The Greens’ policy on living with global warming will help Australia in a climate changed world, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today.
The Greens’ policy on living with global warming will help Australia in a climate changed world, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today.
The Greens released a policy to help Australia better prepare for natural disasters and sea level rise by boosting research into climate adaptation, doubling the number of paid firefighters by 2030 and establishing a thermal coal export levy of $3 per tonne to help fund Australia’s transition to clean energy.
“Global warming has already increased average temperatures by 1°C, with Tasmania’s Cape Grim monitoring station recently recording CO2 at levels of 400 ppm (parts per million) in the atmosphere,” said ACF campaigns director Paul Sinclair.
“And in the last few months we’ve seen the sad evidence of what warmer than usual waters have done to the sensitive corals of the Great Barrier Reef.
“Our planet is experiencing the unavoidable impact of global warming that is already locked into the climate system,” Dr Sinclair said.
“At the UN climate talks in Paris last December the nations of the world agreed to cut pollution and pursue efforts to keep global warming below 1.5°.
“Australia must be part of the solution, not the problem.
“That means setting out a plan to close Australia’s coal fired power stations in phases, starting with the dirtiest plants, helping affected communities with the transition and definitely not approving any new coal mines.
“It also means building the resilience of our cities and towns and investing in measures to help them prepare for more climate-related emergencies.
“The initiative announced today by the Greens will help Australia make the transition to a cleaner, safer future. ACF welcomes it.”
- Read ACF’s scorecard of the parties’ environment policies
