22/07/2021

(AU AFR) Australia Faces Carbon Tariffs Without Big Ambitions: Mark Carney

 AFR - Michael Roddan

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney believes Australia must show high ambitions to tackle climate change and reduce emissions to avoid carbon tariffs being whacked on the country.

Former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney. Bloomberg
The UN’s November Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow would pressure countries to develop solid policies for reducing emissions, said Mr Carney, the current UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance.

“The more high ambition is shown by all countries – Australia included – the less likely there is to be border adjustment mechanisms and, and that’s, that’s what we’re going for,” Mr Carney told the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors conference on Wednesday.

COP26 was trying to recognise that different counties were going to have different policies, such as carbon taxes or regulation or subsidies, but the world was trending towards enforcing climate action through trade policy, Mr Carney said.

“There is a push, we see it in Europe, most prominently, but also the United States, talking about carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs). Canada as well,” he said.

“A number of countries as they up their ambitions, are saying: ’Well, wait a minute, what about these high intensity and high emission industries - aren’t I putting myself at a competitive disadvantage if others aren’t moving as fast as rapidly, and therefore do I put these so-called CBAMs in place.”

“There’s no question that momentum is there. We’re trying to arrest it, as Australia’s a free-trading nation, so is the UK as is Canada, and the world is better off if we can keep the trade system open. But there is a risk, without question.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been averse to carbon pricing and taxing schemes, but there is growing pressure on Australia as international groups push for the introduction of CBAMs, a tariff Trade Minister Dan Tehan has attacked as a potentially protectionist measure.

President Joe Biden has said the US will introduce a carbon price, and will look at carbon border taxes on imports if necessary. China is also examining a broad-based domestic carbon price, although has evinced less support for carbon border taxes.

A combined US-EU carbon tariff would raise the prospect that some Australian exporters could face significant new costs even if Mr Morrison does not introduce a carbon price domestically.

Also speaking at the ACSI conference was Dr Graham Sinden, head of climate risk at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, who said the regulator’s work on comparing the country’s top bank’s preparedness for climate change was racing ahead.

The work, which is organising big lenders to analyse the exposure to climate-related risks of their balance sheets, was put on hold last year after the plan was announced on the same day Australia enacted emergency measures in relation to the then-growing coronavirus scare.

APRA was working with the five big banks and the Australian Banking Association to design the probe, and had “just recently handed that project over to the execution phase with the banks to commence working through understanding what the risks are to their balance sheets”, Mr Sinden said.

“We expect the outcomes of that, both from a quantitative perspective – understanding what risk looks like – and the potential influence of different climate pathways on risk after 2050, we expect that to be quite informative,” he said.

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(AU The Guardian) Coalition Believes It Has Numbers To Stop Great Barrier Reef Being Listed As ‘In Danger’

The Guardian - 

Exclusive: Diplomatic email suggests whirlwind lobbying trip by Sussan Ley has won over at least nine of 21 members on World Heritage Committee

Federal environment minister Sussan Ley spent eight days flying around Europe to lobby ambassadors from 18 countries for support against UNESCO Great Barrier Reef ‘in danger’ listing. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo

Australia’s global lobbying offensive to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the world heritage “in danger” list has secured support from at least nine of the 21-member committee that will make the decision, according to a diplomatic email seen by Guardian Australia.

 Australia’s Paris-based ambassador to UNESCO, Megan Anderson, said in the email she believed the government had won enough support to delay the decision on the “in danger” listing until at least 2023.


UNESCO says ‘in danger’ listing would be ‘call to action’ on Great Barrier Reef. Read more
It was sent on Saturday, shortly after the start of a two-week World Heritage Committee meeting in China that will decide whether to change the reef’s world heritage status. A decision on the reef is expected on Friday.

The federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, was due to return to Australia overnight from an eight-day lobbying trip that included flights to Hungary, France, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oman and the Maldives.

The minister’s office said she had met ambassadors from 18 countries either face-to-face or virtually.

The trip was to lobby against a recommendation by the UN’s science and culture organisation, UNESCO, that the reef be listed as “world heritage in danger” due to the impact of three mass coral bleaching events in five years, and slow progress to cut pollution from farms and properties.

Sussan Ley returned home after an eight-day lobbying trip that
included flights to Hungary, France, Spain and the Maldives
MAP
If the committee agrees, it would be the first time a world heritage site has been placed on the list due to damage from climate change. The committee is chaired this year by China.

