Almost two dozen leading Australian health experts have blasted the Morrison government's "contemptuous dismissal" of the findings of the latest major climate report and called for a rapid phasing out of coal.
In a letter published on Thursday in The Lancet, a leading international health journal, the academics and health professionals said the government had ignored the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's special 1.5 degree impact report.
In doing so, it had disregarded "any duty of care regarding the future wellbeing of Australians and our immediate neighbours", the letter states.
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| Health experts have had their objections to the government's response to the IPCC report published in a leading health journal. |
These include the amplified frequency, intensity and duration of extreme weather events such as heatwaves.
"As with other established historical harms to human health [such as tobacco], narrow vested interests must be countered to bring about fundamental change in the consumption of coal and other fossil fuels," the letter said.
The disdain shown by the government to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's findings – which include the loss of almost all the Great Barrier Reef if global temperatures rise another degree – meant "it was time for us to speak out", said Tony Capon, Professor of Planetary Health at the University of Sydney, and one of the letter's authors.
"Burning coal is escalating climate change but it also causes toxic pollution that has direct health effects," Professor Capon said.
The letter called for national and international pressure on the government with a five-step "call to action" that included "commitment to no new or expanded coal mines and no new coal-fired power stations, phase out existing coal-fired power stations, and rapidly remove all subsidies to fossil fuel industries".
It also opposed the development of the giant Adani coal mine in Queensland and roughly doubling Australia's Paris climate goals to reduce 2005-level carbon emissions by half by 2030.
Melissa Price, the federal environment minister, said was "absolutely false" to state the government had rejected the IPCC's findings.
Coal-powered electricity must be phased out by 2050 and renewable energy needs significant uptake in order to prevent global warming reaching 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Vision: Australian Academy of Science.
"We have consistently stated that the IPCC is a trusted source of scientific advice that we will continue to take into account on climate policy," Ms Price said.
"The IPCC Report does not present a total phase-out of coal by 2050 as the only modelled pathway to limit global warming," she said, adding that "we have a responsible emissions reduction target of 26-28 per cent and we will do our part to address this global issue."
Treasury blindspot
Separately, new Treasury Secretary Phil Gaetjens admitted in Senate estimates that Treasury had not done any modelling of the difference in impacts on Australia's economy from a 1.5 degree warming in global temperatures compared with 2 degrees.
That warming is against pre-industrial times and the planet has warmed about 1 degree since then.
"We do not do modelling on that," Mr Gaetjens said. "There wouldn’t be any information in a quantitative sense that I could provide at the moment."
Mr Gaetjens also stated he had not had time to read the IPCC report.
"I have had, in the two and a bit months I have been there, lots of things to look at, and unfortunately that’s one I haven’t got to," he said, adding that he accepted climate change would have an economic impact on the nation.
Greens sentor Larissa Waters said climate change was the biggest economic issue facing Australia and as such Treasury should provide serious analysis just as they would on the impact of higher US interest rates.
“The government has its head in the sand on climate change, but Treasury should be advising government of the immense economic risk of continuing to blindly boost for new coal, and the huge economic opportunities in clean energy," Senator Waters said.
Links
- Report: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C
- 'Next decade critical': Perils mount at 1.5 degrees of warming, says IPCC
- Mining sector, Morrison government on the defensive over IPCC report
- States' Climate Risks Are Rising, Led By Health Impacts: Moody's
- Climate Change Leading To 'Solastalgia', The Feeling You Get When Your Home Is Wrecked
- The Divisive Issue Australia Can No Longer Ignore
- Climate Change Could Affect Human Evolution. Here's How.
- Scientists Are Finally Linking Extreme Weather To Climate Change
- Halfway To Boiling: The City At 50c
- Heatwave-Related Deaths Influenced By Prior Acclimatisation To Warmth
- Why there's a perfectly rectangular iceberg floating in Antarctica
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