The
“climate wars” are far from over in Australia.
The Labor Party’s commitment to a zero net emissions target for 2050 has
predicably drawn fire from the Federal Government which claims that the cost of
this is too great.
Again,
predictably, the Federal Government forgets that the 2050 target is regarded as
necessary by the IPCC scientists to keep temperature increases below three
degrees Celsius. Also it does not appear to understand – again predictably – that
there is a cost, which is likely to be very great, of doing nothing.
Furthermore it does not appear to recognise that
all Australian State Governments have already committed to the 2050 target and
will be doing the heavy lifting while it continues on its mindless do-nothing
path.
Leading
businesses are already committing to a 2050 zero net emissions target. A recent example is global resources giant
Rio Tinto. It plans to spend US$1 billion over the next 5 years to reduce its
carbon emissions and is committed to a 15% reduction of current emissions by
2030.
Rio’s
CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques gave the example of what was planned for one of its
Pilbara operations. An investment of around US$100 million would provide a 34
MW solar photovoltaic plant and a battery system of 12 MW per hour storage
system.
Former
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, speaking at an Informa conference of energy
executives, strongly criticised the
Canberra political debate about net zero emissions saying it was false and
misleading because the target was not something that was optional.
He said,
“The fires of this last summer will seem like a very, very mild experience
compared to what a three degrees Celsius (warmer) world will look like.”
He
believes we have the engineering and economics to move to a zero emissions
energy sector which will deliver cheaper and cleaner and reliable energy.
Moving
to zero net emissions obviously relies on other sectors of the economy such as
transport and agriculture as well as energy.
The
pressure on the Federal Government to take effective action in the national
interest will continue to increase in coming months.
- Leonie Blain
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on March 2, 2020.
