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liberal (CONservative) government policy failure: australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen...
Australians deserve to know what the Federal Government’s own greenhouse gas emissions data is saying, without the spin.
This factsheet lists six greenhouse gas emissions myths and why they’re untrue.
“AUSTRALIA IS ON TRACK TO MEET ITS PARIS TARGET”
Australia is not on track to meet its Paris target. The government’s own published data shows our greenhouse gas emissions have been rising consistently for five years. To be on track to meet our target, our emissions would need to be falling - not rising.
“AUSTRALIA IS DOING ITS FAIR SHARE ON CLIMATE CHANGE”
Australia’s Paris target is to reduce our emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. This is one of the least ambitious targets amongst developed countries. If other countries adopted Australia’s target the world would be heading for more than three degrees of warming.
“OUR PER CAPITA EMISSIONS ARE THE LOWEST IN 29 YEARS”
Australia has the highest emissions per capita in the developed world. It is true that Australia’s emissions per capita have fallen more than most countries, but this is from an extraordinarily high baseline, and has largely been driven by rapid population growth. Even with this drop, we still have the highest per capita emissions in the developed world. Our emissions per capita are higher than Saudi Arabia, a country not known for its action on climate change. Ultimately, our international targets are not based on per capita emissions.
“AUSTRALIA’S LNG EXPORTS ARE DRIVING DOWN GLOBAL EMISSIONS”
To effectively tackle climate change, existing coal and gas infrastructure needs to be phased out globally, as rapidly as possible. Our LNG exports may be ‘cleaner’ than coal but they are still polluting and need to be swiftly phased out if we are to meet the goals of the Paris agreement. Australia is the second biggest exporter of thermal coal and LNG, both of which are polluting. In terms of all of the fossil fuels that Australia extracts, we are the fifth biggest polluter in the world.
“AUSTRALIA EARNED THE RIGHT TO USE ITS KYOTO CARRYOVER CREDITS BY OVERACHIEVING ON EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS IN THE PAST”
The Federal Government is planning to use dodgy ‘carryover’ credits from the Kyoto Protocol to meet its Paris target, an accounting trick which countries such as the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and New Zealand have deemed invalid and not in the spirit of the Paris Agreement. It should be noted that these carryover credits largely resulted from Australia negotiating two very weak Kyoto targets (2nd weakest in the world for Kyoto 1 and the weakest for Kyoto 2). It wasn’t hard to overachieve on such dismal targets.
“EMISSIONS HAVE FALLEN IN THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR”
Emissions from electricity production account for only 33% of our total emissions. While emissions from electricity are down, and this is good news, there has been a bigger rise in emissions from other sectors, such as transport and fugitive emissions. Our overall economy-wide emissions, which relate to Australia’s Paris commitments, are increasing and have been for five years in a row.
Read more:https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/busting-six-emissions-myths.pdf
- By Gus Leonisky at 16 Sep 2019 - 7:44pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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one of the culprits...
hot july...
Here’s a closer look into NOAA’s latest monthly global climate report:
Climate by the numbers
July 2019
The average global temperature in July was 1.71 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees, making it the hottest July in the 140-year record, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. The previous hottest month on record was July 2016.
Nine of the 10 hottest Julys have occurred since 2005—with the last five years ranking as the five hottest. Last month was also the 43rd consecutive July and 415th consecutive month with above-average global temperatures.
Year to date I January through July
The period from January through July produced a global temperature that was 1.71 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 56.9 degrees, tying with 2017 as the second-hottest year to date on record.
It was the hottest year to date for parts of North and South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the southern half of Africa, portions of the western Pacific Ocean, western Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
Read more:
https://www.noaa.gov/news/july-2019-was-hottest-month-on-record-for-planet
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a death in the family...
The wife of Victorian Greens Senator Jane Rice, renowned climate scientist and transgender woman Penny Whetton, has died suddenly, the senator has announced.
Key points:In a post on Facebook, Senator Rice said her partner of almost four decades died "suddenly and apparently peacefully" at their house in Sisters Beach, Tasmania, last Wednesday. She was 61.
"She was alone, having arrived at Sisters on Tuesday to spend a week or two while I was in Canberra," Senator Rice wrote in the post.
"The last anyone heard from her was early Wednesday evening, and she was found on Thursday morning, still sitting on the couch, computer on her lap.
"She was in her favourite spot in one of her favourite places in the world — a lovely place to pass away, but just 20 years too early!
"It's so unbelievable, so unexpected and so so sad.
"Penny and I had been a team for almost 38 years. She was my rock, my best friend, my biggest fan. She was proud of me and I of her."
