CANBERRA, Australia — After years of being accused of falling behind on climate change, Australia changed course on Thursday, with the House of Commons calling for carbon emissions to drop at least 43% from 2005 levels by 2030. passed a bill promising the government to reduce and reach net zero by 2050.
With significant support from Australia’s Green Party, the new Labor government is expected to push through legislation that will pass the Senate within weeks.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would put the country on the “right side of history”. The 43% pledge brings Australia closer to Canada, South Korea and Japan, but still falls short of the US, European Union and UK commitments.
“The impacts of climate change are real. We need a real response,” Albanese told reporters on Thursday. “The government provides it.”
In parliament, Climate Minister Chris Bowen succinctly said, “Today is a good day for our country.”
But the commitments Mr Albanese campaigned for when Labor challenged the long-term conservative coalition in the May federal election were long overdue and only the beginning of the world’s third most important economic transition. It is widely viewed as non-existent.・The largest fossil fuel exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Amanda McKenzie, who runs the Climate Council, an association of scientists and community leaders that Australia has been calling for years to do more on climate change, said the climate change bill was to be held accountable while the government was drafting it. It was called a “stepping stone” that demanded to bear A Framework for Investment in Renewable Energy.
Richie Merzian, climate and energy program director at the Australian Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, described the bill as a “huge leap” and noted that there is still a long way to go.
The government has refused to accept proposals for Australia to reject new coal and gas projects. It’s a major point of contention among a series of independent parliamentarians who have won seats in mostly conservative districts, promising to actively tackle climate change.
Albanese and his Labor government also rejected another Green Party amendment to cut emissions by 75% by 2030.
Green party leader Adam Band said the government’s lower targets will continue to struggle under crop destruction, devastating natural disasters and current warming trends, according to a report released Thursday. It has repeatedly stated that it will lead to the end of the Great Barrier Reef. by Australian marine scientists.
They found that some coral reefs are beginning to recover from a series of devastating bleaching events in recent years, but without “immediate global action on climate change,” the world-famous ecological We predicted that the system would experience frequent and prolonged heat waves.”
“That’s the science,” Band said. “We are not doing this to stop any pollution. We are doing this to stop climate change from becoming a runaway chain reaction.”
He described his support for the climate bill as a first step toward encouraging Australia to do more, and many climate experts have stopped approving new coal and gas projects and eventually It argues that a country can only live up to its international commitments if it closes existing ones.
Robin Eckersley, an expert on climate change politics, said: “They have a false narrative that Albanian coal and gas are more environmentally friendly than others, and that if we don’t sell it, others will “We have to deal with the drug dealer’s defense that they will sell.” at the University of Melbourne. “This is harmful and directly avoids Australia’s liability.”