Climate change pressure on Scott Morrison heating up

Labor has pushed Scott Morrison to take stronger action on climate change after a new UN report warned that temperatures were on track to exceed 2C beyond pre-industrial levels by 2100.

Scott Morrison in Canberra on Monday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Labor has pushed Scott Morrison to take stronger action on climate change after a new UN report warned that global temperatures were on track to exceed 2C ­beyond pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

Opposition climate change spokesman Chris Bowen said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was “yet more evidence of the costs of inaction”.

He accused the government of “spinning” while the global economy decarbonised and fossil fuel export markets “dry up”.

“We have a government divided even on the basic science of climate change, let alone able to deliver on the opportunities the changing global economy presents for Australia’s future,” Mr Bowen said.

“The bare minimum is to join all of our states and territories, all leading business, industry and agricultural groups in a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 ... And then we need a strong road map to get there.”

The government has committed to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 but is yet to formally endorse a target of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Labor has backed a net-zero emissions target by 2050, but has not unveiled its goals for 2030 or 2035.

Under the Paris Agreement, global leaders have committed to working towards keeping temperature increases “well below” 2C beyond pre-industrial levels and preferably no more than 1.5C.

With Australia to come under pressure to adopt a more ambitious plan ahead of a UN climate conference in November, the Prime Minister said his government wanted to reach net-zero emissions “as soon as possible”.

“We’re seeking to do that by using technologies, not taxes,” Mr Morrison told parliament. “We are seeking to do that not by robbing the livelihoods of Australians around this country and putting upon those – whether they be in the suburbs or the regional towns of this country – higher and higher costs of living. We’re not going to be doing that to Australians.

 

“We are going to achieve this goal and address the real action needed for climate change by ensuring we’re investing in technology which is the game-changer.”

Mr Morrison said Australia had beaten its climate targets under the old Kyoto Protocol and noted that emissions had fallen by 20 per cent since 2005.

“Between 2005 and 2019, the last year of comparable data, Australia reduced emissions faster than Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the US and the G20 and OECD averages,” Mr Morrison said. “Australia is performing.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt said Australia needed to lift its 2030 target. “The Greens, the G7, Joe Biden and Boris Johnson agree, while Liberal and Labor are with Saudi Arabia and Russia in 2030 denial,” he said. “After this report, failure to lift 2030 targets is criminal negligence.

“Exceeding 1.5C of warming means we will lose the Great Barrier Reef, have widespread and sustained drought, more extreme weather events, and catastrophic bushfires will become the norm.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “greenhouse gas emissions are choking our planet and placing billions of people in danger … Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible,” he said.

“We must act decisively now to avert a climate catastrophe.”