ANU Experts Propose Climate Action Plan
2007-11-22
Three of the Australian National University's leading climate policy researchers have prepared an action plan for the incoming government.
The nation faces a battle to control dangerous climate change. [We need] ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, and a program to trade pollution rights.
The incoming government must move very quickly to get on top of the climate change challenge. The international negotiations are critically important, because this is a global problem.
The United Nations' chief negotiator has warned there is a window of opportunity of 10 to 15 years to halt the march of dangerous climate change. There's some strong feedback in the climate system. If we don't get on top of the problem, the earth is going to start shoving out even more CO2 and we may get into a situation that'll be difficult or impossible to control.
Australia should adopt aggressive targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, but the magnitude of those targets is a matter for society to debate.
[We need] the underpinning knowledge required to make that judgement - for example, what would happen if we had a two degree temperature rise by 2070. What that might mean for agriculture, for the Great Barrier Reef, for biodiversity, for other sectors in Australian society and environment.
Then society needs to make the judgement of what it determines to be dangerous. It's not for scientists to tell you what's dangerous or what the level ought to be, but try and inform the debate as to what the risks actually are as these various levels that society could consider.
Links
Source: Experts launch climate action plan for incoming govt. Brendan Trembath. ABC. 2007.11.22
Refer: Climate Change and Public Policy (PDF). Will Steffen, Luca Staffoni, Frank Jotzo. Crawford School of Economics and Government. Australian National University. 2007.11
Link: Crawford Centre for Economics and Government - Research