4 years ago
EMISSIONS UPDATE SHOWS GOVERNMENT’S CLIMATE FAILURES
MARK BUTLER MP
The latest emissions update shows Scott Morrison doesn’t have a plan to reach his inadequate climate targets.
Emissions continue to flat line because this Government’s only approach is to continue Tony Abbott’s failed climate policy to funnel billions of taxpayers dollars to big polluters.
The only reason there has been a slight reduction in the latest report is because of a burst of investment in renewable energy to finalise Labor’s Renewable Energy Target, as well as the ongoing impacts of the drought.
Yet because this Government has no energy policy, renewable energy investment collapsed by more than 50 per cent in 2019.
If we needed any more evidence they don’t take climate change seriously, the Morrison Government has also refused to accept the science-based target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Just this week the UK PM Boris Johnson and UN Secretary General Guterres called on countries to adopt that target.
The CSIRO has advised that adopting a target of net zero emissions will lead to stronger economic growth, higher real wages, and lower energy bills. Yet the Government confirmed to the Senate this week that it hasn’t even bothered to model a net zero emissions future.
Seventy-three nations have backed the target, along with every Australian state and territory government, Federal Labor, our biggest airline, our biggest mining company, our biggest bank, our biggest telecommunications provider, and other leading businesses.
Scott Morrison is locked in a reckless and extreme position - completely out of step with other governments and the business community - because of the stranglehold the anti-climate science caucus of the Coalition has on climate policy.
The Morrison Government took the advice of scientists when it came to COVID-19. They can no longer ignore climate scientists.
Emissions continue to flat line because this Government’s only approach is to continue Tony Abbott’s failed climate policy to funnel billions of taxpayers dollars to big polluters.
The only reason there has been a slight reduction in the latest report is because of a burst of investment in renewable energy to finalise Labor’s Renewable Energy Target, as well as the ongoing impacts of the drought.
Yet because this Government has no energy policy, renewable energy investment collapsed by more than 50 per cent in 2019.
If we needed any more evidence they don’t take climate change seriously, the Morrison Government has also refused to accept the science-based target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Just this week the UK PM Boris Johnson and UN Secretary General Guterres called on countries to adopt that target.
The CSIRO has advised that adopting a target of net zero emissions will lead to stronger economic growth, higher real wages, and lower energy bills. Yet the Government confirmed to the Senate this week that it hasn’t even bothered to model a net zero emissions future.
Seventy-three nations have backed the target, along with every Australian state and territory government, Federal Labor, our biggest airline, our biggest mining company, our biggest bank, our biggest telecommunications provider, and other leading businesses.
Scott Morrison is locked in a reckless and extreme position - completely out of step with other governments and the business community - because of the stranglehold the anti-climate science caucus of the Coalition has on climate policy.
The Morrison Government took the advice of scientists when it came to COVID-19. They can no longer ignore climate scientists.