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Societal transformations for addressing climate change are intensely contested and at risk of resistance and backlash to ambitious policy action. But they are frequently modeled through heuristics such as S‐curves which abstract from such conflicts, assuming increasing returns to scale as a driver of transformations. This is the case even while scholars accept the presence of political conflict in transformation processes. Within political science and allied disciplines, the notions of policy feedback and policy coalitions have been deployed to understand how such political conflicts may be understood. But these approaches risk gravitating toward an instrumental design impulse that inadvertently downplays conflict. We argue that policy action for societal transformations should be re‐conceptualized as an unfolding series of battle‐settlement events whereby heated episodic political struggles over a certain policy object or issue play out and eventually settle in ways that structure future debates while nonetheless remaining indeterminate and open to challenge or reversal. Such an approach reflects the varied empirical experiences of climate policy action to date which include both accumulation and reversal. It also helps explain trajectories of change that are discontinuous and lurching in contrast to common images of transformation as progressive and cumulative. We illustrate this approach through two cases of unfolding societal transformation on climate change: coal phaseout in the United Kingdom and renewable energy uptake in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue the instrumental, paternalistic strategic culture often adopted in Australian foreign policy circles is counter-productive, preventing Australia from having productive and sustainable relationships with Pacific states. If Australian officials want to follow through on rhetorical commitments to enhance Australia's relationships in the Pacific, Australia must actively recognise the agency Pacific states have and place itself within this community of actors. Australia often positions itself as part of the 'Pacific family,' but to be a collaborative member of this family it must go beyond headline commitments and fundamentally reconsider the evolving agency of small Pacific states and how this shapes Australia's interactions with them. We can understand this through the lens of normative communities. Revisiting constructivist International Relations theory, I reexamine who is included and excluded in the communities of actors that norms apply to. This has particularly significant implications around norms of climate change action and mitigation. Australia has historically tried to water down agreements and slow-role actions in this space. The ongoing bid to host COP31 perhaps offers an opportunity to both show leadership on climate-related issues and to reconfigure assumptions around Pacific agency and address the effects this has on Australia's relationships in the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion on climate change is complex, comprising aspects such as belief, support for policies, and issue salience. This multidimensional nature of climate opinion can be accounted for by identifying "publics," each comprising people with similar climate attitudes. Climate opinion has also been found to relate strongly to political worldviews, with people holding conservative attitudes tending to have low levels of engagement with climate change. However, few studies have investigated how political worldviews relate to membership of climate publics. The current study therefore identifies climate publics in New Zealand and Australia and investigates how they relate to economic and social aspects of conservative worldviews. Using an original online survey, I find no clear link between economic conservatism and membership of climate publics. Social conservatives, however, are more likely to be members of publics with low levels of climate engagement and of "middle" publics, which accept the science of climate change but are "lukewarm" on climate action. Climate opinion appears to be more polarized in Australia than New Zealand. These results provide insight into the worldviews of people in the "mainstream" of climate opinion and suggest that only a minority of the public are demanding ambitious climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tropical savannas represent a large proportion of the area burnt each year globally, with growing evidence that management to curtail fire frequency and intensity in some of these regions can contribute to mitigation of climate change. Approximately 25% of Australia's fire-prone tropical savanna region is currently managed for carbon projects, contributing significantly to Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Aims: To improve the accuracy of Australia's national carbon accounting model (FullCAM) for reporting of fire emissions and sequestration of carbon in savanna ecosystems. Methods: Field data from Australian savannas were collated and used to calibrate FullCAM parameters for the prediction of living biomass, standing dead biomass and debris within seven broad vegetation types. Key results: Revised parameter sets and improved predictions of carbon stocks and fluxes across Australia's savanna ecosystems in response to wildfire and planned fire were obtained. Conclusions: The FullCAM model was successfully calibrated to include fire impacts and post-fire recovery in savanna ecosystems. Implications: This study has expanded the capability of FullCAM to simulate both reduced emissions and increased sequestration of carbon in response to management of fire in tropical savanna regions of Australia, with implications for carbon accounting at national and project scales. Savanna fire management has proved to be an effective mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage in ecosystems. In this study, we calibrate the FullCAM carbon accounting model with extensive field data to improve the model's representation of fire impacts and carbon dynamics in Australian savannas, and to facilitate carbon accounting at project to national scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporters of hydrogen energy urge scaling up technology and reducing costs for competitiveness. This paper explores how hydrogen energy technologies (HET) are perceived by Australia's general population and considers the way members of the public imagine their role in the implementation of hydrogen energy now and into the future. The study combines a nationally representative survey (n = 403) and semi-structured interviews (n = 30). Results show age and gender relationships with self-reported hydrogen knowledge. Half of the participants obtained hydrogen information from televised media. Strong support was observed for renewable hydrogen, while coal (26%) and natural gas (41%) versions had less backing. Participants sought more safety-related information (41% expressed concern). Most felt uncertain about influencing hydrogen decisions and did not necessarily recognise they had agency beyond their front fence. Exploring the link between political identity and agency in energy decision-making is needed, with energy democracy a potentially productive direction. • Hydrogen's strongest appeal to Australians is its benefit for climate change mitigation. • Although widely accepted, there is limited knowledge about hydrogen in terms of how it is produced or used. • The more people know about hydrogen, the more willing they are to participate in the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This perspective paper provides industry leaders, researchers and policy developers strategic approaches to ensure that the welfare of dairy cattle is protected at the same time as the industry increases its resilience to climate change. Farm systems and practices will evolve in response to the direct impacts of climate change and/or from responses to climate change, such as mitigation strategies to reduce dairy's greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The five domains framework (nutrition, physical environment, health, behaviour, mental state) was used to assess the potential impacts on animal welfare and strategies to minimise these impacts are outlined. Given that the future climate cannot be certain these approaches can be applied under a range of emissions pathways to (1) ensure that the effects of GHG mitigations on animal welfare are considered during their development, (2) engage with end users and the public to ensure solutions to the effects of climate change and weather variability are accepted by consumers and communities, (3) identify and measure the areas where improved animal health can contribute to reducing GHG emissions from dairy production, (4) ensure those supporting farmers to develop and manage their farm systems understand what constitutes a good quality of life for dairy cattle, (5) ensure effective surveillance of animal disease and monitoring of welfare outcomes and farm-system performance in response to climate change and GHG mitigations. Overall, these strategies require a multidisciplinary co-development approach to ensure that the welfare of dairy cattle is protected at the same time as the industry increases its resilience to the wider impacts of a changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South eastern Australia is a global warming hotspot, and is also home to ~70% of Australia's population and one of Australia's largest fisheries—the South East Scalefish and Shark Fishery. This fishery spans shelf to deep waters, subtropical to temperate waters, employs many gears, and interacts with over 100 species. Despite following best practice fisheries management principles, including taking an ecosystem perspective to overall fisheries interactions, management interventions have failed to arrest or recover the decline of some focal species. Using an Atlantis ecosystem model developed for the fishery over the past 20 years, this paper presents simulations that suggest climate change may be a major contributor to the trajectories seen for a number of species—such as jackass morwong (Nemadactylus macropterus), blue warehou (Seriolella brama), and gemfish (Rexea solandri). This kind of climate influence poses many challenges for fisheries management into the future, raising questions about what to do when climate change undermines or overrides fisheries management actions and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community gardens, as common spaces where people gather to grow food, help foster public health, greener urban environments, life-long learning and vibrant communities. However, despite being promoted as sustainable horticulture and conservation agriculture, their soil health and carbon (C) sequestration potential, with implication for climate change mitigation, remains underexplored. This study assessed soil samples collected from raised beds (gardening area) and adjacent bare ground (control) at six community gardens in the Perth metropolitan area, Australia. These sites covered three soil mapping units (SMUs): calcareous deep sands, coloured sand and pale sands The soil in raised beds exhibited superior characteristics than surrounding urban soil including lower bulk density, higher pH buffering capacity, available nutrients including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), cation exchange capacity (CEC), total C and microbial biomass. Notably, we estimated that raised bed soils accumulated significant levels of C in the top 10 cm layer (0.55 kg/m2 or 5.5 T/ha). Our findings also indicate no significant heavy metal contamination in any of the community garden soils. Although the global area of community gardens is marginally small, these results suggest they hold potential for carbon sequestration, especially in urban and peri-urban environments. The improved soil health and C storage potential in community garden soil are largely attributed to the regular application of compost produced within the community gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil-based carbon farming has been identified in previous research as a win-win for farm productivity and the mitigation of climate change through carbon sequestration. However, it faces numerous barriers to adoption, including low carbon prices, high transaction costs, information barriers and high uncertainty around future outcomes, markets and policy conditions. Collaboration between landholders and other stakeholders has been proposed as a potential means of overcoming some of these barriers, while maximising the benefits of soil-based carbon farming. In this article, we present the results of a two-stage process investigating