Does Australia have any friends left when it comes to its position on climate change? The answer is looking more and more like no.
With the United States moving towards net-zero emissions under a Joe Biden presidency and the UK making more climate commitments, there’s growing pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to get into line.
Even his friends at News Corp think he has “no choice”. Paul Kelly writes that the net-zero target, once radical, is now entrenched in the middle ground, “the place where the prime minister likes to be”.
But Morrison continues to drag his feet, even as his former finance minister Mathias Cormann jets around the world espousing the need for urgent climate action for a chance to lead the OECD.
In the past few months a flood of countries, cities and regions have upped their climate credentials and moved towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
Here are some of them:
United Kingdom: Boris Johnson has announced a 10-point green plan that would allow the UK to make “strides towards net zero by 2050”.
New Zealand: Jacinda Ardern has called climate change “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and has introduced legislation setting up a climate change commission to put the country on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050.
United States: Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, and has proposed to make US electricity production carbon-free by 2035 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Canada: Justin Trudeau unveiled plans last month to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. His party has tabled a bill that would require the government to report on its goals every five years between 2030-50.
European Union: the EU adopted a net-zero-by-2050 target in 2019 and in September proposed to increase its 2030 target from 40% to 55% reduction below 1990 levels.
France: France passed laws in 2019 to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, including a move away from nuclear power.
Sweden, Finland, Austria: Sweden is a world leader in net-zero emissions targets, passing legislation in 2017 to be carbon neutral by 2045. Finland and Austria have pledged to reach net zero by 2035 and 2040 respectively.
South Korea, Japan, China: Australia’s biggest trading partners have moved on climate change in recent months. South Korea has launched a Green New Deal and committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2050; in October China stunned the world with its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2060.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Scotty was banking on a Trump victory that would give him four more years of doing nothing on climate change.
How much longer can Morrison maintain his stubborn rejection of climate generated change/disaster? For that matter his inevitable isolation due to denialism?
World opinion/timetable now at 2050 as an opening bid. But again, inevitably, 2035 will be closer to the benchmark if nature is to take any notice whatsoever. Times up Prime Minister!
Morrison’s hope he could prop up his crumbling position by trotting out some waffle at the world climate summit did not turn out well either. Morrison believed Boris Johnson’s assurance that he would be invited to speak.
Just think about that.
He believed Boris Johnson. With no independent evidence or corroboration for what he was told, Morrison simply took the word of possibly the most notorious and dishonest shyster currently operating, after Trump. If there is one thing Johnson is truly famous for, throughout his whole adult life, it is being entirely unreliable, a fantasist with no regard for truth at all. He has been sacked several times for lying. Those who worked with him all agree: he will always let you down. Where in the whole world would you find anyone who puts their faith in anything Johnson says?
Except Morrison.
And we have Scotty from Marketing telling us all to eat coal!
The hypocrisy of this man is endless.
The possible tipping point and the 2030 deadline will be eight years away when our great-grandchild expected within a week is eight years old .
Can any of the Liberal-National party look their children in their eyes and explain to them the reasons for there eyes and deny the obvious
The coalition and its richest fossil fuel friends are pushing a pathetic smokescreen that it calls a climate change policy the smoke screen consists yet to be discovered technology and current thought bubbles and theory that despite millions of dollars being spent on them are little more than slogans .
The time has come it is now we have the technology we need the leadership we can no longer allow our PM to continue to ignore climate change. On what basis does he continue his denial ? My fear is his extreme religious faith allows him to believe his mythical leader will solve the problem’.
Sorry PM your CV shows little real leadership and in fact you have a trail of leadership disasters behind you. Eight years to disaster. Todays rating of your plan by your COP 26 peers has us as the least trusted country at COP 26 . Now most of the world can see you and your Coalition government as a do-nothing pray for miracles failure
Oops Proof reading replace eyes with lies in line one
Try 2 Breakfast is overdue