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ALP acknowledges climate emergency at National Conference

December 17, 2018 at 2:50 pm John Englart Leave a comment

Ged Kearney moves motion at ALP conference recognising importance of IPCC 1.5C report and that we are in a climate emergency

Due to the behind the scenes work of Ged Kearney, Federal MP for Batman (being renamed Cooper), the ALP National Conference meeting in Adelaide has adopted a climate change motion that highlights the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C and that we are in a climate emergency.

“Climate Action Moreland welcomes the ALP acknowledging the climate emergency at their national policy conference”, said John Englart, Convenor of Climate Action Moreland.

Federal MP for Wills Peter Khalil has also signed the climate emergency declaration.

The Labor Party announced that they will boost our poor 26-28 per cent emission reduction targets to 45 per cent across the board target by 2030 if elected to power, while retaining their 50 percent renewables target by 2030 that was set in 2015. This will put Australia on a deep decarbonisation pathway, while still being insufficient. It will need to be ramped up again to meet the Paris climate target.

“The 50 percent renewables target, that Labor originally announced in 2015, falls short on necessary ambition. Electricity generation can more easily be decarbonised than the Stationary energy, transport or agriculture sectors. This target should be lifted to compensate for the more difficult task of emissions reduction in these other sectors.” said John Englart for Climate Action Moreland.

A Federal Labor Government will also establish a Just Transition Authority to manage the structural problems for communities affected by the transition. This is a vital component to make sure the transition and emissions reduction is done in an equitable way to reduce impacts on workers and high impact communities such as coal mining towns.

“Just Transition is so important to ensure no-one is left behind” said Englart.

“We also welcome Labor’s investment support for residential battery storage systems, and for advocating for local mining and manufacture of battery systems to power the energy transition.”

“New environmental laws that Labor has foreshadowed and a Federal Environmental Protection Agency that includes climate triggers are an important improvement for ensuring maximum compliance in resource extraction and development to reduce stranded assets and emissions.” said Englart.

While there are many positive aspects to the ALP climate policiy, there remains two issues that fail to be addressed.

Firstly, Fossil Fuel tax subsidies are currently running at $11 billion per annum. Australia as part of the G20 made a commitment to phase out these subsidies by 2025, but the Labor and Liberal parties are refusing to talk about this issue.

Secondly, the Adani Carmichael coal mine continues to be ignored by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. The Adani coal mine is incompatible with acknowledging a climate emergency and the science from the IPCC 1.5C report which argues that there is no room for new fossil fuel projects and coal needs to be rapidly phased out to meet the Paris 1.5C temperature target for a reasonable chance of stabilising a safe climate for our planet for future generations.

“Bill Shorten needs to show leadership and commit a future Labor Government to stopping this mine.” concluded John Englart.

References:
See John Englart’s blog: ALP conference acknowledges climate emergency and IPCC 1.5C report, but not the need to Stop Adani and phase out coal

Entry filed under: Adani, Climate Emergency, media release, news, Politician education. Tags: Adani, Climate Emergency, Labor.