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https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-to-break-the-stranglehold-fossil-fuels-have-on-our-politics-184748>
"In the wake of the Green and Teal wave that crashed through the federal
parliament, attention has inevitably turned to what the new crossbenchers will
say and do about climate policy.
So far, attention has focused on Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target,
and whether the Teals will pressure the new Labor government to increase its
relatively unambitious) target, to which it has now formally committed.
There’s a much more important question to ask. That is, how will any new target
actually be reached?
The history of Australian climate policy — under both Labor and Coalition
governments — shows very clearly that our large and powerful fossil fuel
industry and its political clients are adept at devising “innovative” ways to
ensure targets are achieved without obstructing the Lemming-like march toward
ever more coal and gas production.
Cynical? Hardly. We’ve met previous targets not by shrinking the fossil fuel
industry, but through accounting tricks using inscrutable “land sector
abatement”. The Morrison government took this to new levels, allowing its
signature Emissions Reduction Fund to become a super-generator of dodgy offsets
and a figleaf for the expansion of the gas industry.
Our previous government even projected it would meet its 2050 net zero
emissions target through a combination of business-as-usual and unspecified
“technological breakthroughs”.
Australians are now paying the price in not only climatic terms, but also
financial terms, for being too dependent on polluting methane gas and on
electricity produced from ageing, unreliable and even-more-polluting coal-fired
power generators.
Both Teal independents and Greens have built their reputations on restoring
integrity to politics. This gives them a mandate to scrutinise accounting
rules, offset methodologies and assumptions behind whatever target Labor sets.
That’s a start. But to foster climate politics based on integrity, they’ll have
to go much further to get to the root of the problem."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
