Jul 19, 2026 | Carbon markets, Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Electric vehicle, Lighter Footprints Events
Going electric improves exports and increases resilience Right now we are experiencing how vital it is for Australia to have a resilient energy system. Australia has world-beating renewables resources. Dr Monique Ryan MP along with financial analyst Tim Buckley,...
Feb 21, 2026 | Carbon offsets, Climate Policy, Environmental protection, Forests
What is really going on with Victoria’s forests? An update from veteran forests campaigner Luke Chamberlain In our recent webinar Why Forests Matter, Luke Chamberlain from Environmental Justice Australia gives us an inside view on what is really happening to...
May 14, 2025 | Biodiversity, Boroondara Council, Calendar of events, Carbon, Clean Energy, Climate change, Climate Policy, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Federal election, Forests, Gas, Nuclear, Volunteering
Labor was returned with a very large majority, and Greens hold the balance of power in the Senate. We have read through some expert responses and given you a comprehensive look looking at opportunities for climate action and potential challenges in what could be a...
Apr 15, 2025 | Carbon, Climate change, Lighter Footprints Forum
Telling it like it is The Convenor of Lighter Footprints, Jenny Smithers, started off the 2025 Kooyong Candidates Forum with a brief overview of the state of the climate. “My professional life has been working as a GP, so no surprise, my first message is from...
Jul 2, 2024 | Carbon, Clean Energy, Climate change, Coal, Gas
The Macroeconomics of Australia’s Energy Transition: Wednesday 19 June, 2024 at the Balwyn Park Centre There was a full house of over 150 attendees to hear Richard Denniss, Executive Director of the Australia Institute, in conversation with Heidi Lee CEO of...
Feb 5, 2024 | Bushfire, Carbon, Forests, Lighter Footprints Working Groups
JUNE 2025 UPDATE Destruction continues The Victorian goverenment ended the harvesting of native forests on 1 January 2024 but contractors are still employed in forests under the Forestry Transition Program doing other things including fire breaks, tree removal in the...
May 8, 2023 | Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon offsets, Climate Damage, Climate Policy, Safeguard Mechanism
An informative and enjoyable event On Wednesday 26 April, Lighter Footprints hosted an informative meeting on Reducing Australia’s Emissions in Kew, Melbourne. It was good to meet face-to-face over drinks and nibbles and to be updated on the Dirty Dozen campaign...
Apr 14, 2023 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Climate Policy, Communicating climate change, IPCC
IPCC Webinars Lighter Footprints is pleased to share two recordings of recent webinars on the latest IPCC Synthesis Report and Summary for Policymakers released 20 March 2023. This is perhaps the most important synthesis report in the IPCC cycle because the next one...
Apr 9, 2023 | Carbon offsets, Environmental law, Methane, National campaigns, No category, Safeguard Mechanism
Heavy emitters to be pulled into line: Back in January this year, with the Federal Coalition dealing themselves out of negotiations, with the fossil fuel industries ramping up pressure that ‘we need to develop more gas’, and with conservative media outlets...
Mar 24, 2023 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Land gap, Land use, Safeguard Mechanism
What’s wrong with land-based offsets? The important Land Gap Report gives a definitive, quantitative ‘no’ to reliance on land-based offsets given that offsets: take up too much land – Cumulative land-based solutions would add up to 1,200 million hectares...
Mar 6, 2023 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon markets, Carbon offsets, Indigenous, Land gap
Image source and acknowledgement: The Land Gap report The pressure on land in carbon dioxide removal In response to climate change, governments are increasingly relying on land for carbon dioxide removal. This is particularly true in Australia, notorious for its use...
Feb 20, 2023 | Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon offsets, Safeguard Mechanism
The upcoming Safeguard Mechanism could drive real emissions reduction, but as it stands it risks letting Australia’s biggest polluters off the hook through purchasing unlimited dodgy offsets. Image: Open cut coal mine – Hunter. Photo by Jeremy...
Aug 9, 2022 | Carbon credits, Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Economics, Electric vehicle
Overview Labor’s climate bill passes the lower house Amended by Greens and independents to make 43% by 2030 a floor, not a ceiling, Labor’s climate bill passes the lower house, and heads to a Senate inquiry which is due to report by the end of August. The...
Aug 5, 2022 | Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon markets, Carbon offsets
Photo credit: Jaccob McKay/Unsplash The following is a summary of the Lighter Footprints event “CARBON CREDITS: Dodgy offsets or the real deal?” held on Wednesday 27 July 2022. The recording is available here. Moderator Tim Baxter, Senior Researcher for...
Jul 25, 2022 | Carbon credits, Carbon markets
The situation with carbon markets is becoming more fluid by the day! Welcome to this diary style blog, with updates and links to useful papers, public discussion and media responses to issues recently raised about the integrity of our carbon markets. Lighter Footpints...
Jun 20, 2022 | Carbon, Carbon credits, Carbon markets, Carbon offsets
As countries move to decarbonise their economies, companies are trying to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits. You can think of carbon credits as a “permission slip” to emit up to a certain set amount of CO2e that year. Most of today’s interim solutions to...
Feb 16, 2022 | Carbon, Climate change, Climate Policy, Economy, Vote Climate
HERE ARE FOUR A strong economy needs a healthy climate Climate change is a serious health issue Climate change is a security issue Life on Earth depends upon a healthy climate CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ECONOMY Good management of the economy requires good management of...
Dec 8, 2021 | Carbon, Climate Policy, Gas, No category
Victoria is due to release its Gas Substitution Roadmap by the end of the year. A number of climate focused organisations, including Lighter Footprints, have issued a Joint Statement on Victoria Getting Off Fossil Gas. The Lighter Footprints MP engagement group is...
Aug 28, 2021 | Biodiversity, Bushfire, Carbon, Climate Damage, Forests, Indigenous
The Great Forest National Park, worth fighting for with Dr Chris Taylor and Sarah Rees You can also download Dr Chris Taylor’s slides here, Sarah Rees slides here, watch the event again on Youtube or Facebook Live, read more about our presenters here, and check...
Jun 3, 2021 | Carbon, Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Court action
The world’s premier energy agency, the notoriously conservative International Energy Agency (IEA), has just released a landmark report that marks a huge shift in approach, setting out “an ambitious global energy roadmap” to reach net-zero by 2050. Of great...
Nov 10, 2020 | Carbon, Climate Damage, Communicating climate change, Paris commitment
Not on track. Not “in a canter”. In November 2016, the Australian Government officially ratified the Paris Climate Agreement. But in the lead-up to the last Federal election in 2019, the Morrison Government began a misleading campaign that Australia is...
Nov 1, 2020 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Court action, Environmental law, Environmental protection, Forests, Legal action, Taking Action
Forests store amazing amounts of carbon The amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests is more than the carbon stored in fossil fuel reserves and more than the total carbon added to the atmosphere as a consequence of human activities in the last 150 years....
Oct 17, 2020 | Carbon, Drawdown, Solutions
What if we took out more greenhouse gases than we put into the atmosphere? This hypothetical scenario, known as “drawdown,” is our only hope of averting climate disaster, says strategist Chad Frischmann. Learn more about drawdown “Global warming is...
Sep 11, 2020 | Biodiversity, Carbon, Environmental law, Environmental protection, Forests, Lighter Footprints Events, Protecting The Natural World
Coming event 28 Oct 2020 RSVP here to find out more about protecting our forests BREAKING 1: VicForests has lodged an appeal VicForests has lodged an appeal and is seeking to overturn Justice Mortimer’s ruling in the recent landmark Federal Court case protecting 66...
