The climate crisis is heating Australia faster than other nations and answers to Greens questions at Senate Estimates today confirm Australia will warm by ‘closer to 4 degrees’, not the 2 degrees agreed to in the Paris Agreement on climate change, with Scott Morrison marching us on a path towards death.

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt has warned that achieving net zero emissions by 2050 while opening new coal mines will not save us from the climate emergency, and called on Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison to commit to a strong 2030 target and a plan to phase out coal.
 
Today, Labor Leader Anthony Albanese committed the party to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, however he refused to indicate a 2030 target or commit to concrete steps to cut pollution and tackle the climate crisis.

Adam Bandt MP said:

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt has slammed Anthony Albanese’s move to adopt a net zero by 2050 pollution target, saying it will blow the 2 degrees budget and mean Australia gives up on the Paris agreement.

It is expected that Anthony Albanese will tomorrow announce that Labor will adopt a target of net-zero by 2050, without any target for 2030. Based on current projections, a simple straight-line reduction from 2022-2050 would blow Australia’s ‘2 degrees’ budget (as determined by the Climate Change Authority) and would likely exceed the 2 degrees budget as early as 2034. 

The Australian Government’s push for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a low-emissions fossil fuel has been exposed with a new report finding no evidence LNG  is any ‘cleaner’ than coal.

The Conservation Council of Western Australia’s Clean State report states an international review of LNG infrastructure found the threat to the climate from LNG is ‘as large or larger than coal’ when levels of methane emissions are included.