It's Three Months since the Paris Climate Summit. What has Turnbull Done?

by Naharnet Newsdesk 24 March 2016, 11:50

Globally there are many well-known names who have raised concerns about climate change: the Pope, Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio, Prince Charles, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Rockefeller Foundation.

In Australia too, a broad range of voices have added their concerns and fears to the debate: firefighters who can no longer protect people or houses as we battle increasingly extreme weather conditions, 90% of Australian youth who last year said climate change was an important issue for them, farmers who see the effects of climate change on their properties every day, doctors who stress the deadly impact of heatwaves on the elderly, very young and those with existing health problems, climate scientists, David Pocock, Cate Blanchett, the tens of thousands of protestors who took to the streets in climate marches held across the country in November 2015 … the list goes on.

A global chorus of voices applauded the historic climate change agreement reached in December 2015 in Paris, including Ban Ki-moon, Francois Hollande and representatives from the nearly 200 countries who took part in the negotiations.

The deal, which agreed to limit global warming to well below 2C and eliminate the use of fossil fuels coal, oil and gas for energy, was openly adopted by the Australian Government. In Paris, foreign minister Julie Bishop said “our work here is done and now we can return home to implement this historic agreement. This is a pivotal moment.”

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull declared Australia’s support for this new agreement, calling it “good for our environment, good for our economies”.

So now, three months after the Paris climate summit, how has the Australian government begun “to implement this historic agreement”? Have those voices speaking out for climate reform been heard? What steps have been taken?

Between December 2015 and March 2016 we’ve seen Australian government cuts result in the slashing of over 100 jobs at the government’s peak agency for climate science research, the CSIRO. The Minerals Council of Australia, which wields significant influence over Australia’s current coalition government, is still running “Coal. It’s an amazing thing’” advertisements on commercial radio and television stations across the country.

Bipartisan support continues for the go ahead of one of the world’s largest coal mines in QLD, the Adani Carmichael mine, despite multiple protests from Indigenous and environmental groups as well as Australian Federal Court and funding setbacks – Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Standard Chartered among others have refused to fund the project.

At a time when investing in the fossil fuel sector doesn’t even make financial or business sense, $5.5 billion of financial investments have been made by the custodians of the majority of Australia’s money – Australia’s big four banks, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and the ANZ.

Australians with BHP investments by their superannuation funds were understandably worried about their retirement futures following the February announcement by the mining giant of losses totalling $7.8 billion due to the end of Australia’s mining investment boom and plummeting global oil prices.

Three months isn’t a long time, but long enough to see which voices the Australian government is listening to. Despite the broad range of voices in Australia and globally pleading for action on climate change – not to mention the science or the cold hard facts – the current Australian Government does not seem to be listening.

Australia’s average annual temperature in 2015 was up 0.16C from 2014, with climate change a major factor. Climate scientists clearly state that our energy mix must transition away from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy in order to keep global warning below 2C.

How many more voices can one government ignore? If the last three months are anything to go by, a lot.

For almost half of Australian voters, a poll launched in March indicated that climate change and renewable energy policies will influence the way they vote. This is exciting. Let’s hope the upcoming federal election provides an opportunity for the public to hold our current government to account.

SOURCE: www.theguardian.com - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/22/its-three-months-since-the-paris-climate-summit-what-has-turnbull-done

Check the Lebanon Climate Change website: www.moe.gov.lb/climatechange

This segment is brought to you through a partnership between the UNDP Climate Change Team at the Ministry of Environment in Lebanon and the NAHARNET team. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any party/institution.

Source: Zhou Lei/Xinhua Press/Corbis

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