UK Chief Climate Advisor: Australia's Emissions Plan "Pathetic"; "Abbott's Hubris Is Staggering"
Australia’s “pathetic” 2030 emissions reduction target shows the country has opted out of the global effort to limit warming, according to the head of the British government’s climate change advisory body.
Lord Deben, previously a minister in the government of Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, said Australia’s 26% to 28% reduction in emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels was “simply not enough”.
“Australia is fundamentally out of step and this decision puts Australia among the ‘don’t cares’ of the international community,” said Deben, who is the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change. “Global warming won’t wait for Mr Abbott and his government. Mr Abbott’s hubris is staggering.”
Deben, formerly known as John Gummer, said Australia’s “pathetic” target showed it had “opted out of the greatest physical challenge of our times” and ignored the leadership of US president Barack Obama, the European Union and Pope Francis. “Australia’s friends know she could do so much better than this and all of us abroad will work with all those people who are determined to overturn this irrational decision,” he said.
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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/12/tony-abbotts-hubris-is-staggering-uks-climate-adviser-on-emissions-target
