<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/dutton-confirms-nuclear-push-and-climate-denial-go-hand-in-hand-the-pretence-has-gone/>
"So, let there now be no doubt or confusion: Opposition leader Peter Dutton has
confirmed that his Coalition’s push for nuclear energy is inextricably linked
with his party’s implacable denial of climate science. The pretence that it is
anything else is now gone.
Dutton’s interview with
The Weekend Australian published on Saturday makes
two important concessions: That nuclear energy is very slow, and cannot
feasibly be deployed in Australia before the mid 2040s. It also proves that he
is ready and willing to rip up the Paris climate target – and sacrifice the
country’s economic future – in the name of his energy dogma.
Australians should not be surprised, but they ought to be appalled, and
terrified. The science is absolutely clear, the world is on track to blow the
carbon budget that could hold average global warming below 1.5°C over the next
five years. The world is already close to 1.5°C and the impact are being felt.
But Dutton wants to put off any serious action on emissions reduction for
another two decades, using a re-heated scare campaign about the lights going
out and a collapsing economy if the country pushes ahead with renewables.
He says there is “no hope” of reaching Australia’s 2030 interim target, still a
relatively modest reduction of 43 per cent, mostly achieved through accounting
tricks on land use. But he says the target of “net zero by 2050” will stand.
It always seemed inevitable that the 2050 target was going to be used by
climate science deniers such as Dutton and legacy industries as an excuse to
delay any action. It might as well have been invented by the fossil fuel
industry, which uses it as a justification for business as usual.
The only significant corporate leader calling this out is iron ore billionaire
Andrew Forrest, who aims for “real zero” by 2030 for his Pilbara operations, no
mean feat but one the world should be following. At least his ambition is in
line with the science, which demands urgent action and most emission cuts to be
delivered this decade, not in 20 years time.
The federal Coalition, however, has hitched its flag with what the UN secretary
general described last week as the “godfathers of chaos”, helping the fossil
fuel industry spread disinformation and delay climate action, and throwing the
rest of the world under a bus."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
