A Message to Australian’s from Oxfam on Climate Change
October 21, 2009 by simonturner
Filed under Australia's Challenge, Features, Go Green
Another round of UN climate change talks has just ended in Bangkok – and again we saw a lot of talk and not enough action.
Less than 50 days now remain until the UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen. Here we must get a safe and just global climate agreement. A solution is possible, but the leaders of rich industrialised countries like Australia need to find the political will. This is where you can help.
The Australian Government’s emissions reduction targets are far too low. Taking these targets to Copenhagen will not help to achieve the effective global climate agreement that’s needed.
We need to increase political pressure on our government if they are to improve their target.
What’s our government’s position on climate change?
Current Australian Government policy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 4-24% below 1990 levels by 2020. The latest science indicates that developed countries, including Australia, must adopt emissions reduction targets of at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020, if the world is to have any hope of avoiding dangerous climate change. Historically Australia has released huge amounts of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere. Today we are still one of the world’s largest per capita greenhouse gas polluters. We have a responsibility to be part of the solution.
While climate change is an international issue, the real pressure on governments to take action comes from their domestic constituency ie. from public opinion, the media, but importantly from the parliamentary opposition. Whether or not the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is passed in the Senate, the emissions reduction targets are far too low. The Opposition needs to make this a key message.
Without the Federal Opposition pushing the Australian Government, there is little incentive for the Government to do better. This needs to change.
Take action now
What’s wrong with Australia’s targets?
The Government has said it will go to Copenhagen with a maximum emissions reduction target of 25% below 2000 levels by 2020. What’s wrong with that? A number of things:
- A target of 25% below 2000 levels correlates to about 24% below 1990 levels. This falls well short of the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2007 recommended range for developed countries of 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.
- This 25-40% range was the previous ‘gold standard’ and is now outdated. Even when it was considered to be the range to aim for, it was only expected to give the world a 50/50 chance of keeping warming to 2ºC or less above pre-industrial levels. An increase of 2ºC was previously thought to be the maximum safe limit.
- Since 2007, every indication from science is that things are worse than was previously thought. The latest science indicates we should be aiming to keep warming to below 1.5°C in order to avoid dangerous climate change. That means that the 25-40% reduction range for developed countries is far too low.
- Furthermore, despite all the scientific evidence, the conditions attached to the Government’s 25% target are so stringent that they are unlikely to be met, in which case the maximum target will become a mere 15% below 2000 levels by 2020.
Write to the Federal Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, and Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Greg Hunt, showing your support for higher emissions reductions targets and ask them to put pressure on the government to commit to a 40% reduction target (by 2020) before Copenhagen.
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Antarctica: The Ticking Time Bomb
February 7, 2008 by marquetteturner
Filed under Facts, Global
Even if a fraction melted, Antarctica could damage nations from Bangladesh to Tuvalu in the Pacific and cities from Shanghai to New York. It has enough ice to raise sea levels by 57 meters (187 ft) if it melted, over thousands of years.
A year after the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected sea level rises by 2100 of about 20 to 80 cms (8-32 inches), a Reuters poll of 10 of the world’s top climatologists showed none think that range is alarmist.
Six experts stuck by the projections, saying the response of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland was still unclear, and four other experts, including one of the authors of the IPCC report, projected gains could be 1 or even 2 meters by 2100.
Some island nations, such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, are building defenses costing millions of dollars and want to know how high to build.
Antarctica may accumulate more ice this century because of warming, blamed by the IPCC mainly on human use of fossil fuels, rather than slide faster into the sea.The crux of this problem is that we are moving into an era where we are observing changes in the climate system that have never before been seen in human history. Ice sheets fall into that category.
Quite simply, at this time we don’t have a good upper-range estimate of ‘how much sea- level rise and how fast’. Among worrying scenarios is the chance Antarctica will slide faster into the sea, perhaps if a ring of sea ice melts away in warmer oceans. Or melt water might flow under the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, and act a lubricant to speed a slide.But glaciers can slow down as well as speed up.
Most of the projected sea-level rise by 2100 will be because water in the oceans expands as it warms, with little being added by the ice sheets.
Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au
Carbon Neutral Events
February 7, 2008 by marquetteturner
Filed under Australia's Challenge
It’s time to Switch to Green – Join the action towards a carbon neutral capital!
Green Pages Australia has partnered with THE premier climate change event this year – the Switch to Green Conference & Expo, held in Canberra on 4-5 April.Read More
Also coming up:
- SUSTAINABLE LIVING FESTIVAL 2008 15-17 February Federation Square, Melbourne
Sustainability – Make it Your Sport!Just like sport, sustainability is about the thrills and spills, being part of a team, feeling healthy, and having fun!www.slf.org.au/festival
- Green Cities 08: What’s Possible Now? 10-13 February – Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour
The Green Building Council of Australia and the Property Council of Australia have once again joined forces to host Green Cities 08: What’s Possible Now?