It’s clear the Coalition want to keep their coal-baron mates in business even if it wrecks the planet.
Chief Scientist Alan Finkel was given an impossible task: design an energy system that would tackle global warming but still keep Tony Abbott and the climate deniers happy.
The result of Finkel’s mission impossible is a clean energy target that is actually very, very dirty.
The most critical question is: will this blueprint actually reduce pollution in line with what’s required to halt dangerous global warming. The answer is no it won’t.
Polluting fuels like coal and gas are wrecking our climate, the Reef and endangering life. Any suggestion that coal or gas can be the future is just nonsense.
The science is clear - we need a zero-pollution power sector, as soon as possible. This report puts off the decision on how to do this for another three years. Climate science tells us there is no room for new coal and gas, and our Chief Scientist missed an opportunity to make that clear to the Turnbull government.
This is not a plan to make our power sector cleaner or our climate safer. It’s a short-term political fix to deal with the fact that the people who are apparently responsible for running the country have an ideological attachment to dirty fuels.
It’s clear the Coalition want to keep their coal-baron mates in business even if it wrecks the planet and drives up power prices. This report is designed to please them, not the 81% of Australians who favour renewables over coal and gas.
Australia’s national energy market is broken and only a real plan to transition to real clean energy can fix it. This is not that plan.
We don’t need more politically-hamstrung reviews, we need action, we need change, based on the best science and technology we can muster.
We have no more time to waste on this.
Joint statement from GetUp!, Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Friends of the Earth and Solar Citizens.
