Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said: “Minister Combet is taking a hugely important step by committing to the next phase of Kyoto, but it will only truly benefit the climate and will only help achieve a global climate deal if there are serious cuts in pollution attached to it.
“The rest of the world will see a 5% cut as the insult it is – demanding that poorer countries do more than we do to tackle the global warming that we caused.
“Australia got a free-kick last time with a Kyoto target of 108% and the land clearing loophole – but as the highest per-capita emitter in the world no meaningful agreement including developing nations will be possible if we are expecting a sweetheart deal this time round.
“It’s critical that the government respects the role of the Climate Authority in recommending a science-based target. But they don’t need to wait – just this week we saw a report from PwC, hardly a radical green organisation, saying that we need to quadruple our efforts to cut pollution in order to stay below the 2C limit the government claims to be committed to.
“The science is clear – deep cuts in pollution are vital if we are to have any decent chance of avoiding increasingly disastrous extreme weather and everything else global warming will bring.
“Kevin Rudd set Australia on the disastrous 5% reduction trajectory in spite of agreement in 2007 in Bali for developed countries to cut their pollution by 25%-40% by 2020. It demonstrates contempt for the climate science to pretend that 5% is anywhere near enough, especially when combined with windfall gains from forest management rules.
“In Kyoto in 1997, Australia negotiated a 108% target and then “discovered” on returning home that it could be achieved by stopping land clearance. The same trick card is being played again in Doha.
“The UNFCCC cannot allow the wool to be pulled over its eyes again. Any forest carbon windfall gains should be added to the target we take on, not be allowed to contribute to it.”
Press conference
Transcript
Subjects: Kyoto Protocol 2, internet filter
CHRISTINE MILNE: I really welcome the fact that the Australian Government has now announced that it’s going to sign on to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. This is really important to try to work towards a global treaty, negotiated in 2015. But, if the Australian Government signs on to a 5 per cent reduction target then there’s a real danger that we will lock in a low level of ambition globally. And it certainly means that developing countries will see Australia trying to get a sweetheart deal again. The Government clearly is more afraid of Tony Abbott and wants to lock in 5 per cent then has its eye on what is necessary to address climate change. Christiana Figueres was here recently, the UNFCCC Secretary, said we really need good levels of ambition, and I think there is a real risk that by the Government committing to KP2 that only a 5 per cent target that it’s sending all the wrong signals to the global community.
Having said that there are several things that the Government must now do. It must explain how it is going to deal with any windfall gains it gets from forestry. Surely by protecting our forests we should be able to lift our levels of ambition. The Government has said that it won’t rule out lifting the target in the light of what the Climate Change Authority has to say in 2014. Well if that’s the case the Government needs to lock in when it signs on to the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period, lock into the annex, not only the target but the conditions on which it will raise the target, instead of these purely discretionary conditions they’ve set at the moment. My disappointment is that the Government’s once again playing both sides of the street on climate change. One, saying it’s prepared to commit the KP2, but two, locking in a 5 per cent target which is absolutely not even anywhere near the ballpark of what is necessary. The science has firmed up on what we have to do to address global warming and 5 per cent is nowhere near enough.
JOURNALIST: So what should the Government be aiming for them, what kind of target?
CHRISTINE MILNE: The Government should be looking at the latest climate science. Everyone is saying that we need to be quadrupling our efforts. People are beginning to despair that there is no way the world is going to constrain global warming to less than 2 degrees. A 5 per cent target in the second Kyoto commitment period is an insult to the climate science, and it’s an insult to future generations who don’t really have a voice at the moment in the climate talks. What the Government should be doing is abandoning Tony Abbott and 5 per cent, and saying instead let’s get to a target that’s reasonable. In Kyoto Australia argued that we should be able to have an increase in our greenhouse gas emissions, this time around what Australia should argue is that we should get in line with other countries and have a substantial decrease. The Greens have said all along far from 5 per cent, Australia should have an ambition of somewhere between 25 and 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 if it is to be consistent with a fair share of the global burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
JOURNALIST: So what else should the Government be doing as part of their role, as part of their bid to take on this second phase of the Kyoto Protocol?
CHRISTINE MILNE: The problem that Julia Gillard has got is that the climate change policy of the Government has got two faces. One face is Martin Ferguson out saying let’s rev up coalmining, let’s get the biggest coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere going, let’s get a dash for gas, let’s remove all regulation, let’s actually be a pusher of global greenhouse gas emission anywhere in the world we can sell it. On the other side you’ve got Greg Combet saying oh we want to sign on to the second Kyoto commitment period, and in the middle you’ve got Julia Gillard saying yes we will act on climate but we won’t do anything more than what Tony Abbott would do because the domestic politics are more important. This is where Labor’s credibility on climate suffers a bit blow. They need to get out there and say not only will we sign on to the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period but we will abandon the 5 per cent target, we will take on board the climate science, we will put in a target which actually will lead to other countries around the world joining on and signing up to a global agreement in 2015, not put in a target which risks locking in low ambition and actually undermining the chances of a global agreement in 2015.
Can I just say one thing on the internet filter? With reports today that Minister Conroy has abandoned the internet filter, I just want to say how proud I am of the efforts of my colleague Scott Ludlum. He has led the charge in the Parliament throughout after Labor was influenced by Steven Fielding and Family First. This is the legacy of Victorian Labor who preferenced Family First, put Steven Fielding in the Senate and we’ve had years of this debate over this internet censorship. What I’m really pleased about is finally the Minister has recognised it’s unworkable and that we’re going to abandon this notion of the internet filter.
