What's in a number? New carbon target sparks new climate warfare
Casual observers of federal parliament might this week have been startled by a sudden resumption of conflict over climate, but the timing was no accident.
Australia, like the rest of the world, is due to set its 2035 carbon-emission reduction target under the Paris Agreement. As a result, Canberra is crawling with those who have an interest in influencing that target (or Nationally Determined Contribution, more on which shortly).
Setting the scene for many turning their attention to parliament as it resumed for the Albanese government's second term, were Nationals MPs Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, who introduced a private members' bill to have Australia abandon entirely the effort to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.
Also in Canberra this week was Simon Stiell, the UN's chief climate diplomat or, more properly, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has been travelling the world urging nations to submit ambitious targets that will keep Paris Agreement goals within reach.
Far too careful a diplomat to recommend an Australian target, he has been making the case that, on economic and security grounds, Australia should be ambitious.
'Bog standard is beneath you … Go for what will build lasting wealth and national security,' he said in a speech in Sydney before travelling to Canberra. 'Go for what will change the game and stand the test of time.'
So, what's a Nationally Determined Contribution?
When world governments signed the Paris Accord almost a decade ago they agreed that to halt climate change before catastrophic tipping points kicked in, warming needed to be arrested below 2 degrees and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees.
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