Climate Cuts, Cover-Ups and Censorship
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CLIMATE CUTS, COVER-UPS AND CENSORSHIP CLIMATECOUNCIL.ORG.AU Thank you for supporting the Climate Council. The Climate Council is an independent, crowd-funded organisation providing quality information on climate change to the Australian public. Published by the Climate Council of Australia Limited ISBN: 978-1-925573-94-7 (print) 978-1-925573-95-4 (digital) © Climate Council of Australia Ltd 2019 This work is copyright the Climate Council of Australia Ltd. All material contained in this work is copyright the Climate Council of Australia Ltd except where a third party source is indicated. Climate Council of Australia Ltd copyright material is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License. To view a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org.au. You are free to copy, communicate and adapt the Climate Council of Australia Ltd copyright material so long as you attribute the Climate Council of Australia Ltd and the authors in the following manner: Climate cuts, cover-ups and censorship. Author: The Climate Council. Peer review: Professor John Church, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW and Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Griffith University. — Cover image: ‘Smoking billowing mining stack ,connected mining and food industry’ by geckoz, Shutterstock. This report is printed on 100% recycled paper. facebook.com/climatecouncil [email protected] twitter.com/climatecouncil climatecouncil.org.au CLIMATE COUNCIL I Contents Key Findings ....................................................................................................................................................................................ii 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................................1 2. Attacks on Science ..................................................................................................................................................................7 2.1 Funding and job cuts for CSIRO’s climate science division 8 2.2 Closure of the Climate Commission 10 2.3 Key advisors’ climate views out of step with science 11 2.4 Climate Change Authority emissions target recommendations rejected 12 2.5 Federal Government ignored IPCC recommendations of phasing out coal 14 3. Australia’s Track Record on Climate Targets and Greenhouse Gas Emissions ...................................................17 3.1 Australia’s 2030 climate target is woefully inadequate 19 3.2 Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising 20 3.3 Failure to implement national climate and energy policy 22 3.4 The impact of including land-use change on Australia’s emissions 23 3.5 Federal Government fails to ratchet up Australia’s 2020 target 29 4. Misleading and Inaccurate Claims ................................................................................................................................30 4.1 Emissions are going up, while the Energy Minister claims they are going down 30 4.2 Senior ministers inaccurately claim Australia will meet its emissions reduction target ahead of schedule 31 4.3 Targets, renewable energy and lower electricity prices 32 4.4 Prime Minister and Treasurer imply renewable energy and storage cannot provide reliable 24/7 power 33 4.5 Politicising power outages 35 4.6 Undermining electric vehicles 37 5. Questionable Conduct ....................................................................................................................................................... 39 5.1 Federal Government censors UNESCO report 39 5.2 Track record of delaying and hiding emissions data 41 5.3 Changing reporting formats has disguised emissions growth 42 6. Funding and Program Decisions ....................................................................................................................................44 6.1 Climate-related programs closed or cut 44 6.2 Funding for projects of dubious credibility or benefit 46 7. Charter of Integrity ..............................................................................................................................................................48 8. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................................49 References ......................................................................................................................................................................................50 Image Credits ................................................................................................................................................................................ 54 II CLIMATE CUTS, COVER-UPS AND CENSORSHIP Key Findings 1 2 The Climate Council rates the Federal The Federal Government has covered up poor Government’s climate performance over performance with misleading claims, dubious the past five-years an “F” for failing to act accounting and censorship. and for its attacks on science. › Greenhouse gas emissions have risen for four › The Government’s tenure has been years running. Australia is unlikely to meet its characterised by slashing climate science 2030 emissions reduction target according to the funding, cutting effective climate change government’s own department. Regardless, senior programs, rejecting advice from expert ministers continue to falsely claim that emissions domestic and international bodies, are going down and targets will be met. misleading claims from Federal Ministers, a lack of any effective climate programs, and › In 2016, the Federal Government censored a UN consistently covering up poor performance. report about climate change and World Heritage sites, asking the authors to remove any reference › Deep funding cuts and job losses at the CSIRO to Australian sites. have weakened Australia’s climate science capability. As a result, Australia is unprepared › The Federal Government has consistently delayed to cope with the impacts of climate change. releasing information on Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, often publishing data just before › Effective programs have been abolished or Christmas when it faces less scrutiny. scaled back, for instance, half a billion dollars was cut from the Australian Renewable › The government has used discredited accounting Energy Agency, while the Renewable Energy methods, for instance including land-use Target was slashed. emissions or Kyoto “carryover credits”, which makes its record look better than reality. KEY FINDINGS III 3 4 The government’s lack of climate change Australia’s next government must adopt action is the defining leadership failure credible climate policy and a transparent of the past decade. We have not tackled and accurate approach to reporting and climate change, the consequences are tracking Australia’s climate performance with us, and we must work very quickly to ensure the public can appropriately to prevent catastrophic consequences. evaluate its performance. › Delaying action has not made the problem go › The Federal Government needs to urgently away. It has just shortened the time we have adopt credible climate policy to help protect left to reduce emissions and made it more Australians from the rapidly escalating risks challenging to do so. The Federal Government of climate change. has squandered its tenure and that will cost us dearly. › The Climate Council has established a ‘Charter of Integrity’ for the Federal › Australia has missed many opportunities Government to use as a benchmark to to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and track and monitor climate performance, transition our economy in the cheapest, specifically around issues of accountability, most gradual and effective ways possible. transparency, timeliness and accuracy. › Australians are on the frontline of worsening extreme weather. Heatwaves have become hotter and last longer, droughts, intense rainfall and dangerous bushfire conditions have become more severe and now test the limits of our coping capacity. We must now address the accelerating consequences of climate change and we are unprepared. › As Australians experience escalating consequences into the future they will likely view this period of missed opportunities and failed leadership with deep dismay. climatecouncil.org.au 1 CLIMATE CUTS, COVER-UPS AND CENSORSHIP 1. Introduction This report provides a detailed Emissions have overview of the Australian government’s approach to climate change since the election of risen year after the Liberal-National Coalition government in 2013. The period year under this is characterised by slashing climate science funding, cutting government. effective climate change programs, rejecting the expert advice After the Abbott Government came to power of national and international in 2013, there was a concerted effort to cut bodies, senior ministers making or scale back climate change initiatives that publicly misleading claims, a lack were working. The Renewable Energy Target of credible climate policy, and was scaled back, while the Carbon Pricing consistently covering up poor Mechanism and the Energy Efficiency performance. This is the defining Opportunities program were cut entirely. Half policy and leadership failure of the a billion dollars was cut from the Australian last decade. Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) had funds redirected. Together