Climate Change
The world is heating up at a rapid rate
Average temperatures on Earth have warmed by about 0.76 of a degree Celsius over the past 200 years. Average Australian temperatures have risen by around 0.9 degrees Celsius since 1950.
This temperature rise appears small but small increases in temperature translate into big changes for the world's climate.
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes most of this temperature rise to human activities that release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Stay under a global average temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius
Hotter days, more severe storms, droughts and fire, and higher sea levels are expected under climate change. This could threaten lives, industries and jobs, sustainable agricultural production, fresh water supplies and the survival of native species and ecosystems.
Scientists and some governments agree that an average global warming of 2 degrees or more above the pre-industrial level would result in dangerous and irreversible climate change with dramatic social, economic and environmental impacts.
Australians are big polluters
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Australians are the highest per-capita greenhouse gas polluters in the developed world. This is due to the fact that we generate electricity largely by burning high-emission coal and we use energy inefficiently.
Australia's total emissions are similar in magnitude to those of the United Kingdom and France, yet those countries have much larger populations.
How will Australia contribute to stay under 2 degrees warming?
WWF-Australia believes that in order to stay below a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise, the Australian Government must implement a national plan to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. This plan must:
- Reduce carbon pollution by at least 25% by 2020 and 90% by 2050;
- Implement an emissions trading scheme operational by mid 2011 at the latest;
- Increase to 40% by 2030 the Renewable Energy Target (RET) and modify it or implement a feed-in-tariff to better support emerging technologies like geothermal, wave and solar thermal;
- Provide a fund to encourage landholders to preserve and grow trees to absorb carbon pollution and protect habitat;
- Implement world's best practice for energy efficiency and vehicle emission standards;
- Ensure two to three carbon capture and storage commercial projects are operational by 2015 and that no new coal-fired power stations are built unless they undertake carbon capture and storage; and
- Build on Copenhagen Accord to deliver a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement in Mexico in 2010.
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What you can do to help
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Recent Climate Change News
WWF submission to Australia's Future Tax System Review
This submission proposes that wasteful consumption and environmental degradation be addressed by the introduction of an environmentally weighted goods and services tax with the whole of the net amount raised being used to restore and protect Australia’s biodiversity, water resources, vegetation and soils, and to develop and promote new sustainable agricultural systems.
Continue reading 'WWF submission to Australia's Future Tax System Review'
Australia a step closer to action on climate change
WWF welcomes today's policy announcement by the Labor Party and the Greens that if they form government, action will be taken on climate change by putting a price on pollution.
Two days to go and environment still off the agenda
With election day looming, the environment is still missing from the picture, according to the latest policy scorecard released by WWF-Australia today.
ALP marine parks policy has backbone
The marine parks policy announcement by the Labor Party provides a stepping stone to greater protection for Australia's precious oceans, according to WWF Australia.
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