Climate-Washing, SLAPP-Fights & Green-On-Green Action: No Court Shaming Here!

Episode NotesSupport us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our recent bonus episode on brat summer and US election implications for climate, as well as other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.—After recent frolics in pre-and-post election climate speculation in the US and UK, your intrepid hosts turn their gaze to developments closer to home and ponder, could China be peaking its emissions early? We discuss this excellent article in Carbon Brief with data from respected China-watcher Lauri Myllyvirta. The short of it? It’s a complicated stew with a GIGANTIC cup of renewable energy growth, a generous dollop of post-COVID energy demand and a worrying scoop of coal-to-chemicals growth.  Our main paperYour intrepid hosts cross examine a bumper new report Global trends in climate litigation: 2024 snapshot from Joana Setzer and Catherine Higham from the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. This was a fascinating read on the many and varied approaches not-for-profits, governments and corporates are taking to litigating climate action, climate inaction and climate washing! Warning: contains SLAPP fights and green-on-green action. One more thingsLuke opens with some feedback from friend of the pod David McEwen. David thought we missed a trick around Frankie’s suggestion that it would take a while to replace budget revenue from fossil fuels and helpfully provided a link to an excellent paper from Paul J. Burke at the ANU Tax and Transfer Policy Institute which points out that our fossil fuel industry delivers Frankie’s One More Thing is: a shout out for the FixIt Chicks, Jenny Edwards (notable energy efficiency expert and retrofit queen) and Lish Fejer (ABC journo and fabulous climate communicator) who’ve grown a cult following on their excellent insta full of handy reels on energy saving tips and tricks for the home. Love your work!Tennant’s One More Thing is: a bold claim that the government’s nature positive reforms - even though they’ve been split into different stages with the truly difficult EPBC Act reform put off until after election - appear to be going nowhere fast! Stakeholders on all sides are not happy and things aren’t looking too good ahead of Australia hosting an international biodiversity summit.And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.