Labor must commit to 2020 emission targets and a coal moratorium

In the wake of Labor’s climate summit Greenpeace has called on the Federal Labor Opposition to commit to legislating deep emission cuts and a moratorium on new coalmines and coal-fired power stations as part of a credible plan to address dangerous climate change.

 ‘Instead of just congratulating the European Union on their 2020 targets, the ALP must match them. Without these commitments, other policy announcements on climate change can only be considered as window dressing,’ said Greenpeace head of campaigns Steve Campbell, who attended the summit in Canberra today.

 ‘Labor must also drive the big switch from a fossil-fuel economy to clean and safe renewable energy. To do this it has to adopt a big target for renewable energy generation – 25 per cent by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2050. It’s current commitment to “significantly increase” the mandatory renewable energy target is insufficient.

 Greenpeace is also concerned that Labor is relying on so-called ‘clean coal’ or ‘carbon capture and storage’ technology to be a silver bullet. This technology is 20 years away and we don’t know if it will ever work. Only last week the former chief executive of BHP-Billiton Paul Anderson said the storage of carbon may be as difficult as storing nuclear waste. The Dean of Science at UNSW, Professor Mike Archer, has warned that Australians are being misled by these ‘never-never’ solutions.

 ‘Labor’s silver bullet may well turn out to be a blank round”, warned Campbell. “And it won’t be ready in time to deliver the deep emissions cuts that are needed by 2020. The only way we will get there is through ruling out new coal-fired power stations and developing Australia’s renewable energy industry and energy efficiency”. 

 A credible response to climate change must also acknowledge that the massive planned expansion of Australia’s export coal industry would be a climate disaster. It must be stopped.

 ‘Labor must remember that every tonne of coal we export comes back to us as climate change. They must accept that the coal industry faces restructuring as the world inevitably moves away from burning coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. If we fail to act, climate change will cause devastating jobs losses in Australia in sectors such as tourism and agriculture.

 ‘The solutions to climate change, such as renewables, will create many more new jobs than exist in the coal industry. If Labor is serious about climate change and about the long-term welfare of its works, it must commit to not expanding our coal industry and develop a transition strategy to assist coal communities make the shift to clean, renewable energy ,’ Campbell said.