Category Archives: Paris climate agreement

Foreign spies could target Australian politicians using ‘unwitting relatives or friends’, Asio warns – politics live

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Federal parliament returns; Asio chief warns of ‘real threat’ from foreign spies; incoming Biden administration vows to sign back up to Paris agreement. Follow all the updates

The Senate has just voted up a motion rebuking the government over the weakness of its preferred model of National Integrity Commission.

The motion was voted up 28 to 25 with Labor, Centre Alliance, Rex Patrick, Jacqui Lambie and One Nation combining to warn the Coalition over the draft bill’s inadequacies.

Greens senator Larissa Waters motion stated:

Senate just passed a motion 28:25 for a strong corruption watchdog, listing all of the features the Gov’s weak model leaves out. A defacto vote on the Gov’s bill - the Senate can see through the fig leaf of the Gov’s belated and pathetic model that wouldn’t stop a thing! #auspol

Richard Marles says Labor is not pursing a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire and will “let Kevin speak for himself”.

Andrew Leigh officially tabled the Kevin Rudd-led petition, which had more than 500,000 signatures, in the parliament today.

We have talked about our position in relation to the media over a long period of time. Now, this is not something we have been considering. This is something Kevin Rudd has been pursuing in his capacity as a private citizen. I mean, I obviously note it is a significant petition in terms of those who have signed up to it and it has been presented to the parliament appropriately. That is where the matter is that in terms of the opposition.

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Joe Biden could bring Paris climate goals ‘within striking distance’

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Biden’s presidency could help reduce global heating by about 0.1C if plans fulfilled, say experts

The election of Joe Biden as president of the US could reduce global heating by about 0.1C, bringing the goals of the Paris agreement “within striking distance”, if his plans are fulfilled, according to a detailed analysis.

Biden’s policy of a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and plans for a $1.7tn investment in a green recovery from the Covid crisis, would reduce US emissions in the next 30 years by about 75 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalents. Calculations by the Climate Action Tracker show that this reduction would be enough to avoid a temperature rise of about 0.1C by 2100.

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Fate of climate crisis hangs on election as US exits Paris agreement

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Trump administration set US withdrawal in motion a year ago but it didn’t take effect until 4 November

The United States on Wednesday officially became the only country in the world refusing to participate in global climate efforts, with the fate of the crisis hanging on the still uncalled presidential election.

Donald Trump as of Wednesday has withdrawn the US from the Paris climate agreement, an international pact to try to avert dangerous temperature increases that are already leading to more extreme weather and threaten to shrink world food supplies, force millions to flee their homes and deprive many of basic human rights. Trump’s administration set the US exit in motion a year ago, but it didn’t automatically take effect until 4 November.

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Climate at a crossroads as Trump and Biden point in different directions

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The two US presidential contenders offer starkly different approaches as the world tries to avoid catastrophic global heating

Among the myriad reasons world leaders will closely watch the outcome of a fraught US presidential election, the climate crisis looms perhaps largest of all.

The international effort to constrain dangerous global heating will hinge, in large part, on which of the dichotomous approaches of Donald Trump or Joe Biden prevails.

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A third of my country was just underwater. The world must act on climate | Sheikh Hasina

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The climate crisis and Covid-19 are crying out for international cooperation, writes the prime minister of Bangladesh

One-third of my country was underwater last month. The heaviest rains in almost a decade began and have still not abated. More than 1.5 million Bangladeshis are displaced; tens of thousands of hectares of paddy fields have been washed away. Millions of my compatriots will need food aid this year.

Calamities, alas, never strike alone. The floods, which come in the wake of widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan in May, are making it more difficult to contain the coronavirus. More than 2.4 million people had already been moved from the destructive path of the storm without delivering them into the even greater danger of Covid-19. Yet while the infection and death rates have been contained, concerns remain until a foolproof safeguard is acquired. Economic lockdowns have hit our textile industry and exports and forced hundreds of thousands of our international migrant workers to return home, with the vast majority remaining unemployed.

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My country may be swept away by the climate crisis if the rest of the world fails to uphold its promises | President David Kabua

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Now is a time for courage. It will take sacrifices from everyone for us all to survive, the president of the Marshall Islands writes

My country joined the United Nations nearly 30 years ago, in September 1991. But unless my fellow member states take action, we may also be forced from it: the first country to see our land swept away by climate change.

As the UN general assembly meets in New York, celebrating the 75th anniversary of its formation, we must ask: how many of the 193 nations that it brings together will survive to reach its centenary?

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How Trump is emboldening other countries’ ‘bad behavior’ on the climate crisis

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Global voices in the crisis say a US exit from the Paris agreement is damaging, but the fact no other country is leaving shows it can survive this ‘ultimate stress test’

The origins of the world’s historic agreement to tackle climate change, in Paris in 2015, have some familiar themes. Back in 2007, there was a Republican president in the White House who had long been hostile to any action on climate change.

George W Bush had refused to give US backing to a new global roadmap on the climate.

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Financial help for airlines ‘should come with strict climate conditions’

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Former EU climate chief Miguel Arias Cañete fears end of Covid-19 will bring higher carbon emissions

Financial help from taxpayers to airlines hit by the coronavirus crisis must come with strict conditions on their future climate impact, the former EU climate commissioner and a group of green campaigners have said.

“It must be conditional, otherwise when we recover we will see the same or higher levels of carbon dioxide [from flying],” said Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU climate commissioner who led the bloc to the Paris agreement, in an interview with the Guardian. “We know the level of emissions we have to commit to [under Paris]. They [airlines] are worried about survival and will need lots of support, lots of liquidity – that gives them a big responsibility.”

