Economic and political assessments of climate change have for years helped justify inaction. Now, young environmentalists worldwide are shifting the debate to focus on values, ethics and justice.
Citizens’ assemblies could be vital in kick-starting the tough steps needed to safeguard a healthy world – but the detail for how they will work will be important.
We’ve been here before. In fact we’ve been going round in circles on climate policy for decades, while the temperature (of the debate, as well as the planet) climbs ever higher.
Labor has ditched its reliance on a single economy-wide climate policy, in favour of a range of different measures that will all help drive down emissions. But some crucial issues remain unaddressed.
States are folding the social and economic costs of burning fossil fuels into their electricity policies, giving utilities a financial incentive to reduce greenhouse emissions.
Scott Morrison’s pledge to spend billions on a Climate Solutions Fund is a thinly veiled rehash of the widely criticised Emissions Reduction Fund, which had much of its work undone by fine print.
An economist breaks down results on two key issues at the COP24 climate change meeting: getting all nations to use the same measuring and reporting rules, and linking policies across borders.
For decades, economists have pondered the ‘social cost of carbon’ - the price worth paying to avoid the future costs of greenhouse emissions. But a new analysis suggests this quest is impossibly complex.