Australia’s ‘moral climate change duty’
In Australia The Age they are reporting on Australia’s ‘moral climate change duty’.
Australia has a “moral” duty to tackle climate change and won’t delay action because of the world economic meltdown, the federal government says.
The doom and gloom pervading world markets may have taken the heat out of global warming, but a defiant Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says it’s no excuse to delay action.
Senator Wong, in a speech to the prestigious London School of Economics overnight, rejected calls from business and the opposition to hold off on emissions trading, which is due to start in 2010.
“There is a moral and personal dimension to this debate,” she said.
Spot on Penny Wong. See the full text of her speech.
I was just chatting with George, our Director of Carbon Commerce at Carbon Planet and he was saying that the price of carbon credits has not really been affected by the recent economic woes and the impact of carbon trading is but drop in the ocean to the wholesale re-nationalisation of the western world’s major financial institutions.
Some people, like Nick Stern, have been arguing that the economic slowdown will benefit the planet. With that in mind it seems a shame that the only way the powers that be seem to have come up with to get the cash flowing again is to give away billions on Xmas presents for the poor. Most stuff people buy during the so-called ‘festive season’ is just so much crap and gets thrown away within 6 months. Rare is the truly useful, or even regiftable present. All an Xmas bonus will do is add to the ecological nightmare wrought by runaway consumption. — DS
