2 December 2015, The Conversation, Climate refugees: in the too-hard basket? Climate change will force people to flood from poorer regions to Western countries in the coming decades. As many as a billion people will end up on the move as floods, droughts, rising seas and climate-related conflicts spread across the globe, sparking political crises in the countries they head to. This is one of the narratives we hear about climate-related migration. But a panel of experts has told the Paris summit it is wrong-headed. They called for a fresh way of thinking about an issue they concede is so major that it may be beyond the scope of these COP21 climate negotiations. The panel of seven academics from European universities, who have been studying climate change-related migration, spoke at a packed side event at the conference centre on Tuesday. They agreed that climate-related migration is happening and will increase; people move for safety (in response to climate-related disasters), and because they’ve lost their livelihoods (such as farming). One study found there could be 180 million climate refugees by 2040; others have estimated one billion people could be affected. Climate change caused higher food prices which contributed to the Arab Spring uprisings, while major droughts in Syria probably contributed to the devastating civil war (although the panellists emphasised that this was not the major cause of the conflict). Climate-related migration is also an important issue for Australia because vulnerable areas of the Pacific and South Asia are in this region. Read More here
Category Archives: PLEA Network
1 December 2015, Renew Economy, Paris, COP21: Turnbull ducks and weaves as world leaders lead. PARIS: As 150 country leaders spoke in Paris on Monday, mostly reinforcing their commitment to a global agreement that aims to limit global warming to a maximum 2°C, Australia prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was forced to duck and weave his way through the first day of talks. The country leaders were invited to Paris to try to remove roadblocks and inspire others to act. Most – including the leaders of the US, China, Mexico, host France and other EU countries, developing nations, and even Russia – did exactly that. But the day started badly for Australia with the revelation that it had snubbed – apparently, at the last minute and under pressure from the conservative rump of the Coalition government – an invitation to join a 40-country campaign to remove fossil fuel subsidies. Australia was also conspicuously absent when many of the world’s major economies held a special event to underline their support for a carbon price. Australia, of course, was the first country in the world to remove a carbon price when Tony Abbott was in power. Australia announced it was adding $1 billion into climate financing fund over five years, but again appeared to be pulling much of this money from the foreign aid budget. It also pledged an extra $100 million for clean technology research, at the same time as refusing to remove legislation that would dismantle the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corp and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, from which it has stripped twice as much research funding. Read More here
30 November 2015 The Conversation, We can achieve sustainability – but not without limiting growth. Can Australians be sustainable and enjoy endless economic growth? It’s not likely. In a recent article on The Conversation, Steve Hatfield-Dodds argued that sustainability was possible in Australia without sacrificing economic growth. He also argued the necessary policy changes would not require fundamental changes to Australians’ values. This research was based on a detailed paper in Nature and modelling undertaken for CSIRO’s recent National Outlook Report. Contrary to this pro-growth outlook, I will argue that sustainability would be almost impossible to achieve in practice without ending growth in population and consumption per person. I’ll also argue that the claim that we don’t need to change our values cannot be proven (or disproven) by the method used by Hatfield-Dodds and colleagues. Recent experience suggests we may need to change our values. This debate is important, because the argument that sustainability is compatible with growth is likely to be misused by those who have vested interests in endless economic growth. Growth and sustainability are rarely compatible. Read More here
29 November 2015, Aljazeera, Inside the bubble with Obama in Paris. As US president heads to French capital for UN climate summit, his 2008 promise to heal the planet is sure to be broken. As I write this, US President Barack Obama has just taken off for Paris and the UN Climate summit. I beat him here – after all he doesn’t have to go through customs or anything so he travels faster than I do. This is a very big deal to Obama. Getting an overarching worldwide agreement on climate change has been a central theme of his administration since he took office. Remember the talk of calming seas when he became the Democratic nominee? Small problem – he’s not going to keep that promise. A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that if all of the countries live up to their pledges to reduce greenhouse gases, the Earth will still warm 3.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. Without any action, the planet is expected to warm by 4.5C. These scientists say the combined actions will in essence reduce the temperature by 1C. That will not stave off the worst consequences of climate change. It’s also an open question as to whether the countries will live up to their commitments. Hurdles ahead. The Obama administration has been working hard to avoid this agreement being called a treaty. If it is a treaty, he would have to get two-thirds of the US Senate to agree to the terms. He wouldn’t be able to make that happen. Read More here