Australia On Track For Warmest Year Ever As Abbott Prepares To Reduce Carbon Cut Targets
Australia is "on track" for its warmest ever calendar year, temperatures in October 1.43C above the long-term average and more than 100 heat-related records broken in the past 12 months, according to a new report. The Climate Council study, called Off the Charts, says that the country has just had its warmest ever 12-month period, from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2013. This is the third month in a row that this 12-month temperature record has been broken.
The report, drawn from Bureau of Meteorology data, states that the past 12 months have been, on average, 0.22C warmer than any other equivalent period prior to 2013, making it likely that 2013 will be Australia's warmest ever calendar year.
October saw a continuation of this trend, being 1.43C warmer than the average set between 1961 and 1990. The month was notable for widespread bushfires in NSW, which triggered a fierce debate over whether climate change made such blazes more likely, with Tony Abbott finding himself at odds with the United Nation's climate chief.
The Climate Council, which was abolished as a public body by the Coalition government in September before being resurrected through public donations, said the heat in October was felt across the country.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/10/australia-warmest-ever-calendar-year
The Abbott government appears to be reconsidering its longstanding policy to reduce Australia's emissions by between 5% and 25% of 2000 levels by 2020 – a crucial and internationally-scrutinised goal which had retained bipartisan support since 2009, throughout Australia's tumultuous political debate over climate policy.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the environment minister, Greg Hunt, have regularly repeated the Coalition's commitment to increasing Australia's emissions reduction target under a specific set of conditions for global action set down in 2009 and accepted by both major parties. But Guardian Australia understands the inclusion of this "target range" in a negotiating brief for the Australian delegation to the UN climate conference in Warsaw prompted a lengthy and unresolved discussion in federal Cabinet last Monday and that the matter is due to be discussed again this Monday.
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A recent report by the Climate Change Authority – the independent advisory body set up by the former Labor government – found that the 5% target, under the conditions previously agreed by both major parties, was no longer a "credible option" and that a tougher target would be required. It found the agreed conditions for a higher target had already been met, but did not nominate the target Australia should now adopt in its draft report.
But the Abbott government has said it will provide only $3.2bn for Direct Action – an amount independent modelling has found will be insufficient to meet even a 5% target – and no more money will be forthcoming. And independent modelling has found meeting a higher target using Direct Action would be hugely expensive.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/10/tony-abbott-carbon-emissions-target
