11/11/2020

(AU) Prime Minister Facing ‘Difficult Territory’ As Australia Becomes ‘Globally Isolated’ On Climate Change

NEWS.com.au - Matt Young

As warnings arise that Australia is becoming “globally isolated”, one expert says the PM has a plan, despite his combative nature towards the issue.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack with The Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: News Corp Australia


Scott Morrison is “bumping the government forward increment by increment” on the issue of climate change as the Prime Minister faces heat from international leaders to step up Australia’s action on the issue.

On Monday, Mr Morrison defended his government’s actions on climate change in a debate with Labor leader Anthony Albanese, saying he will stand firm on climate policies despite Australia’s emissions increasing year-on-year.

It comes as US President-elect Joe Biden signals he will demand more from America’s allies — including Australia — despite what has been a difficult issue for Morrison’s Liberal party and which threatens to leave Australia “globally isolated”.

The President-elect has pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and have zero emissions from the electricity sector by 2035.

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison wears a face mask in Parliament House, Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: News Corp Australia

It comes as a former US government official, Kim Hoggard, warned Biden’s presidency will add more pressure on Scott Morrison to create positive climate change policies.

“That will put some pressure on the Australian government to respond maybe on carbon emission targets and it’s an opportunity for the Australian government to rethink it’s position around that,” Hoggard, who worked under the Ronald Reagan and George W Bush administrations, told 2GB.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was famously dumped from the Liberal party and later said it was “influenced by a group that is denialist and reactionary on climate change”, according to The Australian.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Turnbull said the party had struggled on the issue from as far back as 2007.

The Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese met with bushfire survivors demanding action on climate change last month. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: News Corp Australia

Last week, it was revealed a group of international leaders, led by Britain and France, penned a letter to the PM on October 22 to make new commitments to the climate crisis, calling on countries to rebuild “in a way that charts a greener, more resilient, sustainable path”.

Accused of “leaving Australia behind” by Mr Albanese on Monday, Mr Morrison resisted pressure to set more ambitious climate goals but said he would work with Mr Biden on issues including climate change.

“Australia’s policies will be set in Australia and nowhere else for Australia’s purposes,” the PM said.

The Prime Minister said his government had a plan to achieve emissions reductions under the Paris Agreement yet he warned other countries would not influence the federal government.

“We would be welcoming the United States back into the Paris Agreement, somewhere we have always been,” Mr Morrison said.

“We met and beat our Kyoto targets, and we believe we will do the same when it comes to our Paris commitments as well.

“Australia will always set its policies based on Australia’s national interests and the contributions that we are making in these areas.”

Yet according to one expert, it seems the Prime Minister has a plan of action.

The Guardian’s Katharine Murphy told ABC’s The Drum on Monday afternoon that the PM found himself in “difficult territory”, as popular opinion on climate change grows and the pressure heats up. Despite this, he is “bumping the government forward increment by increment on the issue.

The political editor said while he may want to affect change, he is constrained by the inner politics of his own party.

“This is really difficult territory for Scott Morrison,” she said.

“He is trying to step off the abject wrecking of the past but is constrained by forces within his own political organisation.

“If he stood up tomorrow and said, ‘fair cop, we’ll do net zero by 2050’, the National party would go berserk.

“The Coalition has become very adept at weaponising climate change in election contests.”

Mr Albanese accused the government of lacking a climate change policy but Mr Morrison said on Monday Australia would reduce emissions using its “technology road map”.

“It’s not one size fits all in terms of the commitments that are out there. Our goal is to achieve that as soon as you can,” he said.

“But we’ll do it on the basis of the technology road map, and so we have the technology to achieve lower emissions in the future. You’ve got to have the plan to get there.

“The US will make their decisions based on their interests and their capabilities and how their economy is structured and we’ll do the same.

“Our 2030 targets are set and we will meet them.”

In a heated question time, Mr Morrison also blamed the lack of clarity on the question of cost.

“Until such time as we can be very clear with the Australian people about what the cost of that is and how that plan can deliver on that commitment, it would be very deceptive on the Australian people and not honest with them, Mr Speaker, to make such commitments without being able to spell that out to Australians.”

It comes as Warringah independent MP Zali Steggall introduced a climate change bill into parliament with support from her crossbench colleagues trying to get the target enshrined in legislation, saying the coalition was “dragging its feet”.

She called on Scott Morrison to allow a conscience vote of coalition members on her bill but whether or not the bill will be debated remains to be seen.

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(AU) Australia Suddenly Isolated In The New Global Climate

Sydney Morning Herald -  Steven Hamilton

Author
Steven Hamilton is chief economist at Blueprint Institute and assistant professor of economics at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Joe Biden’s thumping victory in the US presidential election is also a thumping victory for the global climate.

Biden campaigned unabashedly to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, to pledge net-zero emissions by 2050, and to spend AU$2.4 trillion on new climate initiatives.

His election is a game-changer for global climate action.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to act on climate change. Credit: AP

Of all the big changes the election will bring, Biden’s commitment to climate action is by far the most consequential for Australia. Four years of Trump’s climate denialism – his withdrawal from the Paris agreement, his gutting of the Environmental Protection Agency, his green-lighting of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – has given Australia ample cover for its own climate inaction.

Alongside Canada, the US and Australia round out the world’s trio of big, advanced, high-per-capita emitters. But Canada already has a nationwide carbon price, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to emissions reductions by 2030 that exceed Australia’s Paris commitment – one we’re planning to shirk via carryover credits that enable us to avoid two-thirds of our emissions-reduction task this decade.

And while Biden may not control the US Senate – to be determined by run-off elections for two seats in Georgia – President Obama showed the strides that can be made via executive action. So far this century, America’s per-capita emissions reduction is already more than four times Australia’s. And in the years ahead, the US will now take even more significant action.

In a statement congratulating Joe Biden, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “We also look forward to working with President-elect Biden to ... develop new technologies to reduce global emissions as we practically confront the challenge of climate change.”

An uncharitable observer might see this as code for continued inaction – “technologies” as a distraction from tangible action today, and “practically” as an allusion to the government’s refusal to rely on taxes or regulation, which virtually all economists agree are the only “practical” ways to get us to net zero.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been defiant in the face of the rising sea change on climate action. Credit: Edwina Pickles

Morrison has to date been defiant in the face of a rising global sea change on climate. The EU and UK have been committed to net zero by 2050 for some time. And in the past six weeks, that sea change has become a tsunami. China, the world’s largest emitter, has committed to net zero by 2060, while Japan and South Korea have committed by 2050.

Now with Biden’s election, all of Australia’s top-five trading partners – collectively buying more than half of our exports – have signed up to net zero. Morrison might not countenance being dictated to by Brussels, but how about Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, London, and Washington – all together, all at once?

In the face of this near-consensus, any continued belief that intransigence is in our economic interests would be a spectacular display of naivety. How should we expect our trading partners to treat a climate shirker in the years ahead?

The EU is already planning carbon tariffs to punish free-riders. Biden plans to spearhead a new trans-Pacific partnership – one can expect climate action to play a key role, especially given how imperiled so many of our Pacific neighbours will be under unmitigated climate change. Australia’s continued success in forging free-trade agreements will be put at risk by any continued unwillingness to step up to the plate.

But the Prime Minister still has an opportunity to turn the ship. Biden is still more than 70 days from giving his oath of office. Morrison is set to invite a President Biden to visit Australia next year to commemorate 70 years of the ANZUS treaty. That visit will be the perfect opportunity to formalise our commitment to the new climate world order a Biden administration will seek to lead.

It’s past time for Australia to commit to net zero by 2050. And to start that transition by meeting our 2030 Paris commitment without relying on our carryover credits. A global decarbonisation is inevitable; we must not be dragged kicking and screaming into that inevitable future. We should start the transition on our own terms rather than on the less favourable terms our trading partners may foist upon us.

Rather than an impost, we should see the transition as the economic opportunity that it is. Yet again, Australia finds itself the lucky country. As a big, flat, empty continent that abounds in plentiful sunshine and wind, we’re better placed than just about any country to become a green energy superpower.

Instead of keeping our heads in the sand, clinging to the fossil fuels of the past, let’s finally step up and do our bit as the leading global citizens we are.

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(AU) Zali Steggall’s New Climate Change Bill Comes Just As Economic Sectors Step Up

The Conversation -  | 

AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Authors
  •  is Project Manager, climate and energy policy, ClimateWorks Australia
  •  is Head of National Programs, ClimateWorks Australia, Monash University
Yesterday (November 9), Zali Steggall, the independent member for Warringah, introduced her long-awaited climate change bill to the Australian parliament.

Much of the debate around the bill centres on what needs to be done for Australia to reach net zero emissions by 2050. That’s a crucial discussion — but it’s equally vital to recognise what’s already been committed.

Our project, the Net Zero Momentum Tracker, monitors Australia’s journey towards net zero emissions, tracking climate commitments and progress in key sectors of the economy. This includes superannuation, transport, retail, property and local government, and a forthcoming analysis of the resources sector.

We’ve found progress is, in general, going well. These sectors are increasingly making more climate-active commitments, which means the moment is right for precisely the kind of pivot Steggall’s bill seeks to facilitate.

What the climate change bill proposes

Steggall has garnered huge support outside of politics. In a joint letter this week, more than 100 Australian businesses, industry groups and community organisations endorsed the bill as a critical step in the recovery from the pandemic.

This included Oxfam, the Business Council of Australia, the ACTU, the Australian Medical Association and our organisation, ClimateWorks Australia.

Along with the 2050 target, the bill proposes the establishment of an independent Climate Change Commission. It also adopts the government’s low emissions technology roadmap and would require the government to introduce risk assessment and adaptation plans.

To reach the 2050 target, the bill calls for a process to review the target every five years, and ensure independent advice on five-yearly emissions budgets.

An emissions budget sets the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted over five-year periods — in line with requirements for the Paris Agreement on climate. This is important because the amount of global warming depends on cumulative emissions, not emissions in any one year.

Tracking the sectors

Australia can no longer consider a commitment to a net zero target as a matter of ideology or a moral gesture. Increasingly, it’s simple economic common sense, especially for investors.

In 2019, Geoff Summerhayes from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority pointed out that climate change now constitutes “a legally foreseeable risk facing many different companies in a range of different industries”. As such, the financial sector has an obligation to act.

In 2020, the level of ambition in the superannuation sector rose considerably, with REST super now joining Cbus, HESTA and UniSuper with net zero pledges.

Similarly, the recent ANZ announcement of “strong action to support the Paris Agreement” signals that all the major banks and insurers are moving away from thermal coal, as the International Energy Agency declares solar energy to be the cheapest source of electricity in history.

Most of Australia’s trading partners have committed to transform their economies. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Certainly, some sectors of the Australian economy are moving faster than others. Our analysis of 21 major property companies found 90% had set an emissions reduction target, while nearly a third were already committed to net zero.

The local government sector is equally proactive. Over a third of the largest local governments we assessed (representing a fifth of the Australian population) have committed to reaching zero community emissions by or before 2050.

And more than half are acting to reduce their operational (or direct) emissions by, for instance, installing solar panels and switching their vehicle fleet to electric vehicles.

By contrast, our analysis showed the retail and transport sectors have a long way to go before they’re aligned with net zero.

Asking ‘how’, not ‘why’

Even in a historically difficult sector like resources, progress is being made.

BHP, for instance, now says it can flourish under conditions compatible with the Paris Agreement. Rather than posing a problem for business, action to decarbonise the global economy will, it declares, present “opportunities to invest in commodities such as potash, nickel and copper”, which will “provide a strong foundation” for its business.

This shows when it comes to net zero many of Australia’s biggest companies no longer ask “why”, but instead focus on “how”.

In part, that’s because businesses that don’t change know they increasingly risk isolation.

For example, the International Energy Agency said in its annual report that demand for Australian thermal coal has peaked, and renewables will meet 80% of the world’s energy demands in the coming years.

Japan, South Korea and the European Union have committed to reaching net zero by 2050, and US President-elect Joe Biden says his administration will make the same pledge. China also recently committed to reaching net zero by 2060.

That means the vast majority of Australia’s exports are going to trading partners who have committed to transform their economies.

This will result in a shift in demand from high-carbon products and services, such as thermal coal, towards zero or near zero carbon alternatives, such as renewable hydrogen.

An opportunity, not a threat

Such a demand also presents extraordinary opportunities. The international transition to cleaner economies is a chance for Australia to become a renewable energy superpower.

After all, Australia possesses the world’s third-largest reserves of lithium and currently produces nine of the ten elements required for lithium-ion batteries.

Likewise, by 2030, Australia could be using renewable electricity and water to produce 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, one of the most important commodities of the transition into a clean economy.

Many other countries already have their own climate change acts. AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Providing certainty to businesses

In tracking the momentum to net zero, we’ve seen the importance of clear targets in raising ambition, encouraging innovation and fostering the deployment of known solutions quickly and at scale.

And a parliamentary commitment to decarbonisation at the federal level, backed by interim targets set every five years, would provide businesses and the public with the certainty they need to plan.

Many other countries, such as Britain, already have their own climate change acts. So, too, does the state of Victoria.

Across the country, all the state and territory governments have made net zero commitments – and our assessment of local governments found many of them to be taking strong stands, too. It’s time for the federal parliament to get on board.

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