political Modes of curbing emissions
This is a depressing and frustrating section to write about.
At a time when
Australia is still fiddling around with fossil fuels and pretending at the same time that it can stay within the targets it agreed to comply with at the 2015 Paris Climate Change accord by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28% on 2005 levels by 2030.
Even the most recent statement made by its Energy Minister in September 2020 is heavily reliant on gas, another fossil fuel, and depends upon technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen which at this stage are unproven and will take years to develop commercially. The transition to hydrogen, if it occurs, will not come quickly and nations should be aiming to cut their emissions in half by 2030 and in half again by 2040. To attempt to achieve this, post mid-century, as the Minister suggested, is just too late because of the the carbon already in the atmosphere. By then, the process with be irreversible.
This misshapen initiative come at the end of a long line of half-hearted policy attempts following the demise of the Gillard Governments carbon tax: just about the only initiative that has been proved to be at all effective on an international scale, all of which have skirted around the primacy and urgency of the main issue: to do our bit to reduce our greenhouse emissions to such a level as will be effective to limit global warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees above pre-industrial times.
Watch this unfortunate story unfold within.
At a time when
- 17 EU nations, "striving to be the first climate-neutral continent" have signed onto a European Green Deal, agreeing to shape their recovery from Covid-19 around polices designed to speed up their efforts to reach net zero emissions;
- New Zealand is also favouring a similar long-term green stimulus package that both rebuilds the economy and cuts emissions.
- China’s Chairman Xi at the UN General Assembly in September 2020 committed to a so-called “green revolution” aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2060,
Australia is still fiddling around with fossil fuels and pretending at the same time that it can stay within the targets it agreed to comply with at the 2015 Paris Climate Change accord by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28% on 2005 levels by 2030.
Even the most recent statement made by its Energy Minister in September 2020 is heavily reliant on gas, another fossil fuel, and depends upon technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen which at this stage are unproven and will take years to develop commercially. The transition to hydrogen, if it occurs, will not come quickly and nations should be aiming to cut their emissions in half by 2030 and in half again by 2040. To attempt to achieve this, post mid-century, as the Minister suggested, is just too late because of the the carbon already in the atmosphere. By then, the process with be irreversible.
This misshapen initiative come at the end of a long line of half-hearted policy attempts following the demise of the Gillard Governments carbon tax: just about the only initiative that has been proved to be at all effective on an international scale, all of which have skirted around the primacy and urgency of the main issue: to do our bit to reduce our greenhouse emissions to such a level as will be effective to limit global warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees above pre-industrial times.
Watch this unfortunate story unfold within.