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Bill Hare

@billhare.bsky.social

1.3K followers 290 following 170 posts

Climate science, impacts, policy and 1.5C

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Environmental science 31%

Economics 28%

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · 3d

"Asia is at a crossroads: while these countries haven't yet gone down a high carbon capture and storage (CCS) route, many have tailored their CCS policies to protect their fossil fuel industry, especially in Japan, South Korea and Australia," @billhare.bsky.social told The Times of India.

Asia’s CCS plans could add 25 billion tonnes of extra emissions by 2050, risking the Paris Agreement’s warming limit goal: Report - The Times of India

Environment News: A Climate Analytics report warns that deploying carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Asian countries could add 25 billion tonnes of extra GHG emissions

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · 5d

REPORT: If Asian economies were to carry out their plans to deploy risky and expensive carbon capture & storage (CCS) to address fossil fuel emissions, they could add an extra 25 billion tonnes of emissions to the atmosphere by 2050. Their economies would suffer.
climateanalytics.org/publications...

The global climate risks of Asia’s expansive carbon capture and…

This report looks at the climate and economic implications of Asia’s promotion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

climateanalytics.org

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Reposted by Bill Hare

All Our Yesterdays @allouryesterdays.bsky.social · 16d

55 yrs ago today (Sept 26, 1970), the Medical Journal of Australia runs “Notes on Some Aspects of Pollution”.

More C02 build-up risks "turning the tropics into hothouses, making the temperate zones tropical, and beginning to melt the polar ice caps."

allouryesterdays.info/2025/09/25/s...

September 26, 1970 - Medical Journal of Australia - All Our Yesterdays

Fifty five years ago, on this day, September 26th, 1970, the Medical Journal of Australia runs an article on “Notes on Some Aspects of Pollution”. “The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has inc...

allouryesterdays.info

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Reposted by Niklas Höhne, Bill Hare

Climate Action Tracker @climateactiontracker.org · 16d

#China's new #climate target is unlikely to drive down emissions: the country will already achieve it under its current policies.
It's a net target that includes land use & forestry; an absolute target wld be more transparent
It's a shift from emissions & energy intensity to absolute emissions

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · 16d

And finally, I think there’s very strong case that the present loud support for CCS by oil and gas industry, with solid support from the West train government for example is much more about avoiding decommissioning costs than about storing CO2.

drilled.media/news/ccs-aus...

In Australia, a New Way to Avoid Decommissioning Oil Fields: Call Them Carbon Capture Projects

Converting oil fields that are no longer productive into carbon capture and sequestration projects could turn a cost into a revenue stream for fossil fuel companies in Australia, thanks to climate pol...

drilled.media

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · 16d

And just a reminder that in Australia this became very explicit with the public funds allocated to clean coal actually being used for promotional advertising of coal, including in an election context.

www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02...

Clean coal research funds used for pre-election advertising campaign

The coal industry's multi-million-dollar advertising and lobbying campaign in the run-up to the last federal election was bankrolled by money deducted from state mining royalty payments and meant to f...

www.abc.net.au

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · 16d

Indeed, it was never really going to work and in my view was always meant to be a means of distracting the political class doing the right thing.

Here is a potted history

reneweconomy.com.au/the-great-ca...

reneweconomy.com.au

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Reposted by Timothy Snyder, Richard E. Lenski, Michael Wagner , and 29 more Timothy Snyder, Richard E. Lenski, Michael Wagner, Koen Frenken, Stefan Reis, Thomas Agoritsas, Gavin L. Foster, Leigh Sparks, Amir Attaran, Jacob Montgomery, Donald Tomaskovic‐Devey, Cathy N. Davidson, Alison Phipps, Sanford F. Schram, Enzo Rossi, Nancy T. Ammerman, Peter Schöttler, Jonathan Hopkin, Laurent Pech, Leonhard Dobusch, W. Andy Knight, Rory O’Connell, Aurélien Mondon, Peter Stegmaier, Henry Jones, Henrik Skaug Sætra, Arlene Stein, Greg Linden, Pam Jarvis, Dan Immergluck, Annalee Newitz, Bill Hare

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 17d

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

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Reposted by Mark Lubell, Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · 17d

Wonderful turnout for our #ClimateWeekNYC event last night featuring a keynote by Dr Piers Forster on the latest climate science and a panel discussion on how the ICJ opinion can shape politics and how to align global action with 1.5°C.

Missed the event? Watch the recording:

New York Climate Week 2025: Holding the line: 1.5°C, overshoot, and the urgency of now

YouTube video by Climate Analytics

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Bill Hare

All Our Yesterdays @allouryesterdays.bsky.social · 21d

Australia and its dismal, criminal, history of climate targets (1988-2025)

In which Groundhog Day happens again and again, but somehow it’s just not funny or enlightening.

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allouryesterdays.info/2025/09/20/a...

