{"id":332347,"date":"2024-06-10T17:59:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T15:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=332347"},"modified":"2024-06-10T17:59:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T15:59:31","slug":"did-the-aussie-opposition-leader-just-call-for-cancelling-the-paris-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=332347","title":{"rendered":"Did the Aussie Opposition Leader Just Call for Cancelling the Paris Agreement?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does \u201cthere\u2019s no sense in signing up to targets you don\u2019t have any prospect of achieving\u201d translate to a commitment to dump Australia\u2019s Paris obligations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Dutton to pull Australia out of Paris Agreement if elected<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mike Foley<\/a><\/strong>
June 8, 2024 \u2014 2.27pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has signalled he will scrap the nation\u2019s legally binding 2030 climate target and risk Australia\u2019s membership of the Paris Agreement on climate change, following his vow to deploy nuclear energy to reach net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dutton declared on Saturday that a Coalition government would not pursue Australia\u2019s legally binding climate target to cut emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 \u2013 a significant escalation of Australia\u2019s long-running climate policy war ahead of the next federal election<\/a> due by May next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dutton told The Australian<\/em> on Saturday that the government\u2019s renewable goal was unattainable and \u201cthere\u2019s no sense in signing up to targets you don\u2019t have any prospect of achieving\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition has said if it forms government it would build up to seven emissions-free nuclear power plants to replace the energy supply from Australia\u2019s dirty coal plants, which have begun to shut down across the country. He would also pause the rollout of wind and solar farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have the prime minister saying we aren\u2019t going to have coal, we aren\u2019t going to have gas and were not going to have \u00adnuclear power and we are going to keep the lights on \u2013 that\u2019s just fantasy. We now have a debate about energy which I think we can win,\u201d he told The Australian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/politics\/federal\/climate-change-dutton-to-pull-australia-out-of-paris-agreement-20240608-p5jk91.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Suggesting Dutton\u2019s statement is a commitment to pull out of the Paris Agreement seems a trifle exaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WUWT has repeatedly criticising the Aussie opposition\u2019s Frankenstein climate policy. While on the surface Dutton\u2019s nuclear push might seem a good idea, in my opinion it is actually a weak attempt at appeasement politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CPAC Australia \u2013 Coal Overboard, Nuclear to Appease the Greens? \u2013 Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last year\u2019s Aussie CPAC MP Keith Pitt<\/a>, formerly a staunch defender of coal, made a bizarre speech about the need to demolish coal plants and build nuclear plants in their place, to take advantage of all the distribution infrastructure which has already been built for the coal plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is there is still plenty of coal, mostly brown coal, in the ground in the proposed nuclear sites. Building a nuclear plant on top of a coal field risks sabotaging remaining stocks of coal \u2013 even a low level radiation leak which seeped into the coal layer would make burning the coal even more controversial than it already is. Building a coal plant and using the available brown coal would be far cheaper and would offer almost immediate cost relief to business and domestic energy consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear plants, however desirable in the long term, do not offer short term benefits in most locations. Aside from the high upfront capital costs, and the lack of local expertise, greens would immediately launch a tsunami of well funded lawfare. I have no problem with nuclear plants being built in locations where they offer an economic benefit, but the decision should be based purely on economics, such as installing a nuclear plant to service a remote location and save on fuel deliveries. The decision to go nuclear should not be because mainstream Aussie politicians are too timid to challenge the greens head on and fully exploit Australia\u2019s abundant coal resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one silver lining of the opposition nuclear push is it has sabotaged the renewable plans of the current Aussie administration. It\u2019s hard to get a bank loan when the opposition leader is promising to withdraw the subsidies which are your basis of your business profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we conclude from all this?<\/strong> On this issue I believe claims Aussie Conservative leader Peter Dutton is trying to leave the Paris Agreement are exaggerated. As far as I can tell Peter Dutton is just as onboard with Paris as other mainstream Aussie politicians, he just wants a different approach. I\u2019m glad Dutton has taken a stand against absurdly unrealistic emissions reduction targets. But I\u2019m saddened that Dutton still hasn\u2019t found the political courage to do what he is being accused of \u2013 ditch all emissions targets and tear up Australia\u2019s participation in the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does \u201cthere\u2019s no sense in signing up to targets you don\u2019t have any prospect of achieving\u201d translate to a commitment to dump Australia\u2019s Paris obligations?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":332350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818216,691818154,691818589,691829133,691822893],"class_list":{"0":"post-332347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-net-zero","10":"tag-nuclear-plants","11":"tag-opposition-leader-peter-dutton","12":"tag-paris-agreement-pa","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0r0_271_5300_3533_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg?fit=1102%2C678&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1osr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":266437,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=266437","url_meta":{"origin":332347,"position":0},"title":"Spectator: Aussie Opposition Leader\u2019s Call for Nuclear to Backup Renewables is Wrong","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Why Dutton needs coal not renewables or nuclear","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00d478ce82-566b-4c2a-902e-d2a1abdcc0ad.webp?fit=1200%2C846&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00d478ce82-566b-4c2a-902e-d2a1abdcc0ad.webp?fit=1200%2C846&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00d478ce82-566b-4c2a-902e-d2a1abdcc0ad.webp?fit=1200%2C846&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00d478ce82-566b-4c2a-902e-d2a1abdcc0ad.webp?fit=1200%2C846&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00d478ce82-566b-4c2a-902e-d2a1abdcc0ad.webp?fit=1200%2C846&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":332744,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=332744","url_meta":{"origin":332347,"position":1},"title":"The Climate Wars ignited again in Australia and Labor\u2019s best argument is just scorn and derision","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/13\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Here we go again. 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