"World leaders have been warned that civilisation could collapse
Yet Australia still does not have a climate change or energy policy.
This week there was an extraordinary act of rebellion from NSW Liberal Energy Minister Don Harwin, who used an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review to accuse the Morrison Government of being “out of touch” on climate and energy policy.
Perhaps some of the doom and gloom from recent reports into the world’s changing climate is finally starting to filter through?
Climate change is certainly being taken seriously by many Australians, with the Climate of the Nation report this year showing the number of Australians concerned about it had reached a five-year high.
The report produced by The Australia Institute found 73 per cent of 1756 Australians surveyed were concerned about climate change, up from 66 per cent in 2017.
But Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor has hit back at pressure from Mr Harwin and other states and territories who want higher emissions reduction targets, suggesting they need to “get back to reality”.
So what is the reality on climate change? Here are some facts.
AUSTRALIA HAS WARMED BY 1 DEGREE
On Thursday a new report was released that confirmed Australia had already warmed by 1C since records were first kept in 1910, according to the State of the Climate, a joint analysis released by Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO.
As well as a spike in the number of extreme heat days, oceans around Australia seem to be warning and this is contributing to a rise in sea levels, CSIRO director of the Climate Science Centre Helen Cleugh said.
The report confirms the findings of the “wildly alarming” Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which also noted the world had warmed by 1C.
WE’RE ON TRACK FOR 3 DEGREES
The IPCC report has been hugely influential because it looked at 6000 peer-reviewed studies and involved 91 authors and review editors from 40 countries.
It found current pledges made by countries around the world — including Australia’s target to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 — would see temperatures rise by 3C by the end of the century.
Scientists and climate activists have called on countries to ratchet up their carbon-cutting pledges as soon as possible.
Actions taken in the next 12 years until 2030 will be critical in order to have a chance of keeping global warming to 1.5C.
Temperatures are likely to rise by 1.5C between 2030 and 2052 if they continue to increase at the current rate.
WE’LL LOSE THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
The future is bleak for one of Australia’s biggest tourist attractions, which is estimated to be worth $56 billion to the country."
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