Australia a fossil fool at the international climate talks
Australia left exposed on the climate front The Age, November 25, 2013 EDITORIAL So intense has been the focus on axing the ”carbon tax”, for which a repeal bill has passed the lower house, that this seems to have become an end in itself, divorced from the policy goal of averting dangerous climate change. The politics of the issue will dominate for some time, should the Senate block the legislation. Yet once Prime Minister Tony Abbott gets the result he promised – which depends on the new senators who take their seats in July – the policy question of how best to cut greenhouse gas emissions is likely to become ever more pressing. Experts doubt the Coalition’s ”direct action” policy can achieve even the minimum target of a 5 per cent cut from 2000 levels by 2020, especially as Mr Abbott insists funding will not increase to ensure it is reached. Where does that leave Australia if the required target increases?
The difficulty of answering that question may have prompted the government’s decision not to have ministerial representation at the latest UN climate conference in Warsaw. The minister would have faced embarrassment at being so out of step with other nations. This would also have drawn Australians’ attention to the actions economic giants such as the US, China and the European Union are taking to make deeper, earlier cuts to emissions………
Negotiators in Warsaw were dismayed that Australia, which once led the way, ”obstructs the process at every turn”, as one said. Coming from the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitter per person (and 15th in total emissions), this is seen as an act of bad faith. Australia won multiple ”fossil of the day” awards from environment groups at the Warsaw talks…….
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/australia-left-exposed-on-the-climate-front-20131124-2y43b.html#ixzz2lhO3sf2N
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