Since the Prime Minister’s announcement this week of the climate action commitment he will take to Glasgow, we now know the truth.
The Australian Coalition government’s ‘Plan’ for climate action is in fact a plan to continue its inaction, in spite of the massive support by the Australian people and business community for significant and urgent action.
Mr Morrison will present a forecast emissions cut of 35 per cent by 2030 at next week’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, but it will be as a result of state initiatives not federal action, and not be a binding target. Anything less than halving our emissions by 2030 means Australia will keep fuelling devastating climate change and keep missing out on the economic opportunities of the global energy transition.
A net zero target by 2050 is fundamentally incompatible with new coal or gas, yet Australia’s emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, has declared he will promote Australia as a good place to invest in fossil fuel projects at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.OP
In contrast, the Biden administration has said a vast spending bill is set to result in the ‘largest effort to combat climate change in American history’, with hundreds of billions of dollars set to be funnelled into supporting clean energy, electric vehicles and new defences against extreme weather events. This proposed framework includes $555 billion in incentives, investments and tax credits aimed at bolstering the deployment of renewable energy such as solar and wind, as well as a tax break that will deliver up to $12,500 to people who buy an electric car. The bill will help deploy new electric buses and trucks, build community resilience to disastrous wildfires and floods and employ 300,000 people in a new ‘civilian climate corps’. In all, the White House said the legislation would cut planet-heating emissions by one billion tons by 2030 and bring the US significantly closer to its goal of slashing carbon pollution in half this decade.
The best action we can suggest for you this week is GetUp’s (link). Let’s get everyone we know fired up and prepared to show the government this isn’t what we want.
Grandparents for Climate Action Now 