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FILE - Smoke bellows from a chimney stack at BlueScope Steel's steelworks at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, Australia, Friday, July 8, 2011. Australia’s new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.
FILE - The GAMF Hungary car from Hungary competes during the first day of the 2015 World Solar Challenge near Katherine, Australia, on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015. Australia’s new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.
A bill will be introduced to commit Australia to reducing its emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 when Parliament sits on July 26, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen told the National Press Club.
Another bill would abolish import tariffs and taxes for electric vehicles that are cheaper than the luxury car threshold of 77,565 Australian dollars ($53,580).
Only 1.5% of cars sold in Australia are electric or plug-in hybrid, and passenger cars account for almost 10% of the nation’s emissions, the government said.
The new center-left Labor Party government expects EVs will account for 89% of Australian new car sales by 2030.
The government’s fleet will be converted to 75% no-emission vehicles, bolstering a second-hand EV market as government vehicles are sold after three years.
The new government has already officially informed the United Nations of Australia’s more ambitious 2030 target than the previous conservative Liberal Party-led administration had pursued, a reduction of 26% to 28%.
But Bowen said legislating the 43% target would create greater confidence.
“It’s about certainty and stability, mainly for the business investment community,” Bowen said.
“It sends a signal if a parliament hasn’t legislated that maybe the country’s not serious. Maybe a future government, heaven forbid a Liberal government, might walk it back,” Bowen added.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has ruled out his Liberal Party senators getting the Labor target through the upper chamber. Labor holds only 26 seats in the 76-seat Senate so needs outside help to pass its legislative agenda.
If Labor got all 12 senators from the minor Greens party to support the target, the government would only need to persuade one of six remaining independent or unaligned legislators to reach a majority.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has said he will push the government to ban new coal mines and gas projects when that target legislation is negotiated. The Greens want Australian emissions reduced by 75% by 2030.
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose last year by 0.8%, or 4.1 million metric tons (4.5 million U.S. tons).
Bowen described the increase as one of the biggest emissions spikes in 15 years and blamed the previous government’s inaction during nine years in office.
Factors that caused the increase included a 4% rise in transport emissions as pandemic travel restrictions eased and 4.2% more agricultural emissions as rain ended years of drought across large swathes of southeast Australia..
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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As it marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, the former British colony of Hong Kong is transforming itself from a global business hub to nurture its ties with the communist-ruled mainland. The semi-autonomous territory of 7.5 million people is reeling from pandemic curbs that have devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement. Such trends are raising concern among foreign business and leading some companies and executives to leave the city. But Hong Kong's leaders say it's time for the one-time fishing village turned global financial center to transform itself into a leader in technology more closely integrated with nearby Chinese factory cities.
How does Rick Astley handle one of his songs being part of the biggest internet meme of all time? He rolls with it, obviously. He says he's “ever so grateful for it.” ”Never Gonna Give You Up" turns 35 this year and is still very much alive, buoyed by a second chapter as a gentle joke wherein someone baits you with an enticing online link, which points instead to the video for this 1987 dance-pop smash. Thirty-five years later, Astley is still singing it, this summer on tour with New Kids on the Block, Salt-N-Pepa, and En Vogue for the 57-date “The Mixtape Tour 2022.”
People with hearing loss have long adopted technology to navigate the world, especially since hearing aids are expensive and inaccessible to many. Over the past several years, new options have exploded. Captions from apps like Otter have proven critical for people who needed to join online meetings, or even talk in person, especially when mask-wearing muffled speech during the pandemic. For others, captions have served as a helpful backstop. They are spreading beyond television to videoconferencing apps like Zoom, streaming services like Netflix, social media video on TikTok and YouTube, movie theaters and live arts venues and, of course, personal communications.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
The Chinese electric car brand NIO says two employees involved in testing died when one of its vehicles fell three stories from a parking structure in Shanghai. The company said the crash was under investigation but appeared to be an accident and “not caused by the vehicle.” It said the employees who died were “digital cabin testers,” one from NIO and the other from a partner. NIO said the vehicle fell from the third floor of a parking structure adjacent to the company’s Shanghai Innovation Port building. Photos in Chinese media showed the vehicle lying on its side with its roof caved in, surrounded by broken glass and emergency workers.
One of Iran’s major steel companies says it was forced to halt production after being hit by a cyberattack, marking one of the biggest assaults on the country’s strategic industrial sector in recent memory. The state-owned Khuzestan Steel Company said in a statement on Monday that experts had determined the firm was unable to continue operations “due to technical problems and will be closed until further notice” following “cyberattacks.” The company’s website appeared to be out of service. The company didn't blame any specific group for the assault, which constitutes just the latest example of an attack targeting the country’s services in recent weeks.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has celebrated the opening of the country’s longest bridge, which took eight years to build amid setbacks involving political conflict and corruption allegations. The 4-mile bridge spanning the Padma River cost an estimated $3.6 billion and was paid for with domestic funds after the World Bank and other global lending agencies declined to finance the project. The bridge, which will open to the public on Sunday, will slash the distance between the capital Dhaka and Bangladesh’s second largest seaport, Mongla, by 62 miles. Economists say the bridge will increase Bangladesh’s gross domestic product by an additional 1.3% per year. The World Bank withheld funding but in 2017, a Canadian court threw out corruption charges against three executives.
The fate of hard-nosed technology executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani is now in the hands of a jury that will weigh criminal charges alleging he joined disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, his former partner, in an elaborate fraud that jarred Silicon Valley. Jury members finally get their chance to pore over the evidence submitted during a three-month trial after federal prosecutors on Friday finished a rebuttal to more than 11 hours of closing arguments methodically laid out by a lawyer defending Balwani. A separate jury spent seven days deliberating before convicting Holmes on four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy earlier this year.
Amazon's Alexa might soon mimic the voices of family members, even if they're dead. The capability, unveiled at a Vegas conference, is in development.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
FILE - Smoke bellows from a chimney stack at BlueScope Steel's steelworks at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, Australia, Friday, July 8, 2011. Australia’s new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.
FILE - The GAMF Hungary car from Hungary competes during the first day of the 2015 World Solar Challenge near Katherine, Australia, on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015. Australia’s new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.