Worse to come: As the hottest and driest continent on Earth, Australia cannot afford to sit on the sidelines of the global climate debate.
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Barry Brook, Director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, noted that while the proposed cut in emissions may be "a pitifully inadequate attempt to stop dangerous climate change," the reduction targets are nonetheless "ambitious and deeply challenging goals, and equal to or better than the per capita targets proposed by other developed nations such as the EU, U.K. and USA."
But, even if we meet our 2020 target, he said, we still face serious repercussions from climate change. "The science tells us we need at least 40 per cent by 2020…with the real aim of restoring [carbon dioxide] levels to what they were in the early 1950s."
Strong political will
"It's going to take a truly revolutionary set of policies and strong political will to rapidly wean ourselves off carbon-based energy," Brook said.
"Even to achieve the cuts announced by the government today, we must implement radical improvements in our energy efficiency and develop a whole new infrastructure of energy supply," he continued.
"So one has to ask the obvious question – why not commit to going 'all the way' and actually solve the crisis before it has time to happen, rather than merely half-solve it, such that the best we can do is delay the inevitable crunch?"
Last week the 27 countries of the EU committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020, and Britain went even further in committing to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
With AFP.