collaborative soil-based carbon farming in Australia, involving national-scale key informant interviews and a regional-scale Participatory Rural Appraisal. Fifty-three interviews were undertaken with key carbon farming stakeholders, including landholders, landholder groups, carbon service providers, government, researchers and the financial sector. Collaboration was seen to offer the greatest advantages in relation to knowledge-sharing and social support, followed by its potential to increase carbon income through enhanced bargaining power and the optimisation of co-benefits. The advantages of collaboration were less clear in relation to reducing costs or maximising farm productivity and collaboration also presents new challenges around risk and complexity. Under current conditions, informal collaboration models were seen to offer the best balance between the benefits and risks, with existing cooperatives also well-placed to diversify into carbon. Alternative conditions in the future or in other locations would be needed to facilitate models involving joint projects, pooled credits, shared land management and/or the creation of new carbon-specific cooperatives. • Soil-based carbon farming benefits both carbon sequestration and farm productivity. • Advantages of collaboration are greatest for knowledge-sharing and social support. • Collaboration less beneficial in relation to cost-reduction and farm productivity. • Informal models for collaboration preferred by study participants. • Existing agricultural cooperatives are well-placed to diversify into carbon farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetland area and condition are declining globally despite their importance to climate change mitigation and biodiversity. Introduced ungulate species are contributing to the global decline. Their impacts on wetlands are widespread and varied, however poorly understood. We summarise global impacts of introduced unmanaged and domesticated ungulates on wetlands highlighting potential outcomes of their removal. We place an emphasis on Australia due to the disproportionate impacts of ungulates on wetlands and potential for emerging carbon and biodiversity markets to incentivise private investment in wetland conservation and restoration. Our Systematic Literature Review assessed impacts of cattle, pigs, horses, deer, buffalo, sheep, camels, and other ungulates on wetlands. There were 372 relevant resources from 35 countries, with highest representation from Australia and the United States. The majority related to cattle (29 %) and pigs (19 %). More impacts were reported in freshwater wetlands (51 %) than marine (19 %). A quarter of studies related to riparian habitats. Ungulate impacts varied geographically and among climates. More studies reported soil damage, weed dispersal, decreased vegetation cover, and woody vegetation suppression than neutral or positive changes in these metrics. Decreases in richness and abundance of native flora and fauna were more frequently reported than increases. Of 33 studies reporting wetland carbon impacts, 24 reported increased CO 2 emissions due to loss of soil carbon or vegetation biomass. Ungulate exclusion from wetlands could enhance carbon stocks and biodiversity, however further studies comparing wetland typologies and carbon dynamics are needed to quantify levels of enhancement given differences in ungulate species and environments. • Wetlands are declining despite their importance for climate change and biodiversity. • Impacts of feral and domesticated ungulates on wetlands vary by ecology, region, climate, and wetland type. • Ungulates damage soils and reduce ground cover, which may increase carbon emissions. • Reported ungulate impacts on flora and fauna are most often negative, but effects depend on taxa and region. • Control of ungulates in wetlands may support wetland conservation and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil security concept has been put forward to maintain and improve soil resources inter alia to provide food, clean water, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to protect ecosystems. A provisional framework suggested indicators for the soil security dimensions, and a methodology to achieve a quantification. In this study, we illustrate the framework for the function soil carbon storage and the two dimensions of soil capacity and soil condition. The methodology consists of (i) the selection and quantification of a small set of soil indicators for capacity and condition, (ii) the transformation of indicator values to unitless utility values via expert-generated utility graphs, and (iii) a two-level aggregation of the utility values by soil profile and by dimension. For capacity, we used a set of three indicators: total organic and inorganic carbon content and mineral associated organic carbon in the fine fraction (MAOC) estimated via their reference value using existing maps of pedogenons and current landuse to identify areas of remnant genosoils (total organic and inorganic carbon) and the 90th percentile for MAOC. For condition we used the same set of indicators, but this time using the estimated current value and comparing with their reference-state values (calculated for capacity). The methodology was applied to the whole of Australia at a spatial resolution of 90 m × 90 m. The results show that the unitless indicator values supporting the function varied greatly in Australia. Aggregation of the indicators into the two dimensions of capacity and condition revealed that most of Australia has a relatively low capacity to support the function, but that most soils are in a generally good condition relative to that capacity, with some exceptions in agricultural areas, although more sampling of the remnant genosoils is required for corroboration and improvement. The maps of capacity and condition may serve as a basis to estimate a spatially-explicit local index of Australia's soil resilience to the threat of decarbonization. • Methodology based on the soil security assessment framework. • Quantification of the capacity and condition of the soil to store carbon. • Spatial estimation of the utility to support carbon storage for three indicators. • Australia has low capacity, but overall good condition to store carbon. • Intensive up-to-date sampling is required to corroborate the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]