Antinuclear

The Coalition isn’t being honest about the climate crisis. But neither is Labor https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/dec/10/the-coalition-isnt-being-honest-about-the-climate-crisis-but-neither-is-labor, Greg Jericho  @GrogsGamut Tue 10 Dec 2019

Of course we need to think about those who will be affected by mine closures, but cripes, we’re all affected by climate change. In the weekend I flew up to Sydney to attend a conference held by the Chifley Research Centre, the ALP’s thinktank. As the plane approached Sydney, the site of the fire front in the Blue Mountains was stomach-churning. And then I got to experience the air quality of Sydney that has become news around the world.Upon returning to Canberra, I discovered a wind change had meant the nation’s capital was now enveloped in a haze of smoke – and expected to be so for the rest of the week.

This, I need not tell you, is not normal.

Because of climate change, areas of south-eastern Australia are going to be drier and hotter, the times for doing preventative hazard reduction burning will shrink, and as a result our fire seasons will become longer, and the fires will become more intense.

This is due to one thing – climate change.

The only way to prevent this is to reduce our emissions and to pressure the rest of the world to reduce emissions as well.

We are not doing either of those things. Last week the latest emissions projection figures came out. They show that, even with some pretty courageous hopes for electricity generation, we will still be 13% above the minimum target set by the LNP to meet our Paris objective:

And remember, those targets work off a 2005 base year that includes land use, which makes them largely a joke – as much of a joke as our Kyoto target, which also included land use and worked off the base year of 1990.

If we exclude land use (which is essentially land-clearing and planting of trees), our emissions in 2030 are currently projected to be the same as our 2005 levels – not 26% below, let alone the ALP’s target of 45%.

Little wonder that the rest of the world are currently trying to prevent Australia from using “carryover credits” from our Kyoto commitment to count towards our Paris target.

This matters because the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has argued that to ensure temperatures don’t rise by 1.5C we need to cut emissions by 45% by 2030.

That is real emissions, not fake emissions using dodgy land use accounting and carryover credits.

We are not even close to achieving that.

It is a failure that should shame the LNP, and yet …

Here’s a dirty secret – there are two reasons the LNP has a joke of a climate change policy: they are full of climate change deniers, and secondly there is zero pressure from the ALP for them to develop one.

The ALP remains far more worried about looking like it is attacking people who work in coalmines than getting on the front foot on climate change.

It is 2019 and the leader of the ALP is now repeating lines about our exports of coals that Tony Abbott used.

It is 2019 and the ALP acts as if putting a price on carbon is the most radical and politically horrific idea ever conceived (and never shows any pride that the carbon price introduced under Gillard was one the biggest economic reforms of the past 40 years).

Ask yourself who in the ALP – even some young backbencher or senator – is pushing so hard on climate change policy that the leaders are wishing he or she might tone it down a little? Who is pushing so hard that young people are cheering when they see she or he at a climate change rally?

Much easier is to find one who tells us we need to worry about coal exports and coalminers.

The ALP cannot afford to play games on this issue. You can’t say climate change is real and then ensure your messaging is about protecting coal.

Voters can tell straight away you’re only trying to look like you think climate change is real, and why should they vote for that? They might as well vote for the party that is at least upfront about its denial.

Because if climate change is real, then what the hell are you talking about? Don’t come at me with “oh, but our coal is cleaner” unless you want to sound like a coal-company spruiker, and to be honest I’d prefer you wait until you leave parliament and take up that role officially than do it while still being an actual MP.