Off the wire
• (Sports Focus) Tianjin Teda collapses in record transfer dispute  • Australia may lock foreigners out of property tax scheme  • Cambodia accuses opposition activists of creating insecurity along border with Vietnam  • 4 killed as militants' hideout raided in East Pakistan  • 1st LD Writethru: 11 soldiers killed in convoy ambush in Afghanistan  • Calabrian Mafia linked to Australian political circles: report  • Vietnamese top badminton player to compete at Chinese Taipei Open  • China-led multilateral bank takes key step forward  • Australian robot bricklayer can build house in 2 days  • FLASH: 11 SOLDIERS KILLED, 6 WOUNDED IN CONVOY AMBUSH IN AFGHANISTAN -- LOCAL MEDIA  
You are here: 　 Home

Alliance of business groups and climate activists forms to pressure Australian government on climate change

Xinhua, June 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

An unprecedented alliance of Australian industry bodies, energy suppliers, climate activists and lobby organizations has formed, aiming to overcome the polarized political deadlock surrounding climate change in Australia.

Fairfax Media reported on Monday the powerful alliance, called a climate round table, will place new pressure on Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is preparing to announce Australia' s post-2020 commitments within weeks, ahead of the Paris climate summit in December.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is said to be considering a target of 24 to 28 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2030, based off 2005 pollution levels - effectively a reduction of 13 to 19 percent on the year 2000 - far lower then needed for Australia to meet its international obligations as the highest per-capita polluter.

The group, which includes the powerful Business Council of Australia, has stopped short of setting policies itself, however they have agreed to a set of principles that should guide policy decisions.

The group aims to advocate for policies that reduce financial risk and encourage investment in low and zero-carbon technologies that will see to avoid an increase in global temperature of greater than 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.

The group argues that avoiding dangerous global warming and reconfiguring Australia's economy to suit requires tougher and more urgent action than Australian politicians have allowed.

In signs of trouble for the future Australia's carbon reduction plans, a climate skeptic motion moved by the governing Liberal Party's Federal Council that advocates against hard carbon- reduction targets while calling for the party to question the science underpinning global warming was referred to a committee for consideration at the weekend.

While the views of the Federal Council -- the coordinating body of Australia's governing Liberal Party -- and its decisions are not binding on the elected parliamentary officials, these policy positions carry considerable weight as the stated position of the political party. Endi