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https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-business-lobbies-seem-happy-to-let-the-country-burn-what-will-federal-labor-do/>
"It is the writer Oscar Wilde who is credited with the quote: “The cynic knows
the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Although I do have to admit
the first time I came across it was in a
Doonesbury cartoon in the 1980s.
But how apt it is. The Business Council of Australia last week underlined its
own deep cynicism – to a breathtaking level – when it stepped into the climate
debate with a report that highlighted what it inferred was the shocking price
of doing something to cut emissions, but said absolutely nothing about the
value and the benefits of doing so.
Here is a powerful body, with deep access to state and federal governments,
representing most of the biggest boardrooms and the biggest corporates in the
country, stomping all over climate science and community angst with a Trumpian
declaration that pretty much amounts to: “Stuff you all.”
It’s not the cost of the transition they cite – some $530 billion for an
emissions reduction target of 70 per cent or more – that is in dispute. That’s
probably the cost of investment for replacing coal, ageing gas and other public
infrastructure that needs to be spent anyway, regardless of the climate
science.
It’s the complete disregard of the benefits that grates; benefits cited
recently by a group of 350 other corporations, led by the likes of Fortescue,
and in any other credible analysis going back to the Stern and Garnaut reviews
of more than a decade ago.
This is – as it has ever been – about greed, self interest, and ideology. It’s
that heady mix of denial, delay and deflection that has landed the world where
it finds itself, face to face with an existential climate crisis and yet more
shrill complaints about the cost, and nothing about the benefits.
Elon Musk recently stated that empathy was the “fundamental weakness of Western
Society.” Donald Trump and his MAGA movement have declared their own “war on
empathy”, and arrogance, stupidity, cruelty and greed runs thick through too
many of our boardrooms. Money is the only the thing that counts, and platitudes
are the principal KPI."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
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
