Cutting Australia's Emissions? Its All Hot Air

Cutting Australia's Emissions? Its All Hot Air
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Watching the Australian Government try to navigate the difficult shoals of energy policy in the 21st century is like watching a ship adrift without a compass, or perhaps a map provided by the fossil fuel industry back in 1950.

While major emitters in Europe, North America and Asia are setting out structured plans to transition their economies away from the dirty, polluting energy sources of the 19th and 20th centuries - coal, oil and gas - the Australian Government appears to be engaging in a debate that many thought would not still be underway in 2016.

The ALP and Greens have acknowledged the challenge facing Australia as we look to phase out our coal power stations - by announcing a national Senate Inquiry into coal closure. Yet, the Coalition seem to be living with their heads firmly in the sand.

Indeed, rather than talking about the inevitability of the transition, Malcolm Turnbull and the Federal Government have instead taken to lobbing opportunistic potshots at renewables in an attempt to discredit and delay our shift to clean energy and. This was on clear display after the SA storm and subsequent blackout.

The irony of using a freak storm that buffeted the state and destroyed critical power infrastructure to scapegoat renewables wasn't lost on most Australians. Climate change will only make these 'freak' storms more common.

All of this has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. Recent data from the UN shows that Australia has fielded more questions than any other country over its climate policy (or lack thereof) to deliver on its international commitments to reduce emissions. This includes countries like China, Brazil and the US, who have expressed deep concerns over Australia's inaction.

Left without a plan in a world that is increasingly stepping up its climate action, Australia risks becoming an international pariah - made all the more embarrassing because Australia is a developed country rich in both sun and wind.

This leaves the question: when not bashing renewables, or lashing out at states like South Australia, Queensland and Victoria for committing to taking climate action, what is the Australian Government's plan for your energy future? It is hard to tell, but listening to our leaders, it seems they are betting on gas as an energy source to meet Australia's Paris climate commitments.

What an incredible disappointment from a country that was once showed real promise on tackling the greatest moral challenge of our time.

And all of this in a year destined to be our hottest yet - beating both 2015 and 2014 respectively; a year when floods, droughts, freak storms and the destruction of our natural wonders like Tasmania's ancient forests and the Great Barrier Reef is becoming normalised; a year when the true impacts are too obvious to be ignored by even former climate deniers - such as our Deputy PM, Barnaby Joyce.

The time for playing politics with climate change is long over. The problem with science is that you can blame whoever you want and play politics, but the outcome is the same: more CO2 in the atmosphere means an ever warmer planet.

And that is the biggest problem with Minister Frydenberg's insistence that gas is a climate change solution. Put simply, gas is a dirty fuel that warms the planet. How dirty? Research shows that methane leakage makes gas at least as bad as coal. And a new report suggests it could be even worse.

A study by the Melbourne Energy Institute, using US data, suggests that Australian gas emissions could be 170 times higher than industry reporting. We have to use US data because the Australian industry is not required to measure its fugitive emissions - methane -- one of the most potent greenhouse gases known -- that goes into the atmosphere during the process of gas production.

This means the maths used to calculate Australia's emissions is completely off. It is even worse when you consider that methane is 86 times more powerful than CO2 at causing climate change.

Of course, the gas industry will loudly claim that they are clean and tidy thank you very much and that comparing them with the US is not fair. But given our industry is not required to report its fugitive emissions, and efforts by civil society groups to publish accurate data on these rogue emissions have been suppressed, it seems very fair, if not generous, to draw comparisons with an industry that is probably even cleaner than ours.

Scarily, when contrasted to the US, the report suggests that Australia's fugitive emissions could be even higher because of the shallowness of the seams that our coal seam gas is drawn from. This could mean Australia is under-reporting its gas emissions by as much as 300%.

This could be having an enourmous impact on the climate and at a time when climate impacts not expected until 2030 are being felt right now this is bad news. Australia simply can't afford to continue playing politics with the global climate.

It is now overtime for the Turnbull Government to show leadership, honour its international commitments and begin the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, not a dirty damaging fuel like gas.

The truth is that the transition away from a predominantly fossil fuel energy grid to one based on renewables poses challenges. There will probably be hiccups along the way.

But we have no choice. Fossil fuels are irreparably warming the planet and we have a responsibility to act. The longer we wait the harder it is going to be, and knowing this it is time our federal politicians stopped avoiding this challenge and worked together to tackle this fundamental issue.

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