Scott Morrison's speech today in response to the urgent warning issued by the IPCC shows a callous disregard for protecting Australians from the impacts of dangerous climate change, says Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
A day after the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that Australia was already experiencing heating of 1.4 degrees driven by burning coal, oil and gas, the Prime Minister showed no signs of shifting his dangerous climate policies, refusing to commit to a stronger emissions reduction target.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said that the Prime Minister's blinkered climate vision was putting Australia lives at risk.
"I say to the Prime Minister, take some responsibility mate. Now is not a time for your spin and lies and nonsense. Enough of the pathetic political games. Enough of sacrificing the future of our kids and our country to protect the coal and gas corporations.
"Just yesterday we had the direst warning yet from climate scientists on what is in store for Australia unless we urgently reduce emissions and yet here we are: no binding target, no credible plan, no mechanism for getting the job done"
"Net-zero by 2050 is too late for the Great Barrier Reef and our Pacific neighbours but even that do-nothing target is too ambitious for our Prime Minister, who is squandering our window to make the changes we must to avert climate catastrophe in the interests of gifting taxpayers money to the coal and gas industries.
"Australia stands to lose more than most from the impacts of climate change but Mr Morrison still clings to this position of denial and delay. The Australian people and the world deserve better – we need to give this our best. That means cutting emissions by 75 percent this decade and committing to net zero emissions by 2035. Anything less and Scott Morrison is simply fiddling while Australia burns."
