Global warming: Australia urgently needs potent climate policies

Date

January 25, 2016

• (29)
Last month, amid great fanfare and excessive self-congratulations, the representatives of 200 nations at UN-sponsored climate change talks in Paris hailed a general agreement to curb carbon emissions. The covenant, which takes effect in 2020, is intended to limit the potential rise in average global temperatures to "well below 2 degrees" and, ideally, to less than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The obvious, but unanswered, question is how this will be done in practice, especially here in Australia, where there is neither a carbon emissions trading scheme (a market-based system) nor a punitive system for taxing big polluters.

The issue is urgent. Data published last week – by NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and by Britain's Met Office in conjunction with the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit – confirmed the average surface temperature is already 1 degree above the average temperatures recorded in the second half of the 19th century.

Last year, the average global temperature was the highest ever recorded, being 0.75 to 1 degree above the long-term average (deemed the period from 1961 to 1990) and surpassing scientists' most pessimistic forecasts of 0.52 to 0.76 degrees higher.

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The Age applauds NASA's comments on this: policymakers must take note. Now is the time to act on climate change. There can be no more pretending, and no more playing base political games.

The Abbott government raucously celebrated on the day it repealed the Gillard government's carbon tax. Its justifications were pitched around the financial impost on businesses (which, of course, was the point of the tax), the pass-on costs to households, perceived curtailment of economic growth, and the bureaucracy that evolved from the Gillard government's legislation.

The latter should have been a simple matter of the government tidying its processes and streamlining the system, rather than a rationale for scrapping the policy. The rest was ideology and false rhetoric.

In 2009, when Malcolm Turnbull was leader of the Coalition in opposition, he strongly supported a market-linked emissions-reduction scheme proposed by the Rudd government. His refusal to bow to the climate change deniers in the conservative ranks ultimately cost him the Liberal leadership. Dangerously shallow and regressive policies from the Coalition followed.

That was to the detriment of Australia, not to its good. In this election year, The Age urges the major political parties to develop comprehensive, cogent and effective policies to reduce carbon emissions. We urge them to formulate market-based emissions-reduction mechanisms, to encourage business in all sectors to dramatically cut emissions, and to facilitate broad-scale development of sustainable energy systems.

Meanwhile, the development and expansion of coal mines and coal-seam fracking ventures continues apace. Now we learn that the federal Environment Department has waived certain environment conditions for several coal mines, a move the government says is intended to reduce bureaucracy.

Coal, which fuels power stations and is an ingredient in the steel-making process, is a vital contributor to Australia's economy. Federal and state governments derive many billions of dollars from mining, through corporate taxes and royalties. And mining and mining-related activities generate thousands of jobs.

But climate change represents an unusually urgent social policy matter that must not be trumped by disingenuous arguments about economic growth, nor traded away in the back corridors of Parliament. Australia must introduce a comprehensive, potent, whole-of-nation scheme to ensure carbon emissions are slashed.

note:

• last month, the  the representatives of 200 nations at UN-sponsored climate change has a general agreementv which limit the potential rise in average global temperatures to curb carbon emissions.

• Australia is neither a carbon emissions trading scheme (a market-based system) nor a punitive system for taxing big polluters.
• There are a lot of evidences to show that the pratical temperature of global warming surpass the most pessimistic forecasts.
• The Abbott government raucously celebrated on the day it repealed the Gillard government's carbon tax.
• Australia has do a lot effort to cut the emmistions.

summery: Accoeding to many evidences of global warming, many country has this kind of sence which cut emmisions as possible as they can, include in Australia. Climate change will effect our enviornment which we are living, so some people would like to adopt some politics to prevent the emviornment of distriment.




personal reflection: I think the global warming is serious than before. we have to take action to protect our air. Try our best to stop emission of carbon. Even everybody make a little efforts, the world will make big difference to us.