After the UN repot released, Prime Minister of Australia mentioned the need of climate solutions in developing countries as the emission in such countries is increasing.
China accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, pumping out twice the amount of the US which makes up about 15 per cent.
Australia makes up about 1.2 per cent of global emissions, with the second-highest rate per person after Canada.
China accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, pumping out twice the amount of the US which makes up about 15 per cent. Pictured: Beijing in February 2021
‘We cannot ignore the fact that the developing world accounts for two thirds of global emissions and those emissions are rising,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘That is a stark fact. It is also a clear fact that China’s emissions account for more than the OECD combined.’
ScoMo’s green energy revolution
These are the technologies the government is pursuing to combat climate change:
Hydrogen: Can be used to heat buildings, power factories and even run cars with no emissions
Electricity storage: Huge batteries can store energy generated by solar and wind power so it can be released at peak times
Low carbon materials: Steel and aluminium made by burning hydrogen instead of coal to reduce carbon emissions
Mr Morrison said it would not be fair to impose climate-related taxes on developing nations because advanced economies developed by burning fossil fuels over the past century.
Instead, he wants to develop new low-emission technologies and export them overseas.
‘The Australian approach is not to tax them or deny them the employment and the jobs and the industries that they should have,’ he said.
‘World history teaches one thing. Technology changes everything! That is the game changer.’
The sixth United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment released on Monday night shows global warming of at least 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is anticipated within 20 years.
Climate scientists expect 1.5C to be reached in the early 2030s.
The worst-case projection shows warming of between 3.3C and 5.7C between 2081 and 2100, with a best estimate of about 4.4C.
Australian land areas have already warmed 1.4C and worsening climate change will only intensify destructive fires, floods, droughts, cyclones and coral bleaching.
IPCC vice-chair and Australian National University climate change institute director Mark Howden warned: ‘We’re heading into a bad place.’
‘We’re already in that zone where we’re experiencing extremes pretty much everywhere in Australia and pretty much every year,’ he told ABC radio.
‘What Covid-19 has shown us is that hard and fast and smart action really benefits everyone in health terms, in economic terms.
‘It’s exactly the same for climate change.’
If temperatures continue to rise, there could be devastating effects here on Earth, including a dramatic loss of sea-life, an ice-free Arctic and more regular ‘extreme’ weather
The Morrison government has not committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 in response to the report and maintains this target is a preference.
‘I don’t make blank cheque commitments. I leave that to others,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘Blank cheque commitments you always end up paying for. And you always end up paying for it in high taxes. That’s what the alternative approach is. That’s not my approach.’
The Prime Minister said he would make sure that regional Australians including farmers and miners would not lose jobs as a result of climate change action.
‘Regional communities should not be forced to carry the national burden and I won’t let them,’ he said.
‘I will ensure that we have a plan that addresses the need for jobs, and industries, that can be supported by new energy technologies both now and into the future.
‘I will not be asking people in the regions of this country to carry the burden for the country alone.
‘I will be ensuring that we have a plan that addresses their critical needs, that addresses their anxieties, and seeks to bring the whole country with us on this very important task that we have together.’
Australia is projected to cut emissions 29 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, compared with its Paris Agreement target of between 26 and 28 per cent.
Globally, current commitments are not consistent with keeping global temperatures to 1.5C or even below 2C.
This requires immediate, rapid, drastic and sustained cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia’s reductions to date have been helped along by reductions in land clearing and mechanisms put in place under Labor.
An Aircrane water bombing helicopter drops water on a bushfires in Harrington, 335km north east of Sydney on November 8, 2019
‘Looking at the core fossil fuel-based sectors, the emissions from those have actually gone up within that period and at the moment they’re pretty much flatlining,’ Professor Howden said.
‘There’s no real evidence that our current policy settings are actually working to driving down our emissions.’
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles urged meaningful action on climate change.
He also maintained coal had a role to play in Australia’s economy for some time to come.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said getting climate change under control would protect farmers and food production.
Businesses wanted state and federal governments on the same page when it came to climate change.
‘We shouldn’t have states and federal government go off in totally different directions. That just impacts on investment,’ Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said.
The UN Environment Programme director Inger Andersen lamented the world’s failure to heed decades of warnings.
‘The world listened, but didn’t hear. The world listened, but it did not act strongly enough,’ she told the global launch of the IPCC’s sixth assessment.
‘And as a result, climate change is a problem that is here, now. Nobody’s safe and it’s getting worse faster.’
