Australia – the Groucho Marx of Climate Change action?
the economic case for action is equally compelling. The world is acting. …
Let’s get the facts on the table: right now, 34 countries and 27 cities, states, or provinces around the world have an emissions trading scheme operating or under development. Nine countries have a carbon tax, and two more are discussing it – plus India has a tax on coal. Eighty six countries have legislated or planned for renewable energy targets…….
It’s time to create a climate of opportunity, Sydney Morning Herald, John Brumby, September 16, 2011, Groucho Marx once said: ‘Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?’ I believe that unless we want our country to become the Groucho Marx of international climate action, we must act now to take our place in the emerging, global, clean energy economy.
That’s why I support the Gillard government’s plan to put a price on carbon.
I have long argued that the best way to respond to the threat of climate change is to create a climate of opportunity – that is, to build an economic environment in which Australian individuals and businesses are rewarded for applying their talents to creating the new technologies and solutions that a carbon constrained world will demand. That way, the jobs of the future will come to Australia. That way, our kids will have the opportunities to succeed in a global economy that is inexorably moving – even if in fits and starts – to a low emissions model.
That’s why our government introduced the nation’s most ambitious emissions reduction target for Victoria, as well as Australia’s first mandatory renewable energy and energy efficiency targets (which, by the way, are a method of pricing carbon). We wanted the jobs of the future economy to come to Victoria, and we knew that businesses needed certainty, and guidance as to where to invest. It’s no coincidence that at the same time as we were leading the nation on climate action Victoria was the jobs engine room of Australia, generating more new jobs over the past three years than any other state.
But now the time has come for action on a national scale. We have both scientific and economic reasons to move quickly. The weight of scientific evidence for human induced climate change is overwhelming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now has more than 90 per cent confidence that human activities are the main cause of global warming in the past half a century – and I for one don’t want to bet my kids’ future on the ten per cent chance they’re wrong. The CSIRO has already observed changes to our climate that are more rapid than anything experienced for at least the last 1800 years.
But the economic case for action is equally compelling. The world is acting. Strangely, some people have suggested that by putting a price on carbon Australia will be leaping out in front of the global economy. They say we will simply hurt our industries while other countries go on with business as usual. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Let’s get the facts on the table: right now, 34 countries and 27 cities, states, or provinces around the world have an emissions trading scheme operating or under development. Nine countries have a carbon tax, and two more are discussing it – plus India has a tax on coal. Eighty six countries have legislated or planned for renewable energy targets…….
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