Economy
Rudd’s target slammed at global meeting
CHRISTINE MILNE Hobart, Tuesday 2 June 2009
The Rudd Government has been awarded a “Fossil of the Day” award at the UN Climate meeting in Bonn for its “obnoxious” conditions for moving to a still “inadequate” emissions reduction target.
“It is clear that nobody who wants an effective outcome from global talks is impressed by the Rudd Government’s inadequate emissions reduction offer,” Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne said.
“If Australia goes to Copenhagen having legislatively locked out the option of accepting a target stronger than 24%, it can only lower the level of ambition from other countries and undermine the chances of a strong global agreement.
“It is not enough to aim for any kind of agreement at Copenhagen. We must work for an agreement which will actually give the world a decent chance of preventing climate crisis.
“An agreement to fail is worse than a failure to agree.”
The “Fossil of the Day” award is agreed by representatives of over 450 NGOs on each day of each global climate negotiation. That Australia was awarded the first “Fossil of the Day” at the Bonn conference shows how unhelpful the Rudd Government’s target is.
The award language reads:
Australia was awarded First Place, for announcing its target which puts unreasonable conditions on other countries. Australia will adopt an inadequate 24% target by 2020 with the following and particularly obnoxious provisos that include, all countries (including developing countries) contribute finance and that developing countries slow growth, take a 20% (against BAU) reduction by 2020 and nominate a peaking year for their emissions. It is worth noting that Australia’s emissions have yet to peak and they are yet to commit any additional money to adaptation.
“The Greens have consistently called for the Government to put 40% cuts below 1990 levels by 2020 on the table in the context of a global agreement, and to commit to an unconditional offer of 25% cuts as a gesture of good faith for the global negotiations.
“The Rudd Government refusing to do anything like what is necessary while demanding that everybody else works harder can only encourage other rich countries like Japan and Canada to also behave badly, drive China and India away from the table and undermine the chances of strong global action.
“Making a good faith offer of 25% unconditional cuts will encourage countries like China and India to come to the table and increase the likelihood of a strong global agreement.”
http://www.christinemilne.org.au/| www.GreensMPs.org.au
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