Searching for Australia’s Climate Tipping Point


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One of the first stories I wrote when I went to Australia focused on climate change and climate change. damaging effect on the Great Barrier Reef. Four years later, the consequences of a warming planet have become more visible with fires, droughts and extreme storms, but Australia’s policy settings have not changed to suit the urgency of the problem.

At the federal level, the government is debating whether to make a commitment that most developed countries (and a few Australian states) have already adopted: net zero emissions by 2050.

And that’s probably not enough. Just days away from next month’s UN climate conference in Scotland, many of Australia’s closest allies – including the United States, the United Kingdom and many of its Pacific neighbors – have made it clear that the country is lagging behind and must do. more to reduce its emissions this decade and move away from its role as a major fossil fuel user and exporter.

Australia’s audacious inaction is already affecting the country’s image. as i wrote in a piece of news analysis This week, at a time when coal is being treated more and more as a hazard wherever coal is burned, Australia is increasingly looking like the man selling cheap cigarettes at the end of the bar and promising to bring more tomorrow.

As Adam Bandt, leader of the Australian Greens, explained to me in an interview, the world is finally starting to see Australia for what it is: a petro-state where the coal and gas industries run policy by challenging what the world is. to reduce greenhouse gases.

Indeed, the only two countries worldwide to send more carbon-heavy energy are Saudi Arabia and Russia – notorious climate disruptors. Australia is in that camp now.

And yet, outside of government, the urgency is rising and a lot is already changing. Payment My story about Andrew Forrest from last weekend. It seeks to decarbonize its giant iron ore mining company by 2030 and turn it into a hydrogen superpower. I spent a week seeing what he’s doing in Western Australia, and while there are huge challenges ahead, he’s convinced that Australia will eventually become a renewable energy leader and is willing to invest billions of dollars to make it happen.

Independent Zali Steggall, who ousted Tony Abbott in 2019 with a climate-focused campaign, also told me that he sees room for optimism. There is more interest in getting independent candidates to campaign for a change in climate policy in the next election. Climate science has also become more precise, instilling a new sense of urgency around the world and hopes that it will eventually reach Australia.

“The day of reckoning is coming,” he said.

“Am I disappointed, yes,” he added, “but this is not a war we can leave because the alternative is incomprehensible. We just have to keep pushing everyone forward.”

Frankly, according to science right now the pace is slow, very slow.

“We are at a tipping point between old and new,” said Mr. Bandt. “Right now, he is struggling to survive.”

The question is: When will newer, cleaner lifestyles take their place? When will the rate of change accelerate in Australia and elsewhere – and soon enough to prevent irreversible damage from forever rising temperatures?

Now here are the stories of the week.




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