[Greens-Media] Turnbull talking Kyoto: Why did we waste the last decade?

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

Turnbull talking Kyoto: Why did we waste the last decade?

Hobart, Friday 28 September 2007  Australian Greens Climate Change
Spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, is today calling on the Howard
Government to acknowledge that the climate change agreement being worked
towards in the USA looks like adopting the Kyoto framework.

Senator Milne said "Rich nations adopting targets and helping developing
nations lift themselves out of poverty with cleaner technologies is
exactly what Kyoto was always about. If that is where this agreement is
heading, the question is, why have we wasted a vital decade in getting
back to the same point?

"Kyoto established frameworks for rich nations like Australia to help
developing nations meet their economic needs using clean technologies.
Australia has missed out on taking part in markets like the Clean
Development Mechanism because we refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol."

Government must say what emissions targets will be
"Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged this morning that Australia will set
binding targets for reducing emissions, at least as part of an emissions
trading scheme and possibly as part of an international agreement, but
he is conveniently not mentioning that Prime Minister Howard has said
any targets would be low and slow.

"It is vital that the Government be up front with Australian voters and
tell them what target they will set before the election so that they can
be judged on how serious they are about avoiding runaway climate change.

"The only way to set a real target for emissions reductions is to make a
judgement of how much climate change we are willing to risk, and then
use the best science to determine how much we need to reduce global
emissions in order to keep below that level of warming. Then, as the
Minister acknowledged, rich nations like Australia need to take the
lead, allowing developing nations to lift themselves out of poverty.

"The Greens have used that process to set a target to reduce emissions
by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050. These figures
must inform any decisions on setting Australia's targets.

"But, meanwhile, the government's favoured modeller, ABARE, is still
modelling future scenarios under which emissions increase by 36% by 2050
- a recipe for climate catastrophe.

"Given the Howard Government's track record of weaselling out of
targets, it is vital that Prime Minister Howard and Malcolm Turnbull now
say whether they will sign and ratify a post-2012 agreement with legally
binding reduction targets. Anything less is political spin and not real
climate action."

Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
Phone: + 61 (0) 2 6277 3063
Mobile: + 61 (0) 437 587 562
Email: tim.hollo at aph.gov.au
Skype: timhollo
www.christinemilne.org.au
www.youtube.com/senatormilne