(AU NEWS.com.au) Scathing Analysis Of Australia’s Net Zero By 2050, Climate Change Targets

NEWS.com.au - Ellen Ransley

International climate change experts have published a scathing critique of Australia’s climate change response – or lack thereof.

Morrison Government receives damning assessment over climate change response

The federal government’s “unambitious” policy response to climate change has been ranked the worst in the world as Prime Minister Scott Morrison ramps up a pre-election blitz touting his national plan to meet net zero by 2050.

International climate experts say Australia has “failed to take advantage” of its potential and has not implemented any policies or plans strong enough to combat “dangerous” climate change.

World leaders are being urAged to consider implementing more drastic measures after it was revealed temperature rises will top 2.4C by 2100 if countries do not adjust their short-term goals. That would significantly exceed the 2C upper limit set in 2015 and the 1.5C limit that was the aim of recent climate talks.

On the sidelines of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, which Mr Morrison and Emissions Reductions Minister Angus Taylor briefly attended, the Climate Change Performance Index was released and Australia received scores of “very low” in three categories, and “low” in one.

Climate change activists dressed as world leaders, including Scott Morrison (third from right), during a demonstration at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Picture: Andy Buchanan / AFP

The government’s lack of policies, weak targets, low levels of renewables, high levels of energy use and high per-capita greenhouse gas emissions resulted in Australia receiving an overall ranking of 58, four places down from last year.

Australia’s worst score was its rating on “climate policy”, coming in last at 0.00, below Algeria, which scored 1.30. Luxembourg (19.11), Denmark (17.87) and Morocco (17.23) topped the chart, but no country was ranked 1-3 because “no country is doing enough to prevent dangerous climate change”.

Australia performed slightly better in the renewable energy rating table, coming in at 52 and a rating of “low”.

The report was released just two weeks after Mr Morrison announced a national plan to drive emissions down to net zero by 2050 by exploring future technologies. This week he has begun a pre-election blitz touting a $1bn pledge to support emissions reductions start-ups and a new electric vehicle policy.

But Australia also refused to sign a pledge to cut methane emissions, has dismissed calls to phase out coal, and has not set a more ambitious 2030 target.

As a result, the report wrote that there were “no new policies and plans” to go along with the government’s announcement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited the Toyota Hydrogen Centre in Altona to unveil a new $250m electric vehicle plan on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

“The CCPI national experts regard the Technology Investment Roadmap as insufficient for decarbonising the economy, reducing the use of fossil fuels, promoting renewable energy, and setting out how national greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced,” the report said.

“The government does not have any policies on phasing out coal or gas, but CCUS and hydrogen are being promoted as low emissions technology.

“Even though the renewables electricity is growing, the experts believe that Australia has failed to take advantage of its potential, and other countries have outpaced it.”

The scathing analysis stated Australia had “inadequate infrastructure investment”, and despite public support for net zero, there was no national plan for transitioning to renewable energy.

“The country's lack of domestic ambition and action has made its way to the international stage,” the report continued.

“The country’s international standing has been damaged by climate denialism, refusal to increase ambition, and refusal to recommit to international green finance mechanisms.”

Mr Morrison said on Wednesday morning he believed climate change would be solved by “can do capitalism, not don’t-do governments”.

“The world does not need to be punished for climate change, we just need to fix it,” he said.

“It will be fixed … by risk takers. That’s the Australian way.

“Like-minded Australians should be doing the same.”

Opposition climate change spokesperson Chris Bowen told ABC on Wednesday that the Morrison government’s “spin” couldn’t be trusted.

“You can’t trust this government on climate change, they don’t believe it, it’s a five minutes to midnight conversion,” he said.

“They’re prejudiced against renewable energy.”

Links

• Scott Morrison refuses to release net zero 2050 modelling amid condemnation of climate policy
• Australia's plan for net zero relies on cutting costs of some technologies while creating others
• Morrison's Glasgow trip raises troubling questions about climate change, national security and how the government should be judged
• Scott Morrison has put the war on the weekend in his rearview mirror and embraces electric vehicles
• Scott Morrison accused of failing to understand the 'urgency' of climate change 
• De-bunking Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s COP26 speech

(AU NEWS.com.au) Scott Morrison Pledges $1b Fund For Emissions Reduction Start-Ups

  NEWS.com.au - Catie McLeod

The Morrison government has promised additional funding for start-ups working on technology that can reduce emissions by 2050.

Morrison Government to create $1 billion low emissions technology fund

The Morrison government says it will move to legislate a $1 billion fund to encourage investment in Australian companies to develop new low emissions technology.

The government will provide $500 million to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, with the ‘green bank’ to raise the other half from the private sector before the new fund launches.

The fund could support technologies including carbon capture and underground storage, improved solar panels, livestock feed to reduce methane emissions and more efficient batteries.

The federal government recently committed to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 target and has underpinned much of its strategy on technology that hasn’t been invented yet.

The Coalition has rebuffed calls to phase out coal and declined to ramp up its 2030 targets, but it has promoted carbon capture and storage, gas and hydrogen as solutions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison released a joint statement with Energy Minister Angus Taylor on Tuesday night, saying their government would introduce legislation in this term of parliament to establish the fund.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Angus Taylor were in Melbourne on Tuesday to spruik their electric vehicles policy. Picture: William West/AFP

He and Mr Taylor say they expect the fund to earn a positive return for taxpayers.

Mr Taylor said the technology fund would support fledgling Australian companies to develop their intellectual property.

He said there was a currently a gap in the Australian market, where complex, technology-focused start-ups could be considered to be “too risky” to finance.

The fund could support improved solar panels and more efficient batteries. Picture: Cameron Laird

Mr Morrison and Mr Taylor were in Melbourne earlier on Tuesday to spruik their new electric vehicles policy, with $250m to install charging stations and other infrastructure in a bid to get 1.7 million low and zero emission cars on the road by 2030.

Mr Morrison savaged Labor’s proposal back in 2019, accusing the party of trying to force Australians to give up their petrol-run cars.

He continues to refuse to release the modelling underpinning his government’s plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 despite criticism that the policies lack credibility.

On Monday, when he was asked by reporters when it would be released, Mr Morrison repeated the word “soon” but gave no indication of a time frame.

Last month, he told parliament the report would be released following his trip to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit.

Mr Morrison returned to Australia last week.

Links

• Scott Morrison says ‘can-do capitalism’ will solve climate change
• Morrison government receives damning assessment over climate change response
• Scathing analysis of Australia’s net zero by 2050, climate change targets
• PM pledges $2 billion for Pacific countries to help fight climate change
• Net zero: Australia’s Scott Morrison and his climate change balancing act
• Prime Minister faces renewed 2030s climate target push
• Morrison's Glasgow trip raises troubling questions about climate change, national security and how the government should be judged

(SMH) ‘Existential Crisis’: United States And China Stun COP26 With Joint Climate Change Pact

Sydney Morning Herald - Nick O'Malley | Bevan Shields

Glasgow: The shock new pact between China and the United States unveiled in Glasgow has been hailed as a breakthrough as the deadline looms for the climate summit’s negotiations.

The world’s two largest emitters declared global warming an existential crisis which demands co-operation between the superpowers.

In a boost to the flagging COP26 talks and sign of a possible thawing in the fractured relationship between both countries, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart John Kerry stunned observers by unveiling the joint declaration pledging tougher action this decade.

The agreement was negotiated in secret for months during about 30 virtual meetings and negotiation sessions in Shanghai, London and Washington before final terms were settled in Glasgow on Wednesday night local-time (Thursday AEDT)

China’s special climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, speaks at the COP26 climate change conference. Credit: Getty

“Co-operation is the only choice for both China and the United States,” Xie told reporters via a translator.

“By working together, our two countries can achieve many important things that are beneficial not only to our two countries, but to the world as a whole. As two major powers in the world, China and the US shoulder special international responsibilities and obligations.

“We need to think big and feel responsible. We need to work … hard to promote world peace and development. We need to actively address climate change through cooperation, bringing benefits to both our two peoples and peoples around the world.”

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit before the end of the year. Credit: AFR

The announcement appeared to take Britain, the host of the COP26 summit, by surprise given Prime Minister Boris Johnson had only hours earlier warned momentum at the talks was slowing.

The Glasgow declaration was released just a week after US President Joe Biden attacked Chinese President Xi Jinping for not attending the summit in person, describing it as a “big mistake”.

“The rest of the world is going to look to China and say, ‘what value added are they providing?’,” Biden said last week. “They’ve lost the ability to influence the people around the world and all the people here at COP.”

Full Document

The document promises the US and China will work together on emissions reductions and an accelerated phase-out of unabated coal, however timelines were not listed.

The statement also binds China to tackle damaging methane emissions and deforestation, while both countries have agreed to share technology and expertise on clean energy, decarbonisation and electrification.

Crucially, the statement notes both countries are committed to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees and conceded there was a “gap” between current policies and meeting that core target.

Xie described climate change as an “existential crisis” and said agreement between the US and China on how to deal with global warming far outweighed their differences on the issue.

The United States and China, the world's two largest emitters of carbon dioxide, unveiled a deal to ramp up cooperation tackling climate change.

Kerry, a former US secretary of state under Barack Obama, framed the surprise agreement as much-needed momentum for the COP26 talks.

“The two largest economies in the world have agreed to work together to raise climate ambition in this decisive decade,” Kerry told reporters in Glasgow.

“Our teams have worked together for months, and we have worked in good faith. We have found common ground.”

Kerry described the joint-declaration, titled the China-US Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s, as a “road map for our present and future collaboration” on climate change.

“It declares specifically and identifies the need to accelerate the transition to a global net-zero economy,” Kerry said.

Glasgow summit

Australia among nations trying to soften COP26 declaration

“Secondly, it commits to a series of important actions, not out in the long term but now, in this decade where it’s needed.

“We could leave [Glasgow] on Friday not working together, the world wondering where the future is going. Or we can leave here with people working together in order to raise the ambition and move down a better road.

“What President Biden wanted to do, and President Xi agreed we should do, is join together to work at trying to solve this. And I am convinced that’s a better road to pursue.”

Xie and Kerry noted that the US had developed a plan to reduce methane emissions and said China would follow suit.

“Climate change is a common challenge faced by humanity. It bears on the wellbeing of future generations,” Xie said.

“Climate change is becoming increasingly urgent and severe.”

Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris Agreement and chief executive officer of the European Climate Foundation, said the joint declaration proved co-operation on climate was possible.

“The methane and forests commitments are good news, now they must co-operate on ensuring an ambitious outcome to COP26,” she said.

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“That means putting us on track to 1.5 degrees and delivering the vital support needed to those most vulnerable. The success of that cooperation will be judged on the outcome of this vital meeting.”

“Tackling the climate crisis requires international cooperation and solidarity, and this is an important step in the right direction,” UN Secretary General António Guterres tweeted shortly after the announcement.

“This is a challenge which transcends politics,” tweeted the EU’s top climate envoy, Frans Timmermans. “Bilateral cooperation between the two biggest global emitters should boost negotiations.”

Bernice Lee, the research director at the Chatham House think tank in London, also sounded a note of caution.

“It can only be good news that the US and China are working closely on climate change and slashing methane emissions,” Lee said.

“Details remain patchy but this declaration should dissolve any fears that US-China tensions will stand in the way of success at COP26. But the statement is not enough to close the deal. The real test of Washington and Beijing is how hard they push for a 1.5 degree-aligned deal here in Glasgow.”

Glasgow Climate Summit

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Links

• Australia among nations trying to soften COP26 declaration
• China and US vow to tackle climate change in joint statement at COP26 Glasgow talks
• U.S. and China issue joint pledge to slow climate change
• China and US announce deal to boost cooperation on climate change
• Australia snubs pledge to cut methane emissions
• Australia could be pushed to strengthen 2030 targets under COP26 agreement
• Why money matters at the COP26 climate talks
• COP26 draft text calls for tougher emissions pledges by 2022
• Hot air: Scepticism over Indonesia’s COP26 deforestation pledges
• Climate activists decry ‘false solutions, fairy tales’ at COP26