EXTREME WEATHER IN 2018 - CLIMATE COUNCIL REPORT

The Climate Council recently published a new report - "Weather gone wild: Climate change-fuelled extreme weather in 2018".  It discusses extreme weather globally as well as in Australia.

There are four key findings.

The first is that the past four years have been the four hottest on record for global surface temperature;  this continues a long-term warming trend.  In 2018 the global average surface temperature was between 0.9 and 1.1 degrees celsius above temperatures in the late 19th century.  In Australia last year the surface air temperature was 1.14 degrees celsius above the 1961-1990 average. It was the third hottest year on record. And 2018 was the warmest on record in the oceans, surpassing the previous record set in 2017.

The second finding is that climate change is increasing the frequency and/or severity of extreme weather both globally and in Australia. These extreme events are occurring in an atmosphere that contains more energy than it did 50 years ago.  In 2018 extreme weather included extreme heat in many parts of the Australia, as well as severe bushfires in New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. While intense rainfall led to flooding in north Queensland, southwestern Western Australia and Hobart in Tasmania, southern Australia was in drought.

Events in other parts of the world included intense hurricanes in the United States southeast and record-breaking wildfires in California.  Scandinavia suffered from extreme heat and Sweden had severe fires while drought in South Africa created a water supply crisis in Capetown.

The third finding is that the impacts of extreme weather last year have been both damaging and costly.  Economic losses associated with weather-related disasters are estimated at US $215 billion globally.  In 2018 in Australia insurance payouts  (only a small part of the total costs of extreme weather) were $1.2 billion following major extreme weather events.

And the current eastern Australian drought is likely to cut the country's GDP growth in 2018-19 by 0.75% or up to $12.5 billion.

All of these impacts have resulted in the fourth finding which relates to our nation's lack of an effective climate policy. 

The Climate Council points out that Australia's current climate policy is "an abject failure, with greenhouse gas pollution increasing over the past four years."  What is needed is a policy which drives down emissions across all sectors - electricity, transport, industry, agriculture and land use.  This should be directed to reducing emissions by 45-65% below 2005 levels by 2030 "as recommended by the Climate Change Authority in 2015".

Australia is doing so poorly currently that it will fall short of its much weaker 2030 target of a 26-28% reduction in greenhouse gas pollution below 2005 levels.

The message is very clear.  Extreme weather events generated by climate change are increasing in both frequency and intensity. We need governments at all levels to accept this reality and to act urgently to cut drastically our greenhouse emissions.

CLIMATE COUNCIL REPORT ON DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA

The Climate Council  is an independent organisation which provides the Australian community with information on climate change.  It was formed after the Abbott Federal Government abolished the Climate Commission, as  part of its policy of dismantling  instrumentalities set up by the previous government to monitor and take action on climate change. The new Climate Council received significant finance from the community through crowd funding.

The Council's new report Thirsty country: Climate change and drought in Australia which is based on studies from a variety of sources, including the CSIRO and Australian Bureau of Meteorology, points to changes affecting southern Australia which have become increasingly obvious in recent years.

The report discusses changes in rainfall patterns which are resulting in less rain in areas such as south-western Western Australia and southern South Australia - particularly in winter and spring, the seasons when these regions formerly received their major rainfall.  Other parts of the south of the continent are also receiving less rainfall.  And in addition temperatures are increasing with longer periods of hot extremes.  Diminishing rainfall and increased temperatures will lead to more periods of drought .

Some of the effects of drought which will be exacerbated as a result of their increased frequency are:

• Economic impacts which include a decline in agricultural production which creates difficulties for farmers and damages both regional economies and the national economy. A further impact on the economy is the high cost of provision of drought support to farmers.
• Human health impacts.  Included in these is an increase in suicide levels.
• Environmental impacts including loss of biodiversity both terrestial and aquatic.  A recent example has been the death of large numbers of  River Red Gums along the Murray River during the millenium Drought (1996-2010).  Many of these trees were hundreds of years old.
• Impacts on urban water supplies. Diminished rainfall in the south of the continent will have serious ramifications for many urban areas and for the major cities of Perth, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. These major cities have a combined population of 13 million people (more than half of Australia's current population).

The Report  provides a very clear call for effective action on climate change.  It is obviously in our national interest that all levels of Australian governments as well as community members take action and strongly support international action to limit carbon emissions.

The following action needs to be taken in this country as a matter of urgency:

• Encourage the expansion of renewable energy.  This means a decision must be made on the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to end the uncertainty for the renewables industry - an important employer of Australians.  The RET should be maintained at a high level - not watered down as the Federal Government wants because of its cosiness with the fossil fuel industries.
• Phase out coal-mining.  There should be no new coal mines - and that includes proposed new coal mines in the Galilee Basin (Qld) and Liverpool Plains (NSW).
• Close Australia's dirtiest power stations. (The dirtiest is brown-coal fired Hazelwood in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.)
• Phase out unconventional gas production in the areas where it is already operating and ban any further development of unconventional gas-mining (CSG etc.)
• Implementation of a scheme which puts an effective price on carbon -not the wishy-washy "pay the polluter" scheme which is the Federal Government's "Direct Action" plan.

The Climate Council's Report on climate change and drought.