Australia’s conservative Liberal Party Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has finally admitted Australia’s carbon emissions have been rising, as a new international report shows climate change is a key factor driving species to extinction.
“Yeah they have lifted,” the prime minister conceded during an interview on ABCTV’s 730 program, when asked about carbon emissions.
AAP Newsagency reports that he still insisted Australia was on track to meet its United Nations Kyoto Protocol 2020 target, which calls for emissions to be five per cent below 2000 levels.
Mr Morrison said investment in renewable energy had been increasing and spruiked his recent outlay of $3.5 billion towards climate policies.
The money will go towards the Climate Solutions Fund, invested in business energy efficiency, as well as projects such as the pumped hydro Snowy 2.0.
“That’s what we’re doing, that’s how we meet our targets,” the prime minister said.
The Liberal Party in coalition with the National Party is under severe pressure from the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) as it contests the federal election on May 18.
An alarming new United Nations report warns that major change is needed globally to prevent further environmental destruction, with one million species currently at risk of extinction.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (ISPPBES) global assessment reveals nature is declining at rates previously unseen in human history.
Frogs, big cats and birds are at great risk of extinction and change is needed now, co-chair of the report Professor Sandra Diaz said.
“When nature is in trouble we, and our wellbeing, are in trouble,” Professor Diaz told ABC Radio National today.
“Our style of consumption and production and trade and general lifestyles are costing us the earth, literally.”
Labor leader Bill Shorten said climate change was one of the top four issues of the election.
“The government just gets itself tied up in knots over doing anything, and in the meantime businesses and community and young people, they all just want real action on climate change.”
Mr Shorten has come under pressure to explain the cost of his climate policies, which includes a 45 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, but he said the cost of not acting is far greater.
Meanwhile, the Fijian prime minister, a strong proponent of climate change action, is expected to make a high profile intervention in the climate change debate in the Victorian state capital of Melbourne,
Frank Bainimarama will speak at the Australasian Emissions Reductions Summit on Wednesday, laying out priorities for international climate leadership.
Fijian government advisor John O’Connor said the speech would occur at a pivotal time in the election campaign.
“There is a global awakening across all industries that we are in a climate crisis with spiralling impacts and costs,” he said.
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WE’RE BUILDING A PLATFORM WITH A CLEAR FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL GOOD. CONTRIBUTE AND TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE AN IMPACT.
