What you need to know about: Climate Change

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

• Climate change refers to long-term changes in the climate, which includes earth’s average surface temperature, but also other factors like rainfall, drought, etc.
• Sometimes people confuse the term “global warming” with the term “climate change”
• Global warming is where the Earth’s average surface temperature increases

IS CLIMATE CHANGE MAN-MADE?

• This is the big debate between “the believers” and “the sceptics”, although many say we have moved on from this debate and most accept that climate change is occurring due to human activity

 

THE ‘BELIEVERS’ SAY….:

• Climate change is man-made and caused by increases in greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere
• Greenhouse gases come from carbon dioxide and methane gases
• These gases soak up heat from the sun but instead of the heat leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is trapped, making the Earth warmer
• We can cut down on the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by reducing and even ending our reliance on things like dirty coal as our primary energy source, and look for alternatives like nuclear, solar, clean coal and burying carbon deep in the ground
• We can cut down on methane emissions by reducing waste and changing our agricultural and farming techniques

 

THE ‘SCEPTICS’ SAY…:

• Climate change is a natural occurrence that has been happening for millions of years
• The primary cause of climate change is due to the sun where the heat from the sun is stored in the ocean
• The ocean in turn distributes the heat through its currents and evaporates heat into the atmosphere
• The ocean, making up 71% of the earth’s surface, therefore has the most impact on the climate
• Carbon dioxide and methane are only minor contributors to climate change
• We as humans have no control over the earth’s temperature, so ideas like an ETS or new energy technologies are pointless

WHAT MIGHT SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE BE?

• A rise of more than 2 degrees average global temperature after 2015 would melt snow and ice across the planet and raise sea levels 0.4-1.4m
• This rise in sea levels could  submerge several small island states and Bangladesh resulting in large numbers of climate change refugees
• Changes in rainfall patterns
• Changes in the migration of wildlife
• Species extinction
• Drought

INTERNATIONAL ACTION

 

WHT IS THE IPCC?

• IPCC stands for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• It is both a government and a scientific body
• Governmentally, the IPCC is open to all member states of the United Nations and brings together these different countries to take part in the work of the IPCC
• The IPCC has thousands of scientists from all over the world who contribute voluntarily
• The scientific research represents differing viewpoints and all reports submitted are subjected to thorough review to ensure an objective analysis of climate change
• Read more about the IPCC here http://www.ipcc.ch/

WHAT IS THE KYOTO PROTOCOL?

• An international agreement that set binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing emissions agreed on at Kyoto, Japan on 11 December, 1997
• Read more here http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php

WHAT HAPPENED AT COPENHAGEN?

• The governments of 193 nations, along with many scientists, activists and media representatives gathered together to discuss Climate Change in December 2009
• The result of the summit was an agreement called the Copenhagen Accord which states that the average increase of the earth’s temperature should be below 2 degrees with a long-term view of 1.5 degrees
• The Accord also established the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund of $30 billion to be directed to the most vulnerable countries with a goal of $100 billion per year by 2020 for the developing world
• The Accord also encourages all countries to make an effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions every 2 years
• The collective travel and work of all delegates at the summit created 46,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide, most of it from their flights. This is the same amount of carbon dioxide produced each year by 2300 Americans

THE POLICIES OPTIONS

THE ALP’s POLICY:

• Target is a 5% reduction in emissions by 2020 (140 million tonnes of carbon) with a view to reassess which could lift the target as high as 25% depending on the nature of future global agreements
• A Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme that has an ETS (Emission Trading Scheme) as its centerpiece
• It is an economic incentive issued by the government to encourage corporations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• It is a market based incentive that places a cap on the amount of emissions companies use and if they want to increase their emissions, they must buy credits from those who pollute less
• As time progresses, the idea is that the cap is lowered which results in a lower national emissions target
• The ETS makes the polluter pay for each tonne of carbon they emit
• Funds raised by collection of payments of polluters are reinvested into Australian households to help ease the burden of the carbon tax
• Cost would be around $114 billion over ten years with an estimated $45-$75 billion re-invested into Australian households
• The ETS was blocked in the Senate in November 2009, but reintroduced on 2 February 2010 in Parliament
• The Coalition have dismissed the ETS as an “energy taxation scheme” on the Australian public
• Other actions include creating green jobs, investing in renewable energy, research and development into new technologies
• First action of Rudd government was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2007
• Kevin Rudd has said Climate Change is the “great moral challenge of our generation”
• More information is available by downloading the PDF of “Tackling climate change and our environmental challenges” here http://www.alp.org.au/our-platform

 

THE COALITION’s POLICY:

• Target is a 5% reduction in emissions by 2020 (140 million tonnes of carbon)
• The centerpiece of the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan is an Emissions Reduction Fund – a pool of $2.6 billion over four years that pays farmers and businesses incentives to voluntarily cut emissions. This money is proposed to come from budget cuts
• Penalties would be enforced for emissions over “business as usual” numbers (yet to orchestrate what the penalties will be)
• No cap on how much polluters emit
• No price charged for carbon
• An additional $100 million would be spent to install one million solar panels in households by 2020 ($1000 subsidies for individuals)
• Will plant 20 million trees
• 85 million tonnes of carbon would be buried in Australia’s soil (carbon capture and storage)
• Total cost would be $10 billion for 10 years or $3.2 billion over 4 years
• For twelve years, the Coalition had no acknowledgement of climate change and did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol
• The leader of the Coalition, Tony Abbott said in October 2009 the climate change argument was “absolute crap” but has since revoked the comments, deeming them as “loose” language
• More information available on the policy here http://www.liberal.org.au/DirectActionPlan/

THE GREEN’S POLICY:

• Target is a 40% reduction by 2020 with a goal of zero emissions as soon as possible and no later than 2050
• Introduce a carbon tax of a flat rate of $20 per tonne of carbon over the next two years as an interim measure to reduce emissions
• This would provide a $5 billion return for households to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other emissions reducing alternatives
• It would then look into stronger options for the long term but believes the two-year proposal would get things moving
• More information on the Green’s policy here http://greens.org.au/node/764

Policies from around the world

• European Union: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/home_en.htm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7765094.stm
• USA: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/policy/index.html
• India http://india.gov.in/sectors/environment/climate.php and http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1921138,00.html

 

Website Crikey has a page dedicated to the ongoing Climate Change debate in Australia.
http://www.crikey.com.au/topic/climate-change/