David Pope cartoon "You are now leaving the Holocene"

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Reposted by Bill Hare

All Our Yesterdays @allouryesterdays.bsky.social · 23d

September 19 1969 – ABC Radio warns listeners abt CO2

Frank Fenner-

INCREASING COMBUSTION OF FOSSIL FUELS MEANS ADDING MORE CARBON DIOXIDE TO THE ATMOSPHERE FASTER THAN OCEANS CAN ASSIMILATE IT. POSSIBILITY OF MELTING POLAR ICECAP OR CREATING ICE AGE.

allouryesterdays.info/2024/09/18/s...

September 19 1969 - ABC Radio warns listeners about carbon dioxide - All Our Yesterdays

Fifty five years ago, on this day, September 19th, 1969, ABC Radio has the following programme, starring Professor Frank Fenner… Scroll down to the bold bit… title:A MAN & HIS SCIENCE, 3 Subject Perso...

allouryesterdays.info

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Reposted by Henrik Skaug Sætra, Bill Hare

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 23d

Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by ABC after pressure from the United States government. This is a direct attack on the First Amendment.

Everyone who values freedom of speech should be outraged — and they should speak out.

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 23d

In 2015, Labor chose a 45% by 2030 target, which was the lower end of the climate change authority's recommendation. In 2021, they weakened that to 43%, and the core line with that was "it's a floor, not a ceiling" (that's what all targets are????????????)

ketanjoshi.co/2023/05/30/m...

Remember 2015? PM Tony Abbott ate an onion. The Force Awakens was released. And a guy named Bill Shorten set a net zero target for the year 2050, along with an emissions reduction target of 45% by 2030. That was at the lower end of 40-60%, recommended by the remnants of the independent government climate advisors, the ‘Climate Change Authority’ (CCA).

Fast forward to December 2021, nearly six years later. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese prepares to announce an updated 2030 target. Since 2015, Australia has been ravaged by bushfires, a major IPCC report has been released, and renewable energy has grown cheaper, fast. Here it comes, the fans murmured. The moment we’ve all been waiting for.

Labor insisted in their defence – constantly – that 43% is a “floor, not a ceiling”. I still find this brain-meltingly absurd. The entire point of a target is that it’s a minimum goal, not a maximum limit, or a range. It was offered like it was some extra special promise, when it just described the dictionary definition of target. It spoke to the weird corners they had to go to defend the indefensible.

Plenty of effort has gone into trying to present their weak settings as very brave. In an interesting but problematically forgiving review of the Albanese government’s first year, former Labor staffer Sean Kelly writes that:

"Albanese has a long list [of significant actions], but in particular points to the government’s actions on climate and clean energy, including the way they have changed Australia’s place in the world"
Courtesy of Carbon Brief’s Simon Evans, this chart nicely illustrates that Albanese’s commitment puts Australia behind the UK, Germany, the EU, the US (their target strengthened since this chart was made), Japan, Canada and South Korea. On the target alone, Australia remains a laggard, and that’s before we get to everything else.

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 24d

Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social - climate scientists and former IPCC Leas Author - says the recently released Australian NCRA **is one of the best risk assessments done globally**
“a very fine piece of work”
He’s far less enthusiastic about political silly statements
www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Climate scientists call for urgent policy change - ABC listen

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 24d

This is powerful commentary and clear logic from @richarddenniss.bsky.social

stranger @strangerous.bsky.social · 25d

Dr Richard Denniss says the “obvious” ones to pay for damage from increased floods as per the latest climate report should be the Fossil Fuel co’s, as houses will become uninsurable
“The insurance industry will not help ppl in 20yrs time with their flooded houses”💯 #Estimates

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Michael Dowling aka MeckeringBoy @meckeringboy.bsky.social · Sep 11

“Vanuatu's climate change minister criticised expected approval of the North-West Shelf gas project as "internationally wrongful" & legally contentious, as Australia's climate record comes under close scrutiny at Pacific Islands Forum.”

www.sbs.com.au/news/article...

🔥Also morally reprehensible.

'Wrongful act': Vanuatu warns Australia may break international law if gas project goes ahead

A senior Pacific minister has warned Australia's energy transition is no longer defensible, following a landmark legal ruling.

www.sbs.com.au

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · Aug 31

As the Australian government decides its new #climate targets, we've modelled 1.5°C compatible targets for both 2030 and 2035 that are credible and achievable, especially for a country wanting to host the COP31 climate talks next year.
#auspol2025 #auspol
🧵
bit.ly/CA_Aus2035

A blueprint for climate leadership: 1.5-aligned targets for Australia

This report answers the question: what would science-based, 1.5˚C-compatible 2030 and 2035 targets, and a net zero roadmap, look like for Australia?

bit.ly

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · Aug 31

Former UN climate chief urges Australia to set ‘prosperity’ target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2035

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Former UN climate chief urges Australia to set ‘prosperity’ target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2035

Exclusive: Ambitious target would increase the country’s chance of winning rights to host Cop31 in 2026, Christiana Figueres says

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Nazita Lajevardi, Donald Gray, Michael Jones‐Correa , and 3 more Nazita Lajevardi, Donald Gray, Michael Jones‐Correa, Mark Priestley, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Bill Hare

Climate Dad @climatedad.bsky.social · Aug 31

The last 3 years have been the hottest in around 125,000 years.

CO2 levels are their highest in MILLIONS of years.

But most people have no idea this is happening, let alone what it means for our kids’ futures.

Our politics & media have failed our children. We should be furious.

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Kelly Kortum @kellykortum.bsky.social · Aug 30

oof

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · Aug 28

Raging EU wildfires show the limits of relying on forests for climate targets. With over 1M hectares lost this year, governments must reassess the land sector’s true contribution to climate goals. www.climatechangenews.com/2025/08/26/e...

EU's record wildfire emissions highlight threat to forest carbon sinks

As carbon emissions from forest fires spike in Europe, experts warn that wildfires pose a growing risk to national efforts to meet climate goals

www.climatechangenews.com

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · Aug 28

Well, in Australia, the government is cheating anyway even with a low ambition target.

theconversation.com/sleight-of-h...

Sleight of hand: Australia’s Net Zero target is being lost in accounting tricks, offsets and more gas

Labor came to power promising real change on climate. But their reliance on accounting tricks, carbon sinks, offsets and a future for gas has cast a very large cloud.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Polly Hemming @pollyjhemming.bsky.social · Aug 28

It's really quite impressive how strenuously everyone in this article avoids talking about fossil fuels. Nearly a fifth of Australia’s emissions now come from digging up and sending fossil fuels overseas. #auspol @australiainstitute.org.au
australiainstitute.org.au/post/nearly-...

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Reposted by Richard Denniss, Bill Hare

Polly Hemming @pollyjhemming.bsky.social · Aug 28

From the Labor adviser who pitched “net zero fossil fuels” comes a sequel: “Don’t set climate targets too high, or the government might have to do something".
#auspol #climate
www.afr.com/policy/energ...

Screenshot of afr article
Labor policy adviser says to lower expectations on climate targets
Ryan Cropp
Ryan CroppEnergy and climate reporter
Aug 27, 2025 – 4.32pm

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5 min
A key Labor climate adviser has warned the government against setting its 2035 emissions target too high, arguing that any goal north of 60 per cent will require a major expansion of emissions reductions in the transport, industrial and agricultural sectors.

Frank Jotzo, the author of a forthcoming Labor-commissioned report into a potential carbon border tax, said excessively ambitious policies being proposed by some climate groups would be impractical and easily undermined by opponents of change.

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · Aug 23

Gosh. Not even lost.

Reposted by Bill Hare

Crikey @crikey.com.au · Aug 22

Our capital class have had such a focus on profits and returns to shareholders, efficiency is prioritised above all else, writes @amyremeikis.bsky.social‬.

Australia's capital class remains too focused on profit to truly address productivity

A key problem with the economic roundtable is many of those hauled in to fix Australia's productivity black hole have spent the past 25 years gunning for more privatisation.

www.crikey.com.au

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Adam Morton @adammorton.bsky.social · Jul 25

We’re watching it get worse all the time’: as fish vanish in SA’s algal bloom, livelihoods are also at stake
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

‘We’re watching it get worse all the time’: as fish vanish in SA’s algal bloom, livelihoods are also at stake

For fishing communities along the South Australian coast where an algal bloom has devastated marine life, the impact of the disaster is emotional as well as financial

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · Jul 25

How do you assess climate loss and damage that defies monetary valuation - like the loss of cultural heritage?

Our new @iki-germany.bsky.social project in the Pacific led by
SPREP combines modelling and domestic knowledge to try and answer these difficult questions and plan for the future.

A new approach for rethinking climate-related loss and damage in the Pacific

The IKI-project “Building Our Loss and Damage Response” (BOLD) is developing innovative ways of recognising and responding to both economic and non-economic climate impacts. 

www.international-climate-initiative.com

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Reposted by Bill Hare

Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · Jul 25

The #ICJ opinion calls for ambitious climate plans. The third round of Nationally Determined Contributions are due this year. The #AdvisoryOpinion is a powerful reminder that countries must put forth ambitious, 1.5°C-aligned NDCs.

Image displaying quote from the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on national climate targets: "Each Party’s successive nationally determined contribution [NDCs] will represent a progression beyond the Party’s then current nationally determined contribution and reflect its
highest possible ambition."

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Bill Hare @billhare.bsky.social · Jul 25

Australia is one of the world’s top fossil fuel producers and exporters and is pushing more fossil fuel development.

The ICJ advisory opinion on climate change should cause politician and decision makers to stop new fossil fuel developments immediately.

reneweconomy.com.au/australia-on...

Australia on notice as top UN court finds governments can be sued for failing to act on climate change

Governments that fail to phase out oil, gas and coal to prevent climate harms could be ordered to pay reparations under international law, the World Court has found.

reneweconomy.com.au

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