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Heathrow third runway ruled illegal over climate change

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Appeal court says decision to give go-ahead not consistent with Paris agreement

Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal by the court of appeal because ministers did not adequately take into account the government’s commitments to tackle the climate crisis.

The ruling is a major blow to the project at a time when public concern about the climate emergency is rising fast and the government has set a target in law of net zero emissions by 2050. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, could use the ruling to abandon the project, or the government could draw up a new policy document to approve the runway.

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30 years of Australia’s hollow promises on climate policy

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This summer, Scott Morrison has faced international criticism over his climate change policies. But this government is just the latest in a long line that have either failed on meaningful climate policy at home, or blocked stronger climate action on the world stage.

In this episode of Full Story, Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor explores Australia’s long track record of stalling on climate change action.

To learn more, you can read Lenore Taylor’s piece on Australia’s broken climate policy promises.

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Russia announces plan to ‘use the advantages’ of climate change

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Kremlin website recognises global heating as a problem but lists ‘positive’ economic effects

Russia has published a plan to adapt its economy and population to climate change, aiming to mitigate damage but also “use the advantages” of warmer temperatures.

The document, published on the government’s website on Saturday, outlines a plan of action and acknowledges changes to the climate are having a “prominent and increasing effect” on socioeconomic development, people’s lives, health and industry.

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Converting coal plants to biomass could fuel climate crisis, scientists warn

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Experts horrified at large-scale forest removal to meet wood pellet demand

Plans to shift Europe’s coal plants, including the giant Drax complex in North Yorkshire, to burn wood pellets instead could accelerate rather than combat climate crisis and lay waste to forests equal to half the size of Germany’s Black Forest per year, according to campaigners.

Climate thinktank Sandbag said the heavily subsidised plans to cut carbon emissions will result in a “staggering” amount of tree cutting, potentially destroying forests faster than they can regrow.

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UN climate talks end with limited progress on emissions targets

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Partial agreement at COP25 that countries must be more ambitious to fulfil Paris goals

Climate talks in Madrid have ended with a partial agreement to ask countries to come up with more ambitious targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet the terms of the 2015 Paris accord.

Few countries came to this year’s talks with updated plans to reach the Paris goals, though the EU finally agreed its long-term target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Experts say more ambitious emissions cuts are needed globally if the Paris pledge to hold global heating to no more than 2C is to be met.

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Proposed EU-wide ‘climate law’ would set net-zero carbon target by 2050

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Plan is part of ‘green new deal’ but campaigners say it is not enough to tackle climate crisis

The first EU-wide “climate law” would enshrine a legally binding target of reaching net-zero carbon by 2050, and Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions would be halved by 2030, under a set of proposals being discussed by the incoming European commission.

Cars would be subject to new air pollution standards, following the disastrous cheating that allowed diesel pollutants to be masked, and all vehicles may be brought within the EU’s carbon emissions trading scheme, which would affect drivers across the bloc. Three quarters of road transport would have to be moved to rail and inland waterways, and pricing would have to be adjusted to reflect the carbon output of different modes of transport, which is likely to prove controversial.

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‘We have to follow up’: European parliament declares climate emergency – video

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The European parliament has declared a 'climate and environmental emergency' in a symbolic moment when it promised to urge member states to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and push the climate crisis to the top of the EU’s agenda. 

The parliament voted 429-225 with 19 abstentions to use the term 'emergency'. Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming president of the European commission, declared this week that the EU would lead the fight against 'the existential threat' of the climate crisis

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‘Our house is on fire’: EU parliament declares climate emergency

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Bloc warned against making symbolic gestures not backed up by concrete action

The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed a series of climate tipping points, resulting in “a state of planetary emergency”.

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‘On the right side of history’: Jacinda Ardern hails New Zealand zero-carbon law – video

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The New Zealand prime minister's zero-carbon bill has passed in parliament with historic cross-party support. It commits the country to new climate change laws and to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050 in line with the Paris climate agreement. The bill passed by 119 votes to one with the centre-right opposition National party's support, despite none of its proposed amendments being accepted

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Trump begins year-long process to formally exit Paris climate agreement

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  • Exit will not be final until day after 2020 elections
  • Many organizations are keeping US in climate crisis fight

Donald Trump is moving to formally exit the Paris climate agreement, making the United States the only country in the world that will not participate in the pact, as global temperatures are set to rise 3C and worsening extreme weather will drive millions into poverty.

The paperwork sent by the US government to withdraw begins a one-year process for exiting the deal agreed to at the UN climate change conference in Paris in 2015. The Trump administration will not be able to finalize its exit until a day after the presidential election in November 2020.

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Former Tuvalu PM says he was ‘stunned’ by Scott Morrison’s behaviour at Pacific Islands Forum

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Enele Sopoaga says he was also ‘insulted and deeply angry’ at comments made by Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack

The former prime minister of Tuvalu has said he was “stunned” by Scott Morrison’s behaviour at the recent Pacific Islands Forum, which he though communicated the view that Pacific leaders should “take the money … then shut up about climate change”.

Enele Sopoaga, speaking at the national conference of the Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) in Sydney on Wednesday, said Morrison’s behaviour at the forum, which Tuvalu hosted in August, was “dismissive” of the concerns of the Pacific regarding the climate crisis.

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Labor MPs condemn suggestion they adopt Coalition climate change policy

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Joel Fitzgibbon’s climate change ‘settlement’ is rejected but Labor will allow the government’s ‘big stick’ energy policy to pass

Joel Fitzgibbon has copped a blast in the left and right caucus meetings for declaring Labor should adopt the Coalition’s Paris emissions reduction target rather than pursue ambitious cuts to carbon pollution.

The internal unrest came as the shadow cabinet was expected to sign off on Monday night on a shift in Labor’s attitude to the controversial “big stick” policy of the Morrison government.

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