In the email, Anderson said Bahrain, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ethiopia, Hungary, Mali, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, had indicated “they would like to co-author/co-sponsor” an amendment supporting Australia’s position.

In a document tabled to the committee early Wednesday those countries, as well as Russia and Spain, are listed as backing Australia.

Anderson said Australia believed the level of support would “send a good message about consensus and that the committee would not need to spend a lot of time discussing [the reef]”.

The amendment, which was submitted by Bahrain, would require a UNESCO monitoring mission to the reef and allow Australia to report back to the committee by December 2022. Any consideration for placing the reef on the danger list would be pushed back until at least 2023.

Last week, the Guardian revealed Australia had won the support of oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to co-sponsor “amendments” to be put to the committee that would see a decision delayed until the 2023 meeting of the committee.

Australia has argued UNESCO did not follow the normal process because it did not carry out a monitoring mission before making its recommendation. Australia also argued the decision had been politicised.

Environment groups, prominent Australians and a lineup of international figures from the worlds of entertainment, science and conservation have all backed UNESCO’s call.

Senior UNESCO officials have repeatedly rejected claims due process had not been followed and said an “in danger” listing was a chance to rally the world to the reef’s plight. Since the World Heritage Committee last considered the reef in 2015, corals across the world’s biggest reef system have been hit by mass bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020.

In the email, sent to ambassadors from more than 20 countries, Anderson supplied a scientific summary from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) which, she said, had found “widespread recovery of coral at key sites across the property”.

Record-breaking ocean temperatures over the Queensland reef in February 2020 led to the most widespread bleaching event on record. But since then, conditions have been benign, the Aims report said.

But the report said rising coral coverage was thanks to fast-growing species that were susceptible to storms and coral-eating starfish – and would probably be hit in the next bleaching event.

The minister has been flying in one of the RAAF’s three new Dassault Falcon 7X planes. Charges for previous ministerial flights on the same aircraft suggest the trips cost in the region of $4,200 an hour.

Joanna Lumley and Jason Momoa join prominent group backing Great Barrier Reef ‘in danger’ listing.  Read more
Last Thursday, the government hosted ambassadors from 13 countries and the EU for a day of snorkelling on Agincourt Reef, off Port Douglas, with reef envoy Warren Entsch.

Ley was accompanied on the Europe trip by the chief executive of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Josh Thomas.

Publicly available flight logs showed the RAAF plane crisscrossed Europe for meetings with members of the 21-country world heritage committee.

The plane landed in Budapest last Monday and then flew to Paris. On Wednesday, the plane flew to Madrid and back. On Friday, there was a return trip to Sarajevo.

The jet then flew to the Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives, via Oman, on Monday, where Ley met with the country’s environment minister and the country’s special climate change envoy.

A spokesperson for the minister said there was “strong appreciation of the minister’s concerns in regard to the absence of process from UNESCO”.

“The meetings included constructive and cordial conversations, including two with the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to UNESCO,” they said.

Australia had a strong relationship with all countries in the world heritage system, the spokesperson said, “as we work together to protect the world’s cultural and natural heritage”.

Imogen Zethoven, a consultant on world heritage for the Australian Marine Conservation Society who has also been briefing countries on the reef, said: “The trip by minister Ley is all about politics ahead of conservation.”

“The government wants to defer any decision about the Great Barrier Reef until after the next election. I hope committee members can see through this,” she said.

Richard Leck, head of oceans at WWF-Australia, said the recommendation from UNESCO to the committee was “based on the best available science”.

‘“It contains recommendations that are urgently needed to give the reef a fighting a chance.

“We urge the committee to assess whether to implement this draft decision based on the integrity of the science, not based on the lobbying efforts of the Australian government.”

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(Legal) Climate Change Cases Doubled Past Six Years

Environmental + Energy Leader - 

(Credit: Insurance Journal)

The number of climate change-related cases worldwide more than doubled in the past six years, according to recent data from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.

More than 1,000 cases globally have been brought in the last six years, since the Paris Agreement in 2015 — with 191 new climate change cases being filed between May 2020 and May 2021. This compares to about 800 cases filed from 1986 to 2014.

While the majority of claims since 1986 have been in the U.S. — with the EU and Australia being other jurisdictions with the highest volume of cases — in the past year, cases were filed for the first time in Guyana, Taiwan, the East African Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.

While claims against corporations have historically been dominated by cases against fossil fuel companies, claims are now being filed against a wider range of private sector organizations.

