Christian Holz, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
This month Canada revealed its post-2020 climate target as 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. But current policies make it unlikely Canada will achieve the target within the country.
Countries should make pledges to fund low-carbon research - such as developing solar technology - and development as part of global climate talks.
University of Salford Press Office/Flickr
Countries will take emissions reduction pledges to international climate talks in Paris at the end of this year. Those pledges should also include funds for low-carbon R&D.
Has any other country achieved a greater reduction than Australia in the intensity of their emissions per unit of GDP over between 1990 and now?
AAP Image/Dan Peled
Recent comments by Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, implied that Australia is leading the world in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP. Is that right?
More mines, more roads, as the government puts its drive towards economic development ahead of all else.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Amid talk of paths to surplus and investing in infrastructure, both sides of politics seem to have forgotten Australia’s longstanding responsibility to govern sustainably, and not just for the economy.
Nations need to focus on the global carbon budget, not on what their neighbours are doing.
Andriano/Shutterstock.com
Australia’s emissions target will inevitably be compared with other leading nations. But a fair target should be calculated not on a basis of comparison, but on the world’s shared 2-degree climate goal.
The cost of low emissions technology is falling faster than modelling five years ago expected, lowering the cost of reducing carbon emissions.
Bas/Flickr
Scientists and policy makers are struggling in some countries to gain the support that will lead to meaningful action on climate change. Could art be the answer?
UN chief climate negotiator Christiana Figueres told a Melbourne conference Australia risks becoming an outsider at this year’s crucial Paris talks.
EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN/AAP
UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has hinted that Australia risks becoming an outsider at this year’s Paris climate talks if it doesn’t match the ambition of many other countries’ climate pledges.
Pope Francis and UN head Ban Ki-Moon, who met at the Vatican to discuss climate change, hope to influence this year’s crucial Paris climate talks.
EPA/L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AAP
Pope Francis is set to release an encyclical on climate change next month, which he hopes will influence this year’s Paris climate talks as well as continuing his work on behalf of the world’s poorest.
The wrong track? The biggest emitters, such as power stations, were largely absent from the government’s first round of greenhouse reduction contracts.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
Federal environment minister Greg Hunt has hailed the first round of Emissions Reduction Fund auctions as a “stunning result”. But extrapolating the numbers puts Australia behind on its carbon targets.
Yes, the environment can be a vote winnner.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
If we’re going to limit global warming to less than 2C, Australia will need to keep more than 90% of its coal reserves in the ground.
At one climate change conference after another, leaders of the developed democracies solemnly pledge action, then return to the gridlock of political systems with 19th-century origins.
EPA/COP20
Even as the challenges of climate change grow ever more obvious, what remains largely unacknowledged is the crisis in liberal democratic politics that is preventing an effective response.
Scaling back coalmining is one way Australia could make big progress towards its emissions targets.
CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons
The Climate Change Authority has recommended Australia cut greenhouse gas emissions 30% below 2000 levels by 2025. While sensible, the government is unlikely to accept, and the target misses bigger opportunities to cut emissions.
Climate Change Authority chair Bernie Fraser says other wealthy nations have already pledged far deeper emissions cuts than Australia.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
A report from Australia’s Climate Change Authority recommends cutting greenhouse emissions by 30% by 2025 if the country is to be seen as a good global citizen in this year’s climate negotiations.
Good climate models can predict and help us respond to weather events.
David Dashwood/Flickr
Climate and weather models have come far in recent decades, and Australia has one of the best.
Safeguarding rainforests is an area where the United Nations has made great strides - hopefully the Paris summit can deliver more of the same.
Sze Ning/Flickr.com/Wikimedia Commons
In the final part of his essay on the Paris climate talks, Nick Rowley explains how a successful deal, whether binding or not, needs to influence directly the domestic policies of the world’s nations.