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Coles to source more than 90pc of Qld electricity needs from CleanCo

FROM JULY 2022, Coles will source more than 90 percent of its Queensland electricity requirements from CleanCo, after entering into a landmark 10-year agreement with the state-owned clean energy generator and retailer.

Coles will purchase 400 GWh of electricity annually through the agreement. The Western Downs Green Power Hub, set to be Australia’s largest solar farm once built, and the MacIntyre Wind Farm, one of the largest wind farms to be built in the southern hemisphere, will supply three quarters of the Coles’ electricity requirements, with the remainder supported by CleanCo’s low emissions portfolio.

The partnership will reduce Coles electricity carbon dioxide emissions nationally by an estimated 20 percent or 240,000 tonnes annually*, which is the annual equivalent of taking 100,000 vehicles off the road^. It also secures the development of both projects, which together with CleanCo’s Karara wind farm, will create 800 local jobs in Queensland’s Western and Southern Downs.

Last year, Coles became the first major Australian retailer to commit to buying renewable energy through a 10-year power purchase agreement with global renewable power generation company Metka EGN, purchasing more than 70 percent of the electricity generated by three solar power plants in regional NSW.

Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said the significant increase in renewable energy is a major part of Coles’ commitment to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket.

“We have already made changes throughout our business to use energy more efficiently, which has enabled us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 36.5 percent since 2009, while growing our team member base and store network,” Mr Cain said.

Coles chief sustainability, property and export officer Thinus Keeve said Coles was committed to purchasing renewable energy across the country.

“Long-term agreements like this are a great example of how we are able to reduce our energy costs, support the community and make a meaningful impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Mr Keeve said.

“The CleanCo and Metka EGN agreements are great examples of how we can grow renewable energy generation capacity in Australia because they give the developers the certainty they need to invest and we look forward to growing our partnerships with renewable energy providers in the future.”

CleanCo CEO Maia Schweizer said providing competitively-priced clean energy to Coles allows CleanCo to create growth and jobs in south-west Queensland associated with its 2025 goal of 1000 MW of new renewable generation.

“We are proud to partner with Coles and provide renewables-backed power for its Queensland sites under one contract,” Dr Schweizer said.

 

About the Western Downs Green Power Hub

The Western Downs Green Power Hub is located 22km south-east of Chinchilla and will connect to the electricity grid via a new overhead line to publicly-owned Powerlink’s existing Western Downs substation. Generation is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. The project will generate enough energy to power about 235,000 Queensland homes.

About the MacIntyre Wind Farm

The MacIntyre Wind Farm is located about 50km west of Warwick and will connect to the electricity grid via a new overhead power line. Generation is scheduled for 2024. The project will generate enough energy to power about 700,000 Queensland homes.

 

* Estimated using market-based greenhouse gas emission accounting method with a residual mix factor of 1.08 TCO2e/MWh.

^ National Transport Commission, Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity for New Australian Light Vehicles 2019, June 2020 & 9208.0 - Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia, 12 months ended June 30, 2018.

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Hearings continue into food insecurity in remote Indigenous communities

THE inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities is holding a further public hearing on Wednesday September 23.

Among the organisations appearing before the committee will be the National Rural Health Alliance, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, and Metcash.

Julian Leeser MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Indigenous Affairs Committee, said each of the organisations would have unique perspectives on the issues surrounding food affordability and availability in remote Indigenous communities.

“We look forward to continuing discussions at this hearing about the supply chains and pricing arrangements that exist for remote Indigenous community stores and also about the health impacts of poor food security in these areas. The Committee is keen to hear the views of Metcash and the Australian Food and Grocery Council on the challenges posed by the business environment for food and groceries in remote Indigenous communities”, Mr Leeser said.

The witnesses and Members will all be appearing by videoconference or teleconference due to social distancing requirements relating to COVID-19. Full programs are available on the inquiry website.

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Time: 10am to 3.20pm AEST
Location: Via video and teleconference

An audio broadcast will be accessible at aph.gov.au/live.

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Oracle and Walmart announce 'tentative' US Govt approval over TikTok

UNITED STATES President Donald Trump has announced that ByteDance has received tentative approval for an agreement with the US Government to resolve the outstanding issues, which will now include Oracle and Walmart together investing to acquire 20 percent of the newly formed TikTok Global business.

As a part of the deal, TikTok is creating a new company called TikTok Global that will be responsible for providing all TikTok services to users in the US and most of the users in the rest of the world. Today, the administration has conditionally approved a landmark deal where Oracle becomes TikTok's secure cloud provider.

TikTok Global will be majority owned by American investors, including Oracle and Walmart. TikTok Global will be an independent American company, headquartered in the US, with four Americans out of the five member board of directors.

All the TikTok technology will be in possession of TikTok Global, and comply with US laws and privacy regulations. Data privacy for 100 million American TikTok users will be quickly established by moving all American data to Oracle's Generation 2 Cloud data centers, the most secure cloud data centres in the world.

Based on decades of experience securing the world's most sensitive data, Oracle's Generation 2 Cloud fully isolates running applications and responds to security threats autonomously. This unique technology eliminates the risk of foreign governments spying on American users or trying to influence them with disinformation.

In addition to its equity position, Walmart will bring its omni-channel retail capabilities including its Walmart.com assortment, eCommerce marketplace, fulfillment, payment and measurement-as-a-service advertising service.

TikTok Global will create more than 25,000 new jobs in the US and TikTok Global will pay more than $5 billion in new tax dollars to the US Treasury.