For example, in 2020, an action was brought against dairy company Fonterra claiming a duty of care to reduce emissions, and cases were also filed against companies with a more indirect role such as those in the financial services sector.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals are responsible for an increasing number of claims. And, ‘strategic’ cases, which aim to bring about some broader societal shift such as advancing climate policies, creating public awareness, or changing the behavior of government, are also dramatically on the rise.

A report from the UN Environment Program (UNEP) released earlier this year corroborates these findings. Key trends trends in climate litigation, according to the UNEP, include:
  • Violations of ‘climate rights’, i.e. fundamental human rights including the right to life, health, food, and water.
  • Failures of governments to enforce their commitments on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
  • ‘Greenwashing’ and non-disclosures, when corporate messaging contains false or misleading information about climate change impacts.
The Grantham Institute researchers predict that climate change litigation will continue to grow and diversify.

Growth areas include supply and value chain litigation; cases challenging government support to the fossil fuel industry; and so-called ‘just transition’ cases, in which claimants oppose climate change adaptation or mitigation projects due to their impacts on the environment and communities.

Corporations should also be wary of potential actions that can occur outside of the courtroom, explain Mark Clarke and Clare Connellan, partners at international law firm White & Case.

The rising sense of urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change has prompted shareholders to utilize traditional business mechanisms, such as voting on environmental resolutions at annual meetings to decrease the company’s carbon footprint.

In the last year, shareholders at a number of financial and energy companies have proposed and voted in favor of setting climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement, though not all have passed.

Some companies are also being asked by their shareholders to disclose how their business models will be compatible with a net zero economy.

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21/07/2021

(USA VICE) MIT Predicted In 1972 That Society Will Collapse This Century. New Research Shows We’re On Schedule.

VICE - Nafeez Ahmed

A 1972 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study predicted that rapid economic growth would lead to societal collapse in the mid 21st century. A new paper shows we’re unfortunately right on schedule.

Image: Getty

A remarkable new study by a director at one of the largest accounting firms in the world has found that a famous, decades-old warning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about the risk of industrial civilization collapsing appears to be accurate based on new empirical data. 

As the world looks forward to a rebound in economic growth following the devastation wrought by the pandemic, the research raises urgent questions about the risks of attempting to simply return to the pre-pandemic ‘normal.’

In 1972, a team of MIT scientists got together to study the risks of civilizational collapse. Their system dynamics model published by the Club of Rome identified impending ‘limits to growth’ (LtG) that meant industrial civilization was on track to collapse sometime within the 21st century, due to overexploitation of planetary resources.

The controversial MIT analysis generated heated debate, and was widely derided at the time by pundits who misrepresented its findings and methods. But the analysis has now received stunning vindication from a study written by a senior director at professional services giant KPMG, one of the 'Big Four' accounting firms as measured by global revenue.

Limits to growth

The study was published in the Yale Journal of Industrial Ecology in November 2020 and is available on the KPMG website. It concludes that the current business-as-usual trajectory of global civilization is heading toward the terminal decline of economic growth within the coming decade—and at worst, could trigger societal collapse by around 2040.

The study represents the first time a top analyst working within a mainstream global corporate entity has taken the ‘limits to growth’ model seriously. Its author, Gaya Herrington, is Sustainability and Dynamic System Analysis Lead at KPMG in the United States. However, she decided to undertake the research as a personal project to understand how well the MIT model stood the test of time. 

New Report Suggests ‘High Likelihood of Human Civilization Coming to an End’ Starting in 2050
The study itself is not affiliated or conducted on behalf of KPMG, and does not necessarily reflect the views of KPMG.

Herrington performed the research as an extension of her Masters thesis at Harvard University in her capacity as an advisor to the Club of Rome.

However, she is quoted explaining her project on the KPMG website as follows: 

“Given the unappealing prospect of collapse, I was curious to see which scenarios were aligning most closely with empirical data today. After all, the book that featured this world model was a bestseller in the 70s, and by now we’d have several decades of empirical data which would make a comparison meaningful. But to my surprise I could not find recent attempts for this. So I decided to do it myself.”

Titled ‘Update to limits to growth: Comparing the World3 model with empirical data’, the study attempts to assess how MIT’s ‘World3’ model stacks up against new empirical data.

Previous studies that attempted to do this found that the model’s worst-case scenarios accurately reflected real-world developments. However, the last study of this nature was completed in 2014. 

