Australia should adopt climate change policies that can put it on a stable path to net zero national greenhouse gas emissions if it is to play its part in the United Nations sponsored Paris Agreement, according to groups representing business, unions, farmers, investors, the environment and social policy advocates.
Launched to coincide with UN Conference of the Parties (COP25) in the Spanish capital, Madrid, a joint statement by 10 groups under the Australian Climate Roundtable banner warns that unconstrained climate change would have serious economic, environmental and social impacts in Australia, and avoiding it would bring benefits and opportunities.
“Our overarching aim is for Australia to play its fair part in international efforts to achieve this while maintaining and increasing its prosperity,” the statement said.
“Achieving this goal will require deep global emissions reductions, with most countries including Australia eventually reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero or below.”
Members of the roundtable include the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia, the ACTU, the National Farmers’ Federation and the Australian Council of Social Service.
Guardian Australia reports they say they represent broad sections of the community.
Their statement of joint principles comes as, according to adjusted data from Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government, Australia’s emissions are flatlining.
Increases in pollution from industry and resources, mainly due to the expanding Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) industry, have been offset by an unplanned reduction from agriculture due to the drought and floods.
Most analyses have found Australia is not on track to meet its 2030 emissions target of a 26 to 28 per cent cut below 2005 levels, and that the target is significantly less than what the country would need to do to play its part in meeting the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Guardian Australia reports the Liberal-National government’s main climate policy, the $4.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), has to date not reduced national emissions and is being reviewed.
The members of the roundtable say emissions cuts on the scale needed will require substantial change and present significant challenges, but that “delayed, unpredictable and piecemeal action” will increase the cost and difficulty of getting there.
They say the ideal policy should be capable of achieving deep emissions cuts, provide confidence that the cuts are actually happening, be based on a full assessment of climate risks and be the least cost to the economy possible.
The groups want policies to be internationally linked, which would allow the use of carbon credits created through cuts made in other countries, and to factor in the impact on low-income households, industries that trade on global markets and workers whose jobs disappear in the transition to a cleaner world.
Guardian Australia reports they say they want costs to be shared fairly, and the introduction of improved policies to back innovation and technological solutions.
The statement updates priorities set out by the roundtable in 2015 so, the groups say, they more closely reflect the temperature goals set by the Paris Agreement.
They also directly address the land sector, reflecting that the National Farmers’ Federation is now a member.
Other members of the roundtable include the Australian Aluminium Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Energy Council, the Investor Group on Climate Change and WWF Australia.
The Business Council, which agreed in the statement that the Paris Agreement would eventually mean Australia having net zero emissions, previously described the 45 per cent reduction target by 2030 that Labor took to the last federal election as “economy wrecking”.
The groups say they will work together and with experts and members of the community over the next year to build a better understanding of the costs and impacts of climate change and map pathways for a transition to net zero emissions.
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