Tony Abbott has trashed Australia’s international reputation on climate change
But over the next six months, Abbott intends to trash the very mechanisms that could deliver this increased ambition – the carbon price, the renewable energy target and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation – along with the independent advisory body, the Climate Change Authority, that could possibly counter the advice from his inner circle of mad ideologues to whom the words “climate change”, “green” and “clean energy” are as inflammatory as the names Fairfax and the ABC.
On the international stage, in the climate change arena, Australia’s reputation has been shattered
Australia backing into climate change corner, MacroBusiness, 29 Nov 13, Carbon Economyon November 25, 2013 Cross-posted from Giles Parkinson at Reneweconomy. Tony Abbott has some homework to do. Over the next 15 months he is going to have to figure out how it is that Australia will meet its contribution to a new treaty that aims to limit global warming to 2°C.
He’s not the only one. More than 190 nations associated with the UN climate talks agreed on Saturday on a series of milestones that will hopefully take the world to a meaningful climate agreement in Paris in 2015. As part of that agreement, ministers will meet in June next year, country leaders in September, and by the first quarter of 2015, they will need to lay their targets on the table.
For Abbott this could be quite a challenge. Firstly, Australia, as one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and the biggest emitter per capita of any industrialised nation, will be expected to pull its weight. After all, it has been encapsulated in the country’s own bipartisan policy.
But over the next six months, Abbott intends to trash the very mechanisms that could deliver this increased ambition – the carbon price, the renewable energy target and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation – along with the independent advisory body, the Climate Change Authority, that could possibly counter the advice from his inner circle of mad ideologues to whom the words “climate change”, “green” and “clean energy” are as inflammatory as the names Fairfax and the ABC.
Perhaps Abbott could start his homework by writing out 100 times on a blackboard that climate change is real and he is expected to pull his weight to do something about it. Or he could look at a new report sponsored by his own government which suggests that renewables could deliver half the abatement required by 2030………
the failure of Direct Action – it is a policy (more of a slogan, really) you create when either you don’t accept the science of climate change, or don’t believe the world will act. Its principal function is protect the interests of incumbent polluting industries, because it does not send an economy-wide signal for a transition to a low carbon economy, and simply doles out favours judged by a government committee, it’s a massive bet on the future of Australia’s economy. Even industry realises that this policy does them no long term favours……..
“Responding vigorously to climate change can be a pathway to prosperity …. if (countries) choose investment strategies wisely, sustainable development can be an accelerator in lifting people out of poverty,” Bamsey said. And Australia is no less immune to those changes.
On the international stage, in the climate change arena, Australia’s reputation has been shattered. RenewEconomy spoke to numerous delegations from Asia, the island states and Africa, and the attitude is venomous. European delegations are simply dumbfounded, and the real big movers – China and the US – will simply laugh Abbott out of the room if he pretends to try and broker a deal between the two.
That criticism has now spilled to the public arena. The island states lamented the return of climate denial, the EU questioned what role Australia was playing in the talks, the Chinese were astonished that Australia was ending its carbon pricing regime just as they were introducing theirs and looking to set up a regional market. http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2013/11/australia-backing-into-climate-change-corner/
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