Bloomberg - David Stringer
▶ Nation to prepare long-term plans ahead of key Glasgow meeting
▶ Coal exports likely to continue, opposition Labor Party says
|
Emissions billow from cooling towers in Australia. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg |
Australia’s government will work to set new long-term plans on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a key global summit this
year, though signaled it won’t pursue policies that pose risks to jobs
or growth.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has
faced pressure over his climate and energy strategy in the wake of Australia’s deadly
wildfires,
has criticized opponents for pledging to target net zero emissions by
2050 without detailing how they’ll safeguard economic expansion.
“If we make the wrong decisions, not only would we be harming the
Australian economy, harming Australian workers, we would also be harming
the global environment,” Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said in an
interview on Sky News.
Australia’s plans will need to account for the production of
materials including liquefied natural gas, which is exported to markets
like China or Japan and typically displaces more polluting energy
sources, Cormann said. “We know that that helps reduce global emissions
by more,” he said.Following the fires, Morrison, who won a national election in May and
won’t face a new poll until late 2022, has appeared to signal he’ll
resist any quick shift to more extensive cuts to carbon emissions. His
Liberal-National coalition government also remains cautious over the
impact on a coal sector that employs about 50,000 workers, according to the Minerals Council of Australia, an industry group.
Morrison’s government will finalize long-term emissions
reduction proposals ahead of the United Nations climate summit in
Glasgow in November, Cormann said.
Australia may continue to be an
exporter of thermal coal in 2050, according to Anthony Albanese, leader
of the main opposition Labour Party, that’s targeting net zero
emissions by that date.
“That will be determined by the market and by international agreements,”
Albanese told ABC Television in an interview. “You don’t measure the
emissions where the original product comes from -- Japan isn’t
responsible for the emissions of every vehicle that’s built in Japan.”
Links
No comments :
Post a Comment