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Michael Mazengarb

@michaelmazengarb.bsky.social

4.8K followers 1K following 830 posts

Renewable Energy and Climate Change policy | Climate law. Writes at Tempests and Terawatts tempestsandterawatts.com

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · May 15

Hearings in the greenwashing case Parents for Climate v EnergyAustralia start today in the Federal Court.

As a backgrounder, this is my write-up of its significance, and its potential to deliver a reckoning for the carbon offset industry.
www.tempestsandterawatts.com/p/the-beginn...

The Beginning of the End for Carbon Offsets? Parents Take Energy Giant to Court

Court case could upend Australia’s carbon offset industry and reshape corporate climate claims.

www.tempestsandterawatts.com

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 16h

ACT went first and fastest to 100 per cent renewables: It now looks like the smartest policy of all
reneweconomy.com.au/act-went-fir...

reneweconomy.com.au

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 1d

It’s just magic pudding fossil fuel projects, whereby no project ever causes climate change.

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 1d

The 'statement of reasons' given by enviro minister Murray Watt approving the North West Shelf gas project extension contains some astonishing mental gymnastics.
He assumes the same level of emissions could occur even if the project didn't proceed
epbcpublicportal.environment.gov.au/_entity/shar...

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 1d

I’m keen to chat to people in Australia working on climate attribution science and economics. Particularly, the quantification of climate losses and linking to specific sources of emissions.

Can anyone point me in the direction of anyone doing this work in Australia?

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 1d

'No, this massive fossil fuel project won't have a significant impact on the environment, because if it wasn't built, gas will just come from somewhere else' is just wildly flawed logic.

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 1d

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 2d

I can guarantee you this was not the first time, nor the last time, government data has been fed into ChatGPT.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Major data breach as up to 3,000 flood victims' details loaded to ChatGPT

The NSW Reconstruction Authority says the breach occurred in March and involved the personal data of applicants to the Northern Rivers Resilient Homes Program.

www.abc.net.au

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 3d

One Battle After Another is an excellent movie and it is wild that it was filmed in the first half of 2024.

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 4d

Robbins Island wind farm is one project, that doesn’t need to be built where it is.

But, Australia is a big country with plenty of places to build wind and solar without compromising high value biodiversity sites.

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 4d

Sure, but there were some unforced errors about the Robbins Island wind farm issues.

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 4d

This is not Larissa Waters’ best interview. #Insiders

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 7d

Would be nice to live in a timeline where it was possible to state that there was zero possibility for Donald Trump and Nigel Farage to be the leaders of their respective countries in 2029.

Because it’s certainly not this one.

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 11d

Dude complains about the cost of milk at a CVS in Manhattan, and then claims NYC has lost its touch compared to Sydney.

Also, Sydney’s trains might be new and shiny, but at least the NY subway keeps running when it rains…
www.smh.com.au/national/i-m...

I’m in New York, but I’m dreaming of the Sydney Metro

The extortionate cost of living in New York – a coffee is $12 – makes me long for the charms of my home town.

www.smh.com.au

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 11d

I don’t think that’s a metaphor. It’s hard to think of more literal diplomatic isolation.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/w...

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 13d

Just an absolute peak Canberra day today.

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 14d

It's only a 30 minute walk from the UN to Madam Tussauds...

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 14d

Happy Sydney Marathon ballot entry day.

a woman in a black jacket is giving a peace sign .

ALT: a woman in a black jacket is giving a peace sign .

media.tenor.com

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 15d

jfk, these people... www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Intelligence agencies should report on foreign interests in ‘activist groups’, Australian coal lobby group argues

Coal Australia also wants government to broaden restrictions on foreign donations to stop money flowing to environmental groups

www.theguardian.com

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 18d

lmao
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 20d

The disturbing thing about the collapse of American democracy is how quickly some companies and institutions like Universities have fallen over themselves to facilitate it.

Preemptive obedience is just a shortcut to authoritarianism, not a way to avoid it.

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 20d

The new emissions target, when framed as an additional reduction of 19 to 27 per cent between 2030 and 2035 is laughably vague.

The range is so wide, it renders it a bit meaningless for giving a policy or investment signal (other than the minimum needed to meet the bottom end of the target).

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 21d

Just a reminder that the federal court recently found the Australian government has a track record of failing to set emissions reduction targets consistent with the best available science.

“The best available science was and is clear. To prevent the worst and most dangerous impacts of climate change, it was and is imperative for every country to take steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions so as to ensure that the increase in the global average temperature is held to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to l.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Those critical objectives were enshrined in the Paris Agreement, to which Australia is a party. The evidence in this case indicated that the emissions reduction targets set by the Commonwealth in 2015, 2020 and 2021 were plainly not consistent with those objectives or its international obligations under the Paris Agreement.”

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 22d

So the report (which Bowen didn’t write) is ‘out of the playbook’ of… conservative political leaders? Like John Howard and Scott Morrison?

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 23d

Especially when they were happy to announce approval for a massive fossil fuel development in the intervening days:
www.afr.com/politics/fed...

Labor approves North West Shelf extension, with conditions

The Albanese government has approved Woodside’s bid to run a massive gas facility in Western Australia until 2070.

www.afr.com

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 23d

In the context of apparent delays and a withholding of the report from the public, it further suggests the government wasn’t prioritising its speedy publication.
www.afr.com/policy/energ...

Labor keeps ‘dire’ climate report under wraps

The government has delayed the release of a “shocking” assessment of climate change’s effect on the economy, just weeks before its 2035 target decision.

www.afr.com

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