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Tim Stephens

@proftimstephens.bsky.social

7.2K followers 7.9K following 1.1K posts

Professor of International Law, University of Sydney Law School. Former Councillor, Inner West Council, Sydney. www.sydney.edu.au/law/about/our-people/academic-staff/tim-stephens.html orcid.org/0000-0001-9678-2227

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Tim Stephens is Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. Stephens' main areas of research are the international law of the sea and international environmental law. .. more

Environmental science 40%

Political science 18%

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · Nov 12

Our edited collection on 'Geopolitical Change and the Antarctic Treaty System' will be out in January 2025.

A big thanks to co-editors Shirley Scott and Jeff McGee and to the contributors for making this project possible.

link.springer.com/book/9789819...

Geopolitical Change and the Antarctic Treaty System

This book explores all aspects of geopolitical considerations between key states of the Antarctica Treaty System (ATS) and lessons that can be gained.

link.springer.com

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 3h

“Australian household energy bills will halve by 2050 as solar panels, batteries and electric cars and appliances become the norm”

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Australia’s household energy bills will halve by 2050, modelling suggests

Grattan Institute report argues fall in costs will provide federal government room for more action on climate

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 3h

“Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Samantha Brennan, Tim Stephens, David Darmofal

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 4h

"Hundreds of Catholic priests, nuns and lay people led a march from a Catholic church in Maywood to the ICE detention center in Broadview..."

www.fox32chicago.com/news/faith-l...

Faith leaders blocked from sharing Communion with detainees at Broadview ICE center

A large group of Chicago area Catholics marched to the ICE detention center in Broadview Saturday, hoping to share Communion with detainees.

www.fox32chicago.com

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Reposted by Tim Stephens

stranger @strangerous.bsky.social · 5h

I feel like today is a good day to remind everyone that just last year Barnaby Joyce called on a crowd of cookers to say “goodbye” to 3 Labor MPs inc the PM by getting ready to “load that magazine” & think of a “bullet” when casting their vote.
And received no penalty or censure.

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Reposted by Erin O’Donnell, Tim Stephens

Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 8h

poor old Tony Abbott is on the public broadcaster dismissing the oldest and longest continuous oral histories in the history of humanity as “hearsay” how’s your morning going.

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Reposted by Tim Stephens

Chris Bowen @chrisbowenmp.bsky.social · 3d

When I see disinformation I will call it out.

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 4d

And with me!

Reposted by Tim Stephens

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 4d

America is in crisis.

So it's a small relief that the rest of the world is actually getting remarkable stuff done with energy. We just passed a huge milestone globally!

Now back to work on America.
billmckibben.substack.com/p/something-...

Something extraordinary just happened

But of course there's a but. Or two.

billmckibben.substack.com

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Reposted by Tim Stephens

Chris Bowen @chrisbowenmp.bsky.social · 4d

The world is getting on with the energy transition.

Renewable energy is the cheapest and quickest form of energy - it's clear why it is miles ahead of other electricity generation just this past year.

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 4d

News Corp, which has Fox in its stable and constantly pushes climate denial, is not coming to this issue with clean hands.

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

News Corp Australia chair says social media platforms are ‘true monsters’ and ‘torment our children’

Michael Miller also says media must unite against second ‘big steal’ by tech companies seeking changes to copyright law to access content for free

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 5d

“New Zealand oceans warming 34% faster than global average, putting homes and industry at risk.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

New Zealand oceans warming 34% faster than global average, putting homes and industry at risk, report finds

NZ$180bn worth of housing and $26bn of infrastructure at risk of flooding and storm damage, new government report finds

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 5d

For background see bsky.app/profile/timm...

Timmons Roberts @timmonsroberts.bsky.social · Sep 7

So proud of this collaboration led by @cssn.org

110 top experts from around the world

13 chapters on who is blocking or slowing action on climate change

A quantum leap in our understanding of why society has failed to solve this

Will be free online Oct 14 1/x

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Cover of new book Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment from Oxford University Press. Shows cows, smokestacks, jets, oil refineries, cell phones and a man in a suit talking to an audience

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Reposted by Markus W. Gehring

Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 5d

"Political and media attacks on renewable energy and climate action in Australia in recent months have come 'out of the climate obstruction playbook' that has been honed over decades around the world by fossil fuel interests."

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Media and political attacks on Australia’s emissions targets ‘straight out of the climate obstruction playbook’, expert says

Prof Christian Downie points to the Business Council of Australia and News Corp newspapers as examples of deliberate obstruction

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Erle C. Ellis, Ed Hawkins, Bram Büscher , and 6 more Erle C. Ellis, Ed Hawkins, Bram Büscher, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Juan Rocha, Anthony Burke, Tim Stephens, Aidan O’Sullivan, Beth Tellman

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 5d

News that shocks no one: Carbon offsets do nothing for climate.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Tim Stephens

stranger @strangerous.bsky.social · 5d

Chris Bowen taunts Dan Tehan following his visit to Nuclear sites in the US saying Tehan’s post-trip YouTube video shows “he did not visit any small modular reactors, advanced modular reactors or micro reactors, perhaps due to the small technical detail that none exist”🔥🤣 #QT

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 6d

“The quickest way to generate more power is to roll out wind and solar. Trump is actively intervening to obstruct this.”

www.smh.com.au/business/the...

Trump is leading America into an energy crisis

The US is in danger of losing the global AI race for the most banal and careless of reasons.

www.smh.com.au

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Reposted by Juan Cole, Cameron Brick, David Rosnick , and 1 more Juan Cole, Cameron Brick, David Rosnick, Tim Stephens

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6d

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions The failure of carbon offsets to cut planet-heating pollution is “not due to a few bad apples”, a review paper has found, but down to deep-seated systemic problems that incremental change will not solve. Research over two decades has found “intractable” problems that have made carbon credits in most big programmes poor quality, according to the study. While the industry and diplomats have made efforts to improve the system, it found much-awaited rules agreed at a UN climate summit last year “did not substantially address the quality problem”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 6d

Scott Morrison should never have been PM. What appalling lack of judgment to jump even more enthusiastically on the MAGA train.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Scott Morrison says Trump deserves a Nobel prize if president’s Gaza peace plan works

The former Australian PM describes the plan as an ‘absolute gamechanger’ as US officials arrive in Egypt for talks

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo, David R. Miller, Anne Norton , and 2 more Karen Benjamin Guzzo, David R. Miller, Anne Norton, Tim Stephens, Manisha Sinha

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 9d

Oh he can just unilaterally pass unconstitutional laws now huh ok

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Reposted by Robbie M. Andrew, Tim Stephens

Christina Hood @christinahood.bsky.social · 10d

The New Zealand government may be about to weaken our 2050 emissions targets. New Zealand already excludes methane from agriculture and waste from the overall net-zero 2050 target: biogenic methane has a separate 24-47% reduction target for 2050. 1/-

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Reposted by Patrick Stokes, Tim Stephens

Mel Campbell @incrediblemelk.bsky.social · 10d

Still struck by a Merriam-Webster IG post I saw on legal doublets: artefacts of the bilingual Norman legal system. The English synonym went first in the pair

law (English/Germanic) & order (French/Roman)
cease & desist
all & sundry
lewd & lascivious
breaking & entering
free & clear
will & testament

Legal doublet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 10d

Yes I have, and the costs of these were examined by CSIRO and found not to be competitive with renewables in Australia www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

New CSIRO report doubles down on nuclear price and time frames

After heavy criticism, Australia's leading science agency doubles down its findings that the cost of nuclear power for Australia would likely be double that of renewable energy, and it would take at l...

www.abc.net.au

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan, Stefan C. Aykut , and 1 more Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan, Stefan C. Aykut, Tim Stephens

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 10d

You might think that the mayor of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's vast Northwest Territories, would be a fan of giant pickups.

Nope. He's disgusted by car bloat.

www.linkedin.com/posts/benjam...

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Reposted by Tim Stephens, Samuel Depraz

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 10d

Looking at 100 years of October sea ice - I am sure you can guess what will happen next...

Summary of ice reconstruction: www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-p...

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 10d

“Dozens of Americans are seeking asylum in Australia as their US homeland becomes increasingly fractured and politically volatile during Donald Trump’s second presidency.”

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

At least 29 Americans have sought asylum in Australia since second Trump presidency began

Applications from US citizens make up less than 1% of monthly applications but have risen steadily since Trump’s inauguration

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 11d

The Libs are flogging the dead nuclear horse. It appears little was learned from the election result.

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Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, Adrian Daub, Tom Griffin , and 4 more Robert W. Wallace, Adrian Daub, Tom Griffin, Christine Kooi, Richard M. Carpiano, Patrick Stokes, Tim Stephens

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 11d

Far-right Catholics freaking out about the Pope doing normal Pope things will always be entertaining.

The Pope blessed some water? Can you even imagine?

Matt Walsh: Horrific. The whole thing. Pope Leo blesses a block of ice and then stands there while these communist freaks do some kind of weird pagan Earth worshipping hippy ritual. The leader of the Catholic Church shouldn’t be anywhere near this nonsense. What the hell are we doing here

@CatholicSat: The Blessing of the Waters by Pope Leo XIV, at today’s ‘Raising Hope for Climate Justice’ International Conference at Castel Gandolfo.

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Reposted by Peter Thorne, Glenn H. Shepard, Tim Stephens , and 3 more Peter Thorne, Glenn H. Shepard, Tim Stephens, Christina Pagel, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Markus W. Gehring

POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 11d

Pope Leo XIV denounced people who deny climate change today, arguing that they are contributing to the destruction of God's creation.

Pope Leo rebukes climate skeptics after Trump calls warming a ‘con job’

The Illinois native’s comments come a week after the U.S. president derided the fight against climate change.

www.politico.eu

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Reposted by Tim Stephens

Carbon Brief @carbonbrief.org · 11d

NEW – Antarctic sea ice winter peak in 2025 is third smallest on record | @ayeshatandon.carbonbrief.org Svetlana Onye w/ comment from @zacklabe.com

Read here: buff.ly/TBQ7aL8

First year sea ice forming floes in the Antarctic. Credit: Michael Nolan / Alamy Stock Photo

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Reposted by Tim Stephens

Chris Bowen @chrisbowenmp.bsky.social · 11d

Hey Dave, I've got a deal for you.

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