From Fairfax:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has added to international calls on Australia to reveal its plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, telling an audience in Sydney that climate change “won’t stop at the Pacific Islands”.
…It was important to “put a brake on climate change”, Mrs Merkel told a Lowy Institute event in Sydney, adding that global warming would have “catastrophic” consequences if left unchecked, including more extreme weather.
“It will not stop at the Pacific Islands.”
The German leader also pressed Australia to reveal its post-2020 goal for cutting carbon emissions “by the first quarter [of 2015] at the very latest”, to give time for the UN’s Paris Summit at the end of next year to secure binding emission cuts for all states.
So far, the Abbott government has only said it would reveal its post-2020 goal next year. Last week, foreign minister Julie Bishop said the target would be released in the first half of 2015.
The European Union last month agreed on a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent of 1990 levels by 2030. Australia’s bipartisan target is for a 5 per cent cut of 2000 emissions by 2020.
…Prime Minister Tony Abbott [said] the Australian government would not be joining the US, Japan, Germany and other nations in supporting the $US10 billion ($11.4 billion) Green Climate Fund to support poorer nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada and a close friend of Mr Abbott’s, broke ranks with Australia and is preparing to contribute to the fund, Canadian media have reported.
The Abbott government reportedly engaged in “trench warfare” to diminish the prominence of climate change in the final communique of this weekend’s G20 summit.
French President Francois Hollande said failure to address global warming could lead to war, and called on G20 countries to act ahead of a climate change conference in Paris next year.
I can’t recall Australia taking such an extraordinary international flogging. This will become a real economic risk before too long as well. Not just from climate change but from the tariff war against carbon slobs. The Liberal Party itself is showing the strain. From The Oz:
The WA Premier said Barack Obama’s rallying cry on climate change must be heeded by politicians seeking to satisfy younger voters.
“I think that we can be bolder in Australia, including in WA,” Mr Barnett told The West Australian newspaper.
“It was a call to arms, not only to Australia but to other countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific area. Australia, and I think all of us, do need to lift their game.
“While it’s a bit of a West Australian view, for me the most effective thing that Australia can do is to ensure that more of our new power generation is at least gas-fired and not coal.
“That’s not popular on the east coast but it’s a costless and simple way to reduce emissions to have a power generation system in the future across Australia which is based on natural gas.”
Sense from Colin at last.
