Matt Ryan
@mattdjryan.bsky.social
2.8K followers 600 following 56 posts
Chancellor's Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney | political economy, environmental history, energy | PhD, University of Sydney
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mattdjryan.bsky.social
Very interesting! Why do you think this is?
mattdjryan.bsky.social
The Production Gap report is one of the most important publications I know of.

With each iteration we see fossil capital continuing to bet against our future.

Either we curb fossil fuel production on the supply side, or we all burn - market prices will not wind this industry down.
Reposted by Matt Ryan
Reposted by Matt Ryan
bykeirawright.bsky.social
Based on current policies, oil & gas demand could grow for 25 years rather than peaking this decade as expected, according to a IEA draft report

Coal consumption will peak in the 2030s, but demand in 2050 would be over 50% higher than expected, according to calculations by @javierblas.bsky.social
mattdjryan.bsky.social
This is huge!
bushfiresurvivors.bsky.social
The NSW Court of Appeal blocked the Mount Pleasant coal expansion - the largest proposed in the state - and ruled that Scope 3 emissions can’t be ignored.🙌

We made a video to explain why this is so important.

Congrats to DAMS HEG and the EDO on this incredible victory!

youtube.com/shorts/R6wEb...
BIG WIN for Climate Justice!
YouTube video by Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action
youtube.com
Reposted by Matt Ryan
thierryaaron.bsky.social
As the world rapidly heads into #climate #overshoot I've noticed a disturbing pattern in journal articles recently.

I'll summarize it quickly in this thread 🧵
Reposted by Matt Ryan
francismarkham.bsky.social
Australian universities are in a governance crisis. VC pay blowouts, scandals, mission drift — these aren’t random, they’re structural.

This new working paper with @marijataflaga.bsky.social & Keith Dowding digs into why the system is broken, and how to fix it.

doi.org/10.25911/MWW...

A thread:
Neither corporate nor government: Why university governance needs to be different, and better
Marija Taflaga, Francis Markham and Keith Dowding.

Preprint, 29 August 2025. https://doi.org/10.25911/MWW4-9781

Abstract
Australian universities face a governance crisis rooted in failures of accountability. Unlike parliaments and corporate boards, university councils lack effective mechanisms for principals to discipline agents. In parliaments, voters can replace elected representatives; in corporations, shareholders can vote out directors. Both systems close the delegation–accountability loop, ensuring alignment between principals and outcomes. University councils, however, are self-perpetuating bodies dominated by external appointees, and in recent decades they are typically from corporate backgrounds. As neither producers nor consumers of universities’ core product—knowledge creation and dissemination—they have minimal intrinsic stake in academic outcomes leaving councils detached from the university’s core mission. This misalignment fosters mission drift, weakens oversight, and contributes to repeated scandals. Because councils largely appoint their own successors, they remain insulated from meaningful scrutiny, unlike boards or parliaments where underperformance is sanctioned externally. Restoring accountability requires giving academic staff and students a renewed oversight role, alongside clear safeguards for the public interest. Because academics and students are both producers and consumers of knowledge, they have a direct and enduring stake in its quality. We recommend two mechanisms to do this are:
1. Academic Senates empowered to appoint and review council members, ensuring councils reflect the university’s purpose.
2. Robust Committee Systems that embed staff and student voices in decision-making, reduce information asymmetries, and align incentives with academic purposes.
Reposted by Matt Ryan
francismarkham.bsky.social
The government's proposed FOI Act amendments are out.

Media has focused on the new submission fee, but far more alarming are changes making it easier for govt to block access to public information.

Two in particular stand out:
Reposted by Matt Ryan
ketanjoshi.co
"any goal north of 60 per cent will require a major expansion of emissions reductions in the transport, industrial and agricultural sectors"

yep that is the entire point?????????????????????????????????????????????

www.afr.com/policy/energ...
Labor policy adviser says to lower expectations on climate targets
Ryan Cropp
Ryan Cropp
Energy and climate reporter
Aug 27, 2025 – 4.32pm

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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.
Reposted by Matt Ryan
bykeirawright.bsky.social
Australia might finally be on track to have enough renewables to dodge blackouts as our coal fleet retires over the next decade, according to a new AEMO forecast.

Last year we added a record 4.4 GW of solar, wind & batteries, with more on the way.

Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Record Clean Energy Additions Ease Blackout Fears in Australia
Australia is at reduced risk of blackouts over the next decade thanks to a rapid buildout of renewables and batteries that will help offset the retirement of the nation’s coal fleet, according to the ...
www.bloomberg.com
Reposted by Matt Ryan
natashaheenan.bsky.social
tfw your joint intellectual project makes it out of the group chat. Thanks @kurtiveson.bsky.social for your astonishing write up of our work! We're merely picking up on the threads of spatial and environmental political economy laid down by yourself and many others!
mattdjryan.bsky.social
4/

The most special part of this story is that
@kurtiveson.bsky.social
has read our work as a collective project - which is precisely what it is. I guess this is what it looks like when a joint intellectual project makes it out of the group chat, and into the world.
mattdjryan.bsky.social
4/

The most special part of this story is that
@kurtiveson.bsky.social
has read our work as a collective project - which is precisely what it is. I guess this is what it looks like when a joint intellectual project makes it out of the group chat, and into the world.
mattdjryan.bsky.social
3/

How can we understand the socio-ecological relations set in train as "commodity frontiers" rolled across stolen Aboriginal land? A question I grappled with through the internally-related stories of wool, coal, and sugar.
mattdjryan.bsky.social
2/

So how does the ecosocialist method travel to the settler colonies of Australia and Aotearoa? How does it speak to the Capitalocene, or the 'overshoot' conjuncture?
Reposted by Matt Ryan
kilderbenhauser.bsky.social
Announcing a PhD scholarship for a history project on imperialism and great power projection in the Pacific. Supervised by Prudence Flowers and I here at Flinders, Adelaide. It includes an international fee waiver and stipend. Start Jan 2026. www.flinders.edu.au/scholarships...
PhD Scholarship: Pacific Powers - Flinders University
www.flinders.edu.au
mattdjryan.bsky.social
🚨 PhD Scholarship 🚨

Thinking about a PhD on the political economy of climate change? Want to work with some of the kindest and best scholars in the field? Do this.

Tbh, I'm jealous of whoever gets this!!!
bspiesbutcher.bsky.social
The Macquarie PhD scholarship on our new Climate Economy project is now open - working with me, @garethbryant.bsky.social Sophie Weber, @clairerhiannon.bsky.social & Svenja Keele. We'll explore how climate change remakes our political economy. Topic negotiable.

www.mq.edu.au/research/phd...
The climate economy: Emerging strategies for Australia
Join a PhD project on Australia's climate economy, exploring how transport, policy, and finance adapt to climate change.
www.mq.edu.au
mattdjryan.bsky.social
A thousand times, yes!

"while it’s true that special interests cannot stop the world’s shift toward renewable energy, they can significantly slow it"

"if it takes us anything like 40 years to get there, forget it. The world that we run on sun and wind is going to be broken."

Fight fossil capital.
Reposted by Matt Ryan
bspiesbutcher.bsky.social
Proud to stand with my Sociology colleagues, joined by @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social @damiencahill.bsky.social and the mighty @nteunion.bsky.social against the devastating cuts proposed at Macquarie University
Marching through Macquarie Ben with Damien Mehreen Faruqi speaks to rally