247 News Around The World 247 News Around The World [ad_1] Scott Morrison has announced an historic commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in a bid to tackle global warming. The Prime Minister will show off his 'uniquely Australian' proposal at crunch climate talks in Glasgow with world leaders at the end of this month. He said Australia can reach net zero emissions by relying on technology such as solar power and green hydrogen and without introducing any new taxes - but he did not announce any new initiatives. [Scott Morrison (pictured on Monday) has announced a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050] [Scott Morrison (pictured on Monday) has announced a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050] Scott Morrison (pictured on Monday) has announced a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 By 2050, Australia's electricity generation will cause up to 97 per cent fewer emissions than in 2005, using renewables but with a small amount of gas-fired power remaining. Nuclear power is off the table but Mr Morrison did not rule out building more coal-fired power stations in a move that will disappoint allies such as the UK who want to phase out coal. Australia will get 85 per cent of the way to net zero with existing technologies and offsets while the other 15 per cent will be achieved with 'further breakthrough technologies' that don't exist yet. International and domestic offsets will account for 10 to 20 per cent of the emissions reduction. This may include paying farmers to plant more trees or paying other countries to cut their emissions. [This chart shows how Australia will reach net zero emissions. Forty per cent of the reduction comes from existing Australian technology, 15 per cent from global technology, 10 to 20 per cent from offsets and 15 per cent from technology that doesn't exist yet] [This chart shows how Australia will reach net zero emissions. Forty per cent of the reduction comes from existing Australian technology, 15 per cent from global technology, 10 to 20 per cent from offsets and 15 per cent from technology that doesn't exist yet] This chart shows how Australia will reach net zero emissions. Forty per cent of the reduction comes from existing Australian technology, 15 per cent from global technology, 10 to 20 per cent from offsets and 15 per cent from technology that doesn't exist yet [This chart shows the emissions reduction expected in each sector of the economy. By 2050, Australia's electricity generation will cause up to 97 per cent fewer emissions than 2005, transport will pollute up to 71 per cent less, industry will pollute up to 45 per cent less and agriculture will pollute up to 36 per cent less] [This chart shows the emissions reduction expected in each sector of the economy. By 2050, Australia's electricity generation will cause up to 97 per cent fewer emissions than 2005, transport will pollute up to 71 per cent less, industry will pollute up to 45 per cent less and agriculture will pollute up to 36 per cent less] This chart shows the emissions reduction expected in each sector of the economy. By 2050, Australia's electricity generation will cause up to 97 per cent fewer emissions than 2005, transport will pollute up to 71 per cent less, industry will pollute up to 45 per cent less and agriculture will pollute up to 36 per cent less HOW WILL AUSTRALIA GET TO NET ZERO BY 2050? Clear hydrogen: Can be used to heat buildings, power factories and even run cars with no emissions Ultra low-cost solar: Solar electricity generation at $15 per MWh Electricity storage: Huge Lithium-ion batteries can store energy generated by solar and wind power so it can be released at peak times Low carbon materials: Steel and aluminium made by burning hydrogen instead of coal to reduce carbon emissions Carbon capture: The process of capturing carbon dioxide from factories and power stations and storing it underground Soil carbon: Growing more plants and trees to return carbon from the air to the soil Source: Australian Government Mr Morrison said the plan will create 62,000 regional mining and heavy industry jobs and leave Aussies $2,000 better off in 2050 compared to taking no climate action. The Prime Minister also said the plan won't raise electricity costs or put regional jobs at risk. 'Australians want action on climate change. They're taking action on climate change but they also want to protect their jobs and their livelihoods,' he said. 'They also want to keep the costs of living down. 'And I also want to protect the Australian way of life, especially in rural and regional areas. The Australian way of life is unique,' he said. 'It will not impact households businesses or the broader economy with new costs or taxes imposed by the initiatives that we are undertaking. 'It will not cost jobs, not in farming, mining or gas. Because what we're doing in these plans is positive things, enabling things.' Greens leader Adam Bandt, who wants to prohibit coal and to reach net zero by 2035, said Mr Morrison's plan was a 'con'. 'Net zero by 2050 is a death sentence. Morrison's plan is dangerous and will cost our kids their future,' he said. Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the Prime Minister's announcement was 'all marketing' with no detail or new funding. 'The Prime Minister announced a vibe today rather than a target,' he said, criticising the Government for not legislating the net zero goal. 'This Government has been there for almost nine years. And literally, two days before the Prime Minister jets off to Glasgow for the most important international conference on climate change this century, he has come up with this non-policy which has no new initiatives, he said. Mr Albanese said he would release his climate policy in detail after the Glasgow conference. The Prime Minister said Australia was showing global leadership by 'focussing on the how' in a dig at other countries who have signed up to net zero without a clear plan. 'There's no blank cheques here,' he said. 'I am looking forward to discussing this with others overseas because I think the Australian way shows a way for other countries to follow,' Mr Morrison added. 'You know the challenges that we face here in Australia, particularly with the nature of our economy, are not that dissimilar to those being faced in Indonesia or in Vietnam or in India or places like that or indeed China.' China is responsible for 30 per cent of global emissions, while Australia accounts for just one per cent. [After a week of internal meetings and debate, Barnaby Joyce (centre with David Littleproud and Bridget McKenzie) revealed his National Party now backs a net zero target] [After a week of internal meetings and debate, Barnaby Joyce (centre with David Littleproud and Bridget McKenzie) revealed his National Party now backs a net zero target] After a week of internal meetings and debate, Barnaby Joyce (centre with David Littleproud and Bridget McKenzie) revealed his National Party now backs a net zero target [Mr Morrison said the plan will create 62,000 regional mining and heavy industry jobs and leave Aussies $2,000 better off in 2050 compared to taking no climate action] [Mr Morrison said the plan will create 62,000 regional mining and heavy industry jobs and leave Aussies $2,000 better off in 2050 compared to taking no climate action] Mr Morrison said the plan will create 62,000 regional mining and heavy industry jobs and leave Aussies $2,000 better off in 2050 compared to taking no climate action Energy Minister Angus Taylor said Australia's emissions are predicted to drop 30 to 35 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Although this is not an updated target, it is well ahead of the Government's current target of a 26 to 28 per cent reduction. The improved figures are a result of states and territories taking climate change action. Despite a push from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to phase out coal in developed nations, Mr Morrison said coal-fired power stations may still be built in Australia if they 'stack up and they comply with the environmental laws that exist in states and territories and receive the necessary approvals.' The announcement comes after the National Party declared it will support a 2050 net zero carbon emissions target. After a week of internal meetings and debate, leader Barnaby Joyce revealed on Sunday the junior Coalition party now backs the target and declared: 'I am 100 per cent on board with the goal of net zero by 2050.' The Nationals were concerned that regional jobs in heavy emitting industries such as coal mining would be smashed. [If temperatures continue to rise, there could be devastating effects here on Earth, including a dramatic loss of sea-life, an ice-free Arctic and more regular 'extreme' weather] [If temperatures continue to rise, there could be devastating effects here on Earth, including a dramatic loss of sea-life, an ice-free Arctic and more regular 'extreme' weather] If temperatures continue to rise, there could be devastating effects here on Earth, including a dramatic loss of sea-life, an ice-free Arctic and more regular 'extreme' weather BARNABY JOYCE QUOTES ON CLIMATE 2011: 'I don't feel the world is coming to a catastrophic end. I just feel that this is just another one of those pitches.' 'Because it's warming by an extremely small amount there's virtually nothing you can do about it, and definitely nothing you can do about it from Australia by yourself, except stuff up your economy.' 2012: 'Even if climate change turns out to exist one day, we will have absolutely no impact on it whatsoever… we really should have bigger fish to fry than this one.' 2016: (While looking at a depleted creek) 'It's the driest I've ever seen it. When I look at this I start to wonder whether climate change might really be happening.' July 2019: 'I believe this is one of the greatest policy phantoms, the misguided and quite ludicrous proposition that Australia can have any effect on the climate,' he wrote on Facebook in 2019. 'If we could, we should be the first to make it rain and, more importantly, stop the recurrence of an ice age anytime in the coming millennium.' 'The very idea that we can stop climate change is barking mad. Climate change is inevitable, as geology has always shown.' December 2019: 'You don't have to convince me the climate's not changing. It is changing. My problem has always been whether you believe a new tax is going to change it back. 'And the other thing we've got to acknowledge is there's a higher authority that's beyond our comprehension - right up there in the sky - and unless we understand that it's got to be respected, then we're just fools, we're going to get nailed' July 2021: 'The likelihood of Joyce getting endorsement from his party room to agree to net zero is zero.' October 2021: 'I am 100 per cent on board with the goal of net zero by 2050.' 'CODE RED FOR HUMANITY': DOOMSDAY UN REPORT SAYS GLOBAL WARMING IS ALREADY CAUSING EXTREME WEATHER AND THE WORLD WILL HEAT UP BY 1.5C BY 2040 - A DECADE EARLIER THAN FORECAST By Sam Tonkin The Earth is likely to warm by 1.5C within the next 20 years — a decade earlier than previously expected — and heatwaves, flooding and droughts will become more frequent and intense, a bombshell United Nations report dubbed a 'code red for humanity' warned last month. Scientists had expected temperatures to rise by 1.5C above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052 but now believe it will happen between this year and 2040. The world's largest ever report into climate change also said it was 'unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land'. Since 1970, global surface temperatures have risen faster than in any other 50-year period over the past 2,000 years, the authors said, while the past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850. [Climate change: The bombshell UN report comes as record heatwaves, wildfires and floods hit countries around the world. A firefighter is pictured above trying to extinguish a wildfire burning on the island of Evia, Greece at the weekend] [Climate change: The bombshell UN report comes as record heatwaves, wildfires and floods hit countries around the world. A firefighter is pictured above trying to extinguish a wildfire burning on the island of Evia, Greece at the weekend] Climate change: The bombshell UN report comes as record heatwaves, wildfires and floods hit countries around the world. A firefighter is pictured above trying to extinguish a wildfire burning on the island of Evia, Greece at the weekend 'It's just guaranteed that it's going to get worse,' said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. 'I don't see any area that is safe… Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.' It comes as record heatwaves, wildfires and floods hit countries around the world. Last month western Europe saw its worst flooding in decades, leaving more than 180 people dead after heavy rainfall hit Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the Netherlands. A blistering heatwave killed hundreds of people across the west coast of the US and Canada earlier this summer, while more than 300 died and almost 13 million others were affected by floods that engulfed Henan province in China at the end of July. The 1.5C mark is considered to be the point where climate change becomes increasingly dangerous. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change committed countries to limiting warming to 1.5C but they have already risen by 1.2C. [Smoke blotted out the skies on the Greek island of Evia on Sunday as fires that have been burning out of control entered their seventh day, with locals forced to watch helplessly as their livelihoods went up in smoke] [Smoke blotted out the skies on the Greek island of Evia on Sunday as fires that have been burning out of control entered their seventh day, with locals forced to watch helplessly as their livelihoods went up in smoke] Smoke blotted out the skies on the Greek island of Evia on Sunday as fires that have been burning out of control entered their seventh day, with locals forced to watch helplessly as their livelihoods went up in smoke UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the new report a 'code red for humanity'. He warned: 'The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.' The key findings of the report are: * Humans are very likely the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers, decline in sea ice, warming oceans and rising sea levels * It is 'virtually certain' that heatwaves 'have become more frequent and more intense across most land regions' * A rise in sea levels approaching 2 metres by the end of this century 'cannot be ruled out' * The Arctic is likely to be 'practically sea ice-free' in September at least once before 2050 * Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher than they have been for three million years * Some changes, such as sea level rises, will be 'irreversible' for hundreds to thousands of years However, some experts say there is still hope that cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases could stabilise rising temperatures. Scientists involved in the report said the 1.5C or 2C thresholds are not cliff edges the world will fall off, but that every bit of warming makes a difference, so it is important to curb temperature rises as much as possible. Professor Richard Betts, from the Met Office Hadley Centre and a contributing author to the report, said: 'Like the speed limit on a motorway, staying below it is not perfectly safe and exceeding it does not immediately lead to calamity, but the risks do increase if the limit is passed. KEY FINDINGS FROM THE UN'S NEW CLIMATE SCIENCE REPORT – It is 'unequivocal' that human activity has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land – with widespread and rapid changes across the world. – Many of the changes are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years, with the world warming at a rate unprecedented in at least 2,000 years. – Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher than they have been for three million years and methane concentrations are higher than they have been for 800,000 years, with rises in both greenhouse gases well above natural changes seen for hundreds of thousands of years. – Global average temperatures were nearly 1.1C higher in the last decade than in pre-industrial times, or the period 1850-1900, driven by emissions caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. – Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region around the world, with stronger evidence of more frequent or intense heatwaves, heavy rain, droughts and tropical cyclones and the role humans play in driving the changes. – Humans are very likely the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers, decline in sea ice, warming oceans and rising sea levels. The rate of sea level rise is speeding up. – Global surface temperatures will continue to increase until at least mid-century, and the world will reach or exceed 1.5C of warming over the next 20 years. – Global warming of 1.5C and 2C – limits countries have committed to in order to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change – will be exceeded in the 21st century unless deep reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades. – Continued warming will drive increases in the frequency and intensity of hot extremes, marine heatwaves, heavy rain, droughts in some regions, the proportion of intense tropical cyclones, and reductions in Arctic sea ice, snow cover and permafrost. – Every additional increment of warming causes larger changes in extremes, with every extra 0.5C temperature rises leading to clear increases in the intensity of heatwaves, heavy rain that can cause flooding, and droughts. – Under scenarios for the future with increasing carbon dioxide emissions, the ocean and land carbon sinks such as forests are projected to be less effective at slowing the accumulation of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. – Changes to oceans, sea levels and melting permafrost and glaciers are irreversible for decades, centuries or even millennia as a result of past and future warming. – Strong, rapid and sustained reductions in emissions of methane would help curb warming, and would also improve air quality [ad_2] Daily Mail The post Scott Morrison announces historic net zero emissions target appeared first on 247 News Around The World.
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