Antinuclear

World is watching Australia’s pathetic performance on Climate Change

Paris 2015: Australia in the climate change spotlight, SMH, June 26, 2015  Tom Arup and Adam Morton

Back home, the Abbott government was furiously arguing that there was nothing unusual about this – that the probe was a standard part of the laborious theatre of international climate negotiations.

“I think he’s right. We got some 36 questions on notice, so there is substantial interest in Australia’s climate change policies,” Peter Woolcott, Australia’s environment ambassador, later told the meeting.

“Particularly since the change of government, and the change in our approach to the Direct Action scheme to address climate change challenges in Australia.”

While some in Australia make the case that the country is largely irrelevant as a tiny contributor to global emissions – about 1 per cent of the total – the meeting in Bonn, Germany earlier this month suggested the international community thinks otherwise.

To many observers it was clear that other countries are closely watching Australia’s climate change debate as work continues on a global treaty due to be signed in Paris late this year.

Australia is the 13th biggest emitter in the world. While China and the US are the main players, campaigners make the point that if countries of Australia’s size and emissions do nothing, the problem won’t be solved. Its emissions per head are among the world’s worst. ……….Don Henry, who is the former head of the Australian Conservation Foundation and now works closely with Al Gore, says before arriving in Bonn he was unsure how much focus there really was on Australia’s position.

He left convinced it was in the international spotlight. “And it’s not just small countries, like the island states, that are watching closely,” he says. “It’s our biggest trading partners. It’s countries like the US and China.”

Earlier this month a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network found for the first time in 40 years the growth in clean energy has seen emissions from electricity stop rising while economic growth continued. Australia bucked the trend last year, its electricity-sector emissions increasing.

It followed the Abbott government making good on its pre-election commitment to abolish the carbon price, making Australia the first country to get rid of this type of scheme. ………

Australia has generated other press and diplomatic chatter from Abbott’s contrarian commentary, from describing coal as “good for humanity” and wind farms as “visually awful”. This week’s passage of legislation to cut the national renewable energy target was also noticed.

Morgan says Australia is often grouped with Japan and Canada as troubling players ahead of Paris because of their continued focus on coal and high-carbon technologies.

This group – along with Russia – was also identified by the African Progress Panel, headed by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, which in a recent report called Australia a climate “free-rider”…………http://www.smh.com.au/environment/un-climate-conference/paris-2015-australia-in-the-climate-change-spotlight-20150626-ghy6e5.html

June 27, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming