01/08/2005 — Top climate
bad guys, the US and Australian governments,
have unveiled their own shiny new pact to
allegedly save the climate. Our climate guru
Stephanie Tunmore exposes the announcement
for what it really is.
The US, Australia, China, India, Japan, South
Korea - all working together to tackle climate
change and save the planet? Sounds like good
news!
At first glance the new 'US - Asia Pacific
Pact' would seem an encouraging development.
It is clear that avoiding the very worst of
climate change means rapidly developing countries
like China and India will need to start 'decarbonising.'
And given the US and Australia's previous
refusal to take any meaningful action to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions, isn't it a
good thing that all of these countries have
signed up to the pact?
Meaningful?
Well the key word here is 'meaningful.' On
further investigation the agreement has no
targets for emissions reductions, no timetables
or deadlines, in fact it doesn't even mention
emissions reductions - oh, and it's completely
voluntary. In fact it looks like nothing more
than a trade agreement on energy technology.
In a perfect world even this could result
in better energy efficiency and renewable
energy technologies for developing countries
but experience tells us that the technologies
that most interest the US and Australia are
the 'magic bullet' ones that claim to reduce
emissions whilst allowing the continued burning
of fossil fuels.
Take "carbon capture and storage"
for instance; the 'suck it out of the sky
and stick it under a rock' approach. This
process promises to trap CO2 from the burning
of fossil fuels and store it in the sea or
under the Earth's surface. Even if it delivers
it won't be ready for at least 15-20 years,
it will increase the cost of power generation,
reduce the efficiency of power plants and
require long-term monitoring to make sure
the CO2 stays put.
Whilst money is diverted into these future
technologies in a bid to continue business
as usual, proven renewable and energy efficiency
technologies that are ready to use now lack
investment from both governments and industry.
Motivation
Which leads us to motivation. The US and
Australia have both refused to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol, the one existing international
agreement on dealing with climate change.
They have spent years trying to undermine
and derail the treaty on the basis that developing
countries don't have targets so it is unfair.
It is obvious to everyone, including the
152 nations that have ratified Kyoto, that
industrialised countries that got rich through
the use of fossil fuels have a responsibility
to act first to correct the problem.
The average American uses more electricity
in two weeks than the average person in India
uses in a year. US emissions have increased
by 16 percent since 11000 and are projected
to be 32 percent above 11000 levels in by
2012. Australian emissions from energy are
projected to be 66 percent above 11000 levels
by 2020 and its per capita emissions are 6
times as high as China.
Developing countries will not be motivated
to adopt targets whilst the world's biggest
CO2 emitter and the world's biggest per capita
emitter sit comfortably on their hands and
refuse to act.
The obvious course of action would be to
ratify Kyoto and get on with reducing their
emissions. Instead we get this disingenuous
attempt to finance minor changes abroad whilst
doing nothing at home, with the clever little
side effect, focussing as it does on so-called
"clean coal" technology, of securing
new coal markets for export.
This is a fig leaf of enormous proportions
- but it fails to hide anything.
Feature:
You're invited to the Art for Action exhibition
Her paintings hang in the Australian National
Gallery and London's National Portrait gallery.
She has won the Archibald Prize two times.
Now Judy Cassab has taken on her next artistic
challenge: the Greenpeace Art for Action competition!
Art for Action is an art competition and
online auction. Greenpeace are inviting you
to come and view artworks entered in the competition
at Sydney’s ArtHouse Hotel* and bid online
on your favourite piece. Proceeds from sales
of submitted works help Greenpeace work towards
a green and peaceful planet.
A grand unveiling of celebrity works received
in the competition will take place at the
final live auction and awards ceremony at
the ArtHouse Hotel on 13 September at 7pm.
Greenpeace is very pleased to have Judy Cassab's
support for our Art for Action competition.
Judy is one of Australia's best known portrait
painters and has won many prestigious art
awards. Her works hang in galleries around
Australia including the National Gallery,
Canberra.
Art for Action celebrates the impact our
creative community has in highlighting important
environmental issues. This year's theme is
centred around our amazing oceans and the
20th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow
Warrior I.
* Sydney's ArtHouse Hotel is located at 275
Pitt St, Sydney.
Feature:
Saving Australia's prize
The Murray Darling Basin is Australia's lifeblood.
It irrigates 70 per cent of our crops and
pastures, and provides drinking water to three
million people. Now our largest river system
may die because of climate change. But there
are solutions to save the Murray.
The Rainbow Warrior arrived at the mouth
of the Murray River on August 22 with a message
to Premier Mike Rann and all South Australians:
Quit coal and save the Murray Darling basin
from climate change.
Greenpeace and community groups travelled
from Goolwa to the Murray in inflatable boats
flying a flag asking for “Clean Energy Now”.
The Murray Darling Basin covers a million
square kilometres of land. It is Australia's
most important agricultural region, accounting
for 41 per cent of the nation's gross value
of agricultural production and irrigating
71 per cent of the total area of Australia’s
crops and pastures. It gives drinking water
to more than a million people in Adelaide
and sustains 30,000 magnificent wetlands,
floodplains and unique red gum forests.
A recent government report marks the Murray
Darling Basin as "highly vulnerable"
to climate change. It says that higher temperatures,
reduced rainfall and more frequent and intense
droughts could slash run-off in the basin
by up to 20 per cent in the next 25 years.
Greenpeace energy campaigner, Mark Wakeham,
says, "Tackling climate change and protecting
the Murray are inextricably linked. If climate
change continues unchecked, the Murray River,
the lifeblood of the Australian continent,
will die."
To tackle climate change, we must break Australia’s
addiction to using greenhouse polluting coal
for electricity and export dollars and move
to clean energy solutions like wind and solar
power.
From August 23, the Rainbow Warrior is in
Adelaide highlighting South Australia's huge
clean energy potential. South Australia leads
the country in wind and solar power development,
reaping the benefits in jobs, investment and
clean air. Premier Rann is a leading voice
on climate change. Now he should set a binding
target of 25 per cent clean energy by 2020,
guaranteeing jobs and investment, and setting
South Australia up to export clean energy
to New South Wales and Victoria.
If you live in South Australia, join Greenpeace
and the Conservation Council of South Australia
at a public meeting to discuss how South Australia
can become the "solar state".
Venue:Radford Auditorium, Art Gallery of South
Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide
When: August 24, 7pm-9pm
