THE CARBON OFFSETS LABYRINTH

The heated debate that accompanied the NSW Government’s decision to link carbon credits to the creation of the Great Koala National Park has led me to look closer at activities that generate those credits.

 To say the system is open to rorting, and that some claims made to support the so-called benefits of those activities are questionable, would be a massive understatement.

Tree planting, when properly managed and overseen, is probably one of the least questionable ways of earning carbon credits. However, having recently suffered the terminal impacts of bushfire, I posed the question, “what happens when, after receiving and selling carbon credits, the trees are killed by bushfire?”

The answer was that: “Project proponents must actively manage these risks and provide a permanence plan to protect the carbon sequestered”. Really?

This conjured up images of TV advertisements for a certain insurance company, showing spot-fires igniting across the landscape before being instantly doused by spouts of water from the ground.

Unfortunately, this sort of fantasy world doesn’t exist in reality. How can anyone provide a permanence plan against vandalism?

There was also mention of insurance, which is fine for the proponent, but doesn’t negate the carbon emissions that occurred when the trees burned, or render invalid the carbon credits that have already been sold to a polluter.

The guaranteed benefits for soil carbon sequestration are even more hazy, so I won’t go there. However, in the USA, another supposed “win-win-win for the climate” is emerging; it’s called ‘biomass burial’.

This has emerged following devastating wildfires that have destroyed vast areas of pine forest across North America in recent decades, where burying the trunks of dead trees in huge pits is deemed better than burning them.

Knowing that the roots, stumps and branches were burned prior to burial, and seeing images of vast treeless landscapes, with huge machines belching carbon emissions, it’s impossible to view this as any win for the climate. However, one certainty is this; where there’s a buck to be made, the ‘shonks’ will find a way to capitalise.

 

-        John Edwards

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent, 30th October,  2026

REGULATION OF AUSTRALIAN DATA CENTRES

Concern about data centres continues to grow around the nation.  A recent report by the independent Climate Council, states Australia currently has at least 162 operational data centres and another 90 proposed.  While these centres have been supporting existing digital services in Australia for many years, cloud computing and the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) require much more computing power and the need for more data centres.  And international players regard Australia as an ideal location for data centres.

There are major community concerns about the impact the surge in data centre developments will have on the cost to our climate and water and power bills. 

Data centres require a huge, uninterrupted supply of electricity and water to keep them operating and cooled as well as backups for both essentials in case of breakdowns in regular sources.  The Climate Council is concerned that without additional renewable energy generation and system flexibility, the industry’s power demand risks extending reliance on coal and gas, pushing up power prices and harming national and state climate targets.  And water demand for data centres is likely to at least triple by 2030.

The Federal Government, having welcomed investment in data centres, has been on notice for some time about addressing community concerns about the growth of the Australian data centre industry.  Last month the Prime Minister pledged to ensure that data centres bring on new renewable energy.  This was followed up with a meeting of Energy Ministers on July 28 where most states and territories agreed to regulate to ensure that data centres match their electricity demand with new renewables and that this renewable power is additional to what already exists or is being built.

While the Climate Council sees this as positive there are questions about timeframes and how it will be implemented.  Hopefully the both the Federal and State Governments will act decisively and quickly on their commitments.  Concerned community members will certainly be watching.

The Senate is conducting an Inquiry on Artificial Intelligence and Data Centres with submissions due by September 1.

-        Leonie Blain

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   7th August,  2026. 

A PLEA FOR ACTION

Last week, our beautifully biodiverse property, with its Koalas, Bettongs, Gilders, and a host of other native animals, was once again engulfed in flames.

This is the third time in the last 14 years, and after putting our hearts and souls into conserving wildlife for almost 50 years, Pat and I now face the reality that we’ve failed.

Virtually all the old trees that had survived for hundreds of years providing shelter and sustenance to countless species of native fauna, many of them threatened, are gone and will never be replaced.

In some respects, we could consider ourselves fortunate. Neighbouring forested land, just 400m away, has suffered from wildfires in 2011, 2016, 2019, 2023, and now in 2026. None were caused by lightning strikes or other natural phenomena.

For the past six months we have watched the northern hemisphere on fire - Canada, the US, Russia, all of Europe, even the UK, and now it’s our turn, and all because the world’s governments have failed to act on climate change.

In 2008, 30 years after emissions reduction was first discussed at the Geneva World Climate Conference, NASA climate scientists proposed that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations needed to be kept below 350 parts per million to avoid catastrophic climate change. Two decades later, the current level is 425ppm and rising, with the most optimistic prediction being that they’ll peak in 2030, and we’re already reaping the consequences.

Last year, 12,773 homes, 5,116 minor structures, and 496 commercial structures were destroyed by wildfires in the United States, yet the Trump administration opposes federal caps on greenhouse gases and has revoked numerous climate action initiatives.

For our part, Australia is exporting near-record volumes of coal and gas, volumes that have been steadily increasing for years, decision-makers seemingly oblivious to the consequences; and this is a government that purports to believe that climate change is happening.

With further global temperature rises already locked in and guaranteed, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emission has never been greater, for without it, we’ll all be the losers.

 

-        John Edwards

Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent   18th September,  2026.