The risk of collapse

Herrington’s new analysis examines data across 10 key variables, namely population, fertility rates, mortality rates, industrial output, food production, services, non-renewable resources, persistent pollution, human welfare, and ecological footprint.

She found that the latest data most closely aligns with two particular scenarios, ‘BAU2’ (business-as-usual) and ‘CT’ (comprehensive technology). 

“BAU2 and CT scenarios show a halt in growth within a decade or so from now,” the study concludes.

“Both scenarios thus indicate that continuing business as usual, that is, pursuing continuous growth, is not possible. Even when paired with unprecedented technological development and adoption, business as usual as modelled by LtG would inevitably lead to declines in industrial capital, agricultural output, and welfare levels within this century.”

Study author Gaya Herrington told Motherboard that in the MIT World3 models, collapse “does not mean that humanity will cease to exist,” but rather that “economic and industrial growth will stop, and then decline, which will hurt food production and standards of living… In terms of timing, the BAU2 scenario shows a steep decline to set in around 2040.”


The ‘Business-as-Usual’ scenario (Source: Herrington, 2021)
The end of growth?

In the comprehensive technology (CT) scenario, economic decline still sets in around this date with a range of possible negative consequences, but this does not lead to societal collapse.


The ‘Comprehensive Technology’ scenario (Source: Herrington, 2021)

Unfortunately, the scenario which was the least closest fit to the latest empirical data happens to be the most optimistic pathway known as ‘SW’ (stabilized world), in which civilization follows a sustainable path and experiences the smallest declines in economic growth—based on a combination of technological innovation and widespread investment in public health and education.


The ‘Stabilized World’ Scenario (Source: Herrington, 2021)
Although both the business-as-usual and comprehensive technology scenarios point to the coming end of economic growth in around 10 years, only the BAU2 scenario “shows a clear collapse pattern, whereas CT suggests the possibility of future declines being relatively soft landings, at least for humanity in general.” 

Both scenarios currently “seem to align quite closely not just with observed data,” Herrington concludes in her study, indicating that the future is open.   

A window of opportunity

While focusing on the pursuit of continued economic growth for its own sake will be futile, the study finds that technological progress and increased investments in public services could not just avoid the risk of collapse, but lead to a new stable and prosperous civilization operating safely within planetary boundaries. But we really have only the next decade to change course. 

“At this point therefore, the data most aligns with the CT and BAU2 scenarios which indicate a slowdown and eventual halt in growth within the next decade or so, but World3 leaves open whether the subsequent decline will constitute a collapse,” the study concludes.

Although the ‘stabilized world’ scenario “tracks least closely, a deliberate trajectory change brought about by society turning toward another goal than growth is still possible. The LtG work implies that this window of opportunity is closing fast.” 

In a presentation at the World Economic Forum in 2020 delivered in her capacity as a KPMG director, Herrington argued for ‘agrowth’—an agnostic approach to growth which focuses on other economic goals and priorities.  

“Changing our societal priorities hardly needs to be a capitulation to grim necessity,” she said. “Human activity can be regenerative and our productive capacities can be transformed. In fact, we are seeing examples of that happening right now. Expanding those efforts now creates a world full of opportunity that is also sustainable.” 

She noted how the rapid development and deployment of vaccines at unprecedented rates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that we are capable of responding rapidly and constructively to global challenges if we choose to act. We need exactly such a determined approach to the environmental crisis.

“The necessary changes will not be easy and pose transition challenges but a sustainable and inclusive future is still possible,” said Herrington. 

The best available data suggests that what we decide over the next 10 years will determine the long-term fate of human civilization.

Although the odds are on a knife-edge, Herrington pointed to a “rapid rise” in environmental, social and good governance priorities as a basis for optimism, signalling the change in thinking taking place in both governments and businesses.

She told me that perhaps the most important implication of her research is that it’s not too late to create a truly sustainable civilization that works for all.

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(AU ABC) Great Barrier Reef In 'Recovery' But Experts Say Progress Will Be Threatened By Climate-Related Disturbances

ABC North Qld - Chloe Chomicki

AIMS researchers surveyed 127 coral reefs in 2021 to assess the health of the reef. (Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)

Key Points
  • Coral cover is rising across the Great Barrier Reef
  • The "recovery window" is due to a break in climate-related disturbances
  • Experts believe the progress could be short lived
The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing a rare window of recovery due to a break in weather and bleaching events according to the latest observations from marine scientists.

According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science's Annual Summary Report on Coral Reef Condition, which was released today, conditions have been relatively good for coral recovery during 2020-21. 

