Daily Archives: 20 September 2023

‘Missing half the equation’: scientists criticise Australia over approach to fossil fuels

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/missing-half-the-equation-scientists-criticise-australia-over-approach-to-fossil-fuels

Image of a kangaroo.
Image of a kangaroo.

Prof Lesley Hughes and others says there is ‘cognitive dissonance’ between Labor’s stated commitment to the climate crisis and its policies

The Australian government is “missing half the equation” in acting on the climate crisis by backing a shift to renewable energy but having no plan to get out of fossil fuels, according to an author of a new scientific review.

Prof Lesley Hughes is a leading climate change scientist and member of the independent Climate Council and government advisory body the Climate Change Authority. Hughes said there is a “cognitive dissonance” between Labor’s stated commitment to addressing the problem and the pace at which it is moving.

The dissonance is most clear in it subsidising or approving new and expanded fossil fuel developments while arguing it supports trying to limit global heating to 1.5C – a goal agreed at UN climate conferences.

“The two things are completely at odds with each other,” she said.

Hughes is the co-author of a Climate Council review, released on Wednesday, which found Australia should be cutting national carbon dioxide emissions by 75% by 2030. The government’s legislated target is a minimum 43% cut (compared with 2005 levels).

The report said the country should be aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2035 – much sooner than the current 2050 goal. The finding is broadly consistent with other analyses that have found Australia should be moving more rapidly.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/missing-half-the-equation-scientists-criticise-australia-over-approach-to-fossil-fuels

Dissonance but not cognitive dissonance to this pedant but understood …

Continue Reading‘Missing half the equation’: scientists criticise Australia over approach to fossil fuels

Young people to take 32 European countries to court over climate policies

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/14/young-people-to-take-32-european-countries-to-court-over–climate-policies

Canadian wildfire 2023
Canadian wildfire 2023

Claimants to argue lack of adequate action is breach of human rights, in largest climate legal action to date

Six young people are preparing to appear at the European court of human rights to try to compel 32 nations to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in the world’s largest climate legal action to date.

Aged from 11 to 24, the six Portuguese claimants, say they were driven to act by their experiences in the wildfires that ripped through the Leiria region in 2017, killing 66 people and destroying 20,000 hectares of forest.

After another summer in which wildfires raged across Portugal, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Italy, the young people will argue in the grand chamber of the Strasbourg court in 13 days’ time that the 32 European nations’ policies to tackle global heating are inadequate and in breach of their human rights obligations.

Crowdfunded by people around the world, who have donated more than £100,000, they are seeking a binding ruling from the judges to force the countries to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in what would be a historic milestone in climate litigation.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/14/young-people-to-take-32-european-countries-to-court-over-climate-policies

Continue ReadingYoung people to take 32 European countries to court over climate policies

House of Lords give damning assessment of Therese Coffey’s dealings with water companies

Spread the love
Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/house-of-lords-give-damning-assessment-of-therese-coffeys-dealings-with-water-companies/

Committee slam a ‘lack of leadership and deep-rooted complacency’

A House of Lords committee has given a damning judgement into the work of environment secretary Therese Coffey, finding ‘deep-rooted complacency’ in government dealings with water companies.

This has come at the risk of water shortages and extreme environmental consequences, the industry and regulators’ committee found, due to a ‘lack of leadership’ in government which has meant water companies have failed to protect the environment and the water supply.

In a letter to Coffey, the committee warned that a continued under-investment in water infrastructure will have ‘serious long-term consequences for the environment and the security of water supplies’, risking future water shortages.

The inquiry was launched in June as a follow-up to a previous report titled ‘The affluent and the effluent: cleaning up the failures of water regulation’ which concluded large scale failures in the water system from under-investment and insufficient government strategy.

…

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/house-of-lords-give-damning-assessment-of-therese-coffeys-dealings-with-water-companies/

Continue ReadingHouse of Lords give damning assessment of Therese Coffey’s dealings with water companies

These bombshell new polls are among the worst yet for the Tories

Spread the love

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/these-bombshell-new-polls-are-among-the-worst-yet-for-the-tories/

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps. Credit: Simon Dawson / 10 Downing Street, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

This would be an unprecedented wipeout

Tory polling woes continue this week. Three new polls have indicated Rishi Sunak’s party are on track to be obliterated at the next general election.

Polling firm Redfield and Wilton has Labour currently sitting on a healthy 18 point lead over the Tories. The company’s latest poll has Labour on 44%, the Tories on 26%, the Lib Dems on 14%, Reform on 6% and the Greens on 6%.

Polling aggregator Stats for Lefties has projected that if this were repeated in a general election, the Tories would be left with just 109 seats. Labour would have a stonking majority, bagging 426 seats.

That would be bad enough for the Tories. But another poll is even more damning. The latest poll from Ipsos gives Labour an even bigger lead of 20 points – with Labour on 44%, the Tories 24%, the Lib Dems 12%, the Greens 8% and Reform 4%.

Projecting what that might look like at the next general election (thanks to Stats for Lefties again) would see the Tories down to double digits of MPs. Labour would end up on 461 seats, with the Tories way behind on 72.

…

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/these-bombshell-new-polls-are-among-the-worst-yet-for-the-tories/

Continue ReadingThese bombshell new polls are among the worst yet for the Tories