NO amount of tree-planting or using biofuels in cars will stop the planet warming, the first report by the Climate Commission warns.
The findings are a blow to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who opposes the Government's carbon tax and has instead proposed to combat global warming through an offsets policy.
The report, which pulled together the latest peer-reviewed science on climate change, concluded that the controversial science behind climate change was beyond denial.
"The atmosphere is warming, the ocean is warming, ice is being lost from glaciers and ice caps and sea levels are rising," it said.
"Global surface temperature is rising fast; the last decade was the hottest on record. Human activities — the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation — are triggering the changes we are witnessing in the global climate.
The report also is highly critical of climate change sceptics, whom it claimed were intimidating climate scientists and confusing the public.
A Federal Parliament forum on climate change will be held tomorrow against a backdrop of Opposition Leader and climate change sceptic Tony Abbott's commitment to a carbon offsetting policy.
Coalition policy would see polluters and government investing in ways of storing greenhouse gases - in forests, biofuels or the earth - rather than being penalised for not reducing emissions.
But report author Professor Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, said yesterday offsetting simply could not substitute for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to reduce fossil fuel use and while locking away CO2 can be a good thing, it can't work alone. It must be accompanied by fossil fuel use and emissions reductions," he said.
"Putting CO2 into, say, soil, doesn't actually remove it from the ecosystem and it can be vulnerable to changes in land use. And if we get temperatures in the future higher than expected, offsetting might make warming worse because that carbon, that CO2, you paid people to put back into the earth can go back up into the air.
"Poorly constructed offsetting could lock in more severe climate change for the future."
Prof Steffen said the next decade was critical with Australia already suffering social, environmental and economic consequences of warming.
Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the Director of the Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, said the report should guide politicians and compel them into action.
"It is vitally important that responsible governments everywhere face up to the urgency of the situation that we face with respect to climate change, and to act on the recommendations of their experts," he said.
"They must listen to the experts, devise meaningful responses and act immediately on this important issue.
New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy is all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you just www.ez2.me
Look more Products from Go daddy just log on
No comments:
Post a Comment