Researchers surveyed 127 reefs and found that at least 69 had seen an increase in hard coral cover since they were last surveyed.

"This indicates that recovery is well underway, after a particularly intense decade of disturbances prior to this," monitoring team leader Mike Emslie said.

"We've had very few acute disturbances this year," Dr Emslie said.

"There were no sustained heatwaves leading to coral bleaching, there were no large tropical cyclones.
"Essentially the Great Barrier Reef has had a bit of a breather."
AIMS researchers are towed over the Great Barrier Reef to conduct surveys. (Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)

The improvements come after the Great Barrier Reef experienced its most widespread bleaching event on record early last year.

Dr Emslie said the majority of the coral cover growth was driven by common, fast-growing table and branching corals.

However, he said these corals were the most vulnerable.

"Their fast growth comes at a bit of a cost, their skeletons aren't as dense as other corals," Dr Emslie said.

AIMS has warned that the recovery the Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing is likely to be short-lived with the "increasing prominence" of climate-related disturbances.

"The biggest risk to the reef going forward is climate change," AIMS chief executive Paul Hardisty said.
"We must reduce emissions if the Great Barrier Reef and frankly other reefs around the world are going to continue to exist in the state in which we recognise them today," Dr Hardisty said.
Dr Paul Hardisty delivered an update on the reef's condition in Townsville. (ABC North Qld: Chloe Chomicki)

The World Heritage Committee, which sits under UNESCO, made a draft recommendation to list the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger" in June.

The decision is expected to be finalised at a meeting in China in the coming days.

AIMS declined to comment on the World Heritage Committee recommendation.

However, research program leader Britta Schaffelke said the latest observations of the Great Barrier Reef did not change a grim outlook which was delivered by the institute in 2019.

"The outlook report assessed the future outlook for the reef to be very poor," Dr Schaffelke said.

"The reef outlook into the future is still very poor because of the dangers of climate change and other factors."

'Incredibly rare moment'

The World Wildlife Fund's  Richard Leck said the report told a story of hope and one of a warning. 

"It's great to see the reef still has resilience and we have seen some significant bounce back in coral species," he said.

"But this is an incredibly rare moment in time where we haven't had extreme heat events or crown of thorns outbreaks.

"Those events are more likely to continue into the future."

Mr Leck said the report strengthened arguments to list the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger".

"This report reinforces the importance of the decision faced by the World Heritage Committee this week," he said.

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(The Guardian) Politicians From Across World Call For ‘Global Green Deal’ To Tackle Climate Crisis

The Guardian -  

New alliance urges governments to work together to deliver a just transition to a green economy

Flood damage in Schuld, Germany on Sunday. Ilhan Omar, a US congresswoman for Minnesota, said the recent extreme weather around the world should serve as a warning. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

People around the world need a “global green deal” that would tackle the climate crisis and restore the natural world as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of politicians from the UK, Europe and developing countries has said.

The Global Alliance for a Green New Deal is inviting politicians from legislatures in all countries to work together on policies that would deliver a just transition to a green economy ahead of Cop26 UN climate talks in Glasgow this November.

The alliance includes Caroline Lucas, the Green party’s only MP, and Labour’s Clive Lewis, as well as MEPs, representatives in Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia and the US among other countries.

Ilhan Omar, a US congresswoman for Minnesota, said the recent extreme weather in the US and around the world should serve as a warning:

“Climate change is here and it is an existential threat to humanity. We have already seen the horrifying repercussions of failing to act – wildfires raging across the west coast [of the US], extreme hurricanes, heatwaves in Australia, massive flooding around the world. Natural disasters like these will only get worse unless we act as a global community to counteract this devastation.”

How data could save Earth from climate change.  Read more
The alliance wants governments to put measures in place that would boost the green economy as well as collaborating on global vaccine access for Covid and debt restructuring for the world’s poorest nations.

They will seek to share knowledge around the world of successful initiatives, such as the decarbonisation plan recently put forward in Costa Rica.

Many government leaders have promised to “build back better” from the pandemic but few countries are investing in the new infrastructure needed.

Recent research by Vivid Economics found that only about a tenth of the $17tn being spent globally on rescuing stricken economies was going on projects that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions or restore nature.

However, more than $3tn was being poured into measures and industries that actively harmed the environment, such as coal and other fossil fuels.

