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Emissions reduction target: Julie Bishop disputes Climate Change Authority’s figures
Emissions reduction target: Julie Bishop disputes Climate Change Authority’s figures
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has responded to the Climate Change Authority’s criticism of the Government’s emission reduction targets, saying its estimates are incorrect.
On Tuesday, the Federal Government announced plans to cut emissions by 26-28 per cent by 2030 based on emissions from the year 2005.
The Climate Change Authority said with the “right” policies it believed more ambitious targets than those adopted by the Government could be achieved at modest costs.
Authority chair Bernie Fraser said in a statement the body had recommended reductions of 45-63 per cent by 2030.
“Along with other countries, Australia has agreed to work towards reducing emissions to levels consistent with limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — this remains a challenging task,” he said in a statement.
“Measured against the reductions in emissions required to deliver a reasonable chance of limiting global warming to 2 degrees, all countries have a lot more work to do over the decades ahead.”
But Ms Bishop said figures released by the Authority were disputed by the Federal Government.
“Mr Bernie Fraser … [stated] China’s emissions would increase by 72 to 96 per cent above 2005 levels by 2030. The Australian Government disputes these figures,” she said in a statement.
“China’s 2030 target will allow emissions to increase by around 150 per cent from 2005 levels when calculated on China’s national currency.”
She said Australia’s 2030 target was strong, responsible and achievable.
“We have a proven track record of meeting our climate targets. We met our first Kyoto target and are on track to meet our 2020 target.”
Addressing the South Australian Liberal Party annual meeting, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the emissions target was leading the pack economically and environmentally.
“When it comes to emissions per capita, our target, a target that we are absolutely confident that we can and will meet, is the best in the world,” he said.
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It’s time to ‘Do the math’ again
It’s time to ‘Do the math’ again
Have we gone mad? A new reportreleased today explains why contemporary climate change policy-making should be characterised as increasingly delusional.
As the deadline approaches for submissions to the Australian government’s climate targets process, there is a flurry of submissions and reports from advocacy groups and theClimate Change Authority.
Most of these reports are based on the twin propositions that two degrees Celsius (2°C) of global warming is an appropriate policy target, and that there is a significant carbon budget and an amount of “burnable carbon” for this target, and hence a scientifically-based escalating ladder of emission-reduction targets stretching to mid-century and beyond.
A survey of the relevant scientific literature by David Spratt, “Recount: It’s time to ‘Do the math’ again”, published today by Breakthrough concludes that the evidence does not support either of these propositions.
The catastrophic and irreversible consequences of 2°C of warming demand a strong risk-management approach, with a low rate of failure. We should not take risks with the climate that we would not take with civil infrastructure.
There is no carbon budget available if 2°C is considered a cap or upper boundary as per the Copenhagen Accord, rather than a hit-or-miss target which can be significantly exceeded; or if a low risk of exceeding 2°C is required; or if positive feedbacks such as permafrost and other carbon store losses are taken into account.
Effective policy making can only be based on recognising that climate change is already dangerous, and we have no carbon budget left to divide up. Big tipping-point events irreversible on human time scales such as in West Antarctica and large-scale positive feedbacks are already occurring at less than 1°C of warming. It is clear that 2°C of climate warming is not a safe cap.
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