TikTok Global, together with Oracle, SIG, General Atlantic, Sequoia, Walmart and Coatue will create an educational initiative to develop and deliver an AI-driven online video curriculum to teach children from inner cities to the suburbs, a variety of courses from basic reading and math to science, history and computer engineering.

TikTok Global will have an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in less than 12 months and be listed on a US Exchange. After the IPO, US ownership of TikTok Global will increase and continue to grow over time.

With this agreement, TikTok Global will able to continue to provide a hundred million Americans with access to the social network they love, and spark much needed competition in the market for social networks.

About Oracle
The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for sales, service, marketing, human resources, finance, supply chain and manufacturing, plus highly automated and secure Generation 2 infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. Oracle (NYSE: ORCL).  www.oracle.com.

About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 265 million customers and members visit approximately 11,500 stores under 56 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites. With fiscal year 2020 revenue of $524 billion, Walmart employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at twitter.com/walmart.

Trademarks
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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ATEC aligns with WTTC Safe Travel protocols as part of its #TravelSafeAustralia strategy

THE Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has aligned with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in becoming a lead agency with authority to issue Australian tourism businesses with the globally recognised ‘Safe Travel’ stamp.

The stamp has been developed by the global travel and tourism industry body to recognise businesses which adopt standardised health and hygiene protocols. ATEC has incorporated the Safe Travel branding - designed as a recognisable health and safety trademark for consumers globally - into its COVID Ready program.

“ATEC has developed the rigorous, sector specific ‘COVID Ready’ program which aligns with the standards defined by the WTTC,” ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said..

"The ATEC program enables tourism businesses to identify covid risk points within the customer journey and implement risk management solutions, all of which are captured in a COVID Ready plan aligned with state and national regulatory requirements.

“ATEC has incorporated the WTTC Safe Travels branding as part of our Tourism Trade Checklist which recognises businesses who have completed and uploaded a COVID Ready Plan. The WTTC Safe Travel global branding is another level of recognition which will assist Australian tourism businesses to stand out in the international marketplace.

“As an organisation with the authority to endorse tourism businesses, ATEC is able to connect Australian tourism businesses with global Safe Travel protocols which quickly verifies a business’s compliance.”

Over the past few months ATEC has been developing a comprehensive strategy to meet the needs of the industry and expectations of the global traveller once international borders open.  The strategy, titled #TravelSafeAustralia includes three components working together to ensure quality COVID Safe experiences, the components include:

  • COVID Ready suppliers – all suppliers servicing the international market have completed and uploaded a COVID Ready plan into ATEC Tourism Trade Checklist portal and have  received the WTTC Safe Travels stamp and ready for international visitors.
  • COVID Risk Reduction – an alignment with goPassport biometric risk management system, a comprehensive, real-time COVID-19 alert system for inbound international travellers. 
  • COVID Safe Managed Travel - Australian based inbound tour operators (ITOs) taking accountability for the COVID Safe travel of international visitors from arrival to departure.

"#TravelSafeAustralia is a world leading strategy to re-engage international travellers in a safe and structured way, delivering a strong and clear message around both our expectations and responsibilities in mitigating the risk of COVID in our community and for our visitors.
 
“We are pleased to be able to connect to the global Safe Travel program in supporting the WTTC in its work to ensure the safety of the global travel workforce and travellers as the sector shifts to a new normal.”

www.atec.net.au

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Caravanning and Camping most popular holiday type for Australians in 2019 with 60m holiday nights

THE newly released State of Industry 2020 Report from Caravan Industry Association of Australia lays out the past performance of Australia’s caravan and camping industry and highlights the opportunity for the industry to drive recovery.

In 2019, the total caravan and camping visitor nights exceeded 60 million and 14 million trips for the first time.

"When you reflect that there are 24.8 million Australians and 8.4 million households, caravan and camping holidays has become an integral part of our national travelling behaviour," a spokesperson said.

"Without a doubt, the industry has recently been overshadowed by an uncertain world where a devastating bushfire season coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic has firmly applied the brakes on what was an incredible period of growth for Australia’s caravan and camping industry."

To put this into context, since 2010 the market has grown by:

  •       an additional 5.5 million caravan and camping trips;
  •       an extra 17.3 million nights spent caravan and camping annually; and
  •       over 196,000 recreational vehicles have been manufactured and registered.

Caravan Industry Association of Australia CEO, Stuart Lamont, said, “Whilst looking back at 2019 may seem unimportant in the current climate, the year marked a number of important milestones for the industry."

It is the year that according to Tourism Research Australia, caravan and camping became the most popular holiday type for Australians. This is no easy achievement when we consider the significant competitive nature of the tourism sector.

“Looking forward, we are optimistic about the future of the caravan and camping industry, especially as Australians look to support local business, reconnect with loved ones and spend time in nature after such a challenging year” Mr Lamont said.

The State of Industry 2020 Report provides an important benchmark and highlights the importance of the caravan and camping sector to the performance of Australia’s visitor economy, bringing together the many different sectors and operating conditions relevant to the caravan and camping industry

Reflecting on the year prior helps to paint a picture as to the wide-reaching positive impact the industry has on regional Australia and the manufacturing industry.

The caravan and camping industry is incredibly well placed to drive tourism and economic recovery through encouraging job creation, creating strong value chains and supporting regional economies," Mr Lamont said.

www.caravanindustry.com.au

 

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