[Peakoil] Climate Code Red Released 4 Jan 2008

[Adrian Whitehead]

Hi all,

One of the most important documents to be written for the global
climate campaign has been released on the web.

The document makes the case that the science is being misread and
miscommunicated and that the situation is far worse than most climate
commentators choose to explain, it then looks at appropriate goals and
solutions and argues for rapid reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gas
concentrations now.

Written by David Sprat and Philip Sutton the document is a must read
for any serious campaigner.

Down load the pdf from http://climatecodered.net/

The authors have asked that people do not email the PDF directly but
instead direct others to the website.

Also see article published in Canberra Times below signature block.

Best wishes

Adrian

--
Adrian Whitehead
Coordinator
Zero Emission Network
Level 2, 140 Bourke Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Australia

0403 735 118
www.zeroemissionnetwork.org.au



Canberra Times Article


02 February 2008 - 10:05AM


Report attacks climate policy
Rosslyn Beeby
The Rudd Government's climate change policy has already been overtaken
by new science and will impose a "death sentence" on Australia unless
urgently updated, say the authors of a new report.
Former Victorian government adviser Phillip Sutton and David Spratt,
founder of climate change group CarbonEquity, say the Government's
policy lacks scientific depth and has been cobbled together from
reports now surpassed by new data on the rate and scale of global
warming.
In a hard-hitting report for Friends of the Earth Australia, they
claim the Government's commitment to reduce greenhouse emissions by 60
per cent by 2050 locks Australia into supporting a dangerous 3 degree
rise in global temperature and is based on a United Nations report 12
years out of date.
The Melbourne-based policy analysts also cast doubt on the scope and
relevance of the climate change review being conducted for the Federal
Government by Australian National University economist Professor Ross
Garnaut.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said the review's findings will guide
future policies on climate, but Mr Spratt claims its terms of
reference pre-date the groundbreaking climate change report by British
economist Sir Nicholas Stern.
"The Rudd Government urgently needs to review and update its terms of
reference if the inquiry is to remain relevant, otherwise it's like
batting information back and forth like a tennis match, so the
Government can keep avoiding responsibility," he said.
The report, Climate Code Red: The Case for a Sustainable Emergency,
accuses the Rudd Government of adopting a timid "culture of
compromise" and low expectations in mapping a national response to
climate change.
"We contend that current proposals to establish caps of 2 degrees or 3
degrees as reasonable for avoiding climate change are not being
informed by the likely impacts and expert elicitations, but have been
shaped by the world of diplomacy, political tradeoffs and compromises
driven by narrow, short-term and national aspirations," the report
says.
It urges the Rudd Government to treat global warming as a national
emergency requiring lower temperature targets, tougher emission
reduction targets and innovative energy strategies. The authors say
the greatest reduction in Australia's greenhouse emissions, and the
most economically efficient, can be made by comprehensive energy
efficiency programs and technologies that reduce per capita
electricity consumption.
"The scandal is that sometimes the most energy-efficient domestic
technologies and appliances aren't even on the market, or businesses
and consumers are not aware of the choice."
The report is endorsed by Ian Dunlop, former chief executive of the
Australian Institute of Company Directors, Opposition environment
spokesman Greg Hunt, Australian Greens climate change spokeswoman
Senator Christine Milne and United States policy expert Professor
Dennis Meadows.
Federal climate change minister Penny Wong is attending a climate
change conference in Hawaii and was unavailable for comment.
Mr Dunlop said the report offered a balanced analysis of the
challenges of climate change, "unadorned by political spin" and
proposed a realistic framework to tackle the emergency.
"The stark fact is that we face a global sustainability emergency. But
it is impossible to design realistic solutions unless we first
understand and accept the size of the problem. We know those
solutions, but what is lacking is the political will, firstly to
honestly articulate the problem and secondly to implement those
solutions," he said.
Senator Milne said global warming was now accelerating faster than
scientists had predicted, "leaving policy so far behind it is outdated
as it is released." She said the Greens pre-election climate change
policies, previously viewed as ambitious, were now conservative in the
light of new findings.
"Where then does that leave our new Federal Government, elected on a
platform of climate action far weaker than the Greens?"
Senator Milne said although the Spratt and Sutton report called for
policy makers to set aside politics, she feared "none of the people
now charged with setting Australia's emissions target ... have grasped
that this is a state of emergency ..."

End Article

-- 
Adrian Whitehead
Coordinator
Zero Emission Network
Level 2, 140 Bourke Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Australia

0403 735 118
www.zeroemissionnetwork.org.au

We are faced with social and environmental collapse within this century due
to climate change and global warming. Given what is at stake, to do anything
but advocate for the best and strongest chance avoiding this outcome is an
act of an immoral and criminal nature.

What we must do is to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions as fast
possible by implementing a goal of zero emissions across all sectors
combined with undertaking human assisted sequestration options such as
re-vegetation and bio char, while supporting natural sequestration. This is
the goal of the Zero Emission Network.

We have perhaps 5-10 years to implement these goals or we will face
unacceptable impacts and a risk of runaway climate change, hence goals set
later than 2020 are meaningless.
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