Professor David Karoly, an internationally recognised meteorologist, is an Australian Federation Fellow based in the University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences. A leading authority on the global climate and climate variability, Professor Karoly is working closely with the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO on climate change, particularly as it influences the Australian environment.
Climate change is a global issue of great importance, demonstrated by the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and to Al Gore. However, Australia has been slow to recognise its importance. This election will determine Australia’s policy responses to climate change for the next three years.
The 2007 assessment of climate change by the IPCC concluded that warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Most of the global average warming since the mid-20th century is very likely due to increasing greenhouse gases. Continued greenhouse gas emissions will cause further warming, and anthropogenic warming and sea level rise will continue for centuries.
Australia should be a global and regional leader in addressing climate change, by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and introducing policies to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050.
Challenges for Australia include adapting to climate change impacts, such as more heat waves, more bush fires and rising sea level, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through increasing energy efficiency, increasing renewable energy sources, and replacement of coal-fired power stations.
Many new business and employment opportunities exist, through the growth and export of renewable energy technologies, such as wind, solar, wave and geothermal power, and carbon capture and storage technologies, which reduce emissions from existing fossil fuel power plants.
Urgent action is required. Delays in policy response lead to further emissions and ever greater climate change!
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