Thread by @AdamBandt

"Did you notice that the Morrison government has slashed Australia's Paris climate target in half?"

The #Greens did, and we're bloody furious about it. Here's the simple version of the conservatives' latest bastardry (a thread).

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smh.com.au/environment/cl…

Over 20 years ago, at the 1997 Kyoto climate Conference, Australia joined other countries to work out what our first 'target' for reducing emissions would be. Australia insisted on receiving special treatment and demanded it be allowed to INCREASE our carbon emissions.

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So our first target: We could INCREASE our emissions by 8% on 1990 levels over 2008-2012 (and 1990 was a very high year for emissions).

Beating this weak target wasn't difficult at all.

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Then our next target for the period 2013-2020 (the second Kyoto period) was to reduce emissions by 5% on 2000 levels by 2020 and, surprise surprise, this target was also labelled weak and 'not credible' by expert climate bodies.

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And guess what? We're going to beat this second target. And one reason we will (the conservatives wouldn't admit this) is because of the Greens-Labor-independent carbon price we secured in the 'hung parliament' of 2010.

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Now, our third 'Paris target' (for 2021-2030) is 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. This has also been slammed as weak, but unlike the other targets, this time the GOV ISN'T EVEN ON TRACK TO MEET IT. The Libs have no real climate policy & no meaningful plan to cut emissions.

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So, they cook the books.

Countries make promises about how much total pollution they'll cut between 2020-2030. Pollution is measured in megatonnes (MT).

Scott Morrison's 'plan' is as follows: To meet our measly Paris target, he says we must cut only 695 MT by 2030. BUT...

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... because we beat our first two (hilariously weak) targets by a combined total of 367 MT, the government's plan is to now 'count' the 367 MT of 'carryover' from the first two targets towards the current Paris target. So 695 MT - 367 MT = 328 MT.

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Bingo.

Thru nothing more than an accounting trick, you've just halved the amount of emissions you have to stop belching into the atmosphere.

Polluters across the country clink their glasses in celebration at the Liberals' malevolence.

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It's like the doctor telling the sick pack-a-day smoker 'You really need to quit this month', only to have the patient say 'But given I used to smoke two packs a day, can't I just count the one pack I've already cut as a 'credit' and we'll pretend I've already quit?'

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To be clear: New Zealand ruled out using their 'carryover' credits. So have Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the UK and The Netherlands.

The reason is obvious: It's a dodgy accounting trick and it's against the spirit of the Paris agreement.

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We expect the conservatives to cook the books on Paris, and I hope they're turfed out in May. But Labor shouldn’t follow their lead. So far, Labor are keeping open the option of using these surplus credits if they get into government in a few short weeks.

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The planet doesn't care about dodgy accounting tricks.

By cooking the books, we're cooking the planet.

What we need to do, urgently, is rapidly reduce pollution.

For real.

That's why cancelling these credits is so important.

(End of thread.)