The Victorian town of Newstead is seeking proposals from potential project partners who could help refine its plan to reach 100 per cent renewable energy within 5 years, and which could act as a blue-print for other towns in the state to follow.

The signatories are countries who are disproportionately affected by global warming such as Ethiopia and the Maldives

A Queensland project that could deliver the state’s first solar-powered public water supply has come one step closer to fruition, after the successful completion of a pre-feasibility study.

As Julie Bishop assures UN climate talks in Marrakech that Australia’s private sector increasingly sees it “as their responsibility and their business… to embrace low-emissions technology,” two new new global reports underline just how far behind the climate eight-ball the Turnbull government remains.