There’s reason for cautious optimism that Malcolm Turnbull will take decisive action on climate change in the wake of this month’s global climate talks, despite disapproval from the conservative rump of his own party.
In the lead up to COP 21 in Paris, Turnbull has allowed his negotiators far more flexibility than was allowed under the Abbott regime, and remains open to supporting a long-term goal for the world to be “carbon neutral” by 2050.
Australia’s official line is that it supports a global climate target of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, but as Giles Parkinson, writes over at Renew Economy: “There is considerable pressure for the world to adopt a more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees C, because capping warming at 2 degrees C only leaves a 50-50 chance of avoiding the impact of runaway climate change.”
Under Turnbull, Australia remains open to this more ambitious target. The change in attitude is such that Australia is now being seen as a facilitator rather than an obstacle in the talks — as it had been under Abbott.
If there is a strong agreement in Paris, this will give Turnbull the justification to move hard on climate policy here in Australia.
And that will be the real test of Turnbull’s cojones on climate. So far, apart from the lack of “wind turbines are ugly” rhetoric, Turnbull has changed nothing on the policy front since taking over from the former PM, who famously declared the science behind climate change was absolute crap. The world will be watching.
We could always park our emissions on the Caymans..
Super-scary stuff, particularly given the grim prospect of anything coming out of Paris.
Still, there hasn’t been any actually warming for 18 years now. Thank god for the warming pause, eh?
Thank god for the warming pause, eh?… says it all really..
If only it were possible to decarbonise by 2050! Almost certainly the compromises coming out of the Paris Meeting will make similar reassurances to the worried of the world, while maintaining business-as-usual to the world’s emitters. Revolutionary action might have to wait for fear in the streets.
What we can hope for from the Paris Meeting is a set of mechanisms to monitor emissions (such as the OCO satellites), and a mechanism to obtain compliance between nations.
Returning to Australia, Prime Minister Turnbull would service all interests by starting up the debate on what we’re going to do to provide non-carbon electricity and fuel.
Roger Clifton
Oh dear, Tamas is back. Those oceans are mighty warm though and may give us a really bad El Nino. The report on the WA fires was very disturbing, the fire moved 100ks in four hours.
A sensible person would think that cutting emissions was a positive step for humanity. Even if it prevented only one of these fatal events.