Australian climate policy up somewhere
Thoughts
Here in Australia, we had a government that not only acknowledged the climate change issue, but implemented an emissions trading scheme and a price on carbon. Then we voted in a conservative government on a platform of “repealing the carbon tax”.
And then this happened. Lenore Taylor, writing for The Guardian:
Australia is under intense pressure to announce a target for post-2020 greenhouse gas reductions after the shock announcement from US president Barack Obama and Chinese premier Xi Jinping of new national climate change goals.
The US has agreed to cut its emissions by 26-28% of 2005 levels by 2025 – a doubling of the pace of its reductions. If Australia were to make similar cuts by 2025 against its 2000 benchmark, it would need to reduce emissions by between 28% and 31%.
And the line Twitter is buzzing about:
Asked where the deal left Australia’s climate change policy, the expert adviser to the former government Professor Ross Garnaut said: “Exactly where it was before the US-China announcement – up shit creek.”
No question, our Prime Minister has made Australia a pariah in the global scientific and environmental communities. Worse still, we’ll be living with his cabinet’s short sightedness for years.
Photo of the Hazelton Coal Thermal plant from the CSIRO.