Manon Aubry, a French MEP, said governments must focus on social justice and the climate:

“As the consequences of the climate crisis become more and more alarming, inequalities are growing and the poorest are hit hardest by the impacts of a changing climate. If we want fair, systematic and effective climate policies, we need a radical shift away from free trade and free-market ideology.”

The alliance currently has 21 members from 19 countries. Joenia Wapichana, the first indigenous woman ever to be elected federal representative in Brazil, said: “I understand how important it is that we all take responsibility for a green new deal.

"That’s why I am joining this alliance – to join forces so my work in parliament can contribute to the strengthening of the legislative process in defence of collective rights, the environment and in defence of indigenous peoples.”

Paola Vega, Costa Rican congresswoman and president of the special permanent commission for the environment of the legislative assembly of the Republic of Costa Rica, said a green deal would require a transformation of the way governments treat ecological problems, and in the way people live.

“Unless our countries, and the diverse alliances and range of powers that govern them, create enough pressure for collective action that changes the rules of the game, we will fall short of the urgent measures that we need to be able to address the massive challenges that we face today,” she said.

“It’s important that we are clear that this means an absolute change of paradigm: a change in the way we live, the way we consume and produce.”

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20/07/2021

(AU SMH) Northern Hemisphere’s Awful Summer Demands Climate Action

Sydney Morning Herald - Editorial

The floods in Germany and heatwaves in North America show the dangers but the federal government makes only lazy excuses.
Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne. (AP)

The lockdowns are grabbing a lot of the headlines here in Australia but the disastrous floods, droughts and bushfires in the northern hemisphere summer should be a reminder that climate change poses an even more serious threat than COVID-19.

In Germany and Belgium, flooding from an unprecedented weather event has killed at least 170 people and devastated ancient towns that have stood untouched for centuries. Meanwhile, last month, the town of Lytton in Canada’s snow forest recorded a freakishly high temperature of 49.6 degrees shortly before wildfires burnt it to the ground. Along the west coast of the United States, wildfires of extraordinary extent and ferocity are still raging out of control. Californians have been asked to cut water use by 15 per cent because of a historic drought.

Of course in the developing world, the disasters are just as severe if less widely reported here.

Development
Why a killer US heatwave points to a stifling future for our cities
These tragedies are all consistent with decades of scientific predictions of the likely impacts of human-induced climate change. It is actually happening. Global temperatures are already 1.2 degrees higher on average than a century ago and they are set to rise 5 degrees this century on the current trajectory.

Yet in the same week that our televisions are full of this compelling evidence of the urgency for strong action to fight climate change, the federal government continues to avoid making strong commitments and to abrogate what many view as our responsibilities as global citizens.

It remains Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s “preference” that Australia adopts a target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, a goal that climate scientists say is still likely to be slower than required to hold the global temperature rise below an average of 2 degrees.

Yet he faces renewed opposition within his own government. Returned National Party leader Barnaby Joyce told The Australian Financial Review that he would lose his leadership if he even contemplated agreeing to such a target.

In an interview on ABC TV on Sunday, he added that he would not accept the target until he knows “what is involved”. This is a lazy excuse. As NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean said on Twitter, Mr Joyce “is as well placed as anyone to see ‘what’s involved’ and come up with a plan.”

Paris Agreement
Liberal MPs call for net zero by 2050 but Steggall’s climate bill rejected by committee
This week, the government also appeared to threaten to fight the next stage of the European Union’s climate policies, which include a so-called carbon border adjustment tax.

From 2026, the EU will impose a tariff on carbon-intensive imports such as steel and aluminium from countries that are not matching its climate policies, such as a carbon tax.

Even before reading the EU’s plan, Trade Minister Dan Tehan attacked the measure as “protectionist”, joining with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in opposing it. Yet his opposition will be seen as ideological, since very few Australian exports will be affected directly.

The Herald agrees with the Australian Industry Group, a business lobby group, which says the new tax is an opportunity rather than a threat for Australia.

It says the tariff has been designed to “create a level playing field by ensuring exporters to the EU are paying the same carbon price that European producers have to under the EU emissions trading scheme”. It has said that measures seem fair at first glance and has called on the federal government to talk to the EU.

The latest climate change-driven disasters in the northern hemisphere will only increase the pressure on Australia to drop the obfuscation and announce serious action ahead of the important United Nations Climate Conference, due to take place in Glasgow in November.

Australia must start taking action itself and embrace the opportunities presented on the international stage. Fighting the inevitable transition away from fossil fuels will only do further harm to our reputation at home and abroad – let alone that done to the environment.

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