| Climate institute flags billions in savings |
 |
 |
 |
| Policy - Environment |
| Tuesday, 16 September 2008 15:24 |
|
Canberra Times Monday 1/9/2008 Page: 1 Major investment in renewable energy and fuel-efficient transport could cut Australia"s carbon pollution levels, saving billions of dollars, according to the Climate Institute Australia. Acting ahead of any global agreement on emissions reduction, Australia could cut 25 per cent cut in 1990-level carbon emissions by 2020 if it moved quickly to adopt smarter policies and investments, the institute says. An analysis to be issued today also outlines the latest science on the impact of climate change, warning that if no action is taken to cut emissions, irrigated agricultural production in the Murray-Darling Basin will all but disappear. It warns that a 2 per cent global temperature increase would kill off coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef, and cause the melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. That, it says, would raise the sea level by several metres. The proposal for a 25 per cent cut in emissions comes ahead of Friday"s issuing of the final Federal Government-commissioned Garnaut Report on climate change, which will set out reduction targets. The analysis, prepared for the institute by energy modellers McLennan Magasanik Associates, said Australia had a range of low-cost options it could use to reduce emissions, particularly in the area of energy efficiency. Institute chief executive officer John Connor said the analysis showed that more than half the pollution reduction could be achieved at a net saving to the economy. "Significant reductions in our energy sector can be achieved with investments over the next decade of around half of 1 per cent of this year"s gross domestic product - $46.6 billion," Mr Connor said. "With a target of at least 25 per cent carbon pollution reduction, Australia can be a positive player in global negotiations to help achieve global targets so clearly in our national interest. "Anything less would return Australia to the climate laggard role we have just shrugged off." A failure by industrialised countries to reduce carbon emissions by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 risked severe climate impacts, such as the collapse of the Amazon rainforest. The report said that a rise in temperatures of two or more degrees would lead to a 300 per cent increase in extreme fire danger days.. |
Vulcan Project to Measure Carbon CO2 Footprints Across the American Nation Project Vulcan is a collaboration between Purdue University, The Department of Energy and NASA to map the extent of the United States" carbon emissions North American Carbon Program (NACP) to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at... Read more Environment | John | Sunday, 20 April 2008 |
New framework to account for effect of aerosols on precipitation A group of scientists affiliated with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) have proposed a new framework to account more accurately for the effects of aerosols on precipitation in climate models. Their work appears in the 5 September issue of Science... Read more Environment | | Friday, 5 September 2008 |
Allergic to Climate ChangeAn item on the ABC World News the other night linking allergies and climate change caught my attention. It referred to a paper in the current issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology describing a connection between climate... Read more Environment | | Wednesday, 10 September 2008 |
UN climate chief: less meat = less heat Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and joint winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, will present the case that eating less meat can help us fight climate change in an efficient way. Pachauri will... Read more Environment | | Sunday, 7 September 2008 |
Generation Excess The weekend SMH had a jaundiced look at the record of the baby boomers, as part of a more general litany of impending doom ("Baby boomers practised scorched earth gluttony, and now the rest must pay the price") - Shame... Read more Environment | | Septemberonday, 8 September 2008 |
Climate institute flags billions in savingsCanberra TimesMonday 1/9/2008 Page: 1Major investment in renewable energy and fuel-efficient transport could cut Australia"s carbon pollution levels, saving billions of dollars, according to the Climate Institute Australia. Acting ahead of any global agreement on emissions reduction, Australia could cut... Read more Environment | | TUSEDAY, 16 September 2008 |
Companies respond to energy efficiency challengeAgeTuesday 2/9/2008 Page: 3BIG business has started taking steps to improve energy efficiency, with a survey showing that 20% have already gone beyond the minimum requirements set by government. The survey of 55 of Australia"s biggest power users by energy... Read more Environment | | TUSEDAY, 16 September 2008 |
Pyrenees' glaciers may disappear in less than 50 years Much has been said about the situation of the glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, but little is known about those in the high mountain areas of the Iberian Peninsula. A Spanish study has now revealed, for the first time, that... Read more Environment | | Friday, 5 September 2008 |
|
More in: Environment
|
|
100% - + 8Show options | |
