The volume of funds being put forward in the federal budget is staggeringly low and can only be seen as window dressing If anyone had any doubts about the federal government’s complete lack of substantive commitment to take ambitious action on climate change and the need for a clean energy transition, it was confirmed in treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s federal budget on Tuesday. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the budget pours billions into fossil fuel projects that will exacerbate the problem, and does little to help Australia and its citizens to adapt to the rapidly rising risks from extreme heat, drought, more extreme rainfall events and flooding, increased risks of diseases, coastal flooding and inundation due to sea level rise … the list goes on. The gap between Australia and the EU and US is growing ever-wider. As those countries, and many others, scramble to increase their climate targets, deploying their Covid-19 recovery budgets to maximise the opportunity to boost a clean energy transition, the Morrison government is increasingly showing up as hopelessly addicted to its fossil fuel past. The 2030 emissions reduction commitments made by Australia are way behind what is needed, and massively behind what the EU and US have put forward, being only 14% below 2018 emissions, whereas the US and EU are in the range of 46 to 47% below 2018 levels. The government absolutely loves to talk about per capita emissions but, setting dodgy accounting aside, the numbers show the same story: between now and 2030 the US and EU per capita emissions would drop by about 50%, whereas Australia’s reduction would be less than half that, and its rate of improvement only 40% of what one would see for the US and EU. This Covid-19 recovery budget was therefore an opportunity for prime minister Scott Morrison to start to deliver on his oft-stated “preference” to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – a mantra repeated by Frydenberg. It is clear,... |