Senator Rice wrote Dr Whetton was a "fabulous parent" to their children John and Leon, "always supportive, giving, and delighted in sharing her and their passions — language, music, football, cricket, politics, painting, photography...".
Dr Whetton led the CSIRO's national climate projections work from 1992 to 2014 and was a lead author of three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, including the fourth assessment report which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
"She was deeply angry about current politics that is hurtling us to avoidable climate crisis, and deeply worried about the damage being done and the future prospects for our precious natural world," Senator Rice wrote.
"She was so worried about the coming summer."
The couple met and married when Dr Whetton was living as a man.
In a 2017 interview with the ABC, she spoke of fearing that her decision to become a woman would end their marriage.
"I was afraid for years by even admitting to this that it would lead to the end of the relationship, that's why it took me so long because the relationship was so incredibly important," Dr Whetton said at the time.
Senator Rice said she was "a role model and an inspiration for so many trans and gender diverse people".
She described her wife as "a scientist and artist, intelligent, creative and able to turn her hand and her intellect to almost anything, from the climate science that was her profession, to landscape painting and furniture making".
"She was principled and loyal, a collaborative leader, and a mentor to many," Senator Rice said.
Read more:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-17/penny-whetton-climate-scientist-a...
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Read also: please don't despair...
hot september
Last month was the warmest September on record, “virtually on a par with September 2016,” according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which is part of the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme.
A report released Friday by Copernicus found that September was 0.57 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1981-2010 average. In addition, the temperatures across most of Europe were above average, particularly in the south and south-east of the continent.
Much of Norway and Sweden experienced below-average temperatures. Meanwhile, temperatures over most of the US, parts of the Arctic and Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, northern China, central South America, South Africa, south-western Australia and West Antarctica were all above the 1981-2010 average.
“Temperatures over land were notably below average only over south-western Russia, the Central Asian Republics and parts of Antarctica, although several other regions experienced temperatures that were slightly below average for the month,” the report adds.
And September was not an anomaly.
June and July this year were the warmest ever in recorded history, while 2019’s August was the second-hottest August ever recorded.
Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Jean-Noel Thepaut painted a bleak picture of the future, as greenhouse gas emissions continue to plague the environment.
"The recent series of record-breaking temperatures is an alarming reminder of the long-term warming trend that can be observed on a global level," Thepaut said in a statement to AFP.
"With continued greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting impact on global temperatures, records will continue to be broken in the future," he added.
A September report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed that the Northern Hemisphere experienced its hottest summer on record between June and August this year. The report also noted that the global average sea surface temperature in August was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the “20th-century monthly average of 61.4 degrees Fahrenheit,” marking the highest sea surface temperature ever recorded in the month of August. Arctic sea ice coverage in August was also found to be 30.1% lower than average.
Read more:
https://sputniknews.com/environment/201910051076966880-its-getting-hot-i...
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Read also: drought...
incapable of addressing climate change...
The Liberal Party is “incapable” of addressing climate change, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says.
Mr Turnbull also told The Australian the party’s failure to deliver a coherent and effective energy policy could be blamed on climate change deniers within its ranks.
“The Liberal Party has just proved itself incapable of dealing with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in any sort of systematic way,” he said in an interview published on Tuesday.
“The consequence … is without question that we are paying higher prices for electricity and having higher emissions.”
The ex-Liberal leader said the party’s failure to deliver his proposed National Energy Guarantee – which required companies to invest in renewable energy while guaranteeing stable power supply – during his tenure was his biggest regret.
Australians were paying more for power while the country produced even more carbon emissions, which was a “lose-lose” for punters, Mr Turnbull said.
“And if you talk to anybody in industry, the energy sector, they will confirm what I just said to you,” he said.
Read more:
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/10/08/turnbull-blames-libe...
Yes Malcolm, we know this. 90 per cent of the dudes in that party do not believe in global warming. But weren't you in charge of this party and in a position of telling them where to go, instead of pussy-footing with vague and delusional policies?... Aren't you also the geezer that destroyed the neat and efficient NBN in this country, when now 45 bps is the best we can get without having to get the "premium" 100 bps at an inflated cost — and when we all should have be able to get 1000 bps with the fibre to home from Labor?
You did some doozies, without much conviction, while collecting doubloons from the Cayman Islands... But if your words appear in The Australian, it could be a step in the correct direction for this rag... I would not bet on it as after having bashed Bill shorten to smithereens, this stable of toiletpaper that is also complete ant-global-warming action or knowledge, has made amends with a double spread where Bill apologises to himself for having led Labor to a glorious defeat...