop thinking about?Tennant's One More Thing is the hotly anticipated 'Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap', due for final release... well... maybe next year?Frankie's One More Thing is Renovate Europe, a successful political communications campaign behind the push to reduce the energy demand of the EU's building stock by 80% by 2050.Luke's One More Thing is REPowerEU, the EU's just released plan to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and fast forward the energy transition.See you in two weeks!

This is the trailer for Let Me Sum Up, your regular deep dive on recent reports on climate and energy.Every fortnight energy and climate wonks Frankie Muskovic, Tennant Reed and Luke Menzel will read a report on climate and energy, then talk about it. They'll also talk about other stuff, often (but not always) energy and climate related!Send us your hot tips and suggestions for papers we should be reading to [email protected], xeet ‘em at @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed and @FrankieMuskovic, or blu ‘em at @lukemenzel.bsky.social, @tennantreed.bsky.social and @frankiemuskovic